Hey, everybody. Hi. How's word camp so far? Is it good? i know, right? that's about as much energy as i have. Just kidding. i actually did have caffeine Before my talk, so i am just good to go. So let's get started. Hi. i'm michelle. i design stuff. It's usually word press. This is my face. It looks a lot like me. i have a lot of experience Working with clients. Before i was a freelancer, I worked with clients at an agency. I've obviously worked with clients on my own as an individual. And i have worked with clients as part of a team. With other freelancers or with other companies. I work with designers. I work with developers. I work with project managers. And i have pretty much heard all The stories. And i have been a part of many of those stories. But this isn't about me. This is about you guys. And i want to talk about why we're here right now. So i want to know who in here is a, would consider Themselves a client of web services. So they want to have a website built, or someone is building Them a website, or you might want to have a website built At some point. Cool. How many of you guys are designers or developers? If you build websites, you work on stuff. Cool. How many of you guys are like Managing a team of people that do stuff? All right. So we've got everybody in here. And who in here, if you are, if you're getting a Website built, who has hired somebody to build a Website or part of a website for you before? Cool. All right. And who is this going to be their first time? Like, this is a brand new thing, and they are getting their First website now. Anybody? Awesome. I love that. For those of you that have hired somebody, like, was it a Good experience? Was it not so good? Maybe somewhere, like, wave your hands generally about your Emotions about it. Like, yeah. So, so, yeah. So what this presentation is going to do, I'm not going to necessarily give you, like, this is the best Way to do it and this is the worst way to do it. But what i want to be able to do for everybody is empower you To make informed decisions. And for those of you that do this For a living, i want to give you some empathy for the people On the other side of the equation, like the people that Are writing your checks, who are kind of important. And i want everybody to be able to work together. So this is going to give you a sense of the system and Teach you some vocabulary along the way. So, first of all, why even work with a professional? This is kind of an ironic presentation because we are at A word camp which is designed to let people learn word press. And i'm here to tell you first that you don't always have to Work with a professional because plenty of people learn to Code and tinker on their own. That's awesome. That's how i got started. I mean, granted, i was a designer, But i learned how to develop through going to word camps. So here's the times when you don't actually need help. We are at a word camp and you can learn about word press. And it's usually best to take it on yourself if your Work does not have a hard business or time constraint.  You don't have to launch Any time. It's not mission critical to your Business. Go ahead and learn. That is a great way to learn is by building something for Yourself. But otherwise, you probably should Seek help. And i think there are four factors That are usually involved in thinking about whether or not It's a good idea to seek help building your website. First of all, customization. Does the solution not Currently exist out of the box? So if you have very Specific needs or specific requirements for your brand, And it doesn't, you can't just go out there and buy it. You should probably look for help. How complex is it? Maybe there are multiple partial solutions that exist, Like several different plugins that kind of do, But you might need someone to integrate them. Or there might be a third party service, Maybe a social service or a CRM or a database or Something else that you need to integrate with or talk to. Or maybe your website is just going to have a lot of traffic Or need special security procedures. It's complex and you Probably need to hire someone. Knowledge is another one. If you don't know what you don't know, i mean if you're so New that everything just seems overwhelming, you might need Somebody just to be able to provide best recommendations and Guidance for you so that you can find a good solution. And finally, is it mission critical? So does the timing, Performance or functionality of the site, is it crucial to The operation of your business? You definitely don't want to Be the one responsible for that if you don't know how to build A website yourself. So what i recommend for my Clients is rather than becoming a word press developer or Designer, become an expert word press user. Like you be the best administrator ever and you Learn the admin and you learn how to publish content and You learn how to do the thing that you want this Website for. Because web design and Development can be a full time job, right? I do it full time. Lots of you guys do it Full time. And your business, the person Who is building the website, it's a full time job. The person who is getting the website, they have a full Time job too. It's called running their Business. So you don't need to take on both. So now that you know that you want to hire somebody, What's going to be next? As a client, you want to do Project due diligence which i call know your project. So what does that involve? First, what are your wins? What is a win? A win is like, what does success Look like for you? What do you want people to do on Your website? Figure out what that is. Is that i want somebody to sign up for my form.  I want somebody to go to my store. I want somebody to call me. Know what those Wins are. Know what those verbs are that You want people to do. And figure out what the Problems are that you want to solve without Necessarily prescribing what those solutions are. I have seen a lot of rfps that people have put together, And they're very thorough, but they're usually asking for Very specific solutions to be implemented. And i say step back from that. Figure out what your Problems are. What do you want people to be Doing? What kind of stuff don't you know? But don't try to figure out what the solution to that is. You're going to be hiring somebody to help you find a Good solution. So you don't need to Worry about finding the solution. Just really know what your Problems are. On the other side of that you Want to do business due diligence. And what i mean by that in This context is know your business as it relates to the Project.  But if you're multiple people And there's going to be a lot of people touching this Project, figure out before it starts who's going to be Involved. Everybody that's going to have To have buy-in or is going to have to have an opinion Or is going to have to sign something, how much do they Need to influence that project and when do you need to Involve them. My general rule is Involve everybody at the beginning and then only Involve people as necessary as they're needed. But know who all of those people are because one thing That derails a project is people suddenly showing up And having opinions about stuff. It must be windy outside. Next, prepare your company for outside help. If you're a larger company and you're going to have In-house departments that are going to be working with People, prepare those departments and let them know That we have this outside contractor, this outside team Coming in and you're going to be working with them. Like especially if you have designer development teams That are going to have to either work alongside them Or are going to have to continue the work after This developer or designer is done. And if you have any decision makers within your Company, empower them. Give them the ability to Make the decisions. Don't tie their hands Because it's not good to have somebody who has to make Decisions but then has to go and wait for somebody else's Approval. All right. Next, so we know basically what we're going to be getting Into next. How do you pick somebody? Because there are lots of options out there and which One is the best fit for your project. So i'm going to talk a little bit about what each of These terms means. A freelancer and Independent, usually as a specific skill set. They could be a specialist or a generalist. They work on their own time and equipment. So they have their own time, they have their own stuff and They do it when they want to. They are self-managed so they Take direction from you but they run their own thing. They are usually managing multiple clients. So you are probably not their own client and you cannot Necessarily guarantee that for eight hours a day they'll Be working on your work. They will communicate Directly with you but it will be on their schedule Because again they probably have other clients and stuff. And their rates will vary based on experience. So that's kind of what you're getting when you're talking to A freelancer. And obviously experience is Different, what they specialize in or whether or not they do Multiple things depends on the freelancer. Now contrast that with a contractor. Contractors are pretty similar to freelancers in that they Are a single person but they are usually a lot more Specialized. Like you are usually bringing Them on to do one specific thing for you. And a contractor works on site so you need stuff for them. So they are going to come in and work on site for a Pre-determined time alongside you or your team. That means that they need equipment to be able to use While on site. They might be able to bring in their Own but usually you are providing them equipment while They are on site with you. And they need to be Managed. It's not that they are not smart. They are very smart but they are there to execute On the task. They are not there to run the Entire project so you are going to be managing them. But the upside is while they are on site they are 100% dedicated to you. You know that that eight Hours they are doing only your work. And again their rates will vary based on experience. So now what about working with a team or an agency? So that could be a group of independents or it could be A full service agency where they all work full time and They are dedicated to doing that thing. And it's usually a combination of experiences and Skill sets. Like that's one of the Appeals of a team is that there are lots of different People to work with. Which means that they have More resources and more flexibility to be able to Handle more aspects of the project that you are Working on. You are usually communicating at This point because there are many people they usually Have an account manager or project manager whose Job it is to talk to the clients. So you may not necessarily be talking directly at All times to the developer or the designer or Whoever that is working on your project. They are going to be more expensive though because You are paying for multiple people and possibly Overhead and possibly lots of other things. Aside from this stuff there is also a lot of different Word press titles out there. You might see designers, Developers, experts, contractors, seos, whatever. What does all this stuff actually mean? I'm going to go through some of those things and tell You what you probably can expect. So first of all a word press designer. Usually they are responsible for aesthetic decisions, The interface, the experience. Sometimes they might do Theme development. They might have