looking at the first several verses and actually I took chapter 11 and I divided it into two portions and so we'll be looking at part one chapter 11 today we're looking at the elective Israel and so we'll begin at verse one in Romans 11 I'll read verses one to six and we'll get into our study Romans chapter 11 beginning at verse one reading to verse six Paul writes I say then has God cast away his people certainly not for I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin God has not cast away his people whom he foreknew or do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah how he pleads with God against Israel saying Lord they've killed your prophets torn down your altars I alone am left and they seek my life but what does the divine response say to him I have reserved for myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal even so then at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace and if by grace then it is no longer of works otherwise grace is no longer grace but if it's of works it's no longer grace otherwise work is no longer work and so Paul has been presenting Israel from two standpoints from the standpoint of God and from Israel's own standpoint now in chapter 9 verses 6 through 8 he had written that God sovereignly chose his children he had said there it is not that the word of God has taken no effect for they are not all Israel who are of Israel nor are they all children because they are of the seed of Abraham but in Isaac your seed shall be called that is those who are the children of the flesh these are not the children of God but the children of the promise are counted as the seed and so he's speaking of how God has chosen his people and he had said in chapter 10 that that Israel stubbornly refused to respond to God and as we looked at chapter 10 he had said at verse 21 the last verse of the chapter he said to Israel he says all day long I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people so they have consistently been disobedient they have consistently resisted him I mentioned to you out of Matthew 23 verses 37 through 39 how Jesus had said this he had said oh Jerusalem Jerusalem the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her how often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings but you were not willing see your house is left to you desolate for I say to you you shall see me no more till you say blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord so he had already pointed out that the nation of Israel has stubbornly refused stubbornly rejected him and the sending of Messiah so has he's been sharing that in chapter 10 he begins in verse 1 here by actually answering a question in verse 1 it reads I say then has God cast away his people the question would be has you know has God cast away the people but he answers and says certainly not for I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin so will Israel's stubbornness result in their never being saved the Jews not being rescued by God well well God ultimately and forever reject Israel now seeing that Israel has rejected Messiah what will become of them is what he's dealing with what will become of them as a people now Paul had already prepared his readers for this section in chapter 9 verses 27 through 29 when he said that God has a remnant so in this portion of scripture he's clarifying what he's referred to earlier so he begins in verse 1 again with the question did God cast away his people so we're going to see in a moment that the answer to that question is no in Jeremiah 46 verse 28 it reads do not fear oh Jacob my servant I'm with you declares the Lord though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you I will not completely destroy you I will discipline you but only with justice I will not let you go entirely unpunished but he said I will not completely destroy you now when we're speaking about Israel and I'm refreshing your memory for a moment in chapter 9 he had said in verse 6 not all who are descended from Israel are Israel that's because Israel is not simply natural descent but spiritual in Matthew chapter 3 verses 8 and 9 we read bear fruits worthy of repentance don't think to say to yourselves we have Abraham as our father for I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones it's not the natural descent it's not that you can point back he is saying and say that we all are from Abraham's seed is there Israel being the children will say of Abraham so he had already pointed out to be recognized as children of Abraham actually requires faith he had already said that in chapter 4 when he said in verse 9 we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness and so it is not physical descent not every physical individual who claims that they have a kinship to God through Abraham is really Israel Israel is actually made up of those you know there is a spiritual quotient we'll put it that way there are Jews and then there are those who are real descendants of Abraham by the basis of faith and that's the point he's making right now and I'll develop that with you as we go through this so he's speaking of himself in this way and he's saying that in reality I'm an example he's saying I'm an example of what would be called a Christian Jew I'm both Jewish and Christian and that reveals that such a person actually exists when you go to Israel I've said this before I'll say it briefly at least the last time I remember checking on this maybe it's changed since then but if you were of a Jewish heritage if you you were Jewish ethnicity you took a DNA test and and you know you're you're a Jewish person you could apply for citizenship in Israel based on the fact that you have Jewish DNA and they would accept you but if you're a Christian who is also of Jewish descent and you claim to be a Christian they would say you cannot receive citizenship here because you're not Jewish they would say you're a Christian which in their mind and this is recent it may still be in their mind you stopped to being Jewish when you became a believer in Messiah and that that it that's a fact I mean that that's what what's been going on for for quite some time but Paul is saying no no God has not cast away his people I'm an example of a Jew who's a believer in Messiah that's a point he's making now remember in Ephesians 2 in verses 11 through 13 Paul had said remember that you once Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands that at that time you were without Christ being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel strangers from the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world but now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ and so it's a blood of Christ that brings you into the family of God so he said to the Galatians in chapter 3 verses 28 and 29 there is neither Jew nor Greek slave nor free male nor female you are all one in Christ Jesus if you belong to Christ then you are Abraham seed and heirs according to the promise and so that's what we call a spiritual kinship to the nation of Israel and so has God cast