Hey man, alright, so here we are in Joshua chapter 7, we see the story of Achan, and before I get started this morning, let me just say that, you know, the more, you know, there's this idea that, oh, you know, there's this Old Testament stuff, and then there's this New Testament stuff, and I've even heard people say, you know, as far as doctrines and things like that, that, oh, that's in the Old Testament kind of thing, but what I want to show you this morning is how relevant the Old Testament actually is to our lives, and, you know, before I get yet started, I want to show you that, you know, the Old Testament is, you know, the more things change, the more they stay the same, it seems, and I'm going to show you that this morning and how the Old Testament applies to your life, you know, and how, you know, the struggles that we have today, the mistakes that we make today are no different than the mistakes and the struggles that people in the Old Testament went through, you know, it's all the same thing, you know, this is going to be kind of a shotgun sermon, you know, this morning, I'm going to offend pretty much everyone, I'm pretty sure, but it's equal opportunity offense, all right, so I'm, it's going to, it's going to get everybody, I was thinking about that when I wrote the sermon, but that's just the way it is, so don't feel like, oh, I'm offended, well, you know, just wait, somebody else is going to be offended a little bit later on, okay, so, first of all, we're going to, we're seeing the story of Achan, but we're going to go and we're going to look at a few different stories in the Bible, so you say, go back to Joshua chapter six, you say, what was the big deal, you know, with this, this whole story of Achan, I mean, the, the punishment was pretty severe, right, so what was the big deal, but look at Joshua chapter six, and look at verse number seventeen, and the Bible says this, it says in Joshua six verse seventeen, just one chapter back, it says, and the city shall be accursed, even it and all that are into the Lord, only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are within her house, because she hid the messengers that we sent, so of course this is Jericho, this is where Rahab, you know, live, this is the first city where, you know, they invaded the holy land where they were coming to take possession of the land finally, and the Bible says that everything in that city was accursed of the Lord, and yea, in any wise, keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest you make yourselves accursed, and when you take of the accursed thing and make the camp of Israel accursed and trouble it, so basically what was accursed, everything was accursed, everything was accursed in that city, and if you touched it, you were accursed too, okay, so, you know, you say, what were these things, well, turn to Psalm 115, turn to Psalm 115 and look at verse number four, so we see that these accursed things, you know, were the things that were in the city, and you know, look, they became something too aching that accursed him, alright, and in Psalm 115 the Bible says, you know, talking about the heathen, it says their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands, so, look, gold and silver here became Akin's idols, and that ended up destroying him and his whole family, so look, these idols that he, that he, you know, that took his heart away from the main purpose, they ended up cursing his family, you know, to touch the thing that was accursed, you became accursed, is the point of this story, Psalm 135, I'll just read it for you, verse 15 the Bible says, you can turn to Exodus chapter 20, the Bible says, the idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men's hands, so look, idols, the first thing I want to show you this morning from the story of Akin, and then we'll go into some other stories, is that idols are more than just molten images, they are more than just, you know, gods that are made of gold and silver, they are things that take, you know, our attention away from God, you think about these people and moving into the Holy Land when they crossed the Jordan River, you know, they had been waiting for 40 years or more to actually take possession of this land, and right away, this guy takes his heart off the actual gold that they're there, and he starts just accumulating wealth, he becomes focused on, you know, stuff, right, he becomes focused on, you know, the things that were in the city, the material possessions that were in the city, and God said that all those things in this case were accursed, alright, but look, let's get back to the basics on idolatry, what was the reason against literal idols, look at Exodus chapter 20 in verse number three, where the Bible says, you know, this is a well-known verse of the Ten Commandments, the Bible says, thou shalt have no other gods before me, thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is an earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth, thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them, for I the Lord, and this is what I really want to focus on right here, I the Lord God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children of the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, so look, we serve, I mean the God is talking about not having other gods before you, lowercase g, he's talking about not making images of idols and literally worshiping those idols, but then we see this thing that God is a jealous God, we see that God is jealous towards us, we know that jealousy in the Bible is a good thing, envy is a bad thing, so jealousy is when you know you are you know protective of something that's yours, and envy is when you're you know coveting something that does not belong to you, so the Bible says God is jealous and rightfully so because look, you belong to him, you belong to him, you know to the guy that thinks you know what do I owe God, you know what do I owe God, I mean to the to the unsaved person, you know to the unsaved person that sits there and say what do I owe God, right, well I mean he created you, he created, he not only created you and everyone that you know or ever have met or everything that you've ever seen and this universe that you live in, but he actually you know provided a way for you to have eternal life, I mean that so what do you owe God even to the unsaved person everything is the answer, you owe God everything and as a saved believer you should know this that you owe God everything, but look most people you know you know he justified you, think of it, he created you and justified you and he offers that to you for free, so what do you owe God you know everything, but most people don't even try to find out you know what they owe God or anything right no matter how you couldn't justify yourself no matter how hard you tried most people won't try at all, but look God back to the point God is jealous of you individually and so anything that takes your heart away from God turn to Ezekiel chapter 14, you say you're just making some connection, no turn to Ezekiel chapter 14, God is jealous he's jealous for you and in Ezekiel chapter 14 look at verse number one the Bible says, now we could read verse and verse and verse and chapter and chapter on what I'm about to read you but we've got a lot to get through here look at Ezekiel 14 verse number one the Bible says then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me and sat before me and the word of the Lord came unto me saying son of man these men have set up their idols where in their heart and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face should I be inquired of all by them so look idolatry can just simply be in your heart something that takes your attention away from God God wants he requires your full attention is what the Bible says right now turn it back to Exodus look at verse number 32 so anything that takes your heart off of the Lord can be considered an idol that you have in your heart okay and look here's here's what I really you say I've heard that before but here's what I really want to get across this morning here's what I really want you know this is the worst part of it are you in Exodus chapter 30 look at verse number 20 this is of course the story of the golden calf they made a literal idol and they worshipped it okay so we can have idols in our heart but these people made a literal idol but it's the same concept because the idol the physical idol God is jealous because he wants us worshipping him right for the idol in our heart God wants our full attention it takes our heart off of him it's the same thing but look at what God did in verse number 20 of Exodus 32 as part of the punishment we know many people died and there was great punishment but look at verse number 20 it says and he took the calf which they had made this is Moses after he sees them worshiping the golden calf and burnt it in the fire so he didn't just burn it up read the rest of the verse and he grounded into powder and strotted upon the water and made the children of Israel drink of it so look he ground up the idol first of all so the Lord will grind up your idols is the first thing I want to get across all right and it's interesting though that he used the idol itself to punish them I mean that's not an accident what happened right there there's a lot of symbolism and things that we can learn from that verse he literally he cursed them with the idol that they left they used to leave him I mean he grounded up and he made them drink it I mean that was on purpose that was a specific command that God had you know Moses do he cursed them with it so you say you know I don't have a golden calf I don't worship a molten image but look we're gonna look this morning all that was just matter of introduction we're gonna look this morning turned to Luke chapter 14 we're gonna look this morning at modern day idols and we're gonna look at how we can apply this Old Testament theory to our modern day idols keeping in mind that God will still destroy those idols and he will he will turn these idols that take our attention off of him into curses for us okay and I'm gonna give you at the end you know I'm gonna give you something kind of kind of interesting happened to me last night I'm gonna give you so if you get all offended you know from the sermon this morning I'm gonna give you an example in my life that kind of ties all this together that just kind of popped up last night when I was I was talking to my wife and I want so look I've been down this road so I'm talking to you about things that I've seen and things that I've experienced this morning look at Luke chapter 14 let's look at some idols that the Bible says that we will struggle with in our life in Luke chapter 14 you know we see Jesus making an example here look at verse number 16 and Jesus is giving an analogy here and he says then he said unto them a certain man made a great supper and bade many and sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bid and come for all things are now ready and they all with one consent began to make excuse the first said unto him I have bought a piece of ground and I must needs go and see it I pray have I pray thee have me excused another said I have