Live from New York, it's theCUBE. Covering Big Data New York City 2016. Brought to you by headline sponsors, Cisco, IBM, NVIDIA, and our ecosystem sponsors. Now, here are your hosts, Dave Vellante and Peter Burris. Welcome back to Big Data NYC, everybody. This is theCUBE, the worldwide leader in live tech coverage. This is day four, we're winding up four days of wall-to-wall coverage here at Big Data NYC. Stephanie McReynolds is here, she's the vice president of marketing at Elation, and she's joined by Mark Schaiman, who runs marketing at Teradata. Good to see you guys. Good to see you. Thanks. So what's going on this week? Lots, right? Lots, lots, busy week, for sure. So give us the high level. What's happened at the show, your partnership? Give us the bumper sticker. Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, we're super excited to be back at Strata Hadoop. It's always great to be part of this community year after year. We made a couple announcements this week. Probably most exciting is some extended support. We announced something called Elation Connect, and that allows us to connect to Presto and Spark SQL, some of these compute engines that analysts are really beginning to use for interactive queries on Hadoop. And Elation connects to those to catalog the raw data that those analysts have available to them. But more interestingly, to really catalog the query logic itself that's running through those engines. So we use that to make recommendations to analysts to get more analysts onboarded to Hadoop.  We also announced a couple of weeks ago with Teradata some additional extended support for their unified data architecture. And we're doing some work with IBM too. So we announced a relationship by which we integrate with IBM Watson data works. So what's so cool about Presto? Explain why that's so... Well, Presto is a SQL on Hadoop engine and more actually. It was originally developed by Facebook. They first developed Hive, and then after a while they realized Hive just didn't have the performance for their users for interactive query capability against the big data sets they were analyzing. So they started from the ground up, built this engine called Presto, full in memory parallel SQL on Hadoop engine, and then they open sourced it. We at Teradata jumped on board about a year and a half ago, and we announced that we're actually, I'm going to be a major contributor to the code base and have been contributing to the code base, the open source code base, and are also offering enterprise support. So it's a great query engine because it's not only distribution agnostic. So it can run on, you know, cloud era can run on Horton, it can run on Amazon EMR, but it also can query not only data that exists in Hadoop, but also data that exists in MySQL, Postgres SQL, Cassandra, Kafka, MongoDB, et cetera.  It's like every week Facebook comes up with some new innovation, open source that you guys got to hop on it, right? So you have like a team of Navy SEALs that sort of spots the next big trend. We have some Navy SEALs. Yeah, we do, we do, we have some good guys who, and one thing was that, when we were looking at Presto, it really just fit in well with the whole unified data architecture strategy that Teradata's going after, you know, really being able to create a state of fabric that enables users to access data wherever it resides within their infrastructure. And that's what, you know, Presto just becomes a great enabler for that. So one of the things we're hearing this week, obviously Hadoop is not dead, right? No. But at the same time, this whole concept of this data lake, you know, emerged. When I first heard it, I was like, uh-oh, this is going to be ugly. And of course, you know, it wasn't necessarily pretty, but it got the data in the place that we wanted it, right? It extended the enterprise data warehouse, and then you guys come in and try to help solve that problem of bringing sort of quality to the data lake. So where are we with this whole, you know, EDW extension, you know, Hadoop as this cheaper storage mechanism? What's happening out there? Is it a data swamp or a data lake? Is that another question? Are you churning it? Is it Boston Harbor in the 70s? Yeah. That's right. Are we cleaning it up? That's right, exactly. Yeah, I mean, different organizations are at different phases of their adoption and figuring out what are their data management, really their governance strategies now for the data lake. And so I think what's exciting is that data lakes have now become a standard investment, right? And it's clear that for most organizations that they're going to have databases and they're going to have Hadoop and they're going to have this logical connection between those multiple sources to work with data. But what's challenging is more people come into the lake and you're not accessing it only through command line utilities with these expert coders is if you don't know what's in that lake and the quality of it, you can make some really poor business decisions. So, you know, from a Lations perspective, this notion of having a catalog that automatically interprets some of what's in the lake and gives guidance about what, I mean, schema on read is great if there's good data there. Schema on read can be really bad if there's really bad data and people don't realize it. So as we get more people actually running queries, accessing data in the lake, using data viz tools on top of Hadoop stores, we need something like a data catalog to let people find data easily, really understand at a deep level what's in there and be able to trust that data for the specific use case they're using. So connect this back to the teradata's unified data model. Unified data architecture. Unified data architecture, UDA. Yeah. And connect it back so that we are, we have been at the point where we wanted to ensure that the technical assets that were underlying the data lake were under control and we knew how much they were going to cost and how much so that they didn't go out of control on us and we knew it would. Now we're starting to bring governance to the data in the data lake. How does the relationship that you have start to bring governance across data, whatever it's different, whatever source it's in? How does that starting to work itself out? Well, it's interesting because I think governance is as much about the people as it is about the data, right? I mean, you can evaluate what's the quality of this data. But then governance is also about how do you actually use and apply that data? Well, governance, the least way I think about it, is if you have an asset and multiple claims to that asset and those multiple claims could come from people or users, perhaps other systems, that you have to then put in place a set of policies and rules for how you arbitrate those multiple claims. So absolutely always involves people. But there's a lot of data lakes that are popping up, often in response to particular silos of work that's being done. You obviously have Teradata, you have the data warehouse, you still have a lot of operational systems, you have data that you're buying. How does the process of building a catalog, are people using it to then get greater control over more than just the data lake? Yeah, so the catalog becomes a single point of reference across all of these sources of data. It kind of, one of our customers, eBay, I think has labeled it really well. Deb says at eBay, says that a data catalog is like an analyst GPS for data. Where do I go? What's the right source to go to that not only has that data stored in it, because now we're storing data in multiple places often. Raw data is in the data lake or in a HDFS file, aggregate data is in Teradata, and then I might have an extract that I take out of Teradata, put in Tableau so I can actually visualize the data. And so data is in multiple places and so you need this global positioning system, this GPS to tell the analyst, where exactly can you find the most accurate data for your need across all these systems and make it super simple for that user so they're not confused, they don't get hung up on where to go for the data. I mean today, a large majority of analyst time is spent hunting and pecking and navigating these different systems. Can you be a chief data officer and not have a catalog in place? That's an interesting question. I mean we actually, it's interesting because we actually had a panel yesterday where the city of San Diego was presenting and Maxine Pcherski is a chief data officer there. And he had started a data inventorying project which started very simply, he was just trying to figure out, he was promoted chief data officer, he was trying to figure out where are all the data sets that we have available to us in the city of San Diego. And he ended up getting so frustrated with trying to inventory all that data and how long it was taking him that they ended up selecting a nation to help automate that process. So I think if you look not only at our experience but what some of the other third party independent analysts are reporting out, data catalogs are becoming critical to chief data officers, to be able to address not only concerns about data governance which often roll into them, but also this idea of governance for insight or promoting additional access to the entire organization so it can really become data or insights driven. You can't do that if people don't know where to find the data and more importantly they maybe don't trust the data where it slides. Follow on question, if I'm a CIO can I use elation and avoid a chief data officer? Well I don't think I would recommend avoiding a chief data officer. I mean I think chief data officers often represent the business and bring a business perspective to the table where the CIO has traditionally been more concerned with speeds and feeds and honing the system. Which is wrong, which is not what they should be focusing on. So, you know, look. It's not wrong that that's what they're doing. It's what they are focusing on. It's just that's what they're doing. Yeah. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You're right, you're right, you're right. They are doing that but they should not just narrowly be focused on that. And in the process of any significant turbulence you have specialization, it's clear that we need to think more about data. But eventually, both of these parties are going to end up focusing on data, at least at some level. And so I'm wondering if the question is not Ken, you know, the CIO versus CDO. Right. But if I'm a CIO. Sure, I know not. No, no, no, no. That could be exciting though. I mean, you know. It's an interesting topic. If I'm a CIO, and I get access to elation, a product that uses big data techniques to do big data, can I surface information about my data at a rate that I can then deliver to the organization a level of insight regarding business value from data that the organization normally hires a CDO to pull together? Well, I think there is a realization in the market that we're moving towards more of a self-service world. You know, it started with self-service data viz. Then it went to self-service data prep. And now folks are telling us that they see data cataloging as a way to really cement self-service in the organization. You know, I think that's an important movement. And it's something that we've been trying to do in the industry for a very long time. I started my career at Business Objects. And way back when, we were talking about self-service data access. Well, I'll tell you a story about Business Objects later.  I'm sure there are a lot of stories out there about all the BI vendors and their genesis. But I think that this transition is a really healthy one. And it's going to take a while for organizations to figure out how to navigate through this self-service world. And I can't project for you what happens like 20 years down the road with CDOs and NCIOs. But I think that we're having this conversation, and we're putting a C-level title that on the responsibility of making sure that everyone in the organization has access to data at appropriate levels is really a great move forward in a lot of organizations. Mark, what's going on with Teradata in big data, right? So when Hadoop came, I was like, OK, great.  And we're going to lower cost. And then when you talk to customers and say, what's the most important part of your big data initiative? They say, they're the Enterprise Data Warehouse. Exactly, exactly. But at the same time, you've made some moves. You've made some acquisitions. You've driven into this space. You've got the hardware software. Yeah, exactly. So you have the cloud offering now. So give us the update on your strategy and the kind of projects you've made. Big data. I mean, Hadoop and big data are all synergistic to the data warehouse. I mean, in the beginning when Hadoop came out, everybody said, oh, Hadoop's going to replace the data warehouse. And the reality is everybody learned that that just didn't happen. And what we found is that there's really a synergistic component between having your Enterprise Data Warehouse and that high value data within your Enterprise Data Warehouse and then having your Hadoop environment and having your data lake. And part of what Teradata is really doing is that we realize that multiple platforms are going to exist within companies' infrastructures. And what we're trying to do is create the components that enable those users to be easily access that data and tie them together. And Elation as a partner really comes down to that data cataloging and that governance component that's needed over that whole infrastructure. Because we've moved away from this silo. I have a silo data warehouse. And I have a silo specific data lake or Hadoop environment where you have users who are actually in your data warehouse directly querying and accessing data that exists in your Hadoop environment. Or vice versa. Or ingestion of that data is all going around in real time. So you need not only that infrastructure that ties all those pieces together, but Elation has that governance and cataloging component that brings it to the table. So that's where Teradata is really going with big data. It is a key component of the overall direction and strategy of the company. OK, and the partnership, how did it start? How is it evolving? Where do you want to see it go? Yeah, I mean, the genesis of the partnership is really interesting because it started with Oliver Ratsenberger, who had been at eBay for a long time and joined Teradata. And at eBay, he had built something called the Data Hub, which was essentially a data catalog that eBay had built from the ground up with their engineering resources. It's a well-known use case for it. Yeah. Yeah, and so Oliver, when he saw Elation, he really understood what we were dealing. I could have avoided what we were dealing. Exactly. He used software. Manual work. And eBay was one of our very first customers. So by the time that we were talking to Oliver, we had already had many hundreds of analysts using Elation. And so he got right away. Wow, this is a way that is a more collaborative approach to cataloging than the Data Hub was and really gets the sense of how do we enable the users of the data to socially curate the data and get them more engaged with an understanding of what's there and sharing their knowledge with others. And so Oliver has this vision, a Teradata of the sentient enterprise. And we mapped right into this stage in that journey to a sentient enterprise, which was all about collaborative ideation. How do you really get value from analytics? It's a very creative process. It takes a lot of hypothesis testing. It's an ideation design process. And a very collaborative process. And a very collaborative process. It requires a lot of different perspectives. And so in the old days of very traditional data warehouse thinking, where it was not an agile model and it was a waterfall model, you had to conduct interviews with all of the business owners to determine what is my one model for customer. I'm going to instantiate in this data warehouse. Now we've moved to this world where, hey, let all the definitions of customer flourish in this data lake. That's great. But we need to collaborate around when to use what definition and how to be more sensitive about how we prepare that data so that it's tested and communicated. Yeah, exactly. All right, we're out of time, Mark. I'll give you the last word on the week. I've just been a great week. Meeting with customers, meeting with our partners and interacting with them. And at Teradata as a company, we've gone through a huge transformation. I just think that positive things ahead I think is going to be great. Well, thanks for coming on theCUBE and sharing your story. Thank you. You're welcome. All right, keep it right there, everybody. We'll be back to wrap Big Data NYC right after this short break.


Welcome to Unit 1 of Sailor.org's Professional Writing course. In this unit, you'll begin by reviewing the typical formats of common business documents and communications. In the next unit, we'll ask you to draft a document. So start thinking now about what kind of message you want to work on. After the overview, you'll learn how to evaluate your intended audience so that you can tailor your writing to their needs and expectations. One of the big mistakes writers make is drafting a message before considering who is actually going to read it. Spending time now with getting to know your audience will increase the chances that your document gets the attention it deserves. Once you know something about your readers, figure out why you're addressing them. Most professional documents are written to motivate action. You write a resume and cover letter to encourage someone to hire you. You write a web page so that customers will flock to your products. In short, what do you want your reader to do? That desired outcome must be your main point and everything else should be organized around it. The last part of this unit focuses on overcoming a couple problems that many writers encounter, how to come up with good ideas, and how to write for an audience that might not want to listen. This unit should take you about an hour and 45 minutes to complete. And as you progress, you'll encounter brief readings, videos, and animations. Pay close attention and take notes. These will come in handy when you compose your draft in unit two and in the final exam. Now, let's get started and good luck.