away his people certainly not so he goes on he says God in verse 2 has not cast away his people whom he foreknew or do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah how he pleads with God against Israel saying Lord they've killed your prophets turned down your altars I alone am left they seek my life but what does the divine response say to him I've reserved for myself 7000 men who have not bound the need of all even so then at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace and it by grace and it's no longer of works otherwise grace is no longer grace but if it's of works it's no longer grace otherwise work is no longer work so has God forsaken his people once again no now notice this and I'll develop this for a moment he uses the example of a prophet in the in the Old Testament all of us know his name Elijah Elijah is spoken of in first Kings chapter 17 in the Old Testament up until chapter 2 of second Kings and Paul is referring to scripture found in chapters 18 and 19 to illustrate this is utilizing the prophet you see in chapter 18 scripture records an encounter on Mount Carmel it was in this place that Elijah exposed Israel's false prophets some of you have been to this place and you've stood there overlooking the Valley of Megiddo and you've received Bible studies there this will refresh your memory what he was doing is he was making a challenge to the false prophets those who represented the God quote-unquote Baal as well as Ashra and he wanted to reveal to Israel their true God so there were 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Bashar and they were gathered together and so there was a challenge given there were going to be two bulls that were to be cut in pieces placed on wood but there would be no fire placed under the wood now the prophets the false prophets would take one bull and they did and they slaughtered it they butchered it they placed it on the wood and and the Bible says that from morning until noon they cried out and they leaped about the altar but in spite of all of their efforts the Bible makes it clear there was no answer so in 1st Kings 18 27 through 29 it says so it was at noon they'd Elijah mocked him and said cry out for he's a God either he's meditating he's busy he's on a journey perhaps he's sleeping he must be awakened so they cried out and cut themselves as was their custom with knives and lances until the blood gushed out on them when midday was passed they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice but there was no voice no one answered no one paid attention which is a picture of worshiping idols worshiping false gods all their efforts all their screaming all their dancing around all the bloodletting availed in no way and so they're being mocked by the true prophet so Elijah calls the people to himself he takes 12 stones they had an altar that had been broken so they repair that broken altar he dug a trench he filled it with 12 large water pots of water and then he prayed and prayer was a simple prayer he wasn't bouncing around he wasn't slashing himself he wasn't doing anything he simply said in first Kings 1837 hear me oh Lord hear me that this people may know that you are the Lord God and that you have turned their hearts back to you again what was the answer God answered by fire he consumed the offering as well as drying up all the water because they had poured all this water in order to ensure that if something happened it would have to be a miracle and when this happened the people cried out the Lord he's God and so he took the false prophets and according to the law of Moses he executed them you know after this he was chased by the patroness of the false prophet Jezebel I have two daughters I didn't name either one of them Jezebel I dated a few but I never never named my child that I mean Jezebel is like naming your son Judas that's not a name that you give to your child and so Jezebel comes after him again we know the story and he fled from before Jezebel and he went out and he hid in the wilderness he sat under the branches of a juniper tree and he and prayed and this is what he's basically said he said God just take my life and as it was moaning to the Lord God sent an angel to minister to him he fed him and he sent him on a journey and he made his way all the way to a place called Mount Horrib which was which the scripture says took him 40 days that was actually an unusually long time to take a 200 mile journey there's no explanation as to why it took so long but it took a long time for him to get there and finally when he arrived he went into a cave and it was in a cave that the Lord came and spoke to him in first Kings 19 verse 9 he asked him what are you doing here Elijah now he's discouraged he's physically and spiritually exhausted and so he replies in verse 10 of first Kings 19 I've been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty the Israelites have rejected your covenant torn down your altars and put your prophets to death with the sword I'm the only one left and now they're trying to kill me too what are you so discouraged well some minor problems they're trying to kill me that that causes me some concern but God said go stand on a mountain and and then he passed by a strong wind tore into the mountain broke the rock after the wind came a strong earthquake and after the earthquake earthquake came fire earth wind and fire I believe that's where that group got the name seriously earth wind and fire and so this is what took place now the scripture says the Lord was not in the wind the Lord was not in the earthquake and the Lord was not in the fire in first Kings 19 12 it simply says after the fire the Lord spoke and he was a still small voice a still small voice earth wind and fire earthquake windstorm and fire a still small voice what are you saying not by might nor by power but by my spirit say if the Lord a still small voice keep that in mind next time you're going through your own earth wind and fire experience keep that in mind because it wasn't in the earthquake he wasn't in the windstorm and he wasn't in the fire he spoke in a still calm voice to remind him that he was in control he didn't have to do something so extreme he simply needed to bring comfort into a broken prophet you see he's saying to him and we'll get back to the passage but he was saying I will accomplish this work you're not alone you see he thought he was alone but God says no you're not alone I have reserved for myself seven thousand men you know church today we can feel that we are alone and we have no allies we can think in truth the world is against us and the onslaught against the faith of the Christian is huge I mean even when there have been disasters of some sort and Samaritan's purse wants to be on the scene to help and the people of New York say we don't want your help it's a real obvious thing that there's a a war against the faith of Christ there's no doubt about it and sometimes we can begin to be very very discouraged and we can think we have no chance that we're going to be overwhelmed completely nobody