This is a politics podcast,
but it has a transcript so you can
read along.
Just try it for 5 minutes.
Repeat twice?
That is 15 minutes!!
Good luck!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/shields-brooks-pbs-newshour/id114345000?mt=2
Monday, January 2, 2017
Saturday, December 31, 2016
EEE Let's Begin again!! Listen and REad English Every day!!!
If you really want to make progress,
One hour a week will not be enough.
I am going to introduce ideas for practicing
English for just a few minutes every day.
Today, January 1, 2017, I want to suggest you
learn your way around the
Bible Gateway, an amazing free app,
or website.
On your PC or smartphone, you can listen,
listen while reading,
or just read,
the Bible.
Here is the website:
https://www.biblegateway.com
Here is a beautiful story from the Bible.
Listen 2 or 3 times if it is hard.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Esther+1&version=NIV
One hour a week will not be enough.
I am going to introduce ideas for practicing
English for just a few minutes every day.
Today, January 1, 2017, I want to suggest you
learn your way around the
Bible Gateway, an amazing free app,
or website.
On your PC or smartphone, you can listen,
listen while reading,
or just read,
the Bible.
Here is the website:
https://www.biblegateway.com
Here is a beautiful story from the Bible.
Listen 2 or 3 times if it is hard.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Esther+1&version=NIV
Monday, August 22, 2016
FIGHT FOR JOY 1
Nothing is impossible with God
He who promised is faithful.
In this series of posts on PROMISES,
hopefully all the way to election day, I want
to help us all FIGHT FOR JOY in spite of the
politics around us.
So, first things first.
God is ALL-POWERFUL. HE can do anything HE wants to.
He makes many great promises to us,
and, HE IS FAITHFUL to keep HIS promises.
Luke 1:37, from Bible Gateway
He who promised is faithful.
In this series of posts on PROMISES,
hopefully all the way to election day, I want
to help us all FIGHT FOR JOY in spite of the
politics around us.
So, first things first.
God is ALL-POWERFUL. HE can do anything HE wants to.
He makes many great promises to us,
and, HE IS FAITHFUL to keep HIS promises.
Luke 1:37, from Bible Gateway
God can do anything!”
For nothing will be impossible with God.”
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he whopromised is faithful.
Thursday, November 6, 2014
NEW HABITS November 7, 2014
.1. Pray and meditate each morning before 7.
Return to bible study and prayer each time I neglect it.
2. Watch two morning dramas, write down words I do not know.
3. Medicine and eye drops.
4. Get to LOGOS or... half an hour before class to get ready and pray for students
5. Plan a time to talk to Sandy that day.
6. Ask Sandy how I can help her.
7. Clean up after each class.
8. Take a step in organizing, streamlining paper flow, email, and books and clutter.
9. Write something worthwhile: letter, blog, journal, book chapter, postcard.
Friday, September 12, 2014
I love BY THE BOOK Japan, and other stories
I love by the book Japan. I came to by the book Japan in the first place so I could get a job, learn Japanese, and bring the light of Jesus to a dark culture.
Can I say here that American culture is dark, too...
I lived in BTB Japan for six years while our children were young. There are MANY good things about living in Japan. It's very predictable. People try to do what they think you want. Sukiyaki, Te-maki zushi, tempura, Sashimi, Kimchi, Kojima, and cow tongue, Etc...
I came back to BTB Japan in 2001 because we loved it, and wanted to do more mission work here.
I love by the book Japan.