Condo Insider Show, where we discuss everything as it pertains to condo and association living. I'm your host today, Cheryl Franklin, and today I will be joined by a really good friend I've known her for a long time, Julie Adamin with Adamin Inc. And we're going to discuss our world of property management in the age of COVID-19. So I'd like to take a moment and just welcome Julie. Hi, Julie. Hey, Cheryl. Thanks for having me. Of course. Of course. How are you? Good. Well, we're doing pretty good here under lockdown. I hear you. So of course, I've known you a long time, but let's just take a moment to kind of share with the audience a little bit about yourself and about what you do at the company that you are at the helm. Okay. Well, I just did a little bit about myself here. I've been in the community management industry for 33 years. I can't believe I just said that out loud. 33 years. Of course, I started when I was 14. Of course. Right. Yeah. It was great. So three years and I've done just about everything in the industry. I was a manager, portfolio manager, became a long story short, became an onsite general manager of a very large complex in the Palm Springs area. And then started my own business. And I was doing recruiting executives and managers in the community management business only. And then have done a tremendous amount of consulting since that time, including on management company sales, as well as management company operations and large scale association operations. I'm also a designated expert. So an expert witness type of thing. And my latest project is that I have online classes for brand new community managers or others who just start in the industry and also for board members. So that's my latest thing going on. Well, that's huge. And I think all that experience constitutes you as an expert. Yes, I think. Yeah, which is why I'm really thrilled to have you today. So in lieu of the topic, let's just talk about some of the trends that you're seeing in the industry as it pertains to our new normal for right now and how to manage associations, you know, remotely, if you will. Well, it's been a huge challenge for people. And I've talked to people all over the country about how this is affecting them, the positives, the negatives. It's been very, very fascinating. And, you know, I think that I think we will eventually for our industry now, we'll all come out ahead. This will be good for us in the long run. I mean, forgetting all the other stuff that's going on in the country. But for our industry, board members and associations, as well as for managers and management companies, I think this will be a net good. It just needs to shake itself out over the next six to 10 months. Yeah, that's that's a great way of putting it shake, shake itself out, because right now management companies are adjusting. And when it comes to, you know, conducting meetings or managing, you know, I think we talked briefly prior to the meeting that you're even of the understanding that on the mainland, not so much here, that associations are looking to consider having meetings be zoom remotely, just like we're conducting this show. Indeed. And I'm not quite sure what where Hawaii is at at this point, but on the West Coast, pretty much Washington, California, and I believe Oregon at the same time, the governors have exact by executive order struck all of the code or the statutes that say that unless the documents say so, we cannot hold, you know, virtual meetings. So now it's pretty much legal for the time being to hold virtual meetings. And this has been announced. Amazing and really mind blowing thing for our industry. And I, let me just step back here for a minute. I sit on two, not one, two boards of directors. Oh, fun. I know what I was thinking, but I do sit on two. I will tell you that I saw we hold virtual meetings. And, and I've heard this from other professionals as well is that the meetings are far more concise. They don't take as long. So I think what's going to happen for boards of directors is they realize as they go through this process is that, you know, we don't really need to meet all the time, which, you know, boards do love to meet. And I understand because I'm on, I'm on board of directors and we'd like to, you know, catch the people are thinking, but those of us who sit in on those meetings, three, four, five, six, seven or eight times a month as management, we realize that a lot of those are, those hours are unproductive and not just unproductive for us, meaning in the management world, but they're really unproductive for board members. And a lot of people, you have to remember this, people do not want to become board members because they see those three hour meetings, they're like, wow, they do that, right? So people have become far more goal oriented in their meetings. In other words, they just want to make decisions and move on. And they, they had their discussion, but it's not a lot of extraneous chit chat that really doesn't belong. So I'm finding, and what I'm hearing from other professionals is that the board members like it, and even the homeowners like it, I've heard people talk about having, like the town hall meetings that they would have with their, their owners and they have Zoom meetings. I'm not endorsing Zoom. I'm just saying it's what we're all using. But, and so all the people can still participate, but they don't have to leave their house. And frankly, that's pretty convenient for a lot of folks.  Close to that. So it seems to be, that's a really productive thing for us in our industry. And it seems that if you're, if you're management staff, and you're, and you're not traveling to meetings, plus a meeting that's an hour longer than it should be, and then traveling back from meetings, think of the hours that management staff can save. I mean, it doesn't mean you could manage another association or two, or you could have a life. But, but the same thing goes for our volunteers.  And you're spending hours and hours doing this. So I find it a really interesting silver lining that's happened here. Yeah. And you know, I, I totally agree with you on that. To conduct meetings virtually opposed to, like you said, driving to a location, engaging with a board and owners for hours, when you can basically cut to the chase, if you will. A few things that I think might be of a challenge that maybe you can shed a little light on. You mentioned a moment ago, town hall meetings. Now, just thinking of that, or trying to visualize that, if you will. Let's say you are managing an association that has like hundreds of owners to conduct a town hall meeting virtually could get a little hairy or maybe not. I think, no, I agree. I think it can get hairy, but zoom can can handle and not just all zoom. I'm not again, I'm not endorsing it can handle dozens and dozens of people.  If you don't, you could have more than one town hall and you say, Oh my God, that's still that much of a matter of time. But I don't know, you know, you could have two one hour town halls and probably get through all your people who really want to say something. And it also doesn't mean that you're having a town hall, but also board meetings, the homeowners are able to dial in or to, you know, video conference in. So it's not like your board meetings are all just you while you're on. You still have, and we all know that at most association meetings, there's the same homeowners that show up all the time with their same list of concerns that they want to address. And at least my personal experience and I've kind of heard this from some other people is that now that we've moved to these virtual meetings, oddly, those people are not motivated enough to get online. And it's very, very simple process. Very simple. They're not motivated to get online and talk about a lot of those problems. They can still pick up the phone and talk to us.  So it's really interesting. They can still have their concerns addressed, whether it's a town hall or whether it's a board meeting, but they can still all talk to you. And it's just that the timeframe to do this has just shrunk that they really don't need all that time. And a lot of it is for your board members, especially your time and attention and managers too, obviously. But it just seems and all their concerns can be addressed. It just seems to get a little shorter, which is not only great for current volunteers as board members or committee members, right? But it's really good for future volunteers. And why is that? Because, you know, all of you board members out there, you know how difficult it is and managers to define new volunteers and new good volunteers. And why is that? Well, typically it's because those volunteers go to a board meeting and they're like, Oh my God, I never want to have to run through that because it was three hours. Right? Well, those people are seeing a far more efficient, a far more efficient process. So you're like, you know, this might be something I would volunteer for. Who but us crazy people would either be managers or board members and sit through this stuff. I know we care, but a lot of other people have to be kind of brought into that process. So I think overall it's going to be a positive thing. Yeah, no, I like it. I'd like, you know, the idea of it.  We tend to, you know, sometimes lag lag behind just a little bit. But I find it interesting that you mentioned that, you know, homeowners may or may not be more inclined to attend via zoom.  But at the end of the day, you just establish new rules. Even if you have an association whereby you have 100 homeowners that just want to sit in and listen, you establish new rules.  It becomes a lot more controlled. It's more controlled, but also controlled. Yes, I would say concise because when people are on a video conference, it's my observation that they have a tendency to compress whatever that doesn't matter. I don't know, I'm not talking about even just these kind of meetings, HOA meetings, not that, but any kind of meeting that people have a tendency to compress their thoughts because they, they're, they're on deck, they're right, they're from, they're compressing their thoughts. My personal observation is it's better for them as well, because you have a tendency not to meander off onto, you know, the wild of where I was thinking as opposed to, you want to, if you have your points, you want to say it and you want to get it out and then the board or whoever will take it under advisement or they'll actually answer you. And it's very concise. So there's not this, there's not a lot of, so there's back and forth, but there's also not the extraneous three or four other attendees going, well, wait a minute, back then, and well, what did we do? I don't know. What did we do? Consumes a huge amount of time in the meetings. Massive. Good point. Good point. Good point. And it's a great place for a break. So we're just going to take a moment and head to break. Please come back and join us. Thank you. Aloha. I'm Lillian Cumick, host of Lillian's Vegan World, the show where we talk about veganism and the plant-based diet located in Honolulu, Hawaii. I'm a vegan chef and cooking instructor, and I have lots of information to share with you about how awesome this plant-based diet is. So do tune in every second Thursday from 1 p.m. Aloha. So, I'm Julie Adam, and we're just talking about our new world and the midst of managing associations. And before we left off, we talked more about virtual meetings and the benefits of having virtual meetings, and how they may make things a lot easier and more concise going forward. And I'd also like to mention that I think that it's kind of the saving grace of our time, because in the past, you know, homeowners may have not been as readily inclined to move towards the future of virtual meetings. And so COVID-19 has completely changed all that, and that's kind of the deal. And so we have, you know, more buy-in in terms of virtual meetings. It's almost like it's how we have to do business. It's not something we can decide to do. I also think that, especially here in Hawaii, we have a lot of neighbor islands and such. We have a lot of snowbirds, and we also have a lot of retirees. The challenge I see potentially is getting some of our retirees, if you will. I've often heard, you know, well, I don't have email and all these things. So there's going to be some maneuvering as that, you know, is concerned. What do you think about about that? Well, I hear that, and I think it is a concern, but I think that concern is going away as the baby boomers become, you know, older and older. You know, we are both part of that generation. I can say that out loud, but it's true. So it's getting older and older.  