else wants to be saved young people don't care about the gospel that's a lie from Satan that's a lie from the pit that's not true at all there are still people who are faithful to God there are still Christians who are serving the Lord with all of their heart there are still churches that are built on the faith of Christ proclaiming the gospel it's still happening and we need to remember that and God is going to do that work and he has a way of doing it we're not alone God says I will accomplish that work and so he's pointing out that he's the one who does the work and so in context back to Romans 11 God has set a people apart for himself he's saying even as God had seven thousand who had not bowed their knee to this false God he was saying there are Jews that are reserved to be used by God also and so he's pointing that out notice verse 5 even so then at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace when he speaks of the election of grace there are those he's saying are the remnant who are saved not because they hold fast to an attempt to observe the law and the commandments they are saved because they are yielded to God through the grace of God and faith in Christ in 2nd Timothy 1 9 he has saved us and called us with a holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began so he says they are saved by God's grace and then he says in verse 6 if by grace then it's no longer works otherwise grace is no longer grace but if it's of works it's no longer grace otherwise work is no longer work so the preservation of the remnant cannot be a work of of grace and and and works themselves because he said work is no longer work in another words attempting to obey something that should actually be done through the grace of God you cannot in other words be saved by your efforts it's all going to be always by the grace of God and so grace is what we trust in I made a note to myself I'll say it very very briefly because I ain't going to get through this and we're going to have communions so I'm going to relax a moment and I'll stop where I stop so we can have communion I wanted to share this but here this is important for you I want I'm going to point it to you and take just a moment verse 6 again if by grace then it is no longer of works otherwise grace is no longer grace but if it is of works it is no longer grace otherwise work is no longer works there's a scripture quote-unquote it's not really what we would call a scripture but it's referred to by those who are proponents of Mormonism there is a scripture quote-unquote that they quote and this is basically what they say they say we are saved by grace after that we have done all that we can do for those who want to check that that second Nephi chapter 25 verse 23 that's in the book of Mormon we are saved by grace after that we after that when we have done all that we are able to do all that we can do well that's an example of trying to replace grace with law what they're saying is that God's grace begins at the point of your efforts rather than in spite of your efforts I am saved by faith and God's grace plus nothing else it is by grace that you are saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God and not of works less any man should boast if I could perform works that would that would give me a relationship with God then Christ has died in vain Paul said I do not frustrate the grace of God for if righteousness came by the law Christ has died in vain he said that in Galatians chapter 2 and so you are saved by the grace of God through faith and Paul's making that point he's saying these people this remnant are not saved because they've kept the law of Moses no God has set apart a people for himself who actually have faith in Messiah and that faith in Messiah at that time remember this that the early church was all Jewish and Jesus when he when he said you're gonna receive the power the Holy Spirit he said you're gonna receive it you're gonna be witnesses to me he said where he said in Jerusalem and Judea then to Samaria and the other most parts of the earth so the grace of God is expressed the nation of Israel first so when when Paul in chapter 1 he was speaking he made it very clear he said to the Jew first and also to the Gentile and when Paul got saved where is it that he would go first when he entered a new town look at the book of Acts we're going through it right now where would he go he would go first to the synagogues to speak to the Jewish people so the grace of God was demonstrated through Messiah who died on a cross for us both Jew and Gentile come to relationship with God in the same way Abraham had faith it was accounted unto him for righteousness you and I have faith in Christ and it is accounted to us as righteousness and so we are children of Abraham not by physical descent we are children of Abraham by having the faith of Abraham and that's what Paul's speaking about so has God stopped working with the nation of Israel there are those who would say yes that is called replacement theology I'm not going to give you a big thing on that but they say that the church replaced Israel that's not what scripture says and that's not what Paul is saying here has God forsaken the Jews no God is continuing to work with them and so he says in verse 7 what then Israel has not obtained what it seeks but the elect have obtained it and the rest were blinded just as it's written God has given them a spirit a stupor eyes that they should not see ears that they should not hear to this very day David says that the table become a snare and a trap a stumbling block and a recompense to them I don't remember saying that but I guess I did let their eyes be darkened so that they do not see and bow down their back always and so the non-believing Jews he have been seeking by law he's saying what God is given by grace now in chapter 10 verse 3 it said they being ignorant of God's righteousness seeking to establish their own righteousness have not submitted to the righteousness of God what's the result he says hardened hardness of heart the word hardness speaks about a stiffening a callousing a callousness it's a mental callousness so a hardness national it national Israel he's saying has become hardened against Christ that was true then it is true to this day in verse 8 he said God gave them a spirit of stupor and blind eyes the word stupor means that there are their numb blindness is obvious they may have seen the wonders of God but they're spiritually blind they're refusing to believe God gave them prophets and God gave wonders but they refused him they've grown dull is what he's saying they not only don't believe but they refuse to believe because they're spiritually blind when he says in verses 9 and 10 that David says let their table become a snare and a trap that table represents safety and feasting so may their table become a trap in other words as they eat of the law may they be judged by it have they stumbled verse 11 that they should fall certainly not but through their fall to provoke them to jealousy salvation has come to the Gentiles