I choose to continue to live here because Kojima is in BTB Japan. But today chaos,
almost broke out twice in BTB Japan. Firstly, I SAT IN RESERVED ON THE EXPRESS TRAIN. Let me explain why. The express train leaves ahead of the slow train. There are always seats on the express train. The seats have little folding trays like on an airliner, so you can do actual work. It takes marginally less time to get from Kojima to Okayama, the next and final stop. AND, actually more crucial for me, it was the first train leaving after I arrived at the platform. The problem was not the money. Yes it is more than double, but I have conquered the little sneaky devil in me and I immediately get out my ticket and money and place it in plain view and prepare my mind to pay. Somewhat grudgingly because it is not twice as wonderful as the slow train. It would have to be a cute lady conductor who took my money, printed out my receipt with her little FedEx machine, and with great humility and apologeticalism, informs me that it is her duty to humbly inform me that, due to no fault of my own, but due to JR's placing of the reserved section where I happened to sit, I have unfortunately ended up in the reserved section. OH MY, not the RESERVED SECTION!!! Hello, there are empty seats everywhere and NO MORE STOPS. This is not like I am in first class and am going to get free champagne without paying for first class!!! We are almost halfway there now and I have all this important high-level work to do. But, I, remembering how much I love BTB Japan, do not protest. I do not impinge on her WA, or harmony. I simply put away my stuff, fold up my tray table, and haul a few meters to the non-reserved car. I smile. I am happy.
I proceed to the eye doctor, who by the way is excellent. I wait longer than usual, but get my perspective restored seeing so many people so much worse off and the dedication of care-givers pouring their lives into cherishing their loved ones. The surgeon says the right eye will also be difficult, but no more so than the left.
I head to the admitting reception are to ask a question I pretty much know the answer to.
Are you being admitted?
Not today, but I have a question.
Yes?
Well, I was admitted back in May and I filled out all these papers. I will be admitted in October for the same procedure and I wanted to ask if maybe you have the data stored in your computers and if I really need to fill it ALL out again???
EVERYBODY fills out ALL the paperwork EVERY time.
I see, but I thought that since it is so recent and the exact same surgery by the same doctor...
EVERYBODY fills out ALL the paperwork EVERY time.
I see, but it is eye surgery and my eyes are really bad and it is a lot of writing for a foreigner, and....
I know it is inexcusable, but ... EVERYBODY fills out ALL the paperwork EVERY time.
I regret that I troubled you by asking this selfish thing.
CHAOS AVERTED!!! So I head to Starbucks, where the coffee is awful, but the muffins, the cookies, the cinnamon rolls...AND at this Starbucks, the sugar thing is not caked up making extraction of sugar impossible like it is at the Starbucks near the station. The little things.
Starbucks would have to be 550 Yen, exactly the same as the upgrade to NON-RESERVED EXPRESS.
Then I go to the fancy machine to pay my hospital bill and it is 200 Yen!!!! Two dollars for a pressure check, a very cursory vision check, and a quick consultation with the surgeon.
As I ride home on the slow train, I ponder my life in Japan and I rejoice.
At home, Sandy tells me she looked more carefully at my California hospital bill and sees that the room charge for ONE NIGHT is more than 10,000 dollars. it was kidney ICU, so ...
And then finally, just because it happened the same day, I get a bill from more than a year ago, I guess, form the hospital that almost killed me trying to get a bunch of stones out of my left kidney. For 530 Yen. or about 5 dollars and 30 cents. I smile.
Monday, August 18, 2014
Dumb Doctor 1, Gold Medal
Doctors have saved my life, and I appreciate that.
A couple of doctors have found my weird body motivating
and have worked extra hard to find out what was wrong.
I will tell you about them when you are older.
But I have also had some really incompetent,
lazy, un-curious doctors. I do not believe they ever actually set a
goal to kill me, but they almost accomplished it.
The Golden Bedpan goes to a young man whose name shall remain
a secret in these digits. He was an intern in 1984 at UC San Francisco.
I had returned from India after months of loose motions brother and no
adequate cause had been found, so they were going to just treat me and
get me out of there if they could.
TPN was rather new in those days and that was what I was going to get.
It means nutrition without using your ruined gut. We give you all you need
in a bag, already digested. YUM!