Zoom can all be done in your phone, folks, or it can all be done. So I think actually it's a net positive, especially for snowbirds. And the reason I say that is because, you know, if you're in Hawaii, you know, X amount of months or any resort area, X amount of months a year, and then you're back home, wherever you live, the rest of the months, this device right here allows you to attend a board meeting, which you never would have had that opportunity before. And you can, if you're concerned, you can keep your pulse, your finger on the pulse of what is going on. I, you know, I think, and I know a lot of people will say, well, I never had to do that in my life. I didn't have to run a computer. I had someone who did it or whatever. Number one, I think it's true. I mean, that's, that's starting to go away. Most everybody's had to use one, one at one time or another. And for those board members or homeowners who still don't have that, I would say talk to your adult children and they'll be happy. No, but seriously, I mean, no, no, you're absolutely. Or your next door neighbor who's older than you who can set you up on it because it really is nothing to be intimidated about. You can get an iPad or anything like that. Set yourself up extremely simply. Just have a neighbor or someone help you with that. Even if you, all you want to do is attend meetings. It would be well worth the investment. I mean, and if you're renting your property and you still want to see what's going on, but probably really want to see what's going on at board meetings then, I think it's, it's a, it's a wonderful expense for you to undertake so you can see what's happening in the corporation that you belong to. Yeah. No, I completely agree. It just becomes, you know, a matter of just training. It's simple. It's really easy. Like you said, your kids or your grandkids can show you how. And I think once everybody's on board, they're going to be amazed and might even think, you know, why didn't we do this sooner? Right? I think that's actually right. Why didn't we do this sooner? And I even, so forgetting our board member end of this and our homeowner end of this. And I said, I sit on the fence. So I'm on both sides, right? But for the management company end of it as well, I think this pushed us to doing it. There were lots and lots of management company executives all over the country that were just, just loathed to bring their people, to let their people work from home. On the other hand, I've known companies that let their people work from home from day one, quite successfully. And so I think this has forced all those other folks to think, oh, now we can do this because you really can supervise your people. You really can know what's going on. And in fact, you can sit on your people's board meetings from your own house. So that is all win-win. But I will say that I think it's not like we'll always only have meetings. Of course, that's what we're doing right now by Skype or by Zoom. But I think that we can't ever lose sight of we're a people business, we're a human being business, and we all need to touch each other virtually right now and six feet away. But we all need to touch each other, meaning, and we need to, we need that human contact and that will come back. But I think as our industry evolves, board member end, homeowner end or industry management company end, I think that this will be just an incredible leap forward in what we're able to do and the time it takes us to do it. Because as you know, Cheryl, the only widget we have in our industry is time. Time is our widget. So everything takes X amount of time and that's what we have to charge the associations for. If we can compress that time, if we can, by doing, let's just say we do half our meetings when things get back to normal, we do half our meetings virtually, let's just say that saves each manager 15 hours a month. I mean, as an executive, Cheryl, what would that do for you? I mean, what would you tell your people? Yeah, no, you're absolutely right. And I've spoken with several managers at this time and they're touting exactly what you're saying. They're more productive, particularly those that have the resources to work from home. They already have the operational infrastructure, if you will. And this is also going to force some of those companies that maybe lagged behind them just a little bit in terms of technology. It's going to force them to kind of look at their operational infrastructure as it pertains to technology and it's going to kind of force them to go ahead and spend the money and get it done because it's going to save you time and money in the long run. And what's happened so often in our business, as you know, is that we know that time equates to money, but a lot of management companies, especially some of the maybe, I don't want to say, oh, I don't know. I just say some management companies just do not, well, you know what I'm saying.   And I think you will be very, very happy with it. I mean, it's just an amazing thing to me. As horrible as this whole situation has been, the loss of life, the loss of the economy can't even talk about. But all of that loss for us, there is a silver lining and I take open that. Yeah, no, I'm glad we're talking about this because I think even though we were all in the throes of it and we were doing it, you know, to kind of hone in on that and just say, hey, you know, at the end of the day, it is going to make a huge difference. It's going to make things better. It's going to force us to rethink the way we do business. And that's ultimately going to benefit everyone in the long, in the long run and just make everybody more efficient and how we, you know, manage.  No, you know that. Yeah. And it can be a little more challenging to raise some of those dynamics and, you know, face to face opposed to a virtual meeting where you can have a more concise meeting and have a lot more control. So are more constructive? Well, more constructive. But again, it's not that it's going to completely replace face to face meetings or face to face town halls. Right. But if you could hold those kind of meetings quarterly, as opposed to monthly, if you're an association meeting monthly, I think you would find the productivity goes straight up. I really do. I mean, it's just an amazing thing to watch. And I'm frankly gratified because I wasn't sure, wasn't sure how that was going to work if it was really going to be that productive, but it is. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I don't think anyone was sure about anything at the onset of all of this. Right.   Everything is changing every day. But I think this will make us more prepared for anything else. Should we have to work remotely? This time we were kind of caught off guard, you know, but moving forward, we can put systems and procedures in place that will make us more efficient so that we're not scrambling. Should there ever become, you know, another need? God forbid that, you know, something else happened, kind of forced into this dynamic. But other than that, I think I agree with you.  I think managers will be a lot more productive. I think that things will get done a lot faster. Because let's face it, there are still some property management companies that are still doing a lot of things manually that could be done, like even automated, you know, and things like that. And even a little, you know, it's AI, if you will. The future is now. Let's face it. It is. And I think to a big degree, we can embrace it without fear. I just, at the moment, my opinion is, I think the upsides of the virtual meetings that we're talking about here outweigh the downsides. And I think anyone who's been a board member and who has sat through three-hour meetings, everybody chit-chats or other stories, or you're sitting through a you know, the homeowner forum, and it's on and on and on and on about the same stuff, not that it's not valid. It's just maybe you'd rather hear it every quarter as opposed to every month. And all of those people are still, everyone who wants to say something to the board, they're not, it's not like they're stopped from saying anything. Of course, there's always email, there's voicemail, and they can attend the regular meetings every quarter or whatever we're going to do, and they can attend the virtual meetings. So, but it just seems to me that this is going to be a game changer for us. It really does. Yeah, no, no, I absolutely think you're right. And it could be, could be a lot of fun actually, you know, to kind of figure out our new normal and ways of doing things better, it's going to lend itself to happier, hopefully happier board members and happier managers.  Sometimes we wonder how or why, but I think it was right. Yeah, but it could be a lot more attractive, you know, to to garner, you know, new talent, you know, if we have these things in place that make make the industry a lot more attractive. On both ends, new talent in volunteers and our volunteer homeowners, board members, committee members, and new talent in our industry, because as you know, despite what's happened right now, and I oh, and part of my executive recruitment life, which I also do, is that finding new people for our industry is so hard, because up until six weeks ago, we were absolute over full employment. I actually think we will go back to that within eight months or so once everything starts picking up. So I think I absolutely agree with you, it will bring new talent in everywhere. Yeah, yeah.  And on that note, because I think we're running out of time here before we do, I want to give you the opportunity to share with the viewership how they can contact you, you know, for to take advantage of some of those services. The one that's a hot button for me is particularly training property managers. And I know that. Yes, I mean, I've spent a lot of years in this industry, and I have a publication HOA news line actually in Cam 101 resources, I do. And all these years I've been doing nothing but writing educational articles and speaking all over the country on educational topics to board members and managers.  What it is to do it, what the job is, what's expected of you, and what all those terms are that you need it. I mean, they're very lively, they're very entertaining, much like me. Well worth your time. If you're new to the industry or a new volunteer. Yeah, yeah. And you can reach me through my website, adamantadmianadmin-inc.com or give me a call at<PHONE_NUMBER>. And I'm happy to help you. If you just need to, you know, talk about something or find something out about your association or your job, please give me a call. I do it all the time. And I can vouch for that. True. I can. This was fun, Julie. So we'll have to do it again, but you know, we're going to have to close. I told you the time just kind of flies by here. She did. Yeah, but this was fun and we'll do it again at some point. Sounds good. Thank you for joining me and on that note, stay safe, everyone. Aloha.