front end Experience. They might be doing Styling languages or javascript. So actually building stuff. They might have other Design field experience. They might be able to do Print or something else like that. These terms are related terms so you might hear of Like a UI UX designer which is a user interface User experience designer. You might hear of a Theme designer. Those are all kind of related in This field. So why would you want to Choose this person? You want to choose this Person if you know that your project requires a Very strong visual language. You might be choosing multiple people but keep That in mind. You definitely want a designer If you know that the visual language is extremely Important. Then there's a developer. What is a word press developer? Usually that means That they have experience with interactive programming Logic. Sometimes they might have Designer styling experience. They might be more front End. Sometimes they might have more Experience doing integrations or applications. Sometimes they might know other programming languages Besides just word presses flavor of php. These are some things that are related to that. So you might hear like a front end developer Which is mostly concerned with browser side stuff. Back end developer mostly concerned with database stuff. Theme developers. Plug in developers. These all fall under this category. You want to have a developer if your project has complex Functionality or integration requirements. Stuff that's very custom. Stuff that's going to Require more knowledge. What's a word press implementer? This is a new term that's kind of been circling Around. Basically this is a person who Combines existing solutions to solve problems. This is a legit thing. Not everybody needs a custom Solution. Some people might just need Somebody to help them combine plugins together and maybe Write a little bit of code to make them talk to each other And maybe set up a theme for them. Totally legitimate. Sometimes word press implementers might have Development experience, design experience. They might have good content writing experience. You might hear something like an integrator or a consultant. That usually falls under this umbrella. You want this person, if you know that you have some Recommended solutions that you want to use but you're not Sure where to look or you're not sure how to put them together. This might be a good person for you. And then we've got seo consultants. Usually what an seo consultant does is they can Recommend, optimize, implement and track your seo stuff. Like that is what they're good at. Sometimes that means that they have development experience Or design experience or content writing experience or all Of these other things. But usually mostly what It means is that they are focused on seo. You might hear something like an seo strategist or search engine Marketer or whatever. Mostly that just means that's What they're concerned with. And you want to bring this person on. I would recommend bringing on an seo once you have an existing Site or you're in the process of redeveloping a site. That's when you want to get the seo involved. Then we've got a word press expert. And what that means is nothing. There's no objective Criteria for being a word press expert. I've basically been told like if you call yourself an Expert, you probably aren't one.  So if you evaluate somebody based on The other criteria, don't look for this. There is no word press certification that is globally Accepted. There is nothing. So look at the other stuff they do. And don't forget that websites involve lots of other people. So you might need content. So you might need writers, Photographers, animators, videographers. You probably need outreach so people actually go to your Site once it's built. That's email campaigns, social Campaigns, newsletters and marketing. You probably need a lot of ongoing work like security and Maintenance. So now that we've got a sense of who is out there, Who do we hire? That's kind of the question. Like cool, you just told me all this stuff. Now that's a lot. What do I do? A larger or more complex project will probably be the most Successful if you've got a combination of experiences Available to you. So usually that's with a team Overlapping skill sets. It might be a couple freelancers that Both know a lot of things. It might be a much larger team for A very complex project. If you have a smaller project, Or a more specific project that maybe is only like solving part Of a problem or doing one thing, you probably will benefit More from a freelancer or a contractor due to a kind of Flexibility and rates that has the skills that you need to Solve the problem. Now I do want to make a note, There are projects that can be done by bringing multiple Freelancers together, but it's usually best to let the Freelancers pick each other rather than grabbing a bunch of People and telling them, hey, guys, work together. If you do do that before you start the project, make sure That they can see whether they're a good fit, make sure they Can always communicate directly with each other, don't Make them have to go through you. It's very important to be able to do that because you want Them to be able to function cohesively as a team. That's the whole point of bringing on multiple people. So now we've got people out of the way. We get to have the super Fun talk now. We talk about money. The first thing i want to say is this. This is the reaction i usually get from this when i say this Right up front. But it is important to know Generally what your budget is going to be right up front Because we want to know whether it's in line with the Scope. We don't want to know your budget Because we're like, sweet, i'm going to make 20 grand. No, that's not why. It's because i want to know What is the work that you're proposing in line with the budget That you've got and i want to be able to recommend. If your budget is super high, sweet, because then we maybe Don't have to spend all of it or maybe we can do more Ongoing stuff. If your budget maybe doesn't Quite cover it, that's fine because maybe we can say All right, maybe we can do this in phases. Maybe we can do less of that. Maybe we can do an mvp of Phase one. So basically it's kind of like The goldilocks chairs, right? Like is it going to be Too small, too big, or just right? That's what we want to know. And there are several Different payment terms that you might see. First of all is hourly. I usually recommend an hourly Rate for exploratory work or work where you don't really Know what the deadline is going to be or what the Outcome is going to be like we're trying to iterate on it. Hourly rates are usually billed after a set amount of Time that might be weekly, that might be monthly, that Might be after you reach a set amount of hours. There's also flat fee work, which basically is Charge in increments, including like usually that's how Most of my projects are, usually like an x amount of Upfront deposits and x amount of other payments, and then The final payment is paid before the product is Delivered, so final payment, then it's all yours. There's also a retainer, and that's basically paying Advance to keep someone on reserve. So a lot of maintenance contracts are ongoing Contracts are billed as a retainer, so you say Cool, i'm going to pay you $500 a month. I have unlimited access to five hours of your time. You're going to prioritize me if there's an emergency or Whatever. Some people will have that Rollover, so if you don't use your hours it goes to the Next month, some people say it's use it or lose it, but It's that peace of mind of having someone that will Always be on site because you already paid them. And next in terms of money, like you're going to be Getting bids, like people are going to be telling you How much stuff costs, and you have to know like How do I evaluate that? How do I know if it's good? Well, what i am going to say is that the type of site You're building does not necessarily on its own determine The cost, and so put another way, every type of site can Exist at every price point, but not every scope of site Can exist at every price point. You can have, if you Want a super, super cheap e-commerce site, you Could install like a free woo theme and use paypal And do nothing to it and just literally use it Right out of the box, and you have a super, super cheap E-commerce site, right? but if you want a super custom E-commerce site, it is not going to be super, super cheap. So what are some things that influence price? Those four factors we talked about earlier, right? The more of those you have and the more complex they are, The more the price is going to go up, right? Because it's going to be more complicated. The size, scale, and scope of the project. So basically how big is your project? How much content are we talking about? Is this like a university website or is this like a personal Blog? there's a big scope difference there. The timing and availability, how fast do you need it done? How many people are we going to have to put on that in Order to get it done? how available is the person that You're looking at super, super popular and booked up for The next eight weeks? they might charge more because They're in demand. the cost of doing business is a Factor. where are these people located? If they're located in san francisco versus Minneapolis, that's a big difference in their own life. So their cost of doing business is going to be higher. If they're a team, maybe they have to pay for an office. Maybe they have to pay for overhead. Maybe they have to pay for non-billable hour people like HR. the value of the final product Is also a big factor in bids. so is this a site that's Going to be worth several million dollars to the company? Or is this a site that's more of a personal or a side project? That's a big difference. And that also, another big one, Is the difficulty and ease of working with you. So nobody in here is going to have the bad client up Charge because we're all going to be awesome clients. But like in the previous presentation, if you're someone Who likes to talk a lot, there's probably going to be More project management built in because we have to Accommodate talking. there's nothing wrong with Talking a lot, but it is going to influence the price. If you're somebody that likes to change your mind. If you're somebody that only wants to know it when they see it And we have to do 50 lockups, fine. That's going to be built into the price. And so it's going to cost you more. The other thing that isn't done here is stuff like the risk That's involved and that ties into value. So is this a super critical e-commerce site that will cost Millions of dollars for every second that it's down? That's a very high risk and is going to probably cost a Lot more to build than something that isn't as crucial. So the biggest thing about evaluating bids is basically Ask a lot of questions. I am not giving you a talk on Why or how to price. If you want why or how to price, Go read chrislema.com. He writes a lot better on pricing Than i do. But what i want to do is be able to Empower you to ask questions and figure out whether the Price that you're being given matches the value that you Assigned to the project. The other thing to remember Is that bid costs are not always final. Sometimes when you get bids from people, you might Get a price range or sometimes you might get scope changes And why does this happen? Why don't you know up front how Much something is going to cost? so i like to think of quotes Kind of more like home inspection. So mike holmes, he's pretty Great. He's my favorite. And what he says is a good home inspector, a really good Home inspector who's been doing it for years. He knows how to or she knows how to ask the right Questions. They know how to see the Right signs. They know what something Generally will lead to. If you see this thing, it Probably means that this other thing is happening, right? But like his show demonstrated, you still don't know for Sure what's going on until you open up walls, right? And you can't open up walls until you get started on the Project. So there was one episode that I remember watching where they were doing electrical Inspections and they opened up the outlets and looked Behind them and they were like, cool, the wires look great. But there was a bunch of other problems so they started Tearing open the walls and it turns out that they had only The previous contractor had only redone the electrical Like two feet in and the rest of it was all old knob and Tube wiring.  