bought five ox yoke of oxen and I go to prove them I pray thee have me excused and another said unto them I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come so here we see these people that were you know we could apply this to salvation we could apply this to just you know living the Christian life towards God but we're gonna look at these three excuses these three examples that Jesus gives in this story and see how you know they apply to us today all right so look that what was the first excuse that the person made he made this he made you know I have bought a piece of ground he said you know this is talking about you know creating idols of worldly possessions you know things that you know making them you know your idols now look this is a huge one for me because when I grew up like a literal literal land was a huge idol when I grew up even into my you know adult life like land where I come from is an idol that takes people their whole life and they never get out of it it becomes like just how much land can you own that that becomes the purpose of people's life you know I mean I can't tell you how many times I've heard people say you know just comparing other people to other people all he only owns 600 acres of land yeah I'm serious oh you know because it becomes how much you can accumulate how much land you have in the land atlas it is what becomes the definition of of people's lives common where I come from you say that sounds weird but look how many acres of land that you can accumulate turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 2 Ecclesiastes chapter 2 and I've seen this part to I've seen those type of people completely cursed by that philosophy look at Ecclesiastes chapter 2 and look at verse number 4 this is Solomon talking about you know the things that he's accumulated in Ecclesiastes chapter 2 look at verse number 4 he says I made me great works I builded me houses I planted me vineyards I made me gardens and orchards and I planted trees and all of them of all kind of fruits I made me pools of water to water there with the wood that bring it forth trees I got me servants and maidens and had servants born in my house also a great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me I gathered me also silver and gold and a peculiar treasure of kings and the provinces I got me men singers and women singers look he's talking he's saying even like any kind of treasure that anybody treasured anywhere if it wasn't even gold and silver he's like I got that stuff too he had the power to basically bring anything any stuff any material possessions that he ever wanted that anyone on the earth could actually even think of to bring to himself he says so I was great and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem also my wisdom remained with me so here's the thing I mean you ever heard about like you know keeping up with the Joneses you know we lived in Texas we moved to Texas and it was huge there it was this thing where you know people lived in these huge houses and it was all about people would we literally knew people that would move into a huge house and right away they would just start talking about the next neighborhood that they wanted to move into they didn't even enjoy the things that they had you know I mean they so look Solomon played the keeping up with the Joneses game and he won I mean he won he won the game that none of us will ever win I mean he literally says here he says he increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem also my wisdom remained with me so he was the richest he was the smartest everything he won the game so what did it get him look at verse number 18 he says this he says and yay said I hated all my labor which I had taken under the Sun because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me and who knoweth whether he shall be wise man or a fool and yet he shall have rule over all my labor where and I have labored and where and I have showed myself wise under the Sun this is all also vanity look God cursed him with this goal of his life God cursed him with it look he he literally is saying I've I hate the way I spent my life he's an old man here he's saying I hate the way that I've prosecuted my life he he was trying to get joy he was trying to get happiness and that joy never came and also the next generation we know because we have the Bible the next generation was cursed all was lost in the next generation I have seen that so many times personally I have seen this person who is driven and just accumulate all this land and all these possessions and they leave it to the next generation and it's gone in a few years it's the same if you so if you think man and I and I've met this person too I used to kind of be sort of this person if you think oh man if I could only just get to this point and then you know I'll be satisfied and then you know I'll be able to do all these good things for the Lord if I could just get right here then at that point you know it won't be an idol to me and then at that point I'll start serving the Lord and doing what I'm supposed to be doing look that joy will never come that line will you'll never get there you will even you either never get there or you will never realize you've gotten there because it will never be enough you know if my bank account could just hit this mark I'll be happy you know accumulating wealth all of it you know I mean look is it bad to save money no but the point is if it becomes an idol if it meaning what do I mean by that if it gets between you and the Lord God's gonna destroy it God's gonna grind it up and make you drink it through a straw we serve a jealous God so it takes look it takes some maturity to you know live a you know a responsible life save some money and not let that become an idol to you that takes some maturity right but you always have to remember that God wants your undivided attention period all right so don't get caught up in what everybody else is caught up in because that's all anybody else in the world cares about it's how much you can accumulate and the unsaved especially the uns I mean I'm a little shocked actually that as I get you know into my 40s and I'm a little shocked that when I see people my age that people haven't actually thought about their life to the point where they're like you know what what's the point of this life what do I want to do with my life other than just you know have a good time and make a bunch of money that's that's all anyone cares about go back to Luke chapter 14 so we see that your possessions can become an idol we need to be careful let's look at the second thing the guy that has in Luke number Luke chapter 14 in verse number 19 the Bible says this it says and another said I have bought five yoke of oxen and I go to prove them so it's not that he has the yoke of oxen that were his idol but he wants to go and use them and I pray the have me excused look he's saying I can't go because I've got work to do is what he's saying no look we're talking about the career or the work that's getting in the way of serving the Lord now look we've got some men that work hard in this church and that's great that's what we want to be but once again we see that there's a line here that if your work becomes an idol to you or your career becomes an idol to you or you know it gets in the way of you and the Lord you know that's going to be a problem so look you are to have a job you are to work you are to support your family but look you can take it too seriously I'm not saying you know that no time for family no time for church there's no time for anything other than work I've also been this guy I've also been this guy look nothing live some man up like when some things are going well in his work life so you need to guard yourself here there is nothing that will get you instantly prideful that when you go off to work and you have some success at work and things like that and look at how awesome I am nothing will lift a man up like that but look it also it also exposes you to worldly influences because we're out to be out in the world that can make things worse so don't make God grind up your work life and feed it to you turn to second Chronicles chapter 32 let's look at a man who's success destroyed him remember Hezekiah we just talked about him a couple weeks ago remember the Assyrians after they took over the northern kingdom of Israel you know they they came in and Hezekiah you know was was all stressed out you know Rab Sheka you know was saying we're going to take over you know you as well but look and then after that to make things worse he gets sick like sick unto death this guy's in a bad way but look at second Chronicles chapter 32 look at verse number 27 so basically he gets sick you know the Assyrians are there and then they leave and then God you know saves him from them he gets sick he asks Isaiah he's like Isaiah you know he just has this humble prayer to Isaiah ask God to you know extend my life and God says I'm going to give you another 15 years he says I'm going to give you another 15 years of life because he came and he had such a humble prayer but look at second Chronicles chapter 32 this is after that look at verse 27 the Bible says in Hezekiah had exceeding much riches and honor and he made himself treasures for silver and for gold and for precious stones and for spices and for shields and for all manner of pleasant jewels storehouses also for the increase of corn wine and oil installs for all manner of beasts and coats for flocks more up more over he provided him cities and possessions of flocks and herds and abundance for God had given him substance very much this same Hezekiah also stopped under the water course of Gihan and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David and Hezekiah prospered in all his works like everything he's doing is just working I mean he's building all these cities for all his stuff and I mean everything that he's doing like look there's times in your life where you may just be working and working and working and nothing's nothing's turning out but there's also going to be times when you go to work and things you I mean things just start just working for you and that's what was happening with Hezekiah God was just putting things together for him but but why was God doing that look at verse 31 how be it in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon who took over Judah who sent unto him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land so here these princes of Babylon hear about the works of this guy's hands and the success that this king of Judah is having this is after the Assyrians were were killed by God and sent back home and he's having all these successes these princes of Babylon they come down to check it all out say hey what's what's going on and and look the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon who sent under him who sent unto him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land God left him to try him that he might know all that was in where in his heart go back to second Kings chapter 20 because look after the Assyrians and the sickness past let's look at who go to you go to second Kings chapter 20 and I'm going to read second Kings chapter 19 