Because the syrup is a bit thick for your arm veins, they need to put a pipe
into the BIG blood vessels near the heart. Large volumes of blood flowing rapidly
to dilute the solution and nourish your cells. The route to the big blood vessels lies
somewhere around the shoulder blade, collarbone area.
So, one day two very young doctors in training approached my bed on 11 Moffitt Hospital
and proceed to thread a catheter from outside my body to a location near my heart.
I feel pain and hear repeated cries of 'still hitting clavicle' over and over. I am thinking this is not good.
Then 4th year says to intern,
WE SHOULD HAVE USED STERILE PROCEDURE!
I am not making this up. Yes it was 30 years ago, but EVEN THEY knew better at the time.
They continue, kind of sweating, not having fun at all.
Then again,
WE SHOULD HAVE USED STERILE PROCEDURE!
I still am not making this up. Oh how many times I have wished I had called
for their supervisor at that point.
When they said it the third time, I did yell!
STOP SAYING THAT!
YES YOU SHOULD HAVE , but stop saying it!
If ever I wanted to sue someone, it was then.
By God's grace, I did not die from their incompetence.
Most people who go on TPN for very long do die from infection after a while.
They sent me home on it, at 400 dollars a bag each day. They lent me a fridge to keep the bags, they trained me on procedures for hooking up and changing bags, etc. I had to scrub and mask like a surgeon and things went smoothly. After about three months, my gut woke up and I
began to go off the iv syrup. Thank you Aunt Colette!!!
A couple of doctors have found my weird body motivating
and have worked extra hard to find out what was wrong.
I will tell you about them when you are older.
But I have also had some really incompetent,
lazy, un-curious doctors. I do not believe they ever actually set a
goal to kill me, but they almost accomplished it.
The Golden Bedpan goes to a young man whose name shall remain
a secret in these digits. He was an intern in 1984 at UC San Francisco.
I had returned from India after months of loose motions brother and no
adequate cause had been found, so they were going to just treat me and
get me out of there if they could.
TPN was rather new in those days and that was what I was going to get.
It means nutrition without using your ruined gut. We give you all you need
in a bag, already digested. YUM!
Because the syrup is a bit thick for your arm veins, they need to put a pipe
into the BIG blood vessels near the heart. Large volumes of blood flowing rapidly
to dilute the solution and nourish your cells. The route to the big blood vessels lies
somewhere around the shoulder blade, collarbone area.
So, one day two very young doctors in training approached my bed on 11 Moffitt Hospital
and proceed to thread a catheter from outside my body to a location near my heart.
I feel pain and hear repeated cries of 'still hitting clavicle' over and over. I am thinking this is not good.
Then 4th year says to intern,
WE SHOULD HAVE USED STERILE PROCEDURE!
I am not making this up. Yes it was 30 years ago, but EVEN THEY knew better at the time.
They continue, kind of sweating, not having fun at all.
Then again,
WE SHOULD HAVE USED STERILE PROCEDURE!
I still am not making this up. Oh how many times I have wished I had called
for their supervisor at that point.
When they said it the third time, I did yell!
STOP SAYING THAT!
YES YOU SHOULD HAVE , but stop saying it!
If ever I wanted to sue someone, it was then.
By God's grace, I did not die from their incompetence.
Most people who go on TPN for very long do die from infection after a while.
They sent me home on it, at 400 dollars a bag each day. They lent me a fridge to keep the bags, they trained me on procedures for hooking up and changing bags, etc. I had to scrub and mask like a surgeon and things went smoothly. After about three months, my gut woke up and I
began to go off the iv syrup. Thank you Aunt Colette!!!
Sunday, August 17, 2014
LIVING THE DREAM, orig a FB note
LIVING THE DREAM
IN FIFTH GRADE, circa 1970, Mrs. Theda Miller asked usal what we wanted to be when we grew up.
I KNEW THE ANSWER!!
A preacher or a missionary,
I knew the answer. I had known for a while.