But as soon as you open up the Walls you're like, wow, that is vastly different than What i was expecting. That's a huge scope Change on this home improvement project. That's kind of what happens with quotes. And that's why i recommend paid discovery phases for more Complex projects and i started doing this with my clients. I actually have a separate project that's built for a set amount Of hours where i go in, i get full access to everything They are paying me and the deliverable of this project is Basically a full scope document, my full recommendations, like A big content map and the quote for the actual Development work. That's part of the scope. The nice thing is if the client decides they don't want To work with me they own all of that stuff and they Can't take it to someone else and there's no hard feelings. Usually they want to work with me. Sometimes timing doesn't Work out but either way i have been paid for my time and i have Done a much more thorough job of quoting so there are a lot Fewer surprises. Also as a client an important Thing to remember is being able to give quality feedback and This is important because you're going to be talking a Lot. You don't just go away as soon as The project starts. There's a lot of feedback. So i've got some recommendations here for being able to Give good feedback. You want to start with Evaluating the look and feel of something if you're giving Design feedback. So the questions you are Asking yourself if you are looking at designs is does it Communicate well and is it understandable. Design decisions are not about your personal taste. Like if you are not the target audience for your site i Don't care. I mean i care about you but I don't care whether you like blue or not. I do want a personal level because like i like you and I think you're cool but does your audience like blue? So it's not necessarily about your personal taste but it is About do you feel like it makes sense. Do you feel like it's Communicating well. What you want to do with design is Remember that with a content management system we're not Necessarily designing pages. We're not designing the about Page and the home page and the product page. Like we are designing systems for you. So we want to look at okay how does this part of the System fit into everything else. How does this part of the system Fit into everything else. Is this going to make sense with Content that you're going to be put in there. And obviously the biggest thing is ask questions. Because good designers can always answer why. Why did they do something. And then we can have a Conversation. When you're giving development Feedback you want to focus on how it's working. What that means is does it do what it's supposed to do. It's broken is not good feedback and i'll tell you Why. It can mean a lot of different things. Like we don't know if you say it's broken whether it's an Actual bug meaning it is not performing the way it is Intended. We don't know if it's just Like a bad user experience. It is performing the way it's Intended but it's really hard to be able to tell. We don't know if it was a miscommunication like it Actually is working exactly as we built it but it's not What you expected us to build. So what you should do when you are giving development Feedback is you should say what did i do. What happened. What did i expect to happen. That did not happen. That is all very helpful. So that's pretty much all the major content. I have i actually turned this into a six part blog entry on My website. This is like a super great Screenshot on my website. Where i go into like a whole Lot more detail about all of those things if you want to Learn about it. I will have these slides up Online so like totally take a picture of this great Screen if you want to but you will be able to see it later. I'm changing slides now. Hurry up. Okay.  A couple of articles that are pretty great and this book is amazing. Mike montero is a wonderful writer and this book is pretty fabulous. Here's my info. There's a link to my slides. There's my email. There's my twitter. Tweet at me, et cetera, et cetera. And i am here for any questions for the next however long this goes for. All right. So questions, comments. Yes. So the question for the at-home Players was basically who owns the final product and basically There's been disputes over that. So yesterday in the freelancer Track, if any of you were there, there was basically Steve zenget basically made a statement saying that at his Company he explicitly states that clients own the work That they pay for like straight up. I mean, they own that iteration of that work that they paid for. So i usually spell out i have in my contract like there are Different levels of creative licensing that you can do. 99% of the stuff i do is straight transfer rights upon Final payment or upon payment of phases. And actually if you see Steve zenget, you should Definitely talk to him about this because he's got some Super smart thoughts and he's here this weekend. But basically i spell out personally that i transfer rights Over of stuff to the client. With design, i know there are Different kinds of licensing you can do for creative work, Especially like illustration and photography where you might be Licensing a thing for a specific amount of time. But for web development, it's generally spelling out Direct transfer and look for that in the contract and if You don't see it before the project starts ask about it. It's good to know up front. Yes. Yes. So the question was how do you deal With clients that are looking at a cashed copy of something. I mean usually with that it's a matter of kind of explaining It like here's how you clear your cash. Let me walk you through it and et cetera, et cetera. I mean that's just one of those things where you kind of Have to do some hand holding because it's not expected Behavior if you don't know that caching is a thing. Why wouldn't the internet be the thing that's on the Internet that doesn't make any sense? Right? So i usually at that point would be like What are you seeing? Have you tried doing this? Let me explain how to do it, blah, blah, blah. I might even like do a screen share and show them how So they know how. But i mean it's education because Like i don't expect my clients to know everything about the Internet and part of my job is to teach them what they Need to know to be able to be my client. So talk about it again except dumber. What would you like? Like okay. So how so? The question was basically how do you deal With clients? Stuff like they're seeing so caching Basically is a thing that kind of saves.  It basically kind of saves a Version of the site so it doesn't have to constantly reload it. So what could happen is that you make some changes but Because it hasn't dumped all that cash out. It hasn't loaded up the changes. They're seeing an old site. Sometimes on the server side you can dump cache. Sometimes in your browser you can get rid of it. It basically says ignore all that stuff we saw last time. Let's see the new thing. That's basically dumping your Cash. Does that help? Okay. No problem. Yes. So question was about online resources for sample contracts. So because i come from a design background, i based my Contract and i customized it but i based mine off of the Resources that the graphic artist guild has put out. Which is the pricing and ethical guidelines. They have a book. They also have digital versions. The a-i-g-a also has a really good boilerplate contract. I'm pretty sure there's also some really good resources on Like the freelancers union. They've got some pretty sweet Resources about all that stuff and actually if you're An independent i suggest checking out what the Freelancers union is doing because it's pretty cool.  Like, yeah. Yes. So the question was about what do you do if a client Brings you a theme and they want you to change it. At this point i no longer take themes clients bring me. I just tell them that's not how i work if they want to work With somebody who changes the theme they pick out. They can find another designer. That's not to say that i Don't start with pre-done themes ever. But i pick them from marketplaces that i have worked With before and i'm familiar with. Because i've done that. I've gone through the route. And basically i have to spend half my time learning what This theme developer did or whatever and how to even do Things. It's not a good use of my time. It's not a good use of my client's money. So i tell people if we are a lower budget project, if we are Starting with an existing theme, i will help you pick out that theme And then we will go from there and it will be from a Marketplace that i have worked with before. So i just kind of hold my ground on that one. Oh, proofing the design like if you're tweaking Something that exists already. Yeah, so for that it kind of Depends on the client and i'm happy. I'm going to go to the happiness bar after this if you want to Ask more in-depth questions about stuff. But my design process for that would basically probably be if It's a theme that has psds and the client needs to see psds, I might modify those. If it's a quick enough change, I might just do the change in the browser. If it's something where we're going to sort of relay stuff Out, i might do some wire frames. If it's something where i'm literally taking the theme but Putting a new scan on it, but it's going to stay Structurally the same, i might do style tiles so they can see What the new look and feel is and then do the work in the browser. But it's usually very iterative and back and forth. Like, i don't do mock-ups very much anymore for anything. So, yes. Yep, so the question was about Dealing with plugin updates. Usually that would be covered Under like an ongoing maintenance like retainer. I mean, if something breaks for x amount of time, i will Be happy to answer questions. I've had clients that have Paid me for maintenance. I've had clients that come back A little later and are like, hey, can we pay you for a few Hours to update everything and make sure everything works When you update it. I've also taught clients about Like how to do updating themselves for certain clients. It depends on the client. But, yeah. How are we doing on, i don't even know when we're Supposed to be done. Okay, so it's probably, I'll do one more and then you guys can go to your Next thing. That's awesome. Thank you. All right, we'll have fun at your Next thing. I'll be around.