verse 19 this is who Hezekiah said he would be if God would save him from these situations in second Kings 19 just go ahead and turn there and look at verse 19 let's look at it together look what Hezekiah says he will do if God gets him out of this mess that he's in he says this in second Kings 19 verse 19 says now therefore oh Lord our God I beseech thee save thou out of his hand this is the king of Assyria that all the kingdoms of the earth what may know that thou art the Lord God even thou only yet when he so he says if you save me from the Assyrians why should you save us God so that way we can we can show everybody and tell everybody that you're the Lord is what he says he will do but look at second Kings 20 verse 12 and this is what he actually does in verse 12 of second Kings 20 the Bible says and at that time Barrow dachma laden the son of balladadan king of Babylon sent letters and a present under Hezekiah for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick and Hezekiah hearkened under them and showed them all the house of his precious things the silver the gold the spices the precious ointment all the house of his armor and all that was found in his treasures there was nothing in his house nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah showed them not so look these guys come there and what does he do he just shows them how awesome he is he just shows them look at all this stuff that I have I mean is that telling them who the Lord our God is no he was tested and he failed because look you your flesh will love the praise of men you men need to realize this when you're out in the world and you're having some success and maybe you know you're good at what you do at some point which you should get good at what you do but don't start loving the praise of men to where all you want to do is just show your storehouses and show your knowledge and show your wisdom and show all your stuff because all of your success and your skill that all came from the Lord Hezekiah was was given all this and then he was tested and he failed look down at verse number 14 of second Kings chapter 20 this is what happens this is what will happen if that happens to you then came Isaiah the prophet under King Hezekiah and said unto him what said these these men what said these men and from whence came they unto thee and Hezekiah said they are come from a far country even from Babylon Isaiah knows what happened Isaiah knows the test that was given and the results of that test and he said what have they seen in nine house he's like what did you show him and Hezekiah answered all the things that are in my house they have seen there is nothing among my treasures that I have not showed them and Isaiah said unto Hezekiah hear the word of the Lord and he basically tells them he's like but you know you didn't tell them about me you didn't tell them about the Lord and he basically tells them you know you showed them what was in your heart and then he says you know what they're gonna own it all is what is what happens Isaiah tells Hezekiah that the people that he was bragging to and the praise that he loved you know from these people when he should have been you know focused on God in the heart that he turned to this all his success in his work is like those people that you showed all your things that's going to turn into a curse for you and they are going to own it all and they are the ones that end up taking over Babylon period go back to Luke chapter 14 so don't start don't take the success that God has given you and start you know loving the praise that people because look it's not you it's not you that created that success because look you can work hard in your life and God can bless that work or he cannot bless that work I've been in both places I've been in places where I was just working my tail off doing all the right things and things just weren't working but I've also been to the place where it's like hey you know I'm still working hard and I'm still doing things when I'm focused in the right direction also in this stuff's just kind of working for some reason but it's God that does that it's God that puts things together for you so keep your heart in the right place or you know what the people who's praise that you love other than God you know that's going to become a curse to you let's look at the last the last excuse that they give in Luke chapter 14 look at verse number 20 and the Bible says this and says in another said I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come so this guy can't go because you know his wife his family right his family his wife is this guy's idol is who's taking his heart off of the Lord so you know this is basically this whole you know God family country country family God God family whatever look you better get this order right it's super important that you get this order right it is God family country that's the order but these are these people that get these things that it could cost you your family if you if you're saved and you get this order wrong this could cost you your family turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 look family's a good thing don't get me wrong as long as it doesn't get in the way of your heart towards the Lord okay look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 look at verse number 17 the Bible says this it says wherefore come out from among them and be he separate sayeth the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you remember aching where it said keep yourselves from the accursed thing kind of sounds familiar doesn't it kind of sounds like it's the same thing it's interesting that the language is similar it's interesting that people think today that yes I need to be separate you know I need to separate my children from public school from this worldview that's being taught out here yet they'll expose them constantly to family or cousins I mean that was huge in my family it's probably huge in yours too I'm just guessing but look turn to Luke chapter 12 let's see what I mean they'll expose them to family members who will push the same worldview on them yet with everybody else we have we have different standards for some reason you know world bad unless they're related to us right well let's see what Jesus said look at Luke chapter 12 now these are some hard sayings here okay these are some hard sayings and look I have been down this road so I will say whatever I want because I have been down this road and I have knocked this wall down myself is it easy who cares that's where I'm at and that's where I've been so don't sit here and look at me and say oh you know easy for you to say no I've I have done it look at Luke chapter 12 let's see what Jesus says for from henceforth there shall be five in one household divided three against two and two against three the father shall be divided against the son and the son against the father that doesn't sound very good I mean a dad being against son I mean that doesn't sound good does that sound fun I mean what's that going to do for the you know the the Christmas Day celebration right the mother against the daughter and the daughter against the mother the mother-in-law against I mean stop it I mean the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law turn to Luke 14 just a couple chapters over now this one's even it gets even worse you say that sounds bad that sounds ugly that's not going to make for a good Thanksgiving dinner look at Luke 14 in verse 26 if any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters yay and even his life also he cannot be my disciple wow what in the world but here's this interesting I mean what I have to hate my own father what here's this interesting Luke 14 comes after Luke chapter 12 do you know that 12 13 14 if your family if your family is completely on board with your Christian life and your standards is there going to be any division is there no but look there wouldn't be any division at all in that case but Jesus is saying that's not going to be the case all the time as a matter of fact the majority of the time that's not going to be the case I mean how many people are saved soul winners few so how do I know I mean so so when he's saying this he's like look if there's division that means that your heart still needs to be in the right place not there not there not with your father and mother not with your family if there's division your heart needs to stay the same otherwise that's going to get between you and God and now we're we're in danger territory look you say how do I know if it's a problem you know well here's here's how you know like we don't believe in situational ethics here meaning that if drinking is wrong it's wrong everywhere if you know the language people use is wrong it's wrong everywhere meaning television media in general if you think it's wrong you know in certain cases it's wrong everywhere so you know if they don't agree with the life you live look out because they'll be trying to influence your family the cousins don't get me started on the cousins I mean why in the world okay just think of it this way why why would you pull your kids from public school pull your kids out of the influence of all these these otherworldly kids are going to be pushing all this garbage and fornication and drugs and alcohol and all these different lifestyle things and just the the worldview that's not the Bible worldview why would you separate from all that and then let them go out and play in the neighborhood after school with all the kids that just got out of school why would you you know separate them in the school environment and then let them just go out in the evenings and play with all the neighborhood kids what why what sense I mean what sense does that make it's yet if they're cousins it's no problem see what I mean oh we're related so no problem hey the cousins those are the neighborhood kids if there's division and you'll be shocked at how early they start to influence your kids you'll be shocked start injecting doubt into what you're teaching your kids at home the adults will do it too but the kids are even worse because it's subtle it's subtle with kids dealing with kids and all they get to do this and we don't get to do that hmm it's very subtle so look how do you do it how do you do it if it's a problem if there's division how do you do it it's very simple I'm gonna give you a two-step plan right here all right here's what you do you sit down with your husband or your wife or whatever you sit down and you define what your standards are sit down get a notebook define what your standards are that's step one I mean you should be able to do that you should be able to know if you have children look if you have children you don't know what your standards are it means you don't have any standards so you just define what your standards are that's step one and then number two you just compare all family situations to said standards it's binary you know what that means it's a one or a zero it's not gray it's yes or no this is we well because if you start injecting situational ethics into your kids here's what happens they're gonna start to think okay I come to church and I hear this preaching and my parents teach me the Bible and we do all