neutral ground, breeding ground for spies and provocateurs, where intrigue and international plotting are nothing more than polite dinner conversation. And American agent John McDermott is very good at polite dinner conversation. McDermott is operating undercover as manager of an American oil company office abroad. His personality and appearance are perfect for the job. I don't know that well at least. I had to steer the whole thing through. You know she's very long with you. Charming's good. Oh, Heinrich, glad to see you. I'd like you to meet some friends of mine, Mr. Thayer, Mr. Pyle, Mr. McDermott. How do you do? Mr. Richter. Mr. Richter's with the Europa Optical Company in Syring. Okay. The operating in a neutral country calls for more than the social graces. Tonight, for instance, John McDermott leaves on a special mission in another town. Hi, Margo. Come over here. Johnny, I can't stay a minute. I just dropped over to give you this by way of wishing you many happy returns. Oh, you shouldn't have bothered. Oh, don't be silly. When we get to New York, I'll give you a real birthday, okay? Listen, right now I've got to run. Can't you stay for a cocktail? I still have time for the train leave. Sorry, some other time. Thanks. Listen, have a good trip, and I'll see you Monday, huh? Okay, I'll call you as soon as I get back. Okay. Goodbye, honey. Goodbye. An important birthday present with many happy returns. This is vital material. Chemical formula photographed on microfilm. Instructions on the preparation of the chemical. And an actual sample of the chemical itself. But because it's secret business, it will have to wait in a secret place. MacDermot knows that whenever possible, he should hide material outside his apartment, where its discovery would not incriminate him. But there's a train to make now. There's no time. Three objects to hide. Three separate hiding places required, just to make it tougher. A few minutes to do the job. Work that calls for imagination. Quickly improvised, easily accessible places are good for hiding secret material. This is not sleight of hand nor is MacDermot a magician. Only an experienced agent who knows that the same security measures apply in this neutral territory as an actual enemy area. To the well-trained agent, traps are a vital point on the espionage agenda. They may be quickly improvised, and to the man in the field, setting them soon becomes a reflex action. If a certain word in that letter is not flush against the envelope when he returns, then MacDermot will know some whom the agent forgot to watch his peas and cues. The toothpick has a new function in the agent's book. In the intriguing game of hide and seek, this is a good way of knowing whether the enemy suspects you and seeks what you hide. Operator. Operator. Auzant 5A3. Hello, is this your grouper? Richter here. I have just met a certain gentleman named Joan MacDermot. M-C-D-E-R-M-O-T-T. Munder a arm. Will you arrange an interview, please? Yeah. Just John McDermott going about his banking. He finances himself for this mission from his own private bank under a tombstone. Large amounts of money create suspicion, if found on your person or in your apartment. They should be hidden outdoors, in public places whenever possible. There are several rules which every agent, even a mediocre one, should follow in a house search. Our friend here, Richter, has forgotten a few. In a surreptitious search, the agent should never disturb anything, no matter how insignificant. He should never damage a lock. It's equivalent to leaving a calling car. In this game, haste makes waste which he may pay for with his life. He must learn to distinguish between important and unimportant material. Above all, he must be aware of traps. Unless the agent is rushed for time, he should never make a superficial search. That's all most worse than no search at all, since he runs the risk of being uncovered without uncovering anything. Hi, Margo. Yeah, I just got back. I think we've got that contract if we want it. Yeah, I'm happy about it, too. Hey, would you be interested in a rare edition of Plato's Republic at five bucks? Good. I'll bring it along when I see you. Okay. Goodbye now. The first thing I noticed was that sprung trap, and I thought you might have some idea about the critter of what sprung it. The town's loaded with critters, but that sounds like a new species. The only new species I know is a guy named Heinrich Richter, you know him? Richter? Sure, works with some Swiss optical company. That's the guy. Well, you're out of town. We picked up some more dope ones. Look, get me Henderson and Stuart and I'll go with this Richter's room. Okay, he's at the hotel metropole, room 317. But first, McDermott will make sure he finds Richter out. The infantry calls it reconnaissance. The agent calls it casing the joint. In this business, every house search begins with a reconnaissance. To deal with the enemy, you must first know your enemy. An agent is posted in such a position that he can warn McDermott in case Richter returns unexpectedly To avoid searching something twice while another item goes unnoticed, the room is divided into two zones, one for each agent. The way these zones are covered marks the difference between a good search, such as this one, and a futile one such as Richter's. Here, everything, no matter how innocent it may appear, is carefully examined. If the agent takes anything at its face value, then chances are it's the agent who will be taken. The articles which seem solid deserve special attention. When it is necessary to disturb any arrangement of articles, special care must be taken to replace them in the same position. A piece of paper, a ruler, or even a book may be used as a straight edge in measuring between items. Be on guard against traps. Don't liquidate yourself by selling the enemy short. The fake panels exist only in the minds of fiction writers. But wherever you find the enemy, you'll probably find something like this. With the knowledge of what's in Richter's hands, McDermott is now complete master of the situation. He can alter his plans or his plots wherever necessary. We got a load of this. German jail on house breaking charge. Heinrich Richter, 37, German national who gave his address as a hotel metropole, was sentenced to two years imprisonment today after federal court found him guilty of nine charges of house breaking. Richter was apprehended in the act of entering a hotel room occupied by a prominent member of the British diplomatic corps. The police said they were informed of his criminal record by an anonymous telephone call last week. Anonymous?


At Audiology Associates of Prestonsburg, you can live your life the way you want and find the freedom of better hearing. You'll experience patient care that is specific to you with exceptional follow-up care that ensures your hearing and balance needs are being met. Audiology Associates at 1428 Northlake Drive in Prestonsburg. Kentucky Power is reporting that it will take several days before power is restored to customers affected by flash flooding. Heavy storms overnight Wednesday into Thursday pounded eastern Kentucky, not only flooding homes and blocking roads, but also leaving more than 23,000 Kentucky Power customers in the dark. And Kentucky Power spokesperson Cynthia Wiseman says restoration crews are facing many of the same challenges as everyone else. Certainly restoration will be delayed because of the hot water and more rain is expected, maybe not like what we had overnight, but more rain is coming. And we know that this will be a multi-day restoration effort because of the conditions. At this time there is no estimate for when power will be completely restored. Wiseman says the first task is to get a clear picture of what will be needed. We do damage assessment first. So we're in that stage right now, figuring out what the extent of the damage, how many poles are broken, where they are, what kind of vehicles are needed. Is it truck accessible or someone going to have to manually climb a mountain and carry poles? Those kinds of things are what goes on in the early hours of storm restoration. And then as we get a little more clarity around that, we can start to project restoration times. But I can tell you that it will take several days to get everyone restored. And just like when Kentucky Power crews head to other regions to assist in disasters, outside power crews are currently heading to eastern Kentucky to give help here. We help out other companies, not only the AEP sister companies, but ones like you said in hurricane affected areas in the south and Florida places. And then they come and help us too when we need it. So I know that crews from Ohio are going to be assisting and I imagine other states too. Wiseman also warned customers to make sure it is safe to reconnect their homes to power, especially if they have suffered flood damage. For customers who have received damage flooded to their homes, you know, they're going to have to be in a position to receive power safely too. So if their electrical wires were affected or the breaker box or if their service dropped to their house was affected, I mean it may take some time for them to be able to receive power. So there will be a lot of individual cases that we will be addressing too, I would imagine. Reporting in Pikeville, I'm Ralph Davis for Mountain Top News.