So let's take a look at another example of completing the square. Now, fraction-free. Well, almost. Let's contrast this to our traditional method. So say we want to solve 3x squared minus 7x equals 25. We'll solve this in two ways, and first we'll solve it using fractions. And so we can mindlessly remember the formula to complete the square of x squared plus bx add b over 2 squared. And so our first step is getting this expression on the left-hand side into the form of x squared plus something. And so we have to divide everything by 3. And then, do complete the square of x squared plus bx add b over 2 squared. Now, b is our coefficient of x, which is minus 7 thirds. And so, do complete the square of x squared plus bx add b over 2 squared. And so we need to find b over 2 squared, which will be. And so we'll add 4936 to both sides of our equation to get. My right-hand side is the sum of the fractions 25 thirds plus 4936, which we should add. Now, all of this was done so the left-hand side would be a perfect square. So we need to factor the left-hand side. And now we can take the square root of both sides. Don't forget the plus or minus and solve for x. And this is great, provided you're willing to accept two things. First of all, dealing with fractions. And second, blindly following rules without understanding where they came from. And in fact, the role of education in a free society is to make sure the society remains free by constantly asking the question, could we find a better way of doing things? A free society will remain free only as long as people keep asking, there is no better way, do not question the actions of the administration. So while we have this method of completing the square, do complete the square of x squared plus bx add b over 2 squared. It often requires us to deal with fractions. But what if you don't like fractions? And the thing to remember is this, if the only tool you have is a hammer, you must treat every problem like a nail, no matter how bad an idea that might be. And the way forward is this. First of all, remember, don't follow examples, don't memorize procedures, but understand concepts. And the whole idea here is that we'd like to have an expression that is a perfect square.  What we want is something that looks like the right-hand side. So let's think about this. We want our first term to be a perfect square. And the first thing to remember is that a squared x squared is a perfect square, so we'll want the coefficient to be a perfect square. And if we multiply the coefficient by itself, it's a perfect square. So let's start out by multiplying everything by 3, the current coefficient of x squared. And so now our first term is a perfect square. Now it helps to look ahead a little bit. We'll want the middle term to be 2ab. So looking ahead, we'll know we'll have to solve 2ab equals minus 21x, but that's going to produce a fraction because we're going to have to divide 21 by 2. But let's think about that a little bit more. If a squared x squared is a perfect square, that also means p squared q squared is a perfect square. If I multiply a perfect square by another perfect square, it's still a perfect square. And what this means is if we multiply everything by 4, we can make everything even and still have a perfect square. So let's also multiply it by 4. And now let's compare. We want our terms to be the start of a perfect square. So we needed our first term to be a squared. So a squared is 36x squared, which means that a is 6x. We'll also want our middle term minus 84x. We want that to be 2ab. And so 2ab is minus 84x. We already know what a is, so we'll replace. And now I want to know what b is. So we'll multiply the 2 and the 6 together to get 12xb. And I'll rearrange the factors a little bit. So now we know that something times x is the same as minus 84 times x. So our somethings have to be the same. 12b has to be the same as minus 84. So we can solve for b. And what I actually need is b squared 49. So we'll add 49 to both sides. And remember, the whole point of this exercise was to get the left-hand side into the form of a perfect square, namely the square of a plus b. So you could try to factor this, but if only there was some way we had to figure out what a and b were directly. Oh wait, we've already found a and b. So we know the left-hand side has to factor as 6x minus 7 squared. And we can take the square root of both sides. Don't forget the plus or minus. And solve for x. So it's really your choice. You can solve this without using fractions. Or you can do complete the square of x squared plus bx and b over 2 squared. Deal with the fractions and end up with a mathematically equivalent answer.


Welcome back to today's class and we have seen all the nutrients, their functions, their sources, what are the symptoms of deficiency, what are the symptoms when we take in excess and let us just very quickly brush up what are the various nutritional disorders that are caused by the excess or deficient intake of all these nutrients. So protein energy malnutrition is a very important disorder, then vitamin A deficiency, iron deficiency, P complex deficiency and iodine deficiency, these are the important main nutritional disorders that occur because of excess or deficient intake of various nutrients. Tell me the protein energy malnutrition, so this is a deficiency of protein and calories in the diet, so it refers to the form of malnutrition. The types of protein energy malnutrition are one is the when there is only protein deficiency, the deficiency is called as quashyorker and merasmus is when there is deficiency in the calorie intake. So there may be merasmus alone or quashyorker alone and sometimes there is merasmic quashyorker. So this occurs when there is protein deficiency and also calorie deficiency present in the individual. Now merasmus is a form of severe malnutrition, it is characterized by a severe energy deficiency. So the child who is a merasmic looks very emaciated, so body weight is reduced less than 60% of the normal or standard body weight expected for that age and merasmus occurs increasing to the prior to age 1.  So this is how the merasmic child looks and you can see the clinical manifestation there is lot of wasting, there is no muscle at all and growth retardation is there because the weight reduces by 60% of the normal weight and there are mental changes, there is no edema at all and the temperature is sub normal because there is no subcutaneous fat and muscle in the body and there is no appetite and often there is diarrhea present in the child. And quashyakur it occurs after 18 months of age. So the merasmus can be when the child is put on to the adult diet, the child is not able to feed it itself properly therefore under such conditions protein deficiency also occurs and the child comes to quashyakur stage. So this is how the quashyakur child looks like, it is looking like a normal child, isn't it? So very difficult to assess how whether the child is having a quashyakur or a normal child, there is no change in the body weight. So we have to go only by the diagnostic test.  You may think the child is chubby but it is a deficient child then there is anemia. So this is got only by testing the blood of the child. See the difference between the quashyakur and the merasmic child, the quashyakur child has swelling of legs, then sparse hair, the hair is lost, moon face with little interest in surroundings. He is not at all interested in surroundings, he keeps on crying. Then flaky appearance of the skin because the skin becomes dry and flaky and swollen abdomen and the muscles are thin but fat is present whereas in the merasmic child the hair is normal. You can see the hair is normal but the child looks like a pocket sized old man and the limbs become very thin without any muscle or fat and the body weight is only less than 60 percent of standard weight. Next vitamin A deficiency also commonly occurs in children who are not fed properly. So this is lack of vitamin A in body. In generally it is very common in poor countries and rarely seen in developed countries. So the first symptom of vitamin A deficiency is nictolopia or night blindness and this is the first sign that is the child will not be able to see in dark. Generally when we get into a dark place within seconds we get adapted to the darkness and we are able to see some objects very slightly but a child who is deficient in vitamin A will not be able to adapt to the darkness and cannot see in night. Then xerophthalmia that is the cornea and the retina are involved. So congenitiva and cornea both are involved and there is ulceration finally there is complete blindness the eye just melts down. So this can occur in the children below 6 years that is why the government has given a prophylaxis program of giving 2 lakh international units of vitamin A every 6 months to a child below 6 years. So this is how the eye looks like it just melts down the cornea the congenitiva everything is involved and the child becomes cyclist. Now next the iron deficiency iron deficiency causes anemia in any age. So this comes quickly after the great symptoms like confusion then feeling that one is going to pass out that means you feel so much of palpitation is there so much of confusion is there there is increased thirst and there is need for to be significant anemia before a person becomes notably plain that is the paleness is seen only after the anemic condition goes very severe. Till then these clinical symptoms are not seen so there may be additional symptoms depending upon the cause that is behind causing anemia. So the anemic person becomes easily fatigued and there is loss of energy and there is rapid heartbeat that is palpitations occur in the heart and particularly with exercise the individual cannot do exercise for a longer period there is shortness of breath because the oxygen carrying capacity of the blood decreases then there is headache and particularly with exercise the headache increases then the person is not able to concentrate because the level of hemoglobin is less oxygen consumption is less the energy input is less and it causes dizziness the skin becomes pale the eyelids become pale there are cramps in the leg and there is sleeplessness that is insomnia so this is how the eyelids look pale and the tongue looks pale and you can see the fingers and if the anemia becomes very severe then your nails become like spoon shaped which is coiled as coilo nicchia. Then deficiency of B complex vitamins so vitamin B1 you have already seen that deficiency of thymine causes berry-berry and if it affects both the heart and the nervous system and there is irregular heartbeat and edema and riboflavin deficiency generally it causes a riboflavinosis which causes chelosis, angular chelitis and glossitis that is the tongue gets cracked it starts bleeding there are cracks on the lips and the angles of the mouth also get cracked which is called as angular stomatitis. Then niacin deficiency we have already seen that it is caused because of deficiency of tryptophan and it is called as pellagra there is it is a disease of 3Ds that is dermatitis, dementia and diarrhea and this again causes insomnia sleeplessness and weakness and there is mental confusion this is dementia. And if this is neglected over a