now if their fall is riches for the world and their failure riches for the Gentiles how much more their their fullness and so have they stumbled to never recover will they forever be rejected and the answer is no there's a purpose in this this is interesting because he's saying that God is using non-Jews God is using Gentiles to provoke them to jealousy their fall has actually resulted in riches for the non-Jew when we looked at Ephesians in chapter 1 we saw what God has given us in Christ spiritual blessings such as adoption and acceptance redemption and forgiveness he's given us wisdom and inheritance he has sealed us with the spirit he's given us life he's poured out his grace he's given us a heavenly citizenship these are things we found in Ephesians 1 I remember hearing a Jewish man on one occasion say this I have never met a Christian who's ever made me jealous of anything and I think what he's saying there's a bit of truth to it because what he was saying is they don't live any better lives than the non-believers that I know and there are quite a number and we know this it's not a judgment on people who try and fail who's going to be perfect other than me nobody so but it is true isn't it I mean we all fail we all stumble I mean who's to say that's not true of course it's true we aren't in heaven yet we're not perfected yet we still have a long way to go and that's all to be admitted but it's never to be used as an excuse just because I'm not perfect doesn't mean I should continue to live as one who doesn't care to be I should strive for perfection that I might reach excellence it's been said I should discipline myself like Paul said lest he said having preached to others I myself should be disqualified I I should live in such a way that that people will see that God is with me and say whatever it is you have that's what I want that's what happened the day I got saved that's exactly what happened the day I got saved when I came home and my sister Madeline and I were speaking and she said what happened to you and Madeline my sister was four years younger than me but she knew me very well she knew the life I was living in things of that nature what happened to you and I told her I gave my heart to Christ and and there was such a difference about me even the day I got saved that you went to bed that night and that's when she said God whatever you did for my brother please do it for me and are there people in your life that look at you and say whatever they have that's what I need I want it I want that I want that you know the joy the contentment the peace the the the ability to not strive and and be angry and to be addicted and the other various things that are flesh craves and desires you know Paul said you know God saved the Gentile because he's going to use the Gentiles the believers in Christ to provoke Israel to jealousy when they say God is with you and there are Jewish people I've known Marie and I have known who have been around Christians our guides in Israel the our bus driver we have a bus driver named Abbey and Abbey Abbey loves us for some reason I don't know why but last I'm serious I don't know why but the last time I saw him he the last trip we he came specially see us he's retired from driving his bus but he came to see us and was in the hotel with us and and he looked at us and talked to us and hugged us and love and he said this to me he said you are my family and that just touched my heart and then he asked for a loan but anyway but I yeah I am your family but he was a bus driver for Pastor Chuck and so many others and over the years he heard the gospel heard the gospel and then watched the ministers he watched the life of Pastor Chuck and the others whom he had gotten to know and he developed a closeness to them and then he developed a love for them and then he developed a love for the Messiah because obviously saved man Jewish believer I mentioned Yossi who was a very dear very dear friend of ours and Yossi did the same thing he watched the Christians he watched the pastors he spent time with Pastor Chuck he listened to the Bible studies and then one day he finally said Jesus is Messiah there's something in their life that I want and that's the life I want to live that's the way I want to live I don't want people to say boy you know he's a nice guy I want people to say I want to worship the God that he worships because that's that's the key right not just being somebody that is liked by others but somebody who leads the way for others to discover that one who has made them who they are and so the Jews are intended to see the blessings that God pours out on the church and to say we have so many promises in the Old Testament but they've seen the fulfillment they have what we don't have and I'm going to stop there because it's time to have communion I will pick up next week God willing but may we be the people that are able to provoke others to a desire for the God that we worship


The soluble carrier hormone binding protein, HBP, plays an important role in the growth of human and other animals. Accurate identification of HBP is an important prerequisite for understanding its biological functions and molecular mechanisms. Machine learning-based method was proposed to identify HBP, in which the samples were encoded by using the optimal tripeptide composition. This article was authored by Joe Xiantan, Shurhao Li, Zimei Zheng, and others.


You don't mind what I'll do is I'll turn on one of the bright lights for all of you. Here we go. Sorry, I'm going to zoom in on people over here.  At least stay with them. We're so glad you could join us tonight. How's that sound? Come on in. We're so glad you could join us. There's a person wandering around with food I feel the desire to tell them where to go. I can't do it all. But we're going to start with a little music with Spencer Lewis. And then we're going to have a program. Well, we are having a program despite the anarchist tendencies of all involved. And as Spencer sings to us, we'll make sure that Linda is here with us. Spencer Lewis, thanks so much. Thank you so much for joining us on behalf of Nat's family and friends. We're so glad that you could be here. I'm Lauren Glendavidian. I had the privilege of working with Nat for many years at CCTV. And I did want to just let you know that we will be having a meal after this. And the restrooms are in the back that way in case you need them. And we're going to start. We have a program that's sort of loose here. But I'd like you to just consider at some point, if you'd like to share some comments, there is an open forum as makes sense in any democratic institution. And we're going to start with Linda Eyre, Nat's beloved wife. Thanks to a good friend who brought me this. I don't know where you are, but thank you for it. Welcome, everybody. Myself, Damon, Toby and Zimmy. Thank you for being here with us. Today, I'm going to have to read this. I didn't practice it, and I just finished writing it. Today is, today this is our community, our caress, our mishbukka. I wish to recognize that as a