Welcome back everyone. We were in James chapter 4 and I see that Srupa, you have raised your hand. Sister, you had something to share. Ma'am, wrong touch ma'am, sorry. Oh okay, no problem, no problem. That's alright. So yes, we were talking about submitting to God, then resisting the devil and we also talked about the importance of living our Christian life in such a way that we are aware of mistakes, errors, things in our lives which are not aligned to God and so James is calling us to repentance and this is something that must be a part of our lives because it's like living your life in transparency with God and that's a powerful thing.  Now moving on to the next section here, let's read verse 11 and 12 of chapter 4. Any volunteers? Can I read? Okay, I'll let both of you decide, Asha and Avni.  Okay, we haven't reached the decision. Congratulations. Okay fine, thank you. He will speak evil of one another. He will speak evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evils of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you're not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one law giver who is able to say and to destroy. Who are you to judge another? Yes, thank you Asha. As it's quite self-explanatory, he is telling the believers not to speak evil of one another. Remember the power of the tongue that he talked of earlier. So now he's saying don't speak evil, he who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. So does this mean that we can't have a judgment or let's say we can't determine whether something is right or wrong in what a Christian brother is doing. That's not the point, that's not what he's saying. Of course we will be able to assess and understand whether somebody is right or wrong. And there are certain settings in which one has to make decisions, isn't it? And that setting would be the work situation where let's say believers are working together and one is a boss and others are employees. Now in those circumstances, it is really key that situations are assessed, situations are analysed, conclusions are drawn and if there is a requirement, even correction must be administered. So in those settings to bring up this scripture and say that oh the Bible says don't judge your brother, don't judge your brother. It won't be applicable because the context is different. So yes we can have an opinion about whether something is right or wrong and in the settings where Christians are working under each other, it is important to have an honest opinion and also bring correction when required. So we are not being prevented from judging matters with honesty. That's not the point but this is something like us judging a brother when we don't have the authority to do that or when we're being too quick to judge somebody. So in those situations is what James is actually stating this and he's saying but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. So when there is no authority to judge and instruct one person and then we are doing it, that's when James is saying look it's not appropriate and he says that ultimately the judge is God and so we must fear him and he's the one who is able to save and to destroy. So he's the ultimate judge. So who are we to pass judgments on our brothers and sisters? Now the other flip side of this is flattery, right? Like where we don't ever evaluate situations honestly, we let things go because we want to be in the good books of everyone. Now that is an other extreme error that one can get into. So both of these quick judging and flattering people, we must avoid these and rather than that, when we are in that position of authority, honest assessment, honest evaluation and honest constructive criticism is a good thing to actually do. And James is not preventing us from doing that. Now coming to the next section here versus 13 to 17. Could somebody please go ahead and read this, maybe Ammi since the last time. Okay, thank you. Yes, yes. 13 to 17. Come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell and make a profit. Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that. But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore to him who knows to do good and does not do it to him, it is sin. Amen. Amen. Thank you Ammi. So this section, the essence of the section is depend on God. Don't run ahead of God. That's the point. So when people make plans without knowing the purpose of God, the mind of God, the intentions of God, right? What happens is like what James said earlier, we ask Amis, we ask for our own pleasures and those prayers don't get answered. Similarly, when we plan, we say today, tomorrow, we will go here, we will go there, we will do these things, we will do business, we will make a profit. Now, if it is coming from a place of depending on ourselves and not on God, then such plans, you know, he's saying don't make such plans because he's talking about the uncertainty of life. He's saying, see, we don't even know what will happen tomorrow. And he uses this analogy which is used in the Old Testament quite a bit in the Psalms where our life is a vapor that it is, it is temporal. It's here and then it's gone in no time. So when life is uncertain, when life is short, you know, depending on ourselves, we are making all these grand plans for our future without depending on God.  That's not a biblical thing to do. But instead, he points them to depending on God. So we can make plans, but as long as it's coming from the right place of depending on God. So in verse 15, he teaches them, he tells them, look, instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that. So the context is, depend on God and make plans. Don't make your own plans. Now, using this passage to say that, oh, planning is not correct. One shouldn't plan because the Bible says that life is so uncertain. That again is erroneous simply because planning is scriptural. Now in the book of Proverbs, we read that one needs to ponder the path of their feet. Again, Proverbs 6 verses 6 through 8. So God is saying, think about the future, plan for the future. It's not unbiblical. Similarly, there are passages that say that one needs to have foresight. Look way ahead into the future and see, you know, whether you need a plan B, plan C. So having foresight is encouraged in scripture, Proverbs 22 verse 3. So this passage is not asking us to, you know, live life by the moment. That's definitely not what this passage is telling us to do. We have to look at what the rest of scripture says. Planning is a good thing. But here, planning with self-dependence, that is the issue that James is pointing to. And he says, no, depend on God. If it is God's will, you will be able to do it. Then you make your grand plans, go ahead and do those things. So depend on God, mainly that's the point. Now verse 16 and 17, he says, but now you boast in your arrogance, all such posting is evil. Therefore to him who knows to do good and does not do it to him, it is sin. He's simply again pointing us to depending on God and by the grace of God, step up if there are opportunities and do what God is pointing to. And even if we don't do that, he's telling us, look, it would be sin. If you're able to do something and you're not doing it, that's also sin. So with that, we come to the end of chapter four here. If there is anything that you want to discuss, we could do that right now. We will soon move ahead with chapter five. Yes. Okay. It seemed like someone, yes, Sasha. Is that a question you have? Yes, faster. James four were six to 10. We talked about the first communication was first point. And the second one, what is the second point? Sorry, I think I lost track. Yes. So James four, six to 10, no? Yes faster. Yes. So one is about the importance of humility and how when we have humility, we will be further empowered by God. That's the first point. Second is spiritual warfare where the best position for us to overcome the devil is one is be submitted to God and also resist him or go against him. So spiritual warfare, the second one. Third one is intimacy. We're drawn here to God. He will draw near to you. And the fourth is to have a, to be, to have a heart which is repentant. So that's the fourth, fourth point. At least four key points over there. Thank you faster. Yeah, no problem. Okay, let's move on then. Let's move to James chapter five. Could somebody please read from verse one to verse six. James chapter five was one, two, three.  Your wealth has brought it and marks have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded.  You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Christopher, could you go on till verse six, please? Oh, sorry. Okay.  The cries of the harvesters have reached the years of the Lord Almighty. You have looked on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourself, yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one who was not opposing you. Thank you, Christopher. So James is addressing the rich. Remember, even earlier he talked about treating everyone equal in the church. And he gave that example. If a rich man comes with many rings, then, you know, how are you going to treat him? And a poor man comes. So you should treat everyone equal. The reason why he is talking about this is the church had all kinds of people. There were rich people. There were also poor people. Now he states over here that the rich, right? And from what he is saying, it seems like they have exploited the poor. So who is he addressing? Is he addressing anyone who is rich in general? No. He is addressing the exploitative rich. So that we have to understand. Why are we saying that? Because to have wealth, to be rich, even in the world, it's not an ungodly thing. Because we know from scripture that God is the one who blessed Abraham. You know, he made him very wealthy, right? And you have many other people that we can talk about. And like even David, that he was truly blessed. So you find that wealth and riches are a blessing from the Lord. So James is not contradicting that. He's not saying that in order for us to work with the Lord, we have to be economically poor and only then God will be pleased with us. If we understand it that way, then we are taking these scriptures out of context. So what is the context from verse 1 to 6 when we read in continuation? It's very clear that he's talking to the exploitative rich. They've become rich by exploiting others. So what are some points that he's making here from verses 1 to 3? He is helping us know that riches are temporal, right? So he says, your riches are corrupted. Corrupted is also that they were not gained in the right way. And so that's why the term corrupted there. They're not blessed riches. He is saying that garments are not eaten, which refers to the... Again, what they have gained is not blessed. So when something is not blessed, it's not going to stay forever. So that's the point he's making. It's temporal. It's come and it will go away. And he's saying your gold and silver are corroded. Earlier he said corrupted, now he's saying corroded.  