long period it may lead to death, pantothenic acid deficiency causes acne and parasthesia so that is tingling sensation in the periphery of the body and vitamin B6 that is pyridoxin it causes dermatitis especially in the wherever the sebaceous glands are present it causes seborrheic dermatitis. Then biotin deficiency it causes symptoms like impaired growth and neurological disorders and vitamin B9 or folic acid we were talking about it that it does not help the RBCs to mature properly so that they decrease in size at the megaloblastic stage it is stopped therefore it leads to macrositic anemia and it also elevates the homocysteine levels which affects the heart and when it is deficient in pregnant women it can lead to birth defects like neural tube defects which is called as spina bifida. Then vitamin B12 deficiency this again like folic acid results in the megaloblastic anemia or macrositic anemia so vitamin B12 and folic acid both are involved in maturation of RBCs. So this anemia is called as pernicious anemia again there are elevated levels of homocysteine and causes peripheral neuropathy and the deficiency occurs because of the lack of intrinsic factor in this stomach so deficiency occurs only because of lack of absorption and there is synthesis of vitamin B12 in the large intestine which is of no use. Now iodine deficiency it is lack of the iodine that is taken in the food it leads to goiter and creatinism and in children it leads to developmental delays and other health problems so this again iodine also is has become a public health problem because more and more population are getting into the iodine deficiency therefore the government has started it has banned the normal salt and it is forced to implement the intake of iodized salt in the population. So we have seen the pictures of goiter and creatinism in children in short about all the nutrient disorders that occur which are more common and which have a great impact on the health of the children and adults. Thank you.


Okay, recording is on. Good morning everyone. Thank you for joining the class. Let's pray together and we'll get started. Can somebody please pray with us? Aaron, can you please pray? Sure, Pastor. Let me pray. Thank you for this day, Lord. Lord, thank you even to the ESB Queen to learn your word. Your Father, we know your heart, we know our mind with your moving word. And Lord, Father, prepare us all and place us all with you, we simply offer this to you. May Jesus know my prayer. Amen. Amen. Okay, so last week we covered Romans 12th chapter and today we will, I think we'll be able to do 13 and 14, hopefully, we'll be able to finish that. And then we just have two more chapters. So hopefully we'll be able to complete everything in by next week. That is October 22nd or late test by November 3rd and that will give us three many weeks we will use for just use the time to do the assessments. Now that I'll be able to work on and put it out. So we'll have time to finish up assessments that cover the cover Romans, whatever we've studied, right? So today's a very interesting chapter. Romans chapter 13. It has to do with how we relate to civic authorities. And once again, this is probably the, I would say, the primary place. We do have a reference over in 1 Peter chapter two. But other than that, this is probably the primary place where the New Testament is teaching us very specifically on how we as believers should relate to civic authority. And Paul is very clear on what he writes. And for us to understand the context in which this being is written is even more interesting. And then, of course, from there come a lot of questions, which we would ask today as believers living in, in a, in a, in a world where, you know, we have all kinds of things happening. With government. And, and so we will try to answer some of those questions and I put all of these things. These are all in the PDF notes. So we will just be covering that and you can go and review that as well. So let's begin first of all by reading Romans chapter 13. And we will read verses one to eight, please. Romans 13. One to eight. Could somebody read that for us, please? Romans 13, one to eight. Classes are required today. I'll do the question. Romans 13, one to eight. Let every soul be subject to the government governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same. For he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is good God's minister and Avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore, you must be subject, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience sake. For because of this, you also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing.  Oh, no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. Thank you. All right, very interesting passage and also lots of questions. Now, we know obviously God and Paul is writing about civic authorities or government authorities. And the context is, you know, he's writing to believers in Rome, Jews and Gentiles, people believe in Jesus Christ. They are in Rome. At that time, the Roman emperor and his government or his kingdom or his empire is in control. Roman emperors were not godly people. I mean, at least up until that time, you know, we may have one or two exceptions, but generally, they were not godly people. They were terrible people. And in fact, the Roman emperor who, Nero came in about into power about that time was extremely wicked. And he was so against Christians that Nero emperor Nero was was so, so, so harsh that he, you know, he used Christians. He used them as torches, set them on fire and use them as torches even to light up his garden and use them as entertainment, throwing them to animals. And eventually, you know, subsequently, Rome was just not Rome. Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman general around 80 70. So the point is, at that time, the people who were in authority were not godly people or not kind people. They were nowhere in any way they're no affair or just or, you know, the kind that we would expect from a civic authority, somebody was in power. They're not like that. So for Paul to write these words to believers living in Rome, knowing fully well, the kind of authority that was there. And to use, you know, the language he uses here is quite astounding, actually. And we know that this is not the words of just Paul, but this is what God is communicating to us through his servant. Holy Spirit is telling us these things. So we have to take them very seriously. And of course, we have to apply them to our day and time. The governments that we are under are slightly different or not slightly very different. We are under democratic, democratically elected government. We are under different form of government. But the there are a lot of questions that that, you know, as believers we ask and so we will try to address them. But what are some of the interesting things we see here in this passage in these eight verses? First of all, he's telling us I'm starting from verse one. He's telling us to be submitted to the government.  There's no no questions or no discussion on this says, you know, as a believer, be submitted to the civic authority. There is no qualifier for is the civic authority Christian is the civic authority believers is the civic authority righteous is the civic authority bear. No, none of that simply says be submitted to governing authorities. That's one thing that we notice right away. And then he just says the other interesting thing is the view that Paul brings to us about civic authority. He says they are appointed by God. That's I'm still on verse one. He says civic authority appointed by God.  Basically, their people, their pawns sort of speak, you know, appointed in different parts of their empire. He's saying, look, they are, they are appointed by God. And then he says they are worse to they are the ordinance of God. That means, you know, could translate the word ordinance as an institution of God. So they are appointed by God. They are an institution of God. And then he goes on in verse four, and he refers to them in verse four and verse six. He says they are God's minister. So three, three interesting but very notable things that Paul is saying about the civic authorities appointed by God. The institution is of God. And they are God's ministers. Now the word minister there is the word deacon servants. I think they're God's servants. I mean, somehow they are instruments in God's hands. So that's a very interesting perspective. It's not just a perspective. This is God's truth. And that's something for us to embrace that way we see our government, whatever the form of government is. We see them as, you know, whether, you know, so the point is this, I want to say this, regardless of the form of government, whether it is a monarchy, which was the case in those times, whether it is a democratically elected government or whether it's a dictatorship, you know, whether it's, you know, a socialist type of government, whatever, there is no qualifier here. So nobody has a right to say socialism is not of God or, you know, a dictator dictatorship is not of God or monarchy is not of God or democratic process, not of God. I mean, there's no qualifier here of the form of government. So it's wrong for us to put qualifiers. Whatever the form of government is, Paul is telling us the authorities are appointed by God. They are the ordinance of God and they are God's ministers. That's how we view them. And we will answer some questions in relation to this, but I'm just highlighting these things from the text. And then he says, as a believer, what must I do? He said, he said, you know, verse one says, be subject to them. Verse two, don't resist them. That means don't go out there and oppose them. Don't fight against them. And third, he says, do what's good. That means you do what's right. Do what's right.  So tax, custom. So not just pay your tax and your custom, but notice he also says honor, which is respect. So as a believer, as we relate to civic authorities, what should we do? Be subject or be submitted to them. Do not resist them. Do what's good before them. And then number four, pay the dues, whether it's money, but also respect. And I want to emphasize the respect part, the money part. Yeah, you know, we may all pay taxes, but how about the honor, the respect that we have to give to the government? You know, and so we have to honor them, respect them. So now having understood, you know, that, you know, what, what did this passage has said or stated for us? There are lots of questions that we as leavers would ask in relation to all that is being stated here. And so I've kind of, you know, these are put out there in the, in the notes and I just want to, you know, kind of walk, walk through that in the PDF. And I'll just kind of follow the PDF for this lecture. So the first question would be, you know, in what sense are these authorities, these governing authorities, civic leaders, you know, in our case, we have prime minister, we have his cabinet, you have, you know, of course, there's a president there. And then at the state level, we have governors, we have chief ministers and all of these people. You know, in what sense have they been appointed by God?  