When You Find Something Better Than Everything You Own

What if the thing you’ve been chasing isn’t the thing you truly want? Today we open Matthew 13’s parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl and tell a story that made those words real for us: selling our dream house because we found something better. Not easier. Better. The kind of better that brings joy to hard choices and quiets the urge to prove anything to anyone.

We walk through how the call came, why we asked for confirmation, and the way it arrived for both of us at the same moment. There’s a twist you won’t see coming: the apartment we loved years earlier suddenly opened the day we needed it. That timing wasn’t just convenient; it was a nudge that the path was right. We also talk about the resistance—friends who assumed we were broke, family who thought we’d lost our minds—and how peace held steady anyway. This isn’t a call to recklessness or to romanticize scarcity; it’s an invitation to trade frantic ownership for a treasure you can’t lose.

Along the way we return to the text. The man who buys the field and the merchant who finds the pearl sell everything with joy because they know what they’ve found. That kind of clarity grows through simple practices: daily prayer, unhurried Scripture, and small, brave steps of obedience. We share how those rhythms formed us, how they still ground our decisions, and why they can steady you too when life asks for more than you planned to give.

If you’re exploring faith, we offer a clear path to begin a relationship with Jesus and what to do next. If you’re already walking with Him, consider this a gentle check: what are you holding too tightly, and what would freedom look like? Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs courage today, and leave a review to help others find these stories of hope and holy surrender.

Transcript

Welcome And Opening Prayer

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Hello, everybody. This is Tim or J, and I want to welcome you to my podcast. I hope you're having a great week. Um, I know I've had a great week just uh spending some time in prayer and the Lord just sharing with me different things, showing me different things in his word, bringing some of his verses to light. Um and I just I just really had a blessed time. Um I have a couple verses that I want to share in the book of Matthew. Um but before I do that, I'd like to have like to pray with you. Dear Lord, I just thank you, Father God, for my listeners. I thank you, Lord, for all that you're doing in our lives together. I just pray for your hand to be upon each and every one of them, Father God. And if they're hurting in any way, I just pray, Lord, that you just intervene and you remove whatever whatever they're hurting, whatever area of life that they're hurting in, Father God. And I pray, Lord, that you would just fill them with your spirit, Father God. Whatever whatever hurt they're experiencing, Lord, I just pray, Lord, that you just help them, Father God, to to deal with that hurt and that you just heal them, Father God, in that area. And I just pray, Lord, that that as that hurt gets removed, Lord, that you just fill their life, fill that void with your peace. I just pray that that peace would just be ever growing, and just that it would be something that just envelop them, Father God, and that they would just be refreshed in a new way. Thank you, Lord, for all that you're doing in their lives and all that you're doing in my life. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, the verse that uh that the Lord was showing me, or one that I want to share what the Lord was showing me on, is found in the book of Matthew in the New Testament.

Parables Of Treasure And Pearl

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Matthew chapter 13, and it is uh verse 44 and 45. And what these are these these are the parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl. Uh in verse 44. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all that he had and bought that field. Again, this is verse 45. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. You know, this the one about the pearls, I I I saw this um, it was kind of a kid's video. I forget where I where I saw it, but it was interesting because it showed that the person did sell everything they had. I mean, they had great value, and I guess in both instances of this of these of these parables, that that these people um went and they sold everything they had. It shows this guy. Um basically he he lived in a in a in a fine house, a big house, and he he he loaded all his possessions into this cart, and he sold his house, and he loaded all his possessions into this cart, and he brought it and he sold all his possessions to somebody else. Then he took this cash and he bought the pearl, and and it's applicable to both to both parables, both the the per the the the parable of the of the pearl and the parable of the treasure. That is that's what I believe the Lord is calling us to do in a certain way. And and it these these parables are more than just an action of buying a field, it's actually uh I think a definition of life that as you find something really, really good, and I think what they're talking about, what the Lord showed me is that what this is that this is the relationship with him. This is how this is how that relationship can become. Like I'll start with verse 44. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all that he had and bought that field. See, and and and there's two things here. The parable of the treasure, I believe, has to do with with people who are rich. And the reason why I say that is because this man sold all that he had to buy this particular particular treasure. It was a treasure, so it was more than one item. And we always think, and I probably do think, that it was