community, we have lost a lot of people. Husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters, friends and activists. Today we're celebrating Nat, a builder of community. Who was a husband, a father, a brother, a grandfather, friend and a colleague. He was kind, loving, quirky, angry, shy, friendly, honest, hardworking, inclusive, supportive, often very quietly. I used to, you've probably seen me bring a whole bunch of stuff to different places catering. And Nat did the quiet work in the background. He would fill the car, he would empty the car. He'd do all the dishes, and one time he said, does anybody know I do all this? And I don't think I ever told anybody well enough, so I'm telling you now. Okay, I lost my space. There we go. He was a gifted tennis, soccer and hockey player. His final year at Milton Academy, he was picked to be the captain of all three. But the coach decided that two captaincies were enough and he had to spread the wealth. Nat loved sailing and canoeing, anything that put him on the water. He devoured books, primarily mysteries, Dick Francis, Robert Parker, but also Proust and Harry Potter. He had a wondrous sense and love of nature, whether it be trees, plants, fiddler crabs, dogs, squirrels, horses and spiders. He loved babies. We often refer to him as the baby whisperer. Then of course there's Bob Dylan. I think some of you know that. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of Dylan and traded bootlegs around the world. He would hide his tape recorder under his jacket and I hid the camera under my dress. And we were successful sometimes. When pressed for his favorite songs, his list was amazing. He would say, oh yes, oops, I have the right, oh, I maybe don't have it anymore. Anyway, what he would say is, yes, blowing the wind, Paris 1974, I can't think of any, tangled up in blue. Oh yes, that was Poland, 93, and he could identify those songs and where they were from. All of his CDs had little sticky notes.  He said they were one of the best things ever invented. We do have sticky notes outside that people can write on and we can read them later. We don't have an entry book so you could use that as a way to do that if you'd like. Nat used to make beautiful furniture and there's a piece outside that he did. It's gorgeous, all dovetails, curly maple, bird's eye, just wonderful. He certainly taught me an appreciation of wood. He then helped to start depot woodworking. Does that say, oops, sorry, okay. Depot woodworking, wood's good. To foster camaraderie, he created the depot newsletter, complete with jokes and puzzles. He used to write actually for the Middlebury paper when he was there for a short time. Then came CCTV. A lot of you know him through his work. I wish Bernie was here. He did a lot of work with Bernie and actually one time I called into an AARP call that was statewide and I wanted to say something glowing about Bernie. They put him on and I said, hi, it's Linda Eyre. He goes, oh, Linda and Nat, good friends of mine. Why are those tapes resurfacing now? I don't know if some of you saw them but they were pretty silly, some of them. He shot a lot of video. That's an understatement. He created a channel that was 24-7. I don't know if YouTube existed then but you guys just figured it out on your own. He loved it. He would work up to 16 hours a day and the TV was always on to channel 17. I missed a lot of shows. A couple of short vignettes and then I think I'm done. You're probably all aware of Nat being slow to speak or if you aren't, that's the way he was. He always was thinking, what do they want me to say? What are they saying? What do they need from me? Lisa Kiley is an old friend and she met a friend of hers who told her she just met the most amazing man. He thinks before he talks. Then Lisa said to her, was it Nat Air? Toby, our middle son, traveled to France for three weeks when he was in high school. The deal was long distance calls. They cost a lot of money that he would call Nat and I and we would pass the info on to Kit, Nat's first wife. Well, Toby is another man of few words. He called but he spoke to Nat. I called Kit who started asking the questions that I wanted to know too and it asked Nat. But then I realized and told Kit, Nat and Toby spoke and she said, oh. So I think that's it for me now. I may come back. Oh, actually I'm going to read this because I haven't handed it out to anybody else. From Bruce Cipher, Nat was a dear man who cared so much about our community. Every time I saw him he always had a twinkle in his eye. We always chatted before and after a show when I would go to CCTV to film a show. Nat was solid. Always there making sure everything worked and it always did. What defined Nat to me was his presence of mind. The ability to remain calm and take quick sensible action. He had the presence of mind to record the scene on video. And Bruce said, thank you. Thank you. I may have more stories but I don't know what they are right now. Thank you, Lars. Lars is going to give us a little musical interlude for every young. It's in your program but I wanted you all to know that Lars played this song at the end of Nancy and my wedding. You're stealing my thunder. I'm sorry. Yeah, this was going to be a surprise but the reason why I'm sitting down is twofold. One is that I don't have a strap for this guitar. And number two is that I'm just a few months away from getting a new hip. So I'm in kind of a little bit of a shaky statue right now. Linda is correct. I did perform, well we've known each other since way back.  And seeing this group of people here is probably going to make me wish that I hadn't offered this to come and sing this. But I sang this song for Linda and Nat's wedding. I sang it for Louie and Patty's wedding. I sang it for probably my friend John Bennett and Linda Suttonfield's wedding. I sang it for Phil and Ellie and I sang it for Bill Joplin and Val's wedding. So one would think I would know it by heart. But these lyrics they get away from you over time. And I've never really focused on my guitar playing like I have on my woodworking. So I was a member of the, I was one up in Depot woodworking with Nat. And I will say that I'm as nervous now as I was sitting in Nat's living room when he first was making videos. And I asked him if he would indulge me to shoot some video of me playing some songs. Dylan songs of course. And some years ago Nat had committed a lot of those videos to CD or DVD or whatever.  