Couples living together is nothing new, but it seems like it is more common today than it has ever been. Even followers of Jesus appear to think there is nothing wrong with it. The truth is, you are not going to find a verse in the Bible commanding single people not to live together. If there is no verse in the Bible prohibiting people living together, then it must be all right to do so, right?

Why Do Couples Choose to Live Together

Many couples live together for some of the following reasons:

It’s convenient

It’s cheaper

Loneliness or living alone is undesirable

We’re going to get married anyway

Fear of commitment to marriage

People believe cultural lies

We want to see if we are compatible

We don’t see anything wrong with it 

What Does the Bible Say About Couples Living Together?

How should someone who has chosen to follow Jesus think about this culturally acceptable issue? Well, you are not going to find a verse in the Bible that says: “Thou shall not live together.” However, I believe some principles can guide our thinking and behavior.

If you followers of Jesus, and you are living together sexually, there are only three possible solutions:

1. Get married. 1 Corinthians 7:9
2. Live in separate houses or apartments and stop having sex until after your wedding day.
3. End the relationship and live alone, if you cannot control your sexual passions.

Continuing living together is not an option for a follower of Jesus. If you are unmarried and living together sexually, you are sinning, and you need to repent and decide to submit your sexuality to the Lordship of Christ.

What if we are living together and remaining abstinent?

Because the Bible doesn’t have an explicit prohibition, does that mean we can live together? Not so fast, people.

First, you are placing yourself in the throes of temptation. You can’t play with fire and not eventually get burned. I have had a few men tell me: “Pastor, we can sleep in the same bed and not be sexually active.” Dude, I firmly say, you are freaking deluding yourself. You are a better man than every other red-blooded man I know.”

Secondly, you are negatively impacting your testimony for Jesus. Even if you are not having sex, and you tell people you are not having sex, they will look at you side-eyed and will not believe you. This can negatively affect your testimony for Jesus. We have an awesome responsibility to be a light in the world for our Father:

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16

Living together cloaks and covers that light. I think people are looking for examples – people who say they are Christians and live like they are Christians. I think living together gives non-Christians a reason not to follow Jesus.

Why Getting Married is Wiser Than Living Together

First, marriage helps to create trust. When couples choose to live together, there is no upfront commitment, which creates trust. Most couples I know and counsel, who have decided to live together, suffer from trust issues. Some couples will say that they don’t need a piece of paper to declare their trust. This is true. However, you have to be concerned about a couple who will not publicly declare their commitment to one another.

Secondly, marriage states, plainly and openly, your love and dedication. The wedding ceremony is to marriage as baptism is to salvation. Baptism does not save us and the wedding ceremony does not make us married. However, both baptism and the marriage ceremony are public declarations and commitment to Jesus and our spouses, respectively. Baptism reveals our newfound identity in Jesus and the wedding ceremony declares our new found commitment to our spouses. If a person does not commit to marrying you publicly, you have to worry about his/her love for you.

No, you are not going to find an explicit verse in the Bible that prohibits a couple from living together. However, there are enough biblical principles and other dangers to warn couples against cohabitating. God expects us to swim against the current and let our lights shine in a dark world, not contribute to the darkness.

What are some other reasons why Christians should not live together before marriage? 

The post Can My Girlfriend and I Love Jesus and Live Together? appeared first on Marvin Williams.

cialis uk click to find out moreFor most Christians, we got married so we could have good sex – God-honoring sex.  Sex is not the marriage, but it certainly is one of the perks and benefits of the marital relationship. But, how do we discover, rediscover, and maintain healthy sexual intimacy in marriage? Are there keys or guidelines to unlocking the door of “good sex” in marriage?

For some married couples, sexual intimacy has been everything they hoped and dreamed. Unfortunately, for other couples, sexual intimacy is elusive. To say it has been one big disappointment is an understatement.  You wonder if you will ever experience the joy of sexual intimacy. You have questions: Are there guidelines for sexual intimacy in marriage? How often should we have sex? What if I don’t feel like it, doI still have to? What if my spouse doesn’t deserve sex, do I still have to give it to him/her?  