these things oh but this is how it really works you see what I'm saying like the whole let me the whole mask thing there was like this big mandate everyone has to wear a mask even like when you're taking a shower you have to wear a mask like all this stuff right it's like you have to wear a mask everywhere all the time but I was interested like going to work like okay is everyone really gonna do this and no one really wears a mask so it's kind of nice because it's not really taken seriously right that's what you'll do that's what you'll do you like oh we have all these standards we have all these things you know and that the Bible teaches and this is the reason we do it but here's what we really do here's what's really important right this is how it really works look the one foot in the one toe in the three toes in and you know seven toes out we've tried it all the only thing that works is right off like a band-aid that's the only please I've done it I've been there I've done it wrong I've done it wrong a little bit better I've done it wrong a little bit better than that the only thing that works is is the band-aid method that's it and here's the thing here's the big one you're gonna offend people you are going to offend people I mean don't try to offend people but when you tell people hey you know you know we can't come to that because you know this is just our standards and we've decided I mean we're you know whatever you guys want to do is fine you know don't be like the Bible says in Leviticus that you know not like that but look you could be as nice as possible and you should be as nice as possible but when you just lay out your standards of people people are gonna get offended it it's just gonna happen I wish it didn't happen I wish it didn't and actually when it did when it did happen to us I was surprised look I didn't have somebody telling me like I'm telling you right now that people are gonna be offended I wish somebody would have told me because I could at least been ready for it but I'm telling you now people are gonna be offended and you know it's it's a sad thing that you're gonna offend some people and those people are related to you brothers sisters parents the whole thing been there done it all of it but it's just you just sit down you define your standards and you compare these situations to your standards it's that simple it's black and white that does God have a gray zone God doesn't have a gray zone you shouldn't either or your family will become an idol to you your family will get between you and God your family and you know what and I'm gonna tell you God will judge you with it God will judge you with it and the last thing I want God judging me with is my family so look last night so we see here I mean those are some pretty decent categories there we got you know anything that gets in between you and the Lord even in your heart God will consider an idol and he'll curse you with that idol he will use your idols he's jealous I mean he's jealous of you for you he wants your full attention he wants your full attention so we see that it could be land it could be work it be career it could be your own family but look last night for some odd reason I went to an old YouTube channel that I had and I I don't spend time on YouTube but I did last night that's why it's odd so I went to this old YouTube channel and I had you know like hunting videos when Garrett was small and I had like some power plant stuff on there and I had all kinds of sheep stuff on there like stuff from the farm right because I mean I was pretty set up I was sending people videos of certain animals you know that I could you know I was running a business right and I still have those videos out there I started watching that stuff and you know I was thinking when I was watching that stuff it's like how can I how can I make you all understand because I don't think you all really understand actually like what you know do you know that we tried to move into we moved to Sacramento in 2016 we tried to move in 2013 that's three years earlier I tried to move to a couple different places but you know what I did I applied for all these awesome jobs and I'm like you know what if I get like the CEO job I'll move if I get this huge job then I'll move nothing panned out think about it three years that's three years of my life three years gone just like that I mean I'm watching these videos last night and I went over and I told my wife because I'm watching these videos at the farm and I'm seeing everything I'm seeing all the panels I'm seeing all the fences I'm seeing all the buildings and I'm like I built all that I built all that and let me tell you something when I built something I built it for the next generation I built stuff to last 60 years because when my grandpa built it it lasted 60 years so I didn't I mean the business the whole thing I'm just looking at oh I can't I literally told my wife I can't believe that I did all that and my stomach sank I'm watching it in my stomach sank and you say why do you regret no my stomach sank because when I listened to myself talking on those videos and I looked at all that stuff I saw a man walking along the edge of a cliff I was walking along the edge of a cliff and it could have cost me everything because I know look success would I have had success maybe would my career have worked out probably maybe I don't know but God would have cursed me with it I would have destroyed my family because guess what we had no church we went to a church limited spiritual life my wife and kids went to church a lot by themselves on Wednesday night so I got too much work to do I had no respect for the pastor he's lazy I had no spiritual life there was no soul winning never got one person saved you think I didn't offend people you think I didn't offend people after I spent years building that place with my own two hands and people saw me do it people were offended the crown when I left the crown jewel of my family that I had rebuilt with these hands to move to California are you crazy you know mad people were I thought I lost my mind I thought I went nuts it's not like I spent a year there I spent years of life and labor there everyone in my family on my on the this side of my family they worshiped that place and so did I I was brought up since I was this tall to worship that place then I had the privilege of being the one to rebuild it restore it this is my thought my thinking when I was doing it and it would have cost me everything it would have cost me my children because I know how they would have turned out some watching the cousins how they turn out but then just another worldly situation that plays out the same way so of all that when I'm watching that and I'm like man all that best move I ever made thank God for having mercy on me because look ultimately to take my energy and my time I told my wife I told my wife when we finally decided to move look in 2013 it's like if I get this and I get that and I get this I got tested then I got tested then it's like but those things didn't pan out I told my wife we moved in 2016 I'm looking at house prices I'm looking at prices in Sacramento I'm like and I'm just assuming that I'm gonna lose everything that's where I was at I assumed that I would lose everything and I told my wife I don't think that we'll be able to afford a two-bedroom apartment in Sacramento and she said I don't care I'm 39 years old and I'm ready to shake the extra sketch and just start over that's where I was at that's where you need to be but guess what that's where I was at God never required it of me I quit my job I didn't even have a job I never thought I would be that type of person that's who you need to be God never required it of me God's blessed me like crazy I don't even know what I'm doing I have a job I have a house but I don't care I don't care about those things this is my business you are my career this is my energy here get your heart focused in the right direction and it's all or nothing or it won't work you gotta be willing to give everything up what else can I say I've done it all I've I've shaken the extra sketch that's what you need to do because anything please listen to me anything that gets in between you and God God's gonna rip it down because he's jealous he's jealous for you he's jealous for you let's power heads and have a word of prayer


temporarily chairing it for the notice with that madam clerk can you read the role here present here mr. Palin podium is your sir we got to make sure that that beautiful camera right there can get your smile and face to broadcast it across to 139,237 citizens who are interested in what we're doing today fantastic I want them all to hear it yeah so thank you mayor thank you council people I appreciate being here today and for you to hear from me as many of you know the Columbia World Affairs Council is steward of our our city's sister city relationships as well as providing education and relationships internationally for our city and our partners abroad so I just wanted to give you a quick update on what we've been doing and some plans that we have ahead most recently Fred Monk our chairman emeritus made an advance trip to our sister city of Kaiser Slavin and the city of Lucerne Switzerland where we have key contacts from Columbia at Lucerne's major law firm Kyman Rudy the goal here was to reignite the network city strategy that we've been working on began in 2019 interrupted by three years of COVID that strategy strategy by the council focuses on key partnership cities the partner cities for economic development education the primary focus is to attract accelerating technology or innovation talent-based companies in Europe to establish their first office in the United States specifically in Columbia and to build their business and technical support system as a result of this trip we're looking to develop a mission led by the mayor to Kaiser Slavin and Lucerne around this landing pad concept of bringing companies here to our city we already have one significant technology company from Kaiser Slavin that has been to Columbia twice already it's now at a point of looking to put down roots here in the US the company does artificial intelligence document management with a primary focus on insurance industry this is a direct result of the council sister city work in Kaiser Slavin we're also looking forward to continuing the artist exchange that's been going on now for 22 years and it's been led by the late Wim roofs of formerly of art gallery which has resulted in several pieces of public artworks around our city currently as a result of a final project left on the table we were working with Wim the artists are installing the latest piece of public artwork at stormwater studios and Lewis and Clark studios there in the vista this work was partially funded by the consulate general of Germany and Atlanta we have to have an unveiling in the next couple of weeks I'll give you updates on that going back to Lucerne Switzerland Fred met with five accelerating companies and and notice initiatives that range from hydrogen fuel cell technology the women's brain health and an AI company on information effectiveness all have potential to land here in Columbia Lucerne