So that means they're serving the purpose of God in some way. And, you know, what about leaders who are just outright unjust, wicked and corrupt? Because, yeah, we know that, you know, so whoever's in power, whether it's a prime minister or chief minister or a president, depending on the government, you can tell. Yeah, this man is just unjust. He's corrupt or maybe even is against Christians and so on. So, you know, so what about such leaders? How do we understand the fact that there is somebody who is so unjust, so corrupt, so wicked, so anti-Christian? And then to look at what is written here in the scripture saying, hey, this government is appointed by God, don't resist the government. This is an institution by God and he is God's minister. I mean, how can I reconcile that understanding with the reality of what we might be seeing in government, right? So what we must, so I just want to go through some of the thoughts here. That is, God has instituted governmental authority in different spheres of our life. That means that there's an authority structure that God has put. So, in the family, in the home, there is the husband. So the husband and wife are co-equal, but yet the husband is the head, he's supposed to provide leadership in the church. All believers are saved by grace, all are co-equal, co-heirs, yet there is a spiritual head, a spiritual leader of the church, particularly the pastors in charge in the workplace. The workplace is made up of citizens who have equal rights in the country, but yet in the workplace, there's an hierarchy. There would be managers and eventually whatever that structure is, there is leadership. And then there is, in the government, civic authority, again, whatever that structure is, there is somebody in charge. There is authority above every level. And what the Bible is teaching us is that these authority structures are from God. In God, in one sense, has permitted these authority structures in some places. He's instituted them. God instituted the family, the church, the workplace also. The Bible tells us that we submit to those in the workplace and in government. God has instituted them. And the intent is that through these authority structures, the purposes of God will flow. But the ideal is that the head of that authority structure should be submitted to God. So verse Corinthians 11 and verse three, it says, you know, the head of every man is Christ, the head of the woman is the man, the head of Christ is God. So head of woman is man, head of man is Christ, head of Christ is God. So there's an authority structure. Ultimately, the work of God is flowing through that structure. And the ideal would be each one is submitted ultimately to God. So the head of the woman is the man, but the man is submitted to Christ. And even as Christ, as he walked on the earth as Son of God, was in submission to the Father. So that's God's intent that these authority structures are in submission to Him. Now, in practice, that may not happen at the home. The husband may not be in submission to Christ. Hopefully in the church, the pastor is in submission to Christ. In the workplace, you know, the manager, the head may or may not be in submission to Christ. And the government and the leaders may or may not be in submission to Christ. But ideal is, okay, you have everybody in submission. So God's purposes can be fulfilled. The second thing is we recognize that. Let me share the PDF so we can look at it while I'm talking from it. All right. So you can see the PDF then. Okay. So this is what I just, I was discussing this question. In what sense are these authorities by God? We recognize first that God has instituted governmental authority. They're there because God put them there. And the intent is that God's God's purposes would flow through that. Those authority structures. Second, we also recognize that these leaders are in place because God in His providence has, you know, has permitted them to be there. So in one sense, God's, God has, okay, I love them there. But keep in mind God's permission does not imply God's approval of all that is said and done. Right. Just because that God has permitted them there. And we will see that man also has a role to play in this in who comes into power. We'll see that later. But God has, you know, permitted that. Okay. These structures. Okay. Where, you know, these people are there. So for example, if two people get married, obviously the husband is the head. Now, the husband is there because they got married. They made the choice to get married. But the moment that marriage takes place, that marriage has come under a structure that God has put, which is the institution of marriage. And by becoming part of that institution, the husband has the place of authority in that marriage, in the place of headship. So again, I want to use the word authority in the sense that he is not superior to the woman, but he's in the place of responsibility for that household. By virtue of them entering into the institution that was already set up by God. So the institution is set up by God. God permits anyone to enter into that institution. And the intent is, you know, that through that institution, the purpose of God will take place on the earth. But just because people enter into that institution doesn't imply God's approval of everything that is said and done in that institution, in that particular situation. So keep that in mind. So, you know, with the specific authority, that's an institution set up by God. It's an ordinance by God, kings, rulers, elected officials, you know, dictators. They all come into that institution because that's an expression of civic authority. Now, God could carry out his purpose there or they become, they end up doing a lot of harm and wrong. But God in his sovereignty can at times use them to carry out his purposes. We will see that. So God's permission, recognize the fact that God has permitted these people to come into authority. And if we look at these scriptures, you know, Psalm 756 and 7, it says exaltation doesn't come from east or west, but God is the judge. He puts down one exalts another. So there is the hand of God that can be involved in bringing people into places of power. Daniel 221, Daniel, you know, states this. He says, you know, God changes times and seasons. He removes kings, raises up kings. So it is God who's involved in the affairs of men in this way. He's, he can bring kings in and he can put them in places of power. And in Daniel 4, we see this repeated many, many times with regards to Nebuchadnezzar says that the most high rules in the kingdom of men, and he gives it to whomever he wills, you know. So that means God can put whomever he wills in the place of power. And he can bring whomever he wants into places of power. So we see examples in scripture. I think about Pharaoh. Pharaoh was in that place and God worked through Pharaoh to cause his power to be displayed. Think about Saul and David. Saul was actually at some point, he went away from his place with God and then he started, you know, persecuting David. And yet David calls Saul, the Lord's anointed, even though at that point, Saul was really not where he should be with God. He was actually under, you know, some form of demonic influence. He was doing things that were wrong. He wanted to kill David. And yet David says, he's the Lord's anointed. I won't touch him. You know, he respected the fact that God had brought him there, although right now Saul was acting or behaving or conducting himself in a way that was totally out of line with God's ways.  And Nebuchadnezzar came to a place where he recognized who God was. Cyrus, a Persian king who was moved by God to let the Jews return and rebuild the temple in Jerusalem and the city of Jerusalem. So these leaders, it does not mean that everything they'd said and did was from God. No, but they were in some way used by God or let's say God in some way carried out his purposes, even though they were not perfect people at, you know, perfect leaders or godly leaders. Surely Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus, they were not godly leaders, but God worked his purposes through them in relation to something he wanted done. We are not saying that everything Nebuchadnezzar did was God's purpose. We are not saying everything Cyrus did was what God wanted him to do. That's not what we're saying. Certain things that Cyrus did or a certain thing that Cyrus did, certain things that Nebuchadnezzar did and saw he was initially, you know, recognized by God and then after that he fell away from that. Or certain things that Pharaoh did. God worked through that to reveal himself. So what we are saying is it is God was given these people to permission to come into their places of authority. It doesn't mean that, you know, everything they say and do is approved by God. What we are saying is God can use them or work through them or work out his purposes through certain things they say and do. He will carry out his purposes.  You know, don't you recognize that? And then Jesus responds is, look, you know, you could have no power unless it had been given to you from above. You know, so think about it. You could have no power unless it's given to you from above.  And he has, and therefore you have this power.  Jesus said, therefore, the one who delivered me to you has the greatest sin. So he's not implicating God the Father as having greatest sin. He's just pointing out to the fact that Judas and the Jews who delivered Jesus to Pilate, they are responsible. They are the ones with the greatest sin, right? So it's not talking about God the Father having greatest sin. He recognizes that Pilate is in this place of power and authority because God the Father, our God had allowed him to be there. And so we also recognize that. Okay, God, thank you. You have permitted so and so to be in authority and leadership. And so therefore we recognize that you are God who can work through your purposes through such a person, even if they may not be righteous. They may not be perfect. You can still work your purposes through them. Now, of course, being in that place of authority, there is responsibility, right? So technically, they are supposed to represent God. They're supposed to do what's right and just before God. And if they choose to do wicked, like Prop 17-15 says, if we justify the wicked and condemn the just, then that's an abomination before the Lord. God's not going to accept it, right? So just because these men or these people are in place of authority and they're part of God's ordinance of God's authority structure doesn't mean that... And though they call God's ministers, doesn't mean that everything they do is approved by God. Their actions will also be judged by God. And we also recognize that people of the land have influence on who comes into authority, right? Prop 18-21 says, because of the transgression of the land, many are its princes. And the people do what they're doing and that impacts what kind of government they have. If the people are righteous and they're not, let's say, doing things that they need to be doing, then obviously the land's going to have a revolving government. People are going to come in and out of power. And so the land is going to suffer. So the choices and actions of the people of the land does influence who comes into place