What Selling Everything Really Means

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a a box full of valuable things. And so people that are that are have the means and who are wealthy that that they're gonna be called upon to do different things than a person that may not be wealthy. And so what the Lord has calls us to do is the person that has means they sold everything they had. And what does that mean? They sell everything they had, they sold everything they had, and it's kind of like taking a step back from the world system. The world system is is just the opposite. You gain as much as you can, show it off, flaunt it, whatever else. But but the Lord is asking us to live our lives completely different from the world system, apart from the world system. This person sold everything they had. And here they are, they end up with this treasure, and it's something very secret, very personal, just like a relationship with the Lord, very personal, very, very just it's it's it's it's all encompassing. It's I mean, this person that has the treasure, they know what they have. They don't have to share, they don't have to show it to anybody, they just know inside what they have. And they sold everything to hand. So on the outside, they they basically have rejected the world system. And it's it's this is more of an internal thing. I think it has to do with the heart that when you find Jesus Christ, a relationship, when you start a relationship with Jesus Christ, it just becomes all-encompassing. It just it just is so much, it just fills so many areas, it takes areas out of your life that are kind of worthless.

Our House On Twenty Acres

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You know, the um the Lord uh you know, he called my wife and I to sell a house, to sell our house. And you know, we we we built this house on 10 acres, we bought the neighboring 10 acres, so this house on 20 acres, and it was we thought this was gonna be our retirement home. It just had a had a had a pond in front and it was nice. It was a really nice house. And the Lord opened up the door for us to buy this house when when it was hard to find land. But I was driving down the same road that I'd had that I'd probably driven down maybe five, six times before with with there was no land, but I was always kind of driving to countryside hoping to find some. All of a sudden there was 10 acres available. So I contacted the phone number and contacted the people that owned it, and we bought bought the land for the house. And then we we it came up later that the neighboring ten acres owned by the same people, um, they sold us that too. So we really thought that this was our place that we were probably gonna retire, you know. But then the Lord called us to sell it. And and I want to, you know, stress that the Lord confirmed it in my wife too. It wasn't something that I took upon myself and made the decision and didn't include her. As a matter of fact, I asked the Lord to include her in the decision. So when the Lord called me, saying, told me, all right, that I want you to sell your well, first of all, I just I was thanking the Lord. I was in the front yard and I was thanking, Lord. Lord, thank you so much for this place. I just loved it. I was just laying in the front lawn and just just it was on a hilltop and just enjoying the day. And I just thank you so much, Lord, for opening this door for us to build a brand new house on the hilltop. And and I just was so thankful. Just geese would fly over, you could hear the whistle of their wingtips, you know, as they're flying over. It was it was um it was pretty incredible. And then the Lord just said, Tim, I want you to sell this. And for me personally, I had no problem whatsoever. I just said, All right, Lord, whatever you want me to do, I said, I'm on board. You know, there's no hesitation in my heart. It was just because I've I've walked with the Lord long enough to know that when he wants me to do something, I don't hesitate, I just do it. And so I I said, Lord, I said that's totally fine. We we will sell it as soon as possible. But I said, I want you to confirm it with my wife, because I said, This is a big decision for us, and this is a big family decision. And so anyway, I went in the house and I was just kind of pondering how and what to do, and I could hear the garage door open, yeah, the garage door opening. So I met my my wife at the at the garage door, at the interior house door, and and I said, Honey, I said, I think the Lord is calling us to, and she finished my sentence by saying, Sell the house. I said, Yeah, he said, she said, he confirmed it to me on my way home from work. So right