economic development executives were very receptive to connect with Columbia on the landing pad concept and would be eager to work with Columbia companies looking to expand in Europe our goal is to build a relationship through the World Affairs Council and our Lucerne partners in addition to our two Columbia expats in Lucerne and Basel Switzerland they are very much interested very much involved with the University of South Carolina's MIBS program MIBS alumni in Europe and hope to help us build connections there we have a potential to do a MIBS alumni gathering during this possible mission in Lucerne the World Affairs Council has maintained communications with our sister cities and other international partners during the pandemic one of the most successful results of our 20-plus year relationship with Kaiserslautern Germany is the development through SC commerce over the last five years with the Fraunhofer Institute for experimental software engineering based in Kaiserslautern through the Columbia Kaiserslautern partnership South Carolina Fraunhofer USA Alliance for innovation and applied research has been established that initiative that initiative currently includes a 50% matching grant for a company to enact a qualified digital transformation initiative for their company and I hope that we can work together and you can help recommend Columbia companies that can get involved in this it's a great program with a lot of potential the council be happy to work with Ryan Coleman to set up an information session with Columbia companies and SC Fraunhofer which also operates underneath the South Carolina Council on competitiveness we all know that South Carolina has a long-standing reputation as a business friendly state what you may not know is that according to Suzanne Dickerson who's the director of the SC Fraunhofer USA Alliance at SC competes South Carolina is the only state in the US with a unique South Carolina Fraunhofer USA Alliance model so this alliance which is a collaborative effort between the South Carolina Council of competitiveness and the South Carolina Department of Commerce and the Fraunhofer USA Network is designed to support the global competitive position of our state business businesses the alliance was formally established in 2019 to advance applied research across the state of South Carolina with the Fraunhofer USA Network and South Carolina research institutions examples of digital research areas include artificial intelligence industry 4.0 machine learning wearables and cybersecurity in this short period of time more than 20 plus projects have been conducted as Suzanne likes to likes to stay the establishment of this unique model is her favorite 20-year overnight success story and her peripheral role as honorary council to the federal Republic of Germany she often speaks to audiences who have members in sister city activities she says she tells them don't over underestimate the power of the work you're doing within those sister city networks as Suzanne summarizes it it was the friendship and trusted relationship built and supported by the World Affairs Council between the city of Kaiser-Slautern and Columbia which ultimately resulted in the establishment of the South Carolina Fraunhofer USA Alliance we also had a wonderful visit last year by the city of Acura which we hosted the recently elected new mayor Saki of Acura Ghana and a delegation to Columbia the visit was a great success in that it re-established mayor-to-mayor relationships exchanges with municipal economic development offices our fire departments and future collaborations and exchanges the delegation also connected with Benedict College's Business Development Center to possibly partner on an accelerator program the visit culminated in a celebration of our close sister city relations and acknowledgement of women leaders in both cities I'd also like to point out the work that we do with the US State Department and US Congress through the international leadership visitor programs here in Columbia in partnership with the Columbia Council of Internationals the number of visitors and programs were limited a lot through 2022 but but we still had several real in-person visits we received over 137 international visitors with you know a number of them through US Congress and through the State Department we did have three virtual programs and a number of people from the United Kingdom we had over 57 different countries represented visiting our city we have six statements of interest for future programs coming up in the next few months as of 2022 these programs have an estimated annual in economic impact of close to three hundred and sixty five thousand dollars annually and that's that's my report any questions please Dixon one of the things that you all have a lot going on very limited how are we going to move forward in this relationship of growing those sister cities because we have all these relationships and over the years they kind of we want to expand that but also understand the limited resources and I mean you're you're working on I think at least six programs that I could count in that in that so do we need to consider moving sister cities into a separate program how do we do that because it's not it's just not enough human capital to do all the things in there for our oven Institute relationship is is very important to our future when you really talk about what we're doing now here with growing our tech businesses especially with the insurance side the AI coming that deals with that documents fits a unique role here based on what we've already grown but the investments that we're having in the incubator and others so you know I'm curious your thoughts because I think that's something for us we've talked about a lot of trying to to rebuild that but also you know add some more sisters cities because there's some real opportunities to make some stronger connections right right well what what the council again has done over the years is to like we have you know a certain number of sister cities I don't recommend growing the number of sister cities and what we've done is create a network of cities beyond our official sister city relationships they'll allow us who unofficially move forward in economic development initiatives and also educational collaborations with universities in Switzerland we call those bilateral agreements bilateral agreements there you go so yeah so we have a lot of those and I think that we can move forward successfully with the partnerships that we have throughout the city through the university and with city council and various other partners well I think you know I think where I'm getting at is there's so much information but we're very limited on getting a lot of that information and understanding and how we can play a stronger role okay in making those connections but also making sure that we're there that folks know that we have an interest you know it's been a great deal of time with Mayor Saki for multiple reasons or connection personal connections to a craw and other things but realizing that you know we are not the direct link so a lot of the follow-ups and so forth we don't know where that is and how that is and so as we start to grow these relationships how are we gonna handle that and I think that's what I want to make sure that we're addressing agreed yeah I would like to work with the council and maybe allocating more man power or human resources towards keeping the city engaged more directly and up to date and thank you for the wonderful information and what so so when when you're out saying great things about Columbia so what what kind of presentation marketing package do you use and is that something we need to to work together to button up as we change the vision focus of the story we want to tell for economic development and realizing what we are good at and what role we play here for for growing small business the incubators and you know the focus on tech healthcare innovation how do we how do we streamline that conversation to really promote Columbia as a place to as a destination for these small businesses right good point and I do and I will share with you the work that the documents and presentations that I have on on what we do to present but I would love to collaborate more on building and fine tuning our presentations and our and our image towards you know this network of cities and our sister cities and make sure that it's completely in line and up to date and presents our best image going forward but you know I always tell our visitors and and our partners abroad that you know Columbia is an incredibly diverse and innovative city that's really under looked I think in the in the southeast and across the US entirely as far as our international connections through business and education and culture so I think that we have a we have a lot to showcase we have a lot to show of how incredible the city is and be very happy to work with you on yeah please keep in touch with with Ryan and his team as we bring this branding forward to be included in what you're you're taking on the road absolutely thanks man questions thank you thank you all Ryan's also gonna work with them to get a list of the various partners I can't remember the list as well happy to provide that for you and work with Ryan to get something comprehensive there and with some details on each thank you item number two today is economic development partner update from the central self-care alliance mr. Nelson Lindsay president and CEO thank you mr. mayor members of the committee it's a pleasure to be before you today to give you a real brief update I know you've got actual action items today so I don't want to take up too much your time but want to talk a little bit about the services that we currently provide the city and the economic development office and would really look forward to if not today then at some point discussion on if these services are are not as relevant as they may have been in the past what else can we be doing to help support the city so again that can be a future conversation Ryan and I always talk about that but from a policy standpoint and a direction great to hear those have those discussions so for those may not be as familiar central SC is a eight county regional alliance we represent the city of Columbia in the eight surrounding counties and every time we talk to a company that's exactly how we describe ourselves we represent the Columbia because we consider our tagline is the heart of South Carolina and the heart of the region is the city of Columbia so without you we really don't have as much to sell and again the idea for regionalism is that we're better as a larger community selling assets both domestically across the country I'm sorry across the world because you know it's hard to be noticed especially if you're talking to international companies you know each one little community is maybe harder to grab attention but when you talk about a million people within 60 60 minutes of the downtown Columbia that can be noticed a lot lot better and the idea again is from especially from a marketing standpoint the more resources you have the greater impact you can have when you're out there marketing to the region so four