of authority. So we can't rule that out. Now in democratically elected government, yeah, people are the ones who are having the choice. They go and vote and they are making the choice of whom they want to be in leadership and we're not ruling that out. And we recognize, number five, that God can steer the leaders for specific purposes. So Prop 21-21 was one, the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord and like rivers of water, he turns it wherever he wishes. So I went through all this so that we kind of understand what Paul is telling us here in Romans 13, verses one through A, that we are submitting to civic authority and we are giving honor to whom honor is due. We recognize them that the leaders were there are part of an institution that God has put in place. And even if they are ungodly, even if they are corrupt, unjust, we recognize that God can still work out his purposes through them. And therefore, we pray, we intercede and we expect that God will work out his purposes through them. And ultimately we know that God is final authority so that God can override, God can stop them, God can intervene and override the wrong that they may intend to do. So God, in response to our prayers, God can override or intervene in that manner. But from our side, we will respect them as the scripture teaches us here. We will do what is good, we will do what's right, just and fair and now, you know, walk in righteousness and we will not fight what they are doing, fight what the leaders are doing. But as long as it does not violate what God has said, right, so that brings us to the next question as to what extent we submit to governing authorities. So we submit in all things as long as we do not contradict the laws of God. So this is where we make the choice that if it is contradicting the law of God, that's when we have a right to listen to God rather than man. So next 418 to 20, I see an example and also next 520 to 28 and 29. In both instances, they were instructed not to preach and teach in the name of Jesus.    Most places, that's the way the government, that's the approach of the government. And then there are people who say, no, no, it's against my faith, you know, and that's, so that's a big question mark, you know. So, okay, somebody may have faith that God is the healer and God is the protector. But then this is not something that's contradicting the law of God. Right. Yes, you have faith. But then my faith is also telling me to submit to authorities. And they're not telling me to do something against the law of God. Right.  There's been so much of debate and arguments and fighting about these things. It's rather sad to see that. But what should we do? Well, the Bible says, don't resist the ordinance of God. Don't resist the ordinance of God. Romans 13 too. Right. Don't resist the authority. They're not telling you to do something that's contradicting the law of God. See, they seem saying people who refuse to get vaccinated will go to the doctors. So it's not like, okay, I'm not getting medical assistance at any point. You're going to go to the doctor for whatever reason, or they would, you know, do other things to defend themselves, carry guns and so on. And these same people refuse to wear masks, you know. So it's kind of sad to see these kinds of things. But the scriptures are telling us very clearly, we submit to the ordinance of God, submit to the authority, a civic authority, recognizing that they are ordinance of God. And the only situation that we have here, where man chose not to obey civic authority, God's people chose not to obey civic authority. It was in the case of the proclamation of the gospel. And that's when they said, look, we have to obey God, because this was a clear contradiction to the Great Commission, where Jesus said, go and preach the gospel. Right. And they're telling them, don't preach. So look, we're going to obey God. So that's in, it's in those cases that we say, no, we're going to obey God rather than man. No, some things I just want to mention here in the light of this is, you know, God has Jesus told us to go preach the gospel. If the government says don't preach, we're still going to preach, but we must be careful not to violate other people's personal space or don't violate government space.  Yeah. But we can preach the gospel in our space. That means in your home, you know, you can preach the gospel. It's your home. But don't, you know, don't go into an office, somebody's office and try to preach the gospel or don't go into somebody else's home where they don't welcome and, you know, violate their space. So those are things we just, they just, you know, we're being respectful of other people, respectful of the government, even though we are going to preach the gospel. If the government says don't preach, we are going to preach, but don't violate government space or somebody else's personal space while we proclaim the gospel, just basic honor and respect for people and for the government to that degree. Right. A couple of other related questions is, is it right for us to express a concern to stand against injustice, wickedness, you know, so while we walk in submission to government, we can and must use our rights as citizens to express our ideas and raise our voice against injustice and wickedness. So, when we do that, we are not necessarily resisting the government. If the government is telling us to do the government is if there's injustice, there's wickedness, maybe even expressed through the government, then using the freedoms we have, we can express our voice. Right. For example, the scriptures teach us, you know, verse 25, verse five, take away the wicked from before the king or the people in authority and then his throne will be established in righteousness. Now, in our context, we would say, okay, you know, if we can raise the voice of righteousness before those in leadership, then we're going to help there, the government to be established in righteousness. So we just translate that to our modern day context.  And the cause of those who are appointed, open your mouth, judge righteously and plead the cause of the poor needy.  For those who are facing injustice, and you become their voice. And for those who are oppressed or poor and needy, you become their voice. So it's a valid thing for us to express, by the exercise of our rights as citizens, to express our voice. So one last thing here is, you know, when Paul is in Romans 13 is referring to them as civic leaders, as God's ministers, using the same word as deacons. So as long as they're doing righteousness, we cooperate, we accept. But if there is injustice, then that's when, you know, we need to do what we can within the framework of our rights as citizens to express our concerns. And ultimately, you know, in 1 Peter chapter 2, even if we are wrongfully treated, we take it and we let God indicate us. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 13-25, we do express our voice, but then if, you know, if it's overridden, there's oppression. That's when we say, God, you step in, you intervene, but we will just, you know, we are okay.  That's 1 Peter 2. Right. So let me pause you and see if we have any questions or any thoughts to discuss on this. I know we can, you know, really ask a lot of questions on this, especially in the light of what we have been seeing in the Western world in the last couple of years. And also in our context in India, what we are currently seeing in terms of the oppression of free speech that's been quite harsh, you know, in the last two years, the suppression of free speech and what seems to be rising now is another wave of persecution against Christians, against churches, intense though. It seems to be on the rise, you know, there was a lull and then it seems to be back up rising again. So in the light of all that, there can be a lot of questions, you know, in terms of how do we relate to a government like this? How do we, you know, what should we do, what should we not do? So if you have questions you want to discuss, you know, it's a good time to do that. How about things in Kathmandu, Dave? Does the government interfere too much with the church and activities? I know there was a time when things were tough for Christian missionaries. Yeah, missionary, in the term of missionary, missionary work is still kind of a bit hard. Like, actually we, even though we are somehow one of the biggest churches, but we are not yet registered in the government as a registered organization. And our church is not registered as an organization, but we are under an organization that is kind of a social work and some other kind of organization. So we have, we are under the wing and like missionary work and some other, like even our gospel sharing and these kind of things are quite bit hard right now. Sometimes we hear people being arrested. Before the second wave, there was a pastor from Phukhara. He was arrested because he did some kind of supernatural preaching and supernatural healing on a YouTube platform. So yeah, actually they were praying against the coronavirus, but somehow the people turned it and made it some other kind of thing. And then he had to go to jail and get out of it, bailed and then again he went to a different place and then he was arrested there again. So these kind of things are happening and most of the foreign ministers, foreigners, now it's being very subtle now because right before pandemic I think. And they kicked out a group from Kathmandu because they were, they were in burden in a ministry and they had a Bible school. Not the former one, but the former one like kind of training and they were involved in a church, local church that they had.  So those things are happening quite, yeah. Even now also most of the things are open already, like the temples are open and the malls are open, the schools are open, but that's what hasn't been open yet. I mean the government, I don't know whether they will, even after the first wave they didn't say you can open the church or things like that. But personally in our place we've seen, I myself have encountered the secret police coming in civil race. I've come quite a few times trying to go inside the church and trying to find out whether we are doing services or not. So it has been going on like that. So it's kind of, those kind of situations. Right. So, yeah, and you know, in India of course, right now, there's like I mentioned, there's this wave of persecution in North and even now starting up in the South, like in our own state of Karnataka. And we know so on the one hand, we respect and we pray for the leaders. But on the other hand, it is right for us to, you know, exercise the privileges we have as citizens to protect ourselves and to do the things we are permitted to do by law. And then, you know, it's right for us to exercise that and walk with wisdom, walk with honor. Okay. Let's pause here with this first session. If there are any other thoughts or questions, we'll pick them up right after the break. But this definitely is quite interesting area to talk about, you know, the church's relation to the government, the civic authorities, how should we relate. There are a lot of, you know, questions along these lines. Okay, we'll take a break and we'll be back in 10 minutes. Thank you.