The Corinthians sent Paul a letter, asking him similar questions. He wrote 1 Corinthians 7 to clarify many of their questions, including, what are guidelines for sex in marriage and are there keys to unlocking sexual intimacy in marriage?

Paul says, the first key or guideline to experiencing good sex in marriage is found in the safety of exclusivity.

•  EXPERIENCE SEX ONLY WITH YOUR SPOUSE

But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. 1 Corinthians 7:2

Good sex – God-honoring sex begins with a very basic guideline: Have sex only with your spouse. Paul starts his answer to them in verse 2. There was such rampant sexual immorality in Corinth that Paul had to give them this very basic guideline. Sex is a wonderful gift from God, and it is designed to be a pleasurable experience between a husband and wife.

Paul says to the Corinthians that each should have their own spouse. “Should have” is a euphemism for having your own wife and your own husband, sexually. It was very common in this culture for men to have a wife plus other women, particularly prostitutes and mistresses on the side. Paul deals with these ungodly cultural norms head on. If couples were to have good sex – God-honoring sex, then the husband was to exclusively experience sex with his wife and the wife was to exclusively experience sex with her husband.

Now, what I am about to say does not excuse unfaithfulness/infidelity. The chances are greater for your husband to commit adultery if you deprive him of sexual intimacy in your marriage. The chances are greater for your wife be unfaithful to you if you deprive her of regular and healthy sexual intimacy. Now, a couple should not have sex out of fear, but out of love for God and one another.  I believe the chances for unfaithfulness go down considerably when couples settle the exclusivity question very early in the dating and pre-marital counseling phase of their relationship.

Good sex begins when we experience sex only with our spouse. Paul, however, gave the second key or guideline to unlocking sexual intimacy in marriage.

• FULFILL THE SEXUAL NEEDS OF YOUR SPOUSE

The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise,  the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, … 1 Corinthians 7:3-5

The Greeks and Romans believed that the husband had certain responsibilities to the wife, primary among them the right of financial support. Beyond this, it was assumed that the husband would take lovers so long as he was discreet and did not embarrass his family. This was a “jacked up” principle, but it was a reality in Corinth. Paul squashed that with the quickness and would have nothing to do with this corrupt thinking and double standard. A Christian husband and wife could neutralize Satan’s attempt to hijack their marriage, not only by refraining from infidelity but by fulfilling one another’s sexual needs.

Part of the responsibility of marriage is to humbly and gladly meet the various needs of the partner (Gen. 2:18), including sexual needs.

Moreover, in marriage, each partner relinquishes certain personal rights, including the exclusive right to his or her own body. Neither person has complete authority over his or her own body in marriage. Note that Paul was careful to give both husband and wife equal rights in these verses. He did not regard the man as having sexual rights or needs that the woman does not have or vice versa.

The phrase “should give” is an interesting phrase. We can find this same word in Matthew 22:21. Just as citizens owed taxes to Caesar, the husband owes his wife sexual intimacy and the wife owes her husband sexual intimacy.  She deserves sexual intimacy. He deserves sexual intimacy. This is an obligation to one another because of the marital covenant.

Hold up, Marvin! Wait one minute!

What if she doesn’t deserve it or hasn’t earned it?
What if he doesn’t deserve or hasn’t earned it?
What if she’s a whiny drama queen?
What if he’s a lazy bum?

Hear me very carefully. Sex was never designed to be a weapon to discipline the husband and to discipline the wife. Nor is it a reward for good behavior. It is part of the marital agreement.

“ Sexual intimacy between a husband and wife is non-negotiable.

Sexual intimacy between a husband and wife is non-negotiable.

If you are the wife, it is unbiblical for you to think or say: 

“If you’re a good little boy, then we can have sex. If you are a bad little boy then I will withhold it from you.”

If you are the husband, it is unbiblical for you to think or say: 

“If you have been a good little girl, then I will reward you with sex.” If you have been a bad little girl, then I will deprive you of sexual intimacy.”

This is not how God designed sex in marriage. He designed it to be part of the marital benefits. Husbands and wives aren’t supposed to deprive, rob, cheat, withhold sexual pleasure from one another. If couples deprive one another of sexual intimacy, they are sinning against God and one another.

Now, I must admit, there are some factors that may contribute to one spouse depriving another of sexual relations in marriage. Sometimes, this is intentional and other times it is unintentional.