And if you've seen some of his earlier video stuff you would think that he's like in Pomplona running away from the bulls. Because they're pretty shaky. It's all over the place but I think he got much better at it. And I remember one that he would go, I see Andrick out here and Andrick's dad and a good friend passed away recently. And Nat would come out to the basketball courts and watch us all parade up and down the court. And so Nat was really a chronicler of the events of Burlington. And I hope that those videos or those whatever the stuff he's captured has found a good home and can, you know, obviously will take a little bit of cleaning up to make good. But anyway, so anyway, this is a song that I was going to do as a surprise. But Linda called me yesterday as I was driving down here and asked if I was coming so I guess the cat was out of the bag. And I'm a little nervous but I think I'll get through it here. I mean, if I boom, are you going to hear me okay? Do I need the mic? Just tilt it toward me. My musical career was always just, you know, one full house shy of the big stage. Foundation wins, wins and changes. And that did make you stay. From folks who have written in that some of our friends are going to read. So if you could come on up and read those, that would be great. I know there's at least to be just keep in mind as you're thinking about some reflections on Nat that you may be making. It will be helpful to come up here and make them so everyone can hear.  And Linda called and asked if I would read a poem that my mother Alexandra wrote for Nat. Yeah, I know it's really sweet. Oh, here it is. Be laitidly, here's my birthday poem to Nat, written August 09. He's turning 60, my old friend Nat. He no longer smokes and that is that. He continues to toke. He still thrives on Dylan. I ask God willing for the rest of his life may he live without strife surrounded by food, love and laughter. Hugs Alexandra. That's it. So I'm Suzanne and I've known Linda since God was born and some of you in the room as well. And I didn't have the privilege of knowing Ham Davis, but Amy said would I read this for him? Those of you who know him, Ham Davis played hockey in high school and college, so he knows who a good hockey player is. He and Nat played in a pickup game together and Ham knew Nat was good. The moment he saw him on the rink, Nat didn't have hockey gloves, so Ham gave his to Nat. If they picked teams, he would want Ham and Nat on the same team. Thank you, Linda, for everything. So the floor is now open for those of you who may want to make some reflections around Nat. Brian, would you like to come on up? That's a great public access technique. Ask someone who you haven't spoken to before. So Nat was, as you all know, quite a character. And my memory of Nat that stands out at City Council in the 90s. We had a moment of time where a couple of, I would say, belligerent city councilors were really after CCTV. And they were accusing it of all kinds of things. And Nat would produce these meetings. He would record these meetings and the vitriol and the sort of venom of people on the council was amazing. And I said to him one night, how do you do this? How do you put up with this? Because they're saying stuff about UNLG and I just want to yell at them. And he just said, no, actually, all we're doing is recording it so that everyone knows what they're saying. And that's enough right there. That's all we need to do. He did something that I just want to share, which is so touching that I think I can say it. But our first child was, Liz was pregnant with Austin, our first kid. And Nat was so excited for us. And he said, I've got this cradle. And I made it probably for all the kids, perhaps. Toby was okay. So Toby got to rock in this cradle. And of course, Nat said, but I have to do a little bit of tuning up of it before you can have it because it's not quite ready. And Austin arrived a little early and I called up Nat and said, Nat, I think the cradle is like now. And he said, oh, I'm not quite ready, but I will be ready. And Austin arrived and the cradle wasn't there yet. I realized it doesn't really matter when she have a kid. You learn that it doesn't matter. But Nat showed up with it a few days later and he had like taken it and cleaned it up and polished it and got this beautiful. I think it was cherry or walnut. It was some really gorgeous piece of furniture that he made. And he set it up with me and he brought cloth diapers with him. And I thought, that's an interesting thing to do. What are you doing? He goes, I'm going to turn you on to these cloth diapers. These are the best thing you'll ever have as a woodworker. I still use the cloth diapers for my children. So we used this rocking cradle with Austin for a while and it was okay. But we were that family that chose to keep the baby in the bed. And we told Nat, he's like, that's not such a great idea. They're going to depend on it. We're like, that's okay. We sleep better. So six months later I said, Nat, you know, we're just not using it right now. What do we do? And he said, just find someone else who's going to love it, whose kid is going to love it. And he used to ask, who got the cradle today? I don't remember because that was 27 years ago. But nonetheless, it was so touching that he cared that much to do that. And what an incredible person and gifted human being in so many ways. And we're lucky to have them. Thanks for sharing them with us. Somehow we ended up with that cradle also five years later. So I don't know the path it took, but it was quite extraordinary. It's very big and it rocked. And it's Joe McNeil here. I don't think he is. That's right. Peter, would you mind coming on up? I'm Peter Clavel and I have the distinct honor of having attended approximately 500 city council meetings in my life. And that was at many, many, many of them. And just picture when the city council meeting is about to start. You have a little small talk and that would be there with always this mischievous grin on its face. And a chuckle. And it wasn't until I left office in 2006 that I figured out what the hell that was about. What I thought, what many of us thought, counselors, department heads, that aren't we big shots. Here we are on televisions. You know, there's the TV cameras. There's Nat. And we're going to be on TV tonight. And my mother can watch us and anybody else can watch us.  This is not about you being cool. It's about us, the citizens holding you accountable. So we have a record of what you're saying and we're going to hold you accountable. And I really believe that. And then later in my life when I left the mayor's office, I went on to work in international development. And much of my work was designing and implementing local governments, projects, and developing countries. And always a fundamental principle of the project was to promote local governance that is open, that is transparent, that is accountable. And I wanted so dearly to take the best practices from Burlington and apply those to these projects in developing countries. And oftentimes I would say that we would do, we would record local council meetings and put them on public access TV. We never did it. Why didn't we do it?  