It came straight from Matthew 28.
Go Ye into all the world.
I thought I better go, but I also wanted to go.
I wanted to go to Africa, where little hungry kids would be so grateful for a bowl of anything.
I wanted to go to China, where Dr. George S. Benson had been before his
illustrious career in education.
And for years, on the back wall at Rogers Chapel, there was a huge poster of black and white pictures with the
headline, WHAT IS SUN KYI DOING IN CHINA?
And I wanted to go to the Philippines, where the first foreigner I had ever met, Conrado, a preacher boy for Crowley's Ridge College, was from.
My mother's side of the family considered mission work to be the
best thing anyone could ever choose to do.
Although my uncle, J.C. Reed, was a missionary to Guatemala for over 40 years, I think I only met him once, probably for a funeral.
My great-uncle, Miller Forcade, was an eccentric gentleman, who had done mission work in several
countries, including Japan. I will never forget his prayers before bedtime at DeRidder. His prayers were like a course in
geography and missions. He was very specific.
I hope there are still prayers like that.
I recently was invited to a 50th anniversary celebration for a church he
had started up north in 1964.
And of course, my great-grandfather, Ben J Elston, baptized George S. Benson in Oklahoma or Kansas long ago.
Anyway, in 6th grade, I did put up with a bit of derision as the popular boys would snort, PREACHER!, or MISSIONARY! at me
in the halls or boys' room or playground. But this made me smug and righteous-feeling inside.
Nothing much happened between 6th grade and Sandy in this story.
Nothing, that is, except CRA, John Clayton, and Larry Brinkley.
Crowley's Ridge Academy was definitely a mixed bag. Horrible teachers and good teachers.
Cruel classmates and wonderful Christian classmates. Some in-between. I read and studied the Bible
a lot and I can still see AJ Hendrix putting his charts up on the board.
John Clayton, of Does God Exist ministries, was a brilliant apologist, and superb speaker.
We heard him at Pocahontas, Piggott, Jonesboro, and many other places too numerous to
mention. I learned so much from him that I can never thank him enough. He is 80-something now and still going strong.
Larry Brinkley brought joyful, smart Christianity into our tiny world of
Rogers' Chapel and BE BAPTIZED TODAY sermons week after week. Larry held
our meeting, as they used to say, for a few years. That meant he preached every night
for a week or so in the summer and we invited neighbors and local churches to join us.
I still get goosebumps remembering the year when three of the community's most
supposedly unreachable elderly sinners were saved! Larry would come eat watermelon
with our family, even though we could not invite him inside, and he introduced my mom
to the William Barclay commentaries. He was a superstar to us. He must have put thousands of hours
into planning and carrying out youth rallies and SO MANY OTHER MINISTRIES. Later he would also teach
some at CRA. Also going strong still.
I grew up thinking the sixth step of salvation was After high school, Harding!
Even though my two elder siblings strayed from this path,
I went straight to Harding the summer after high school. After high school and a little surgery, that is.
Even though I got two stinking B's in summer school, it was a good plan. Before the
thousands arrived, a few hundred of us had the place to ourselves. So I got to know
my way around and make friends I could never find again.
HARDING, OH HARDING! How many blessings!
Great Bible teachers and Jim Woodroof and Sandy, to name the tope three.
Of course, friend to last a lifetime.
I met Sandy in chapel my second semester. She was already friends with my sister Beth
so that was a point in my favor. Poor guy named Tim something sat between us and never figured out
he should switch with one of us. We had a lot of important things in common and could talk easily. We both
wanted to be missionaries and she had a class under Gary Walker, visiting missionary who was
recruiting people to go to India. As we became more serious, we were also both making commitments
to go to India with Gary.
I must mention Campaigns Northeast and Owen Olbricht here as important influences. On campaigns
I saw that I could read the Bible to people and that God could change
eternity for them. I also loved the people I got to work with. I
experienced the difficulty of remaining motivated when results seemed
to come very slow, as well.