What are some reasons why a couple might deprive one another of sexual intimacy?

• Sometimes, couples don’t have the desire to be intimate – changes in life, having children, feeling body shame, menstrual cycle, and unfaithfulness of any kind.
• Sometimes, couples don’t have the energy to have sex – busy schedules, stress, illness, carrying the burden of house and kids alone, lack of exercise, poor diet, and being preoccupied with watching sports (Tonia told me to include this).
• Sometimes couples don’t enjoy sexual intimacy because of the issues of the past – sexual abuse, infidelity, and other sexual brokenness.

When it comes to having good sex – God-honoring sex, the key to fulfilling the sexual needs of your spouse is making humble adjustments. Men and women are different. However, women are vastly superior to men at being women and men are vastly superior to women at being men. Good sex happens in a marriage when both spouses release their rights and genuinely serve one another.

What if my spouse wants sex all the time? Do we have to have sex all the time? Can I get a break? Are there legitimate times, however, when a married couple can or should abstain from sexual intimacy? Paul says, “Yes, you can have a break from sex, and there is a time when you can abstain from sexual intimacy.” We’ll cover the third and fourth keys and answer some questions you might have, in the next post.

Check out The Way We Think About Sex Is Broken, and discover why God gave us the beautiful gift of sex.

What was particularly helpful for you in this post? 

What would you add to help couples increase sexual intimacy in their marriages? 

The post Good Sex appeared first on Marvin Williams.

If you Google the word sex, you will get approximately 1.8 billion hits. Next week the number will be higher This is not surprising. Many of those hits, more than likely, reveal the brokenness, corrupted, devalued and ugly side of sex. This was never God’s plan for this beautiful and amazing gift. When we embrace and appreciate the WHY of sex, then we will begin to enjoy the WHAT of sex. Why did God create and give us this beautiful gift anyway?

I am convinced that when we embrace the original purposes and limits God has set for its enjoyment, sex will be AMAZING, BEAUTIFUL EPIC, OMG, EXTRAORDINARY!

God created sex.

Our good Father is the author and Creator of the good and beautiful gift of sex. Sex is a creation of God, not Hollywood or “reality” television.  Because God created this amazing gift, we should look to him to understand how he designed it and what are the purposes for it. Genesis 1:28

God created sex to for marriage. 

God created human sexuality. He created male and female to complement one another sexually – in marriage. Because God created human sexuality and the act of sex, then he has the right to tell us how and where to experience this gift. He wants us to enjoy sexual intimacy in the context of marriage. Married couples celebrate their union with sexual intimacy (Genesis 2:23-24).

To experience this gift outside the limits God has ordained is a sin. Though this is not popular these days, the Bible says it is true. This means premarital sexual relations, adultery, prostitution, rape, homosexual intercourse, bestiality, incest, voyeurism, and pornography are expressions of sexual brokenness. These sexual sins go beyond the limits that God has set for sexual enjoyment.

God created sex for couples to express a spiritual truth.

God gave married couples sexual intimacy to celebrate their union and to express whole-life oneness. Sexual relations is not just about skin-to-skin, hittin’ it, or getting our swerve on. It is a physical expression of spiritual truth. This truth is spiritual and emotional oneness. Sexual intimacy is as much a spiritual and emotional connection as it is a physical act (Genesis 2:24).

When God created man and woman, he created them to be spiritual and emotional beings. They were designed to connect with God and with one another.  They were created to be in tune with one another’s needs for love, intimacy, closeness, and companionship. Spiritual and emotional oneness are naturally expressed through sexual intimacy.  God designed it so that when a couple is sexually intimate, they would be proclaiming: “we are one” on every level. Now, to have sex without this oneness, cheapens and devalues this beautiful gift God has given a husband and wife.

Listen, when Tonia and I one – spiritually and emotionally – the joy we experience is like Handel’s Messiah – Hal-le-lujah! Hal-le-lujah! Hal-le-lujah! (I know that was probably way too much information). It is what God intended for it to be. The opposite is true as well. When we are not living in unity in our marriage, there is a lack of sexual fulfillment and pleasure.