The access piece, the finance piece, the technology to get the engagement of all the stakeholders. It was just incredibly difficult to pull off. And it took me, being away from city government for a while, to figure out that you LG and Nat in CCTV, you figured out a way to do it. This was not done by city government. This was not done by any institution. It was done by you crazies that felt that we should deepen democracy in this community. And that's Nat's legacy is that he worked so hard to do that, to uphold accountable folks like me. And as a result, Burlington in Vermont is one of the most small D Democratic places on the planet Earth. So thank you Nat. I was thinking that you're going to come up and talk. I just want to read a little quote from Nat to this point. Peter's point. Oh, here it is. Very tiny. And it's outside on a memo that I didn't know we actually had, we had, he had written. With its programs, this was a Arts Council grant in 1985. With its programs, CCTV wishes to inform, encourage, compliment, and inspire the community of Burlington to interact and initiate activity amongst themselves even more than they do already. And in a peaceful manner. I hope that my shows help viewers become aware of the incredible world around them. That even with the extensive coverage, there's a whole lot more than even what they see on the TV set. I want kids to ask their parents to take them to a juggler's from Mars practice. And it's great to hear that someone was moved by a story on the Meals a la Carte or Vermont Youth Orchestra performance. Awareness. I want to promote awareness. Let people know. Would you like to share some thoughts? Hey, I'm Rebecca. I was Nat's caregiver the last couple of years. And boy, I didn't get to know that side of Nat that everybody here is talking about. He was already pretty intellectually diminished, I guess, having a hard time. But boy, did I look forward to going to see Nat. He was so much fun. And you know that, Linda, that I had so much fun with him. And in the beginning, when I was at your house taking care of him, and we used to be able to like take him to the petting zoo and for walks by the lake and take him to my house and hang out with my kids. And that was the best when he could come there. And he loved all the hullabaloo and the action going on. And he just kind of wander around from room to room with a big smile on his face and a sparkle in his eye. And he'd just fit in so comfortably. And all the kids loved him. And he, we could tell that he loved being there. And there was an authenticity about Nat. Without, I see that it seems to be a common thread that everybody's talking about here. But it really must have been deep, deep in his soul because it stayed with him forever. Even towards the end there when, you know, if he was mad, you would know it. And if he was glad, you would know it. And we spent many wonderful afternoons just like looking at, there was a picture book of orchids. Do you know that book, Linda? We spent like three hours one day looking at that book. And he would turn the page and just be amazed, truly amazed. And make me aware of the beauty there too that I would have quickly moved past if not for him. So thank you. I've loved getting to know your family and Nat. And I miss them. I'm Dorian Kraft. We got a wonderful evening together, Marvin, Linda and I a few nights ago. And this memory came flooding back, which was another one of those times. And I might have been at a city council meeting, but it was definitely within an event taking place in Burlington. And I was very upset by the way that I was treated by some of the city councillors. And it was a break during the evening. And we were out in the lobby and I was talking to Nat and fuming. And I was kind of apoplectic about just how could anyone be so cruel. And Nat turned around and he said to me, I think maybe you heard them differently than what they meant to say. And he started reinterpreting what was said, trying to make me feel better. And I had never had that kind of a conversation where, you know, it was so personal and so deeply felt and so appropriate for a time that was rough for me. And it was a lovely part of him that I've experienced more often than I can remember and not just towards me but towards perfect strangers. And it was a great part of who he was. One of the great things that Nat did as was mentioned is that he was so curious. Armato at CCTV was for inquiring minds. And he would cover, he would look in the Burlington Free Press every morning and see what was happening. And one of his particular loves was storytelling festivals. And one of his particular, particular loves was Peter Burns. And that was incredibly generous. I did performance artwork which was experimental at that time in the 80s. He took, it must have been hundreds of hours of video of it. And when I stopped doing that, he compiled all of it and he gave it to me. I didn't ask him and it was just characteristic of his generosity. I never knew exactly what he thought about the work I did. He had a kind of a quizzical look when he was, but he never commented on it. He was the camera person and he just recorded it for which I am tremendously grateful. But I always kind of wanted him to say something nice about it. But then Doreen Kraft actually helped me get a grant where I went to various places where city workers do their jobs. I went to the airport and we recorded a little session with the men. They were mostly men at the time who do the maintenance work on the airport. And there was a basketball court or a basketball hoop and these guys didn't always have a lot to do so they would play these complicated games of horse and do trick shots. And so I picked up the basketball and I did a couple of shots. And I said, hey, you got a great jump shot. And I said, yeah, I still treasure that. I had finally done something to impress him after all those years of making art and I still treasure that memory. Thank you. And just a quick reminder, pretty much everything we're talking about is in the CCTV archives because in addition to the little post-it notes, you'll notice there's a sharpie out there. And Nat catalogued every single program that we produced and he would write on the spine of the VHS tapes with a sharpie. He needed a very particular kind. And they were all catalogued in books that he would write by hand and then he would type up, there's an example out there. And now we have an archive of about 41,000 programs of which he probably produced 25,000 of those programs I may be overstating, but you understand just the dimension and scope of this legacy that Nat has left us. Michael Monty. I wasn't going to tell a story about me and Nat, but I was remembering the first time he filled me and we were doing the bike path. And he said, I said, what are we going to do? I was 1986 and I said, we're just going to go out there and you're going to just start talking. So he just turned the camera on and said, go. That was the production value we had at that point. And I would just say, what do you mean? And I would just sort of gesture and start talking about different parts of where we were at in terms of developing it. I wasn't going to tell that story.  