distinct areas that we provide services to the city marketing research the generation and business development and I'll quickly go through these I'm not gonna go through everything that we do for the city but just give you a flavor of it from a marketing standpoint as you imagine we're marketing the city and the eight counties both domestically and around the world most of ours is digitally right so if you think about how you receive information most of it is online first with our website if you don't have a website and you're in trouble so website promotion we obviously keep as much information on that as we possibly can and for each community that we have we have a separate page touting the benefits of doing business there we also have a robust available buildings and properties search tool so if a company across the world or across the state wants you find available buildings in our region then they can go online and search for that for the most part a lot of those are on the county level are industrial parks and sites but for the city it's office buildings we do have two industrial parks in the city but most of your inventory is office and targeted towards those in addition to that we send monthly what we call property e-blast each month we rotate a community and send in coordination with the local economic developer what piece of property do you want us to send out to our distribution list and that includes prospective companies leads that we've been working as well as site selection consultants so it highlights a piece of property whether it's a park or a building that our member wants to want to specialize in we also do recently this second year we've done is a photo and video library think quality of life type images we're trying to build up a our photo library so that y'all can use it we can use it so when we're doing marketing materials that you have access to all of that and we try to keep it current because things change and so we want to keep that fresh so that we're out there selling we have images that are useful and relevant and then social media I mean there's that's the size of the website that's exactly where people get their information these days LinkedIn or all the other social media outlets that we have again that's primarily what is going on right so if you have something unique that's happening we will post it share it and get it out there and again that's not on a rotating basis that's as it occurs and that's how we would provide that we can do custom branding and marketing assistance as the ED office requires and one thing we started back in October of 21 is pretty unique and I think is different than a lot of the communities the new battle of the old battleground used to be sites right that's how you want projects having the available sites and which is still important but now the battleground is talent that is the most critical part part of a company search is making sure that they have a number of people and skills associated with what they need in the area so part of it as we've come out of the pandemic is how do you show that you have the workforce for that company one way that we're doing that is a website that we call Start Central and it is it does a couple things one is a jobs portal if you go on there you can search for existing companies in our region that post on and open positions that have been posted on indeed and you'll pop up and can search and find jobs that are available here if you don't post on indeed we can manually do it so that's not a restriction but it automatically feeds from indeed so it's a jobs portal trying to our existing companies trying to find workers right that's a big challenge it also has resources for people to find ways to upgrade their skill levels you have a lot of under-employment right now in which people have the ability to move up they just made an additional skill and this has resources in which to find and then finally it's a quality life attraction piece if we provide information on what it's like to live in this area so if you're in New York you can search online and do a cost of living comparison between New York and the city of Columbia and obviously we're gonna look good in that comparison so you can do that anywhere in the country but we also showcase the amenities and assets that people might want to consider when looking at a new location because nowadays workers are looking at locations maybe even before jobs moving maybe they're moving for weather maybe they're moving for schools safety whatever may be but that whole website is geared towards attracting new people to the area and the retaining people coming out of our colleges and universities so part of that jobs portal also includes an internship portal so if you want to if you're a college student you can go in there and hopefully find an internship within your within your area of study so that's something new that we're marketing right now we're doing a camp digital campaign just have wrapped up phase one of that and we're actually getting good results so far in terms of the hits and looks and impressions that that we are seeing the other major thing that we do for you is research and this is one of the things that all of our communities really utilize from us so when a company comes looking and talking to us as a region of state whatever they've got a list of questions that need answered whether it's demographics workforce taxes whatever and we have in-house research capabilities we have a researcher and we subscribe to several pretty expensive databases that if you did it on your own you'd be paying that yourself and so we are able to provide that or if our assistance to all of our community we compile it we work with the counties in the city in order to respond with the question with the answers that they are looking for but it's not just that is we can do property mapping we can do cost of doing business comparisons so if the city is competing with another location in the country we can compare whether it's taxes or labor rates participation rates whatever it may be we can do labor profiles we can do business intelligence information if you're working with a company we have access to date databases to find out more information about what that company is like and then the third one is lead generation that we're trying to market the region globally we're trying to provide information to those companies that that are looking at us but we're also trying to find those companies as well and so we work closely with our partners at the Department of Commerce and our local economic development offices we have a lead generation firm that we employ that is targeting sectors that in general we have that we are going after whether it's automotive aerospace distribution office sector whatever we're currently asking them to do they will take their database find those should be expanding because their sector is growing and begin the conversations trying to get enough interest to for us to dial in to have a call virtual call these are now in teams now that's the first step the ultimate goal is to get them into the market see what they can on the ground because you can do a lot of it virtually upfront but ultimately you have to get them in the market to show what you have we also plan and execute mission trips both to different geographies and to trade shows both domestically and around the around the world we invite our community partners to participate in which the city has done so in the past and we help fund we do all the work on the front end but we also help pay those expenses for them to travel with us and then the last thing is business development or project management so if we're generating leads we're going to help the company through that process of making a decision and so that can include everything from planning a tour providing the information that they need while they're here taking on community tours working with our existing companies often times they want to talk to companies are already here to find out about what the labor force is like the community is like we you know we host lunches and dinners and all of those type of things if the city or county brings a lead to us then we're gonna play a support role we're gonna help them with whatever they need even if we're not the lead and that you know that that varies that one varies depending on the community how much they want our help someone else more than others and that's totally up to up to the community the last thing I would say that we provide is really a we consider ourselves an extension of your economic development office right we're able to provide all these services in a more cost-effective way because we have nine community partners paying into it versus you having to you know pay for all these data subscriptions and research personnel yourself so hopefully the power of regionalism that we're able to provide a service that would be you know expensive but we're also on a backup so if for some reason Ryan or staff was not available we can fill that role too we just recently did that in Orangeburg their local economic developer went to Florence and they they just announced he left in July just their replacement is coming in next week so we filled that gap as their local economic developer for six months not ideal but I mean we certainly can step right in without skipping a beat on what y'all are trying to do that is only if we need it if y'all need it not something that happens too often but it does happen and when it occurs you need someone to fill that spot so that's a quick update again we'd love to have conversations about what else is the city needing particularly is as you are looking at shifting priorities whatever they may be maybe their retail maybe their commercial not to say that we would take the lead on retail because that's not our strength but we can support you in those endeavors maybe it's providing research to help go after that if it's commercial developers maybe it's a it's a way of supporting bringing developers in and a familiarization tour to make them more familiar with the community and what it has to offer but I just say that this offer the ability to think differently about what we provide because when it comes down to it if we're not serving your needs we're not doing your service so we look forward to having that conversation but happy to answer any questions that y'all may have a couple of questions thank you for being here today I know that there are certainly some benefits to marketing a region but within that region looking at the list of counties you do represent there's a varying degree of diversity and potential in terms of the types of industries that can come in how do you balance you know the city of Columbia is not a place that we're going to be bringing in these large manufacturing firms we need density we need more people in town how have you balanced that can you speak a little bit more to what you've done specifically for the city of Columbia and then what would you say is your greatest success for the city for the city first of how do we balance and that's a very good question because we have obviously urban communities here in Columbia Richland-Eleccington we have suburban communities