Someone might say, “Since I am not one with my partner, then do I have to have sex with my spouse?”  This is the wrong question. The question we should ask is, “How do we become one spiritually and emotionally so that when we do come together sexually, it will be fulfilling to us and glorifying to God.

God created sex for couples to provide mutual pleasure.

Because God gave us all things to enjoy, we can conclude that he gave couples the gift of sexual intimacy to enjoy. Married couples should find pleasure in sex. God created it that way. The writer of Proverbs affirms this truth: Proverbs 5:15-20.  The book of Song of Solomon is all about a couple celebrating sexual pleasure in their marriage. God gave us sex for mutual pleasure.

Unless there are physical, emotional or sin issues, you should be enjoying sexual intimacy in your marriage. Now, sexual relations should be pleasurable, but not the end all be all in a relationship. Sexual intimacy was not designed to be robust enough to sustain our marital relationship.

“ Sexual intimacy was not designed to be robust enough to sustain our marital relationship.

Sexual intimacy is pleasurable, but should not be the ultimate pleasure in a relationship.

God created sex for couples to have children.

God is the ultimate giver of life, but when he gave Adam and Eve the command to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth (Genesis 1:28), he was inviting them and us to be co-creators of life with him. We have the privilege of conceiving and giving birth to children through sexual intimacy.  According to Psalm 127:3, children are a blessing from God.

Though procreation should take place in marriage, unfortunately, because of the fall, some couples are unable to have children. Thank God couples can enjoy adopting and fostering children.

Let’s think about sex from God’s point of view. When we let Jesus redeem our sexuality, we can experience sex the way God intended. As we embrace God’s purposes for sex, we will have a better chance of enjoying this beautiful gift.

Where do we see the most sexual brokenness in our world?  

In you opinion, if sex is such a power topic, why doesn’t the church talk about it more?

What are some ways we can redeem this beautiful gift God has given us?  

The post The Way We Think About Sex Is Broken appeared first on Marvin Williams.

In my previous posts, Singles Are Not Unfinished Business and The One Key To Maximizing Your Singleness, I said singleness is a blessing and contentment is the key to celebrating and maximizing your singleness. While you are embracing singleness and a blessing and growing in contentment, what should you do in the meantime?

       3. CREATE A GOD-HONORING CHECKLIST.

The third courageous move singles can make to celebrate and maximize their singleness is to create a God-honoring checklist of what you should look for in a spouse.

Instead of focusing on finding the right person, you should become the right person. This preparation includes becoming emotionally healthy, physically fit, and spiritually active. This preparation helps us to discard baggage we bring into relationships. We all carry baggage from past relationships. Those of us who are married brought 3 or 4 carry-on bags onto the plane of our relationship. The more emotional baggage you can discard before marriage, the more time you can devote to building your marriage. This way you won’t have to deal with old conflict that has grounded you for years.

Some naively think that marriage is the magic bullet that will fix all their personal problems. This is fantasy. If these issues are not dealt with through counseling, mentoring and personal obedience, marriage will only highlight issues and expose what is in your carry-on luggage. So, spend time identifying your issues. In fact, I would suggest that you not seriously date anyone until you have allowed God to heal you of some of the junk in your life. You can identify your issues through prayer, close friends giving you feedback, counseling, strength inventories, and self-examination.

After you have identified and begun allowing God to help you discard your baggage, what should you look for in a potential spouse? Though not exhaustive, the following is, what I hope is a God-honoring checklist for what to do while you are waiting for God to bless you with that special man or woman.

• Pray and look for a potential spouse who is a genuine follower of Jesus. Although I know that there are some “saved dogs” and “hoochies” out there, this doesn’t change the biblical command to marry someone who is a genuine believer in and a follower of Jesus. Non-believers inevitably draw believers away from Jesus more than believers draw non-believers to Jesus. This does not mean a believer can’t bring a non-believer to Christ. In my experience, I have seen it work the other way more times than I care to remember.

• Look for a potential spouse who has similar likes, values, and interests. If your interests include sports, traveling family, children, education, then you are probably going to enjoy the company of someone with similar interests. Similar interests and values increase the enjoyment of your time alone with that individual. Very few things are as painful and annoying as being with someone with whom you have very little or nothing in common. 