After graduating and marrying and studying in Lubbock and raising money, etc, we left for
Inda on MARCH FORTH, 1981.
India was wonderful and terrible by turns. We had small victories, big shocks, abundant blessings,
good co-workers, and made friends to last another lifetime, thanks to the Internet and FB.
On the heels of our commitment to stay longer, move to Mysore and start a brand new church,
and an intensive language course, my health took a sharp turn in a bad direction. I spent 3 months in
the hospital at UCSF and Sandy had to bring our two little kids home by herself. The particular dream known
as INDIA had to be put aside.
7 YEARS IN CALIFORNIA
I did many part-time jobs, teaching English,
subbing, preaching, modeling, etc
I got my MA in TESOL from SFSU.
Took me 5 years part-time and many trips over and under the Bay Bridge.
We learned a lot about ourselves, our kids grew.
If we cannot go to India, we will look for a cleaner country
where we can support ourselves! Japan has a lot of good jobs
teaching English!!
Soooo....on a credit card I went to JALT in Omiya in 1990. Is this what
they call a Hail Mary? I would interview with several companies and
choose the best of the many offers I would get. Not quite.
The interviews were very sparse. And they looked askance at me thinking of
bringing two small kids over.
For old times sake, and to respect my father, I went to visit Joe
Betts, pioneer and grandfather of mission work in Japan, who had
known both mine and Sandy's parents at Harding. As we toured the facilities of
Iberaki Christian College, he lent me a copy of the Japan Times, where
I found an ad for teachers for the newly opened Mount Hood Community College
Kurashiki in the lovely little town of Kojima.
Well, I applied for a job there, and the rest is FANTANSY, GRACE, FABULOUSITY,
ETC...
God has let us support ourselves,
teach the Gospel,
make friends,
make a home.
in short,
God has let us
LIVE THE DREAM!
I KNEW THE ANSWER!!
A preacher or a missionary,
I knew the answer. I had known for a while.
It came straight from Matthew 28.
Go Ye into all the world.
I thought I better go, but I also wanted to go.
I wanted to go to Africa, where little hungry kids would be so grateful for a bowl of anything.
I wanted to go to China, where Dr. George S. Benson had been before his
illustrious career in education.
And for years, on the back wall at Rogers Chapel, there was a huge poster of black and white pictures with the
headline, WHAT IS SUN KYI DOING IN CHINA?
And I wanted to go to the Philippines, where the first foreigner I had ever met, Conrado, a preacher boy for Crowley's Ridge College, was from.
My mother's side of the family considered mission work to be the
best thing anyone could ever choose to do.
Although my uncle, J.C. Reed, was a missionary to Guatemala for over 40 years, I think I only met him once, probably for a funeral.
My great-uncle, Miller Forcade, was an eccentric gentleman, who had done mission work in several
countries, including Japan. I will never forget his prayers before bedtime at DeRidder. His prayers were like a course in
geography and missions. He was very specific.
I hope there are still prayers like that.
I recently was invited to a 50th anniversary celebration for a church he
had started up north in 1964.
And of course, my great-grandfather, Ben J Elston, baptized George S. Benson in Oklahoma or Kansas long ago.
Anyway, in 6th grade, I did put up with a bit of derision as the popular boys would snort, PREACHER!, or MISSIONARY! at me
in the halls or boys' room or playground. But this made me smug and righteous-feeling inside.
Nothing much happened between 6th grade and Sandy in this story.
Nothing, that is, except CRA, John Clayton, and Larry Brinkley.
Crowley's Ridge Academy was definitely a mixed bag. Horrible teachers and good teachers.
Cruel classmates and wonderful Christian classmates. Some in-between. I read and studied the Bible
a lot and I can still see AJ Hendrix putting his charts up on the board.
John Clayton, of Does God Exist ministries, was a brilliant apologist, and superb speaker.