You have heaped up treasure in the last days. So the riches which were gained through exploitation He's helping us know that they are not going to last forever. Now, when riches are gained through righteous means, we know the Bible says that they are a blessing, right? Those things will stay on with us. It even says about a righteous man that he will leave behind an inheritance for his children's children. So blessings will last. They will endure when you get it the righteous way. But when it is ill-gotten gain, there are terms like corrupted, corroded. But God is saying, you aren't going to last. And there's a warning in there for those who exploit from verse 4 onwards. He says indeed the wages of the labourers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out and the cries of the reapers have reached the years of the Lord of Sabbath. So when there is injustice, something beautiful for us to notice here is the prayers of the exploited reach God. That's what this verse is saying. Do we remember when the Israelites were in Egypt and they were ill-treated by the Egyptians? The cries of the people reached the years of the Lord. So when there is injustice, we may ask the question, where is God? Does God see? Does God notice? Here our passage is telling us that God is not like he doesn't understand what's going on. He hears the cries of the exploited, those who are experiencing injustice. It says that there are people who have not received their wages and things have been kept back from them by fraud. Their cries are reaching the years of and it introduces God here as the Lord of Sabbath. So we must understand here, it doesn't say the Lord of the Sabbath because there is a reference to the Lord of the Sabbath in the New Testament but it's not saying the Lord of the Sabbath. It says the Lord of Sabbath. So the Lord of Sabbath in the Hebrew is the Lord of hosts or the Lord of the armies. Which armies are we talking about? The angels, the heavenly armies. And so what James is saying is, it's a warning. The cries about injustice directly reach God and this God is a God of vengeance. He will work on behalf of those who are being exploited. So he's warning the exploitative rich that don't think God is not taking notice and he's also the God of the armies. He knows what to do. There is vengeance. He will take vengeance against injustice. So verse 5, you have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury. You have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter. You have condemned, you have murdered the just. He does not resist you. So these things are going on and maybe the exploitative rich thought that it's fine, we can just enjoy our lives. Things are going to go on the same way and we will have a beautiful life but he is warning them and he's saying, look, just because you're in your pleasure right now doesn't mean that God is going to keep quiet about these matters. Okay, now let's move ahead. Let's go to the next section here. Yes, yes, please. Yes, Pastor Nasi. I would like to ask a question. Yes. I'm one who hates injustice but at the same time where do we strike a balance in the sense where we see injustice in the world and we want to fight for the rights of the people. How do we balance not going overboard but still maintaining our stance because there is a possibility for we as Christians just to be quiet when we see injustice in the land and feel that it doesn't have anything to do with us and I think to a great extent sometimes the church is always laid back when there are times of opportunities we could have capitalized on to establish the stance of God, the gospel in the eyes of many things that happen in our society. But I think my main question is how do we ensure that, you know, in terms of fighting injustice and fighting for those who are weak in society we do not lose our, we don't lose our identity in the midst of all this. We don't end up being caught up with the social injustice but rather fighting the cause in truth and, you know, in light of our Christian, our call to being Christians. Yes, say it's a, you know, it's a very important question that we need to ask ourselves as Christians. So as you have pointed out, there is a, there is a wise way of addressing matters of injustice. So I would say that when we notice injustice begin with prayer and as we cry out to the Lord and as we ask Him for wisdom, the wisdom that James is talking about over here, right, the kind of, the God kind of wisdom which is pure, peaceable, gentle, right. So that wisdom will help us take the necessary steps is what I would say. So we need to ask God for that kind of wisdom to be able to do something about the injustice because there is a right timing, there is a right manner, there are, you know, the right people in the positions of influence that we must work through them sometimes and that would be the best way to address these matters. So really wisdom is the key. So pray for wisdom and with wisdom step out at the right time and one challenge which you also pointed out is that, you know, sometimes what happens to the church or the body of believers is we, yes, we have to, you know, injustice affects us and we want to do something about it. But in doing that, we may lose our primary cause and that is the spiritual, you know, cause that we have as the body of Christ where we are here to be strong in the world, to be strong in the work of the spirit. But what has happened is believers have gone, you know, with missions against injustice and it's become a social movement. It's become a social movement and it no longer is what the church should be, right. So the work of the church has gotten, if I may use the word, you know, diluted, when I say diluted, I simply mean forgetting the main cause of the church, preaching the word and all that and then just becoming just, you know, like a social justice movement and losing our main purpose. That has also happened and that's a danger. And so wisely, I'm sure there will be people in the church whom God will raise up, whom we can empower, encourage and lead in these acts of justice. But as a church body, we should not lose our focus. Does that help, say, does it make sense? It does. It does. Well, thank you so much. Thank you. Yes, thank you. Thank you. And even as we trace back to some of the great justice movements in the world, we would see that prayer and believing people driving it was the cause for those movements to be successful, right. So anyway, I will just leave it at that for now. Now moving ahead, we are at the next section versus 7 through 12 of Chapter 5. Can somebody please read it? Be patient brothers and sisters until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm because the Lord's coming is near. Don't crumble against one another brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The judge is standing at the door. Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear, not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple yes or no. Otherwise, you will be condemned. Thank you, Christopher. So what we see in this portion is, he's speaking to the oppressed. He spoke to the oppressors and again, you know, it's very interesting that the oppressed and the oppressor are part of the same family of believers. Now he's speaking to the oppressed and he's saying, be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and the latter rain. So he is encouraging those who are waiting for God's justice or waiting for the fulfillment of God's promises. And he says that we must endure, we need patience and gives us this analogy of a farmer who is waiting. He sows but he waits for a season for the crop to grow and then, you know, the fruit to fruit or whatever, the grain to actually emerge. And there is a timeline, isn't it? It doesn't happen overnight. It doesn't happen tomorrow. And that is the same concept that he's helping us learn here. And he says it's going to take some time and therefore we must be patient for God to move on our behalf. And he says also be patient, establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand. So it's like a reminder that ultimately, you know, our Saviour will come, our Deliverer will come, our King will come. Just be patient. Just be patient. Trust him, right? Have your hearts stabilized. Don't be anxious. Oh, what's happening? I don't have anyone. Where is the justice? Don't get anxious. We have a Deliverer. We have a God. We have a King who is for us. And then he also tells those who are going through oppression or difficulties. He tells them to have a good attitude in the midst of challenges because what happens when we go through challenges, the automatic thing is to get, you know, very cynical to lose faith, to speak our doubts. So we lose our stability as believers when we are going through tough times. But instead of that, he shows us the right way of enduring any form of challenge. And in this case, oppression. So what does he tell them? He tells them, do not, first of all, be patient. Then the next thing he says is do not murmur. Okay, do not murmur. So that is to say that, okay, don't grumble. What is this? But God, you said, but these things are happening. We have the tendency to grumble or murmur. And so he says, please don't do that and persevere till the end trusting God. And he brings to us the example of this man called Joe who was greatly afflicted, afflicted from every side. But we know that his testimony is such that he never let God down. No matter what happened to him, he did not let God down with his words or his faith. And so he tells the people, look at Joe, he went through so much, but he was able to hold on to his faith. Why can't we be like Joe? Why can't we be such people? Because ultimately we know our God, isn't it? Everything boils down to our relationship with God and our knowledge of God. And we already know that our God is very compassionate, he's very merciful and he's faithful. Things will turn out for the better. And so hold on, trust in the Lord, maintain a good attitude. And finally, over there in verse 12, he states, he says, do not swear by heaven or by earth. So is he saying that one must not make an oath? Is that his point? Not really. Because we know that even in Hebrews we read that God made an oath. So making an oath, determining to do something for the Lord, there's nothing wrong with that. But if we look at the context of James's times, it is said that religious people made compromising oaths.  