Now, incompatibility is not all bad. I have found the adage that opposites attract to be true in my marriage. I am a sports fan; Tonia is not. I was an English major in college; Tonia was an engineer and math major in college. Tonia likes to cook; I like to eat (well, I suppose that is more compatibility than incompatibility). But, we made a decision early in our relationship to be open to learning from one another and grow from each other’s likes and strengths.

But, how can you increase compatibility in your relationship? Here are some key questions to help you improve compatibility. How you answer these questions will determine whether incompatibility will enhance or create unsolvable conflict in your relationship.

Am I willing to make adjustments or will I have a posture of selfishness and stubbornness?
Am I ready to make emotional progress?
Am I growing emotionally and spiritually? Or, will I remain stagnant?
Am I willing to put in work to learn from someone who is different than I am? 

• Determine what qualities you want in a potential spouse. Create a realistic list of qualities and attributes that you want in a wife or husband. As you make your list, determine what are the deal breakers and those things that are negotiable. Tonia’s lack of zeal for sports wasn’t a deal breaker for me. She had so many other qualities that overshadowed her lack of passion for baseball, football and basketball. I didn’t want to run the risk of losing a good woman just because she didn’t like sitting watching the game with me. She has learned to love the sports I love, but I would have missed out on a good and godly woman because I was unrealistically particular.

• Place your life and future spouse in God’s hands. Through prayer and obedience, put your life and future in God’s hands. He can see the future and we can’t. Trust him.

• Clarify your life’s purpose, mission or destiny. According to Andy Stanley, direction determines our destination. Where are your headed? What path are you taking?

• Use your “spontaneous yes.” One of the advantages of being single, you have the ability to be flexible and say yes to things without clearing it with a spouse or a spouse’s schedule. Use those yeses now because they will not be there when you get married.

• Commit to sexual purity before you begin dating someone. God’s standards, regarding sex before marriage, have not changed. Don’t wait until you are in the throes of temptation to develop a game plan. Commit to sexual purity right now. If the man or woman cannot respect your commitment to sexual purity, then he or she is not worthy of you. Ask God for strength, wisdom, and insight to fight sexual temptation.

• Commit to debt-free living. Money and communication conflicts are still top the list of the things that destroy marriages. If you can get a handle on God’s instructions regarding your finances now, you would have dealt a severe blow to an issue that can deal a serious blow to your relationship. If this is a problem for you, do whatever you can to get a handle on your finances right now. Good Sense and Financial Peace University are excellent curricula for helping people become better managers of God’s money.

• Connect with a network of gospel-centered single men and women. God created us to be part of a larger community of followers of Jesus, so we can strengthen and be strengthened. Like-minded believers can be a source of encouragement, support, and challenge when you are struggling in your singleness. Small groups or communities are great places to connect with other singles whose lives are being shaped by the gospel.

• Hang out with healthy and normal married couples. As you hang out with these couples, you get to experience real time marital interaction, conflict and conflict resolution, cooperation, laughter, and marital joy. You will find out that marriage is not a fairytale, storybook fantasy. But, it is a God-ordained human relationship that has deep valleys moments and Everest type experiences.

This checklist of what singles should look for in a spouse is not complete. But, I hope it will challenge singles to think seriously about looking for the right person. More importantly, I hope the list will motivate singles to become the right person as they look for a spouse.

Turn Your Minutes into Moments

What would you add to this checklist? 

The post Single and Waiting appeared first on Marvin Williams.

In my last post, Singles Are Not Unfinished Business, I encouraged singles to embrace their singleness as a blessing and not a curse. Not only should singles embrace singleness as a blessing, but I believe there is a second courageous move that will allow singles to celebrate and maximize their singleness.

     2. LEARN CONTENTMENT IN YOUR PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCE  

One of the keys to celebrating and maximizing your singleness is learning contentment in your present circumstance of singleness. Fortunately, many singles have learned what it means to be content. They are finding fulfillment in who God has created them to be. They are not yearning and burning to get married, but they are experiencing joy in living for Jesus. These men and women are amazing.