We heard him at Pocahontas, Piggott, Jonesboro, and many other places too numerous to
mention. I learned so much from him that I can never thank him enough. He is 80-something now and still going strong.
Larry Brinkley brought joyful, smart Christianity into our tiny world of
Rogers' Chapel and BE BAPTIZED TODAY sermons week after week. Larry held
our meeting, as they used to say, for a few years. That meant he preached every night
for a week or so in the summer and we invited neighbors and local churches to join us.
I still get goosebumps remembering the year when three of the community's most
supposedly unreachable elderly sinners were saved! Larry would come eat watermelon
with our family, even though we could not invite him inside, and he introduced my mom
to the William Barclay commentaries. He was a superstar to us. He must have put thousands of hours
into planning and carrying out youth rallies and SO MANY OTHER MINISTRIES. Later he would also teach
some at CRA. Also going strong still.
I grew up thinking the sixth step of salvation was After high school, Harding!
Even though my two elder siblings strayed from this path,
I went straight to Harding the summer after high school. After high school and a little surgery, that is.
Even though I got two stinking B's in summer school, it was a good plan. Before the
thousands arrived, a few hundred of us had the place to ourselves. So I got to know
my way around and make friends I could never find again.
HARDING, OH HARDING! How many blessings!
Great Bible teachers and Jim Woodroof and Sandy, to name the tope three.
Of course, friend to last a lifetime.
I met Sandy in chapel my second semester. She was already friends with my sister Beth
so that was a point in my favor. Poor guy named Tim something sat between us and never figured out
he should switch with one of us. We had a lot of important things in common and could talk easily. We both
wanted to be missionaries and she had a class under Gary Walker, visiting missionary who was
recruiting people to go to India. As we became more serious, we were also both making commitments
to go to India with Gary.
I must mention Campaigns Northeast and Owen Olbricht here as important influences. On campaigns
I saw that I could read the Bible to people and that God could change
eternity for them. I also loved the people I got to work with. I
experienced the difficulty of remaining motivated when results seemed
to come very slow, as well.
After graduating and marrying and studying in Lubbock and raising money, etc, we left for
Inda on MARCH FORTH, 1981.
India was wonderful and terrible by turns. We had small victories, big shocks, abundant blessings,
good co-workers, and made friends to last another lifetime, thanks to the Internet and FB.
On the heels of our commitment to stay longer, move to Mysore and start a brand new church,
and an intensive language course, my health took a sharp turn in a bad direction. I spent 3 months in
the hospital at UCSF and Sandy had to bring our two little kids home by herself. The particular dream known
as INDIA had to be put aside.
7 YEARS IN CALIFORNIA
I did many part-time jobs, teaching English,
subbing, preaching, modeling, etc
I got my MA in TESOL from SFSU.
Took me 5 years part-time and many trips over and under the Bay Bridge.
We learned a lot about ourselves, our kids grew.
If we cannot go to India, we will look for a cleaner country
where we can support ourselves! Japan has a lot of good jobs
teaching English!!
Soooo....on a credit card I went to JALT in Omiya in 1990. Is this what
they call a Hail Mary? I would interview with several companies and
choose the best of the many offers I would get. Not quite.
The interviews were very sparse. And they looked askance at me thinking of
bringing two small kids over.
For old times sake, and to respect my father, I went to visit Joe
Betts, pioneer and grandfather of mission work in Japan, who had
known both mine and Sandy's parents at Harding. As we toured the facilities of
Iberaki Christian College, he lent me a copy of the Japan Times, where
I found an ad for teachers for the newly opened Mount Hood Community College
Kurashiki in the lovely little town of Kojima.
Well, I applied for a job there, and the rest is FANTANSY, GRACE, FABULOUSITY,
ETC...
God has let us support ourselves,
teach the Gospel,
make friends,
make a home.
in short,
God has let us
LIVE THE DREAM!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)