But then that would start talking and you'd always get a sense that he was seeing the world for the first time. That these are fresh eyes to everything that was going on around him. It was brand new to him. Whatever it was, even if he knew about it, it always seemed like new. And I think he brought that to the camera. And I think that it is his legacy. And I think we get a chance to see that all the time with his fresh eyes. So thank you. You want to say something? Well, it's kind of hard what I'd say. Got it. Okay. There is some questions. No, there's more to say. Yeah, it was just, you know, when I got married in first marriage, we were in this meadow and Job came driving in with a Fiat 122 and said, this is from Nat. So that was kind of cool. Of course, in those days, you know, I was having a kid and didn't own a car. And remember, he loaned me, you know, the first biography of Woody Guthrie back when they were just discovering everything from him. And I don't know if I even knew about it, but he loaned me that copy for a while. I think I finally had to buy another one to give it back to him. But, you know, and then, of course, all the bootlegs we got long before. They're all out now, of course, and pristine quality, but they really helped a lot in those years. So I would just think that I'm not sure if this is a favor to his, but he might have thought about Linda when this song was coming on. We're trying to get music for our channel. There were a lot of licensing fees, and so it was hard to get music. But Spencer Nat wanted local music, and Spencer Lewis was one of the mainstays of our channel music, along with the Vermont Youth Orchestra and other local musicians who graced the channel. Dan Higgins, welcome. I've been sitting here trying to figure what I could say about Nat, because I've known him so long. And there's two, I've finally cut it down to two stories. And one is in the early days when we were doing video, it was before camcorders even, there were cameras and there were decks, and there's something that happened with CCTV, which if you look at the old tapes you'll notice, all of the titles that Nat did were handwritten up to a certain point. And there was a point where suddenly the computer came in and the digital world happened and now the titles were all done with the computer. I was really upset when that happened. You know how he scribbled things. All the titles of the early CCTV shows were handwritten by Nat, and that was a real breakthrough when that stopped. That's one thing I remember. And the other thing is that in the year 2000, Nat and CCTV, the whole, all of us, you know, went down and we introduced the concept of public access television in Nicaragua to Burlington's sister city. They had, the cable had come in and people were, well, they were watching television. They weren't always paying for it, but they were watching television. It was mostly soap operas from Brazil and so forth. And we went down there, CCTV gave us some old VHS heading equipment. We took five cameras and we got the local university to put on the radio that anybody who wanted to learn how to, to video could come. And for three months we were down there teaching people from all different walks of life. And then we got the local cable company to open up one hour a night. And that was the start of people seeing their own lives on television. And it was amazing. It was the same thing that happened here, you know, when public access first started showing people that they knew their neighbors were on, on television. And it was, it was amazing. And Nat was a big part of that. I can tell you more stories about Nicaragua, but those are the two things that I wanted to comment on. Megan, Megan don't work. Like, Dan, I have like five or eight or 20 stories in my mind. And I wouldn't be anywhere else but behind the camera today. Because I went to Nat diversity, like LG and Nat diversity. So I started working for CCTV a long time ago, but even before that, when I was about 16, if you go into the archives, I found footage of myself dancing as part of the mayor's youth office at first night. And it was recorded by Nat, which I was like, I'm like, we probably have lived multiple lives together. And so we worked together since I was probably about 23. And I learned so much from Nat. And like Peter, I would wait for some positive piece of feedback. And when, you know, I recorded the Palmer Lowe Christmas events for a number of years, and those Nat would say to me, good job, good job. And not always easy to work for because you would be waiting for that feedback. But I just, I've learned, you know, so much of my life I have gotten and learned from Nat. And yeah, I left him a great deal. Thanks, thanks. Bob Davis. I think the first time I really met a new Nat, I think was when I was living with Kent Cassell across the street from Atticourt. And I remember we talked about music and Nat was like, come on, I got it. I'm going to show you my Dylan collection. And I know, okay, okay. And then it went down. It was in some of the basement or something. And it was like wall to wall Dylan. Then when he started working at CCTV, I was thinking, man, they're in trouble because they don't know how many taste Nats produce. But where I really got to know Nat was as a news photographer for WCX TV. And we were kind of comrade in arms at city council meetings. And that's really where I got to know Nat a lot. And sorry, Peter, but I think Nat and I probably haven't beat for how many city council meetings we attended. So I started in 1981. When was Bernie elected? 1981? Yeah. So kind of the rest is history, right? So I was young. I felt like I knew what I was doing. I knew very little. And that was just really starting out as well. Of course, we had all this amazing gear. And that was just kind of still plugging things hands together and getting the cables. And I would attend city council meetings. I worked Monday nights because I like skiing on Monday morning. And I would run around with my camera having to get stuff turned around for the 11 o'clock news. And I'd be running here, doing air and capturing stuff. And that would be just stalwart Nat standing in his position and taking it all in. And he would watch me. He'd ask me a bunch of questions. And I'd help him out with a few things. But Nat really helped me because I would run around crazy, pretty schizo, capturing things. And Nat would be sitting there absorbing. And there was a big difference. And, you know, after a while, we learned that. And we learned how to kind of really work on kind of a dynamic team. We wouldn't have to say anything, but we'd look across the city council hall at each other and just go, yep, you know. And it was kind of one of these tortoise and hare things. I would be fast and I'd be jumping on things, but Nat would be just standing there and he would get the things that I would miss, you know.  So he was a great guy. We spent a lot of time together. Thanks. We were in here doing the air and capturing stuff. And Nat, we learned how to really work on kind of a dynamic team. We wouldn't have to say anything, but we would look across the city council hall at each other and just go, yep, you know. And it was kind of one of these tortoise and hare. Okay. Sit there and absorb it all in and get smarter and smarter, you know. So he was a great guy. We spent a lot of time together. Thanks.