So there was that whole way of making an oath which he's addressing in this particular verse. So he's not saying don't make an oath, but he's saying when you make an oath, be true to it. Let your heart be true to the oath that you make. And that's why he's saying let your yes be yes, let your no be no. Because they would say one thing and deceivingly or in hypocrisy, do something else. And they would have explanations for that. And that is a matter that he's actually talking about over here. Alright, so if you're fine, if you're good with that, then we can proceed to the last section here. Anything to talk about in the earlier section? Okay, let's go to verse 13 to 18. Verse 13 to 18. Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church. And let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of the righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with nature like us, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain. And he did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit. So over here, there are instructions for people who are going through different things, different seasons in their journey with the Lord. He's saying, if somebody is suffering, what should that person do? Pray, seek the Lord, ask for God's intervention. He says, if there is somebody who is cheerful, it happens, right? The same church, same time, but one is doing so great, another is going through a difficult phase in their lives. So he's giving an instruction to each one. And so if one is cheerful, he says, let him sing psalms. If there's anyone sick, what should that person do? Call for the elders of the church and have them pray over him. Anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. So he is asking anyone who is sick to ask for prayer. So here, coming to the part where he says, if there's anyone sick, let them ask for the elders of the church. Why is he asking for the elders of the church? When we look at verse 15, it says, and the prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. So the reason why the elders of the church are here in the picture is because they can pray a prayer of faith. That is important. Now, in our context, we are not able to call an elder of the church to come home. See, as long as somebody is praying the prayer of faith, that prayer of faith will save the sick. And the Lord will raise him up. So the important thing is the prayer of faith. And hopefully, the elders of the church will pray the prayer of faith. One more key thing that we see here is they are being asked to anoint with oil. Why oil? Simple. Simple. When we pray with oil or any substance, we know that the power and the presence of the Lord is released through this act. That's the only simple reason why this is done. It's not that oil has magical powers or any other substance has magical powers. No, we can relate to this because of things that have happened in the book of Acts that substances were used to release the power and the presence of God.  And also take authority, pray with oil, anoint with oil in the name of the Lord. So in the name of the Lord is what? Authority. We are praying a prayer of faith. We are releasing the power and the presence of God. We are speaking by authority. Then we can expect God to heal that person. So that's what he's saying. Now coming to the next section here. Let's confess your trespasses one to another. Again, in relating to brethren or believers. And we could even say in the context of sickness, sometimes there are open doors because we haven't dealt with matters. We haven't asked the Lord for forgiveness. So even in that situation, he's saying, yes, it's possible to confess trespasses one to another. And that also will accelerate God's healing. Now because of this particular scripture, you know, confessing of sins, people put a lot of emphasis on that. So how should sin be confessed? We know that now that there is only one mediator between God and man, the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't need any other mediators to whom we must confess our sins. Any human beings or any saints, it's not required. In fact, here it says confess to one another. So being a believer, you're confessing to another believer, which is okay, which is fine. You don't really need somebody at another level to share your sins as a confession. So this is not what it has been made out in the Christian circles sometimes. It's a very simple admitting one's sin that James is talking about. And when we do that in a wise way, healing comes, even in relationships, healing comes. Okay, yes, say. So Pastor, correct me if I'm wrong. What James is referring to mainly there is faults. Not necessarily confessing all your past sins to people in the church.  Is that the context James is coming from? Because like you said, this has been... Permit me to use the word bastardized in the sense that people feel that starting again from the Catholic church where they feel you must go and confess to a father and then some people feel that you must tell somebody about what you have done before you are free. So I don't know, is this a context of you faulted somebody and then you just go back to the person to kind of reconcile in that sense. I don't know if you can correct me if I'm wrong. Yes, so to come to a conclusion on confession, we look at all of scripture. Jesus is the mediator and we pray to the Lord Jesus. So automatically confession is happening as we pray, as we keep short accounts with the Lord. And if you look at what Apostle John wrote, 1 John chapter 1 verses 7 through 9, there also he says confess your sins. We confess our sins, the Lord is faithful to forgive us. So confession primarily is to the Lord, which is understood. Now if required, only if required confess your sins one to another. Now it's not a must, it's not a should and must. You have to tell if you made a mistake, you have to tell a believer. That's not correct because primarily we are called to pray and we're already doing it, we are confessing our sins to the Lord. So it's settled in that manner but there could be times like in this special context when he's talking about sickness or not always, not always we know that there are many factors for someone being sick. But in the event of there being an unconfessed sin, he's saying you please confess because it will bring your healing speedily. So I would say if required confess to one another, we should not impose it on all believers all the time and say you have to talk about your sins to other believers. You know what, sometimes that creates more trouble because the other person that you're sharing your problems with may not have the wisdom to keep it to themselves or give you the right advice. So what just happened, we made a mess of everything by telling anyone about what we have done. Okay, so does that help say? Perfect answer. Thank you Pastor. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. Thank you so much. So that's about confession. Five more minutes to go and then just trying to finish chapter five here. So yeah, confession, he dealt with that. Now prayer, he's talking about prayer also. In prayer, he says effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Now we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. So every believer can use these scriptures. When we are walking right with the Lord, then what happens? He says effective, fervent prayer. What is effective, fervent prayer? Effective prayer comes from the Greek word energy or it means active. It means to be mighty in or you're going after something, you're not letting go of it. So that is effective, right? Effective. Then earnest prayer, earnest we know when we are sort of persevering in prayer, right? When we are persevering in prayer. So we are going with energy and we are persevering, we are persistent in prayer. When we pray in this way, he says there's going to be a result through the prayer, avails much. And then he talks about the prayer of Elijah. He tells us look, Elijah was not special. He was also a human being, but what did he do? He prayed earnestly. That was what made things work. And he gives that example there about how when he prayed, it did not rain. And then he prayed, it rained. But also when Elijah prayed, if you remember, he had a promise of God, but he prayed seven times. So there is that earnestness, that perseverance in Elijah's prayer. When he did it the right way with energy and with perseverance, things happened. So he's telling us the same thing. Come on. Now, why is he talking about this in the context? Somewhere when healing is being spoken of, he's talking about effective and earnest prayer. Because you see manifestation of healing also, sometimes it's quick, sometimes it takes a while. But he's encouraging the believers and he's saying, don't give up. The prayer of faith will heal the sick. But the effective earnest prayer of the righteous man avails much. Meaning keep praying, don't stop praying. Elijah prayed, Elijah prayed persistently and it happened. So when you don't give up, you can also see the outcome of prayer. And then finally, the last section here, I'll just go to that versus 19 and 20.  So when he's talking about persistent prayer, two things are somewhere connected. One is healing. One is praying for somebody who has wandered away. Both these prayers sometimes take a while. And if we are not careful, we can entertain discouragement and he doesn't want the believers to be discouraged. He says, look, when you're praying for healing, when you're praying for somebody who has gone far away from God, don't stop, don't stop. We will see the outcome. We will see the intervention of God. So be like Elijah, continually pray with energy, pray with persistence and God will do the work in their lives. So with that, I stop. We are done with James. We'll pick up 1st Peter 1 in the next class, which is next Tuesday. Next Tuesday, same time. So could somebody please pray as we wrap up today's sessions. Shall I pray now? Yes, yes, Amni. Father God, we are so thankful to you for your words of truth that lead us, sanctifiers, Father, and strengthen us, Father. Lord, help us. Help us whatever we have learned that we may apply it in our lives, be blessed in it, be strengthened in it. Father, walk by it and see your mighty hand moving in every situation, Father, for we know that you have given us these words and these words are spirit and these words are life. Amni, thank you for this time when we have learned, Father, and we bless each one who is going to hear this and be blessed in it. We bless the pastor and we bless you for all the good things you are doing in our lives and through our lives. We give you glory. We give you honor and praise for who you are and how you lead us. In Jesus' name, we pray and ask amen. Amen. Thank you, Amni, and thank you, everyone. Really grateful that you made it up and we could have this class today. God bless you. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Asha. God bless. Bye, everybody.