and some rural ones as well so it is a fine line with trying to keep everyone happy and balance the different needs so we do that by meeting fairly regularly as with our local developers to make sure what we are doing meets you know what their goals are in the case of the city I think where we can play a greater role or a differentiating role is specifically towards the office sector now the interesting thing about the office sector as you might imagine is changed dramatically in the last two years where we have you know what we used to target was whether a shared services center similar to say like a Verizon call center out in northeast small technology companies here as well but those have changed with remote and hybrid work and so we are working with commerce to try to figure out how do we go after those companies we're in the past we are trying to incentivize people to work in this community but a company small IT company they may have a presence here whether workers may be either remote or somewhere totally different so what value does that bring to the city and that is something that is I think still to be determined how do we approach that but that is is a sector that not only I know the city but the county wants to to go after as well and I'd say that's something that we all have to figure out yet I know commerce we're having conversations with them as how do we change our typical manufacturing incentives to go after these I value high paying maybe a smaller company with 25 employees so that is something that we that commerce hopefully will have to roll out in the general assembly this upcoming session our greatest success I would say for the city that's a good question I'm not gonna put Tracy on the spot because she's been here longer than me I don't know that I would say what the greatest success is I know we had a small role but certainly the state and Ryan took the and the county took the lead on that so I don't want to try to claim any success that is not ours but I think it's an example of how we work together to bring companies to the area and just to back up on manufacturing even though there's you know you're not going to get the large manufacturer right I mean that's just the reality of it but you very possibly could provide water and sewer to that company by fact we had a major company today that would you would be potentially serving if they were to come but the impact would be felt in the city of Columbia specifically if there's in Richland County so even though it may be just outside to see a limit the impact will be felt throughout I don't answer your question yeah Nelson you know with your background Richland County Department of Commerce and now with Central Midlands or Central Carolina excuse me just as this is a general question for you know what is your opinion on how we as a region are doing on workforce development there's a lot of silos I think working to create those careers the talent that comes out of our our educational systems what can we as a city what can we be doing better to help this big engine of what we hear about in workforce development that truly can set us apart you know as a region as a county and as a city well I mean that is that's a great question is frankly a difficult question because there's so many different groups in workforce development when you think about K through 12 the vocational schools technical schools the university and all the colleges here has a role and then you know ready I see which is the training program for the state so there's a lot of people in this arena and it's probably not as coordinated as it could be and should be so that's that's a difficult thing where I do think you have this region has an advantage is that university and the fact of how many colleges are here that is a great asset that we have I mean over 60,000 students in our in our region the trick is trying to keep them here and that's a that's a real problem I know just within my own family we've got friends and folks that move somewhere else right out of college we do very well when we bring them back you know when they started having families and want to move back but there's talent here we just need to keep them and I think that's where we can do a better job we can do a better job the city can do a better job working with USC to try to find a way to keep those things here perfect thanks Nelson thank you Nelson for that update I do think we need to have a further conversation you know to be quite frank I think things have have evolved and different we probably need to play a different partnership role with you guys obviously we we want to stay involved and important but maybe not at the same level that maybe some of the other counties that have different outlooks but I do think there is you know we I'm glad to hear you talk about the students because we've been engaged with the students for over a year we have representatives from every college and university here understanding how to keep them here and a lot of it is is they don't realize the opportunities are here because they hadn't been cross-pollinated or integrated into our community we're bringing them to the table I think it's a missed opportunity for us most of the college presidents all agree we still still have some greater opportunities you know we have a international business program that nobody's actually figured out where the graduates are and you know where are they in a C-suites and why aren't we marketing to them to bring us we need urban development we need density downtown in our core we need to be honest somewhere between 6 and 12,000 people to move downtown to make us where we need to be for future workforce and etc that includes housing options and other things so as we are marketing and chasing development but you know where are those back office opportunities where those cyber you know 2.7 million jobs available in cyber and what are we doing across the state it's worth about 89 billion dollars to us as a state but it could be five times that if we put in the effort our sister states Georgia and North Carolina investing heavily the legislature in Georgia put a hundred million behind the effort so you know I'm hoping that we can get our legislature to put some money behind the efforts but I do think there's a there's a role here for Central Carolina and we just got to figure out how to craft it that fits our needs because that you're right and I think what we've seen regionally here by pulling the mayors together and having discussions on a quarterly basis is that everybody's starting to realize that we need to support each other it doesn't matter if the major manufacturers are going to Kershaw or it's going to Blythewood if it's going to Casey we all benefit regionally because people live where they want to live they go where they want to go but we've got to support each other and I think collaboratively there's a lot of opportunity there so I think let's figure out how we we forward something forward that works for all parties so that we can all benefit together that sounds good we look forward to that great thank you so much for being here Tracy thanks for being here thank you mr. mayor I make a motion to enter executive session for discussion of matters relating to the proposed location expansion and provision of services encouraging location or expansion of industries and other businesses in the area served by the public body pursuant to 30-4-78 5 vista depot project steeple project sequoona project stratus and project canary should have should have realized that halfway through is there a second second yes yes


Item number SCP-2733 Object Class Safe Special Containment Procedures Containment Procedure 64 Delta Romeo, standard containment for anomalous structures mid-urban, is followed for SCP-2733-01. Two implanted agents are to remain in residence in Oklahoma to keep civilians away from SCP-2733-01. Attempts to remove SCP-2733 have been unsuccessful. Therefore, the room containing SCP-2733 is to be secured by foundation agents and locked with both keypad and retinal scan. Description SCP-2733 is a body storage cabinet in an abandoned building, SCP-2733-01, that served as a funeral home slash morgue on the outskirts of Oklahoma. SCP-2733-01 was abandoned after the business owning it. Rustful Meadows Funeral Home and Crematory went out of business circa 1976. The building has remained uninhabited for the past years. SCP-2733's anomalous properties were discovered after the ghost hunting show began to scout the area for a new filming location. An implanted agent discovered SCP-2733 and reported it to foundation personnel. SCP-2733's primary effect manifests when a human being opens one of the cabinet doors while thinking of another either living or dead sentient creature. Upon opening SCP-2733, the subject will find the head of the creature they were thinking of. Creatures are alive and able to communicate until either the cabinet they are in is closed or another cabinet is opened and a second head is summoned, at which point the initial head vanishes. Attempts to track these heads have been futile. Below is a log of experiments regarding SCP-2733. Listed are the test subject, the creature they thought of, and the result of the experiment. D-8452. Instructed to think of a dog. The head of a Jack Russell Terrier manifests. Dog is panting and appears in good spirits. Cabinet closed without incident. D-8452. Instructed to think of a human. The head of D-8452's uncle manifests. Head is communicative and healthy. Cabinet closed without incident. D-8452. Instructed to think of a famous person. The head of English playwright William Shakespeare manifests. Head appears as historians have speculated he would have looked at his death at age 52. Head is communicative and healthy, if distraught. Cabinet closed without incident. D-8452. Instructed to think of a deceased dog. The head of a Collie manifests. Dog is identified as D-8452. Head appears as historians have speculated he would have looked at his death at age 52. Cabinet closed without incident. D-8452. Instructed to think of a deceased dog. The head of a Collie manifests. Dog is identified as D-8452. Head appears as historians have speculated he would have looked at his death at age 52. He manifests. Dog is identified as D-8452's childhood pet. Dog is barking and appears in good spirits. D-8452 instructed to remove head from shelf. As soon as the head is no longer touching the shelf, its neck expels approximately 0.5 liters of blood and the head begins to decompose at a normal rate. Dr. Peter Anselman. Instructed to think of D-8452. D-8452 is sedated and placed beside SCP-2733. Upon opening SCP-2733, D-8452's head disappears from its neck and manifests within SCP-2733. D-8452's body expels approximately 2 liters of blood and collapses. D-8452's head appears sedated as before, but alive. Closing SCP-2733 does not result in D-8452's head remanifesting on its neck. Dr. Rue becomes distressed and is sedated. Addendum 2733-01. Further investigation has indicated that Restful Meadows Funeral Home and Crematory was purchased by with intent to demolish. Attempts to locate Joseph Wright, the previous owner of SCP-2733-01, and the body of have been unsuccessful.