Called To Sell And Confirmed

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away I called the realtor and and long story short, we sold the house and and we used the money how the Lord calls to use it. And um, so it was it was really, really kind of cool. And then there's another part of the story that I'll just touch on really quick. I'll just explain it. But before we built this house, we lived in it in an apartment in town, and it was a beautiful apartment. It opened up to a city block or to city park. It was a wonderful two-bedroom walkout, two bed, two-bedroom, two-bath walkout. We had a patio and it was surrounded by pine trees on the outside, so it looked like we were up north. And when we left that apartment, after we built our house, we left that apartment to move into the house. And then the Lord calls to sell it. We were asking the apartment manager if that apartment was available. And she said, No way. She goes, Guy that's living there, he loves it. He's not gonna move, he's gonna live there forever. He just loves it. And I was okay, a little disappointed. Well, there's a lot of details, but long story short, looking at apartments, we couldn't find one, couldn't find the right one. Pretty soon we were just finding kind of really not good apartments. I mean, they just did not need, they didn't have player, any players for the kids. And long story short, um, here I called the apartment manager the day we were gonna sign a contract for one of these other apartment complexes, and she said, You're not gonna believe this. She goes, the guy who was living there in the middle of the night, he got up, packed all those things, and left. She said, The apartment is yours if you want it. So that that's kind of the end of the story. But that is one of those things that the Lord confirmed to us right there that this that we are on the right track. So um, so as I share this, you know, there's just a lot of things that went on. So we'll backtrack back to where the Lord calls to sell our house. You know, it's kind of an interesting thing, and that is that um this is kind of another little side story that I'm gonna share a little bit. And it's just when we sold our house, we had some Christian friends that they themselves said we could never do that, you know, and and these are people we went to church with, these are people that were close friends, our kids hung out together, they had overnights and stuff. And one of one of the times their little daughter was coming over to our house to spend the night, and she kind of spoke her mind. She was just this kind of little gal, and she was nice enough, but but she said, My mom and dad said you're going broke, that that's that's why you're selling the house. And so my wife and I just kind of looked at each other and said, Oh my gosh, that was just kind of a revelation in a sense that I thought we were on the same page as this other couple. I thought we our our faiths were on the same level, but obviously not, because they said if the Lord called them to sell their house, they could never do it. And yet we did. And now they're saying, they're saying behind closed doors, the reason why we're doing it is that we're broke and that we lost our that we're losing our house, and it's that's the furthest thing from the truth. But how can you you can't really you can't really argue with that? I mean, we weren't going broke, we sold it, we we could have lived there forever, but the Lord calls us out, so we did. And it was just kind of one of those revelation type things that in in in your walk as a Christian, man. There's just some things you just this instance just come up and it's like, ah, it could have been a real stab in the heart, but it was more