Unfortunately, some singles have clothed themselves in garments of bitterness, denial and resentment because they have believed the lie that they are incomplete. I believe this is true because they have let the culture define their lives for them. Society says if you are still single by a certain age, then something is wrong with you and you are unfinished business. Also, culture says if you get married, then you will be happy (I know a lot of miserable married couples). Listen, the world is not the boss of you.

What is Contentment? 

The Bible says that it is legitimate to be married and it is legitimate to be single. There are benefits and responsibilities to being married and to being single. The secret to these benefits and responsibilities is contentment. We are not naturally content. Therefore, married and singles alike have to learn the art of contentment.

Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Philippians 4:11-13

What does it mean to be content? I’m glad you asked. It does not mean pretending to be happy when you are not. It does not mean that you say you like everything the way it is. It doesn’t mean you want everything to remain the same. If you are single (or married), what does it mean for you to be content?

Contentment is the freedom from reliance upon others, whether persons or things to make you happy. Contentment is not passive acceptance of the status quo, but the positive assurance that God will supply all your needs.

“ Contentment is internal satisfaction which does not demand change in external circumstances.

Being content is difficult, but not impossible. This is the reason why contentment is a learned behavior. It takes sitting in the classroom of patience, learning how to manage your expectations as you depend on God for your ultimate satisfaction. When you are struggling to crack the code of contentment, God reminds you that you can do all things – find contentment in your singleness – through his Son, Jesus, who gives you strength.

The Dangers of Not Learning Contentment

One of the dangers of not learning contentment in your singleness is putting your life on hold while you wait for your marital status to change. Some singles have put their lives on hold because they are waiting for the right person or the right circumstances to change their outlook and status. They have put their education on hold or delayed a mission trip or simply have not been fully present in the moment because of “what if” and “when I.” The problem with living off “what if” and “when I” is you miss all that life has to offer you NOW!

You don’t experience contentment by relying on a man or a woman to define you and make you whole. You are not waiting to exhale or waiting for a man or a woman to blow some magical relational dust in your eyes to make you happy. It does mean that you are trusting Jesus for your ultimate satisfaction.

Another danger of not learning contentment in your singleness is forfeiting who you are – your personality, your humor, your zest for life and knowledge, your love for God and his people – because you are waiting on their external circumstances to change. The fear of being alone has caused some singles to relinquish who God created them to be and they have lost their true voice and have simply become an echo and an imitation. Your identity is found in Jesus, not your marital status.

A third danger of not learning contentment is wasting your singleness. Some singles waste their singleness practicing for marriage by jumping in and out of relationships. They think they are getting ready for marriage, but they are only practicing at failing at relationships. Ultimately, this leads to settling for someone or a circumstance which is not God’s best for you.

Contentment is a choice

Contentment, joy, and fulfillment are choices. My single brothers or sisters, you are as joyful and fulfilled and content as you choose to be, or you are as miserable as you choose to be. If you are miserable as a single person, more than likely, you will be miserable as a married person. When you are experiencing contentment and you know you don’t HAVE to be married to be happy, that’s probably when you are ready to be married.

Your joy and fulfillment as a single person must be based on staying connected to the True Vine (John 15:1-10) and choosing the right attitude (James 1:2-5). Your contentment is directly connected to letting the life of Jesus flow in and through you, choosing the right attitudes, having non-toxic people in your orbit, and deciding you are going to spill your life for the advancement of the reign and rule of God in the world.

For the most part, you cannot control your circumstances, but you can control how you respond to your circumstances. You can decide that you are not unfinished business. Someone once quipped: “Life is 10 percent of what happens to us and 90 percent of how we respond to what happens to us.”

My single brothers and sisters, if you have put your life on hold, I beg you to start living in the moment, now.

“ Until God brings you into your THEN, start enjoying your NOW.

Be fully present in your life today. Stop viewing yourself as unfinished business. Stop viewing yourself as less than whole because you are not married. Stop waiting for that life-changing event and person. Accept where God has you right now, and ask God to give you internal satisfaction which does not demand changes in external circumstances. Be content in your singleness, and choose to respond to your circumstances with joy.

Turn Your Minutes into Moments

How have you learned contentment? 

Where do you still need to depend on God for your ultimate satisfaction? 

The post Singles Are Not Unfinished Business (Part 2) appeared first on Marvin Williams.