Rwy'n cael ei maen i gyd, yw'r meddwl? Rydw i'n wneud ei cyfreidio am ein ffombon, rydw i wedi'n gwael y modrigin. Rydw i ddim yn cyfreidio, rydw i ddim yn cyfreidio a'r meddwl wedi'u meddwl yw'r meddwl ar ddiwedd. Rydw i'n meddwl am ysgrifennu yma yw'r werthfugledig. Rhywbeth mae'n amser yn ychydig, mae'n credu ampereid yn mynd i'n meddwl. Rydw i'n meddwl ar y bod yn elas hynny. Rydw i'n gerchwyn. Rhaid i chi'n gweithio amdano'r morad, rhaid i chi'n gweithio. Rhaid i chi. Rhaid i chi dechrau. Rhaid i chi? Rhaid i chi. Lyddiw i'n rhaid i chi'n gwneud ceisio i chi'n cullnwyd da. Lillwr i chi gweithio i chi dechrau, yn gweithio gydan? Peddwl i chi dyw hwrdd o gwneud? Peddwl i chi gyda hwnnw'n gweld, rhaid i chi i chi'n gweld hwbl o'r gweithio oherwydd Liddiw i chi'n gweld. I'm today we are doing a life update video I haven't sat under one of these in a bit and quite a lot is changing at the moment. Good changing as well so, let's get on with this. So I am actually lowering my dose of puttypian and I'm going to be starting a lamotrygene next week. I am stopping my morning dose of puttypian and I'm starting on 25 milligrams of lamotrygene and then evening I'm still on my 200 of puttypian. As the dose of the lamote stream goes up, we're going to try and lower the type in as much as we can. I still will need it to help me sleep but that is the plant at the moment which is a big change because I personally think going on to a mood stabiliser is the best decision I've made. It was my suggestion. All my other medicine is saying it's like it's still on the pan, still on the opicloan, still on the prophecy, still on the vaccine, still on all of that but I am going down on the dose on my type in which is good news and scary news. I'm actually going to be able to do some way fighting on my type in and you've got a very odd relationship. It does help me but it also makes me worse with my sort of and since starting to take it I put on a lot of weight and I don't feel very comfortable in myself so knowing that I'm coming off that and that I'm just going to feel more comfortable again is a big relief. The scary thing is is I've never been on a lamote regime and I did read about it. I've got the BMA Drugs and Pharmaceutical book. I also have psychiatric drugs explain I've got the bipolar survival guide and I've got the ICD which is the UK's guidelines for mental health. I have a lot of books on mental health and if you guys want a video on all moments health books I will do that. In terms of my medication I'm feeling optimistic what terrify. I have read a lot about the cycle of rheumatogean and the one that scares me is the rash. I am a bit afraid about it so if you any of you guys have been on lamote regime or on lamote regime and have any advice I would really appreciate it and I think to watch so many videos on people having this bad reaction in this rash that's like dangerous that has me scared. I guess we'll see how that goes so I don't know who doesn't know lamote regime is an anti-convulsant but it is used as a mood stabilizer. I have had issues of migraines for around three years now. I have a pretty much constant one. I'm going to take an Alma trypton at aspirin. Aspirin is prescribed because my GP likes knowing what I have. So there's that. I'm prescribed aspirin and I'm prescribed but the big issue that I've had since it all started especially was I have this lump on my head decided and this came about three years ago when my migraine started and it's concerned for a while but it's taken until recent for me to be like I think there's something wrong there because migraines don't usually have physical forms and the fact that I have got this lump on my head has been concerning me for a while and it's taken me a while to get a GP to actually listen to me because every time I go and see a GP it's like oh how are you feeling?  You know they never actually listen when I say migraine but one of my GPs did and referred me to neurology. I'm waiting on that appointment. Obviously everything's going back to normal and hopefully that referral will come through soon. I am afraid of that. That is something that I'm terrified of and I keep saying it because it could be so many things but not many of them things are good. Well no none of them things are good. It's not good to have a lump on your head and chronic migraines so that's just not good. So I am afraid of that referral but it needs to happen and I'm glad it has because I can get answers and maybe resolve it. The next thing is I work a full-time job now which where the hell's that come from? My name's Llucia, I'm calling on behalf of the NHS testing trace programme and I work for testing trace which is the NHS system for testing and tracing people who have been in contact with the coronavirus. I work by contact people who have been in contact with someone who hasn't confirmed case so that's fun. I get to make phone calls and sometimes I get screamed at. Thank you for watching the video and yeah like I said if you've got any advice on lamatrogene it will be appreciated. I'm very open on it, I know it but I know the exact chemical compound for it but I am also terrified about starting it so any tips or advice would be really appreciated. Thank you for watching and I'll see you guys tomorrow with a new video. Peace.


and Gavdur Babagana Zulun presented a budget of 340.6 billion Naira for 2024 to the State House of Assembly in Maidukuri, Baudena state. The budget includes 198.2 billion Naira in capital expenditure and 142.3 billion Naira in expenditure financed by recurrent revenue of 206.8 billion and capital receipts of 128.8 billion Naira. Zulun plans to deliver 46 projects including teacher recruitment, housing estate construction, infrastructure, hospitals and worker gratuities and settlements. Hello. Hope you enjoyed the news. Please do subscribe to our YouTube channel and don't forget to hit the notification button so you get notified about fresh news updates.