Opposition From Friends And Family

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of a of a confirmation, especially getting our apartment back. It was more of a confirmation. Boy, we are doing the right thing here. And and the outside, people are not gonna agree with you. People are not gonna, you know, we my my my folks weren't really all that, you know, they weren't really on board when we when we were selling our house because you know it was a good house, good investment. Boy, things are moving out, it would have been worth a lot, but the Lord calls to sell, and I'm not hesitating it. And I really got a lot of static from my dad, you know. And I he said, uh, he kind of kind of got in my face and said, Why are you selling this house? I said, Well, the Lord called me to sell it, and he knew that. And he said, and he said, Well, I don't agree with that. And well, I said if you don't have, I told him, I said, if you have a disagreement with it, you talk to God, man, because I, you know, it's settled. So, long story short, the Lord calls, sell our house, blah, blah, blah. I called up uh Mel, the realtor guy, and said, Hey, Mel, I want you to get a good price, you don't have to get the best price. And he was a Christian, so I could explain everything to him, and he understood. So he sold his house. He sold our house, got it at a good price, blah blah blah. Long story short. So, what I'm saying is that here, you know, uh the Lord calls us to say something, do something that that seemed to be kind of a a step back, but it really wasn't a step back because what the Lord calls to do, and I'm not I'm not sharing anything to bring glory to myself, or I I the only reason I'm sharing all this is to set in is to is to to give you an example of kind of how the Lord worked. This is a big thing in our life as a as a Christian couple. So I'm just sharing this with you and kind of the steps, the process, the feelings we felt on the inside, the the things we came across when when we did this, the things that uh I don't know, were just kind of different in the learning process of the whole thing. But we did the right thing and getting our apartment back, that was the key to the right thing. So it was just um, it was uh, and as a result, man, I tell you, the Lord just really has blessed our life, blessed our life in so many ways. I I can't even begin to tell you. I can't even begin to tell you with kids, with healthy kids, with grandkids, healthy grandkids, and and just all the Lord has allowed us to travel and to do any and everything that we've ever wanted to do. And we just we're just we're just average folk. I mean, there's nothing, we're not wealthy, we're not, but the Lord has just sustained us and opened up doors for us to really enjoy life in every area. Yeah, we stub our toes at night. Yeah, sometimes you know things go wrong, sometimes, you know, who knows? We have problems like everybody else, but boy, oh boy, his blanket of protection and his his uh security and just his joy that that envelops our whole lives is just a continuous thing. And you know, as as you walk, as your faith deepens, as as Lord calls you to do things, I just I just encourage you to really think about it, really pray about it. And really, when you start to hear his voice, as you develop that relationship with him, you know his voice. He said, My sheep know my voice. When you hear his voice, don't hesitate to do what he's called you to do because it is it just will pay pay back a hundredfold. I mean, he just loves you so much and cares, cares for you. I'm I'm nothing special here, man. If he can do it for me, he'll do it for you. I just encourage you to step out, do that courageous thing, man. It's it may not be a big thing, it may be a little thing, you know, to witness to somebody, to share the Lord with somebody. Those little things, too, those are just as important. I mean, we sold a house and and we used the money how the Lord calls us to do, but also you witness to somebody, you don't know who you're witnessing to. Maybe they'll come to Christ right there, and that could be the next Billy Graham, that could be a next worldwide evangelist, and you brought that person to Christ. So, so so keep your eyes open, keep your ears open, read your word, be sensitive to the moving of the Holy Spirit, allow the Holy Spirit to guide you, allow the Lord to guide you, just tell God how much you love him. Just, just enjoy, enjoy that relationship, build that relationship. And he's gonna call you to do some just wonderful,

Blessings And Peace After Obedience

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fantastic, fantastic things. And I I just encourage you, man, living the life as a Christian is just so wonderful. I mean, and it you rise above the different things, like everything that's happening in the news now, you just rise above it. Yeah, it kind of stinks because you know what's gonna happen? It'll be probably an increase in taxes. So what? The Lord's gonna supply, he's gonna supply what you need, he's gonna make your life, he's gonna make you whole. You're gonna you're gonna rise above the problems in this world. You know, this world is gonna be perfect, it's not gonna be perfect until the Lord returns. And he and he said he's gonna make a new heaven and a new earth, so it's all gonna be replaced anyway. So in the meantime, it's it's just kind of sputtering towards an end here. It's it's running on about, you know, five out of eight cylinders, I think, you know. But anyway, that's that's beside the point. So, anyway, here I want to get back to these verses of scripture. I'm just kind of expounding here, and the Lord is really kind of getting hold of me and just kind of sharing, wanting me to share with you the different things in my life. So I'm kind of covering a lot of area here. So, anyway, the uh the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then he went and sold all he had and bought that field. The second one, again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. Same thing, another parable. This person, it was kind of interesting because here this person he buys this wonderful pearl. He just buys it in it in the cartoon. It showed it to be about the size of maybe a tennis ball. Just this fantastic pearl. And he put it in a bag and he put it in his cloak, and he was out in this field, and he, you know, and he's just out there along the campfire, and he he picks it out of his out of his cloak, out of his lapel or whatever, and he just kind of looks at it and gazes at it. And that's how a relationship with the Lord is. You can't really explain it to anybody, you know, and from the outside you look like you have nothing, because this guy sold everything he had, but that's kind of where the Lord wants you to be. He wants you to be in a sense that to take yourself out of the world system in a sense he can, he'll just deliver you and bring you into a place of peace, just like this person had. He had great wealth, but he outside on the outside he looked like nothing. And that's how it is with the Lord. I mean, the Lord, it's just it's just the best of the best. A relationship with the Lord is just so so fantastic, and and you can just live there. So, and on the outside, you know, people may not give you a second look, but so what? So what? So what? What do you care what they think? You know? I mean, I drive around an old car,