Hi this is George Cowell. It's early in the morning just turning about 6 a.m. I've been up since 5. It's not always easy for me to sleep in a bed that's not my own. I know that today I'll be I'll be traveling a lot so I'll get a lot of time on the plane to catch up on sleep if I want to. We're gonna be going back to California from where we are now for our vacation which is Niagara Falls Ontario and by the way this is the the wonderful house we we are renting. We found it on Airbnb and it's just amazing. Love it. Anyway I want to talk with you today about the notion of service or the practice of service. It's one of the five essential business habits that I've been gradually working through on these short videos. Remember I've been talking about enrollment and content, third one is service, fourth one is renewal, fifth one is finances and I'm just going to keep cycling through them on on each of these short videos until I give you all of the techniques and and breakthrough ideas I have on on these five. But anyway today I want to talk about service. Service is the practice the way I define service within the five business habits is the practice of continually improving the effectiveness of what you provide to your clients as well as the delight that they experience whenever they encounter your business that the various touch points your client has with you and your and your business to improve the the delight they have in that. So today I want to specifically talk about improving the effectiveness of your service to your clients because imagine if you every single day you have a client appointment you do this tech little two-minute technique I'm about to share with you. You will improve the effectiveness of your service over time in in such a way where one day your service will be so good and such a delight to your clients that they will be so happy and so naturally want to share your service with with the world with anybody who could use your service. They will find ways to help you they'll find ways to spread the word about you to refer people to you imagine if if every client that that that you serve turn around and and talked about your service with ten other people and even if just you know one or two or three of them became your clients you would never have to do any more marketing. I just want to take a pause and kind of let that sink in. If you improve your service so much at one point in the life of your business you won't ever have to do any more marketing or sales because all of your client new clients will come from board of mouth. So let me give you a quick two-minute technique at the end of each day that you work with clients take two minutes to write down one tool process or idea that you used with your client that day that was helpful. If you had multiple client appointments try to write down one tool process or idea that you used with you know one one tool process or idea per client and what I mean is one tool that you used with your client that was effective or one process you walk them through that they found useful or energizing or one idea that you shared with them that helped them break through. So imagine you had this document where you can take two minutes each client day to write down that one tool process or idea you would accumulate a list of those things over time and then you can even put a score next to each one how often you used it. So I'm running out of time here but I hope that's helpful. I wish I'd discovered the seven years ago and I've been using it every client day now it's been great. So this is George Cal signing off until the next video be well.


Hello friends, I am Sanjay Gupta. In this video, I am going to demonstrate you how you can append data into a file using Java program. Before starting, you can subscribe my YouTube channel by clicking on the link which is available at bottom right corner of this video. You can download my app Takimiz that is available on Google Play. You can connect with me by following these details which are available in front of you. You can see a code which is available in front of you. It is importing three classes file, file, output, stream and scanner. Two classes are available in IO, package and one in utl. Name of file is file write. Sorry, name of user defined classes file write. Name of method which is containing all the statement is main. Inside main try block is defined, which is containing some statements. First of all, a file is file object is created. Obesa file which is opening a file file dot txt. Then if condition is available, if file is already available, then this if condition will become false. If it is not available, then this if condition will become true. Then new file will be created using create new file method calling. If file is created successfully, then this message file created successfully will be printed on console. Otherwise file creation failed will be displayed. System dot exit will terminate the execution of the program if file is not created. But if file is already available, then control will be transferred to these statements. Here text variable of string class is created. Then scanner object SC is created. Then system dot out dot print ln will print enter text to write into file message on control. Using next line method data will be stored inside text variable. Now file out object is created of file input stream. This file output sorry file output stream. This file output stream is a predefined class. Here OBJ file which is having name of file. File dot txt is passed in this map sorry in this object creation as an argument. And here true is passed. This true indicates that if you want to write some contents again and again, then that file will be opened in append mode. So append means all the data which you want to write will be added at the end of file. So if you open that file more than one time and if you want to write some data again and again, that all data will be stored in that file and that mode append mode. So you have to use true if you remove true from here, then file will be opened in write mode that is known as overwritten mode. It means previous data will be erased and new data will be stored. But if you want to keep your old data as well as new, then you have to use true here. Now file out dot write method is called here which is having text dot get bytes method. So get bytes method find outs or receives bytes which are available in this text variable which is of string type. So all the data which is in string formats will be converted into byte format and that data will be stored inside this file out object which is linked with obj file and obj file is further linked with file dot txt. In short, all the input will be stored inside file dot txt. Now file out dot close will close the file out object. Then masses file saved will be displayed on console. If any exception will be raised that will be handled by this catch block and error masses will be displayed with the help of ex dot to string method calling. So this is the explanation of this program. Now this code is stored inside the project named Sanjay. I am using eclipse. So eclipse uses a path where this project is to be stored. So this path is D drive practice folder inside D practice folder. Sanjay as project is stored. Here you can see right now no file is available. So first I am executing this code. It will create a new file automatically. You can see that file created successfully. It means it has created a new file. We can check it file dot txt is available here. Now I have to enter a text. So I have entered Sanjay and it is showing file saved. Now we can see this file by opening it. You can see name is available here. Now again I am executing this code. Now it is only asking the text. It is not opening or creating a new file. Now I am entering my surname Gupta again. I am opening this file. You can see that my full name is available in this file. So now I hope you have understood that this file is opened in append mode. Whatever data I am entering, it is appended at end of file. Previous data is available and new data is also available. So if you want to open your file in append mode, then you can use this code. I hope you have understood the concept and the difference between write mode and append mode. Write mode opens file in overwrite mode whereas append mode opens file in the mode which can preserve previous data as well as new data. If you want to watch more programming related videos, you can subscribe my YouTube channel. Thank you for watching this video.