Returning To The Parables’ Heart

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I got a 2013 Toyota Camry, I got a 2005 truck, which is kind of a little bit of a rust bucket, it still runs, it does what I need it to do. I got a halt, gravel, and whatever I want for house projects, and I got a 2015 RAV4, you know, and they're they're clean, they're nice, but you know, Cheroken, I I've had new cars, new vehicles, and and they're only as nice as until you get your first scratch in it, your first ding in it, then it starts changing colors, you know, after about six months, it's no longer new. But boy, I tell you, if you can, just um just uh take a take a step back. Ask the Lord, Lord, what do you want me to do? And I tell you, he'll he'll he'll deliver you, he'll take you out of this, out of this Americanized system. I mean, I love America, man. I'm I'm patriotic, I really enjoy my country. But there's we're so marketed to that we really, if we're not careful, we're going to be pulled down these rabbit holes that will not bring us any peace or joy. Just seek the Lord in your prayer time. Ask the Lord, Lord, what do you want me to do? What do you want us to do? Maybe you and a couple, maybe, you know, and and he'll just direct you as you spend time in his word. He he will start directing you little by little. And he'll take he'll take you like baby steps, man. Just little by little. And pretty soon, all of a sudden, your life is gonna is gonna change in a way that there is just this peace that's gonna come upon you. And it's just um, it's just it's wonderful. So anyway, I encourage you, and I just I'm so glad you're here, and I'm so glad you're listening to this podcast, and and thank you for being here. And um, boy, I just want to say that uh if you um maybe you don't know the Lord, you know, and if you don't know the Lord, maybe you're just stumbled across this podcast and you don't know the Lord. Um I just want you to know that uh that the Lord has has because of because of what Jesus did on the cross, He shed it, He's shed his blood on our behalf. He paid the price for all of our sins. No, so matter what you've done in life, no matter what you've done in life, the Lord has paid the price for our sins. All we have to

Stepping Out Of The World’s System

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do is ask him into our life, ask him into our heart, and he will come into our life and he will change us, he will completely change us. And it's uh it's for some people it's a it's a dynamic change. All of a sudden, boom, they're 180 degrees going in the other direction. For me, it wasn't so dynamic, but still the fruit, and over time, as I relinquish my life to the Lord, that that the the wonderfulness, the the awesomeness, the the beauty of it just started to just just just I just started to get immersed into a beautiful relationship with the Lord that has superseded anything I could have found down here. So anyway, um to receive Christ, all you have to do is is do the four things. Number one, admit your spiritual need that I'm a sinner. We're all separated by from from the Lord by our sin. We are born into sin. I mean, you could see it. I mean, our natural tendency is to be rebellious, is to be rebellious. That is our natural tendency. And number two is repent, be willing to turn from your sin. Okay, number one, admit you're a sinner. Number two, be willing to turn from your sin. Number three, believe that Jesus Christ died on died for you on the cross. And number four, receive through prayer Jesus Christ into your heart and life. So that's kind of the four steps. And I'm going to go ahead and and uh I'm gonna pray a prayer. And this is if you've never had a relationship with Jesus Christ, now is your time. So I'm gonna go ahead and pray this prayer, and I'm gonna pause to give you a chance to repeat after me. And you know, at the end of this, man, you're gonna be a new creature. This is it. This is this is the go or no-go. This is the go or no-go for heaven or hell. I mean, man, if you don't know the Lord, that's it's it's hell. But if you do know the Lord, no matter what you've done, no matter what you've done in your life, no matter how bad you were, that the Lord will take all your sins and throw them into the sea of forgetfulness, make your slate clean, just like a chalkboard. Boom, boom, boom. It's it's erased, done, gone, forgotten forever. And now, and now, as you've received from as your Lord and Savior, now your spiritual ears are open. Now your spiritual eyes are open.

Invitation To Know Jesus

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Now, as you read his word, it'll start coming to life. This is the life-changing thing that the Bible promises. This is it, the New Testament. And you look at the book of Acts, there's Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, kind of talks about the story of Jesus. John talks about kind of the Holy Spirit, more of the spiritual aspects of a relationship with Christ. And the book of Acts talks about uh Paul, the Apostle Paul, coming to Christ. He was a heck of he was tearing, tearing up the churches and and and sending people to prison, men and women to prison, and trying to destroy the church, and God got a hold of him, turned his life around. He wrote in a majority of the New Testament. So you talk about a life-changing event. Paul's Paul's life is a life-changing event. And so, anyway, as as you um, as you become a Christian, um, the life will take on, become uh uh become alive. It'll become alive as you as you read it. The Lord, the Holy Spirit will just guide you, and it'll be so wonderful. So here I'm going. I'm just gonna go ahead and lead a prayer. And like I said, you can just um repeat after me and uh and that's it. But um so here we go. Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner and need your forgiveness. I believe that you died for my sins. I want to turn away from my sins. I now invite you to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow you as Lord and Savior in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, if you prayed that prayer wholeheartedly,

Salvation Prayer And Next Steps

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um your life is gonna be changed. You're gonna your life is gonna be changed. I I'd recommend just pick up a Bible if you don't already own. I I there's a lot of Bibles out there. I use the uh New International Version. Um there's different Bibles out there. Some um the differences between the different Bibles is is some uh focus on the the letter of the law kind of, and other ones focus more on the Holy Spirit, the movement of the Holy Spirit. That's why there's so many differences in the Bibles. So um, but uh I don't know. The NIV, there is there's some uh different Bibles that you know I use for study, but the NIV I've always kind of clung to that because uh that's when I that's the Bible I was reading when when the Holy Spirit baptized me down in down in Texas. So um so I just look at it as as that was a pretty good pretty good uh pretty good confirmation to me that that's it's not a bad interpretation. Some people will argue that different interpretations mean different things, but but anyway, I'm not gonna go there except for the fact that uh I welcome you to the family of God. If you pray that prayer with me right now, you are a new creature. The Bible says old things are passed away. You are a brand new creature. And as you follow Christ, your life will just begin to change. So that's it. I'm I think I'm done with this. This is podcast for this time, and and I thank you again for being here. And uh I just thank you. Pursue the Lord, just start pursuing the Lord. Uh, spend time in prayer every morning. You know, even if it's a couple minutes, man. Right now, I'm I pray an hour in the morning. And I don't, you know, when I was a new Christian, there is no way I could do that. Five minutes was like an eternity, but but boy, as you as you start walking with the Lord, all of a sudden he'll stretch your time and that relationship just becomes so real. And there's just such a such a wonderful sweetness in that early morning getting

Daily Prayer, Scripture, And Perseverance

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up and praying with the Lord. That is just so wonderful. And it and there again, I also spend time reading the word during that time, after my prayer time, and his word just really comes alive in the sense that it really touches your heart. There's just so much there that that is there to just just comfort you. As a believer, all the good things in the Bible, all the good things in the Bible apply to you. And when you hear things of the bad things, the Lord will protect you from that, from all of it. And you know, we're here. Our life is but a single breath. We got one chance. This is it. We got one chance down here on earth to do great things for the kingdom of God. One chance. That's it. There is no, there is no no nothing else. So anyway, I love you and I care for you, and uh thank you for being here. I hope you have a wonderful day. And if you can, um, you know, I got a little button somewhere on this podcast website to for

Closing Thanks And Support Note

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financial support. You don't have to, uh you know, it'd be nice, but uh that's not what this is about. If you can support me financially, great, but that's not what this is about. Um, so again, I just thank you and uh and I hope you have a wonderful day. Take care.