March 29, 2007
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Billy Graham was returning to Charlotte after a speaking engagement and when his plane arrived there was a limousine there to transport him to his home. As he prepared to get into the limo, he stopped and spoke to the driver.
"You know" he said, "I am 87 years old and I have never driven a limousine. Would you mind if I drove it for a while?"
The driver said, "No problem. Have at it."
Billy gets into the driver's seat and they head off down the highway. A short distance away sat a rookie State Trooper operating his first speed trap. The long black limo went by him doing 70 in a 55 mph zone. The trooper pulled out and easily caught the limo and he got out of his patrol car to begin the procedure.
The young trooper walked up to the driver's door and when the glass was rolled down, he was surprised to see who was driving. He immediately excused himself and went back to his car and called his supervisor.
He told the supervisor, "I know we are supposed to enforce the law... but I also know that important people are given certain courtesies. I need to know what I should do because I have stopped a very important person."
The supervisor asked, "Is it the governor?"
The young trooper said, "No, he's more important than that."
The supervisor said, "Oh, so it's the president."
The young trooper said, "No, he's even more important than that."
The supervisor finally asked, "Well then, who is it?"
The young trooper said, "I think it's Jesus, because he's got Billy Graham for a chauffeur!"
No, no I didn't mean it!!
When the kids were small, Billy Graham came to Japan for a crusade, and I took them one night just to they could see this hero of the faith. A Japanese pastor interpreted for him. The pastor's wife is named Sumiko. Soon after the Billy Graham event, Sumiko's husband was diagnosed with cancer and passed away a short time later. Sumiko was devastated and bitter against God for taking her husband and could not recover from her loss.
She simply could not understand how God could do this to her or why He would remove such an intelligent man of God who was so needed in his pulpit. She came to a point where she realized that her bitterness would destroy her unless she dealt with it. Sumiko found that the only way to gain any peace in her heart or freedom from her burden was to THANK God for all that had happened and trust that God was in control and truly would work everything for His good will and to her benefit.
Believing is seeing.
Comments (3)
Haha, I would say I am indeed at an "intermediate" level, but it's still kind of hard because I do forget the basics every so often. I know a few of the more "advanced" things, too... but generally only what the smarter kids asked and I was able to follow,
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As for typing and kanji, I'm aware of the problem that's been occurring in Japan where even some JApanese kids are having issues writing in kanji because of the word processors doing it for them. I have the languages installed on my computer, and the language bar I switch between for typing. My teachers at Rose taught me how to use the Japanese word processors on my compy (hiragana to kanji... though of course most hiragana have more than one kanji... though again if it's all translated with the space bar at once, it generaly does an excellent job of picking the right one. Also, while I was in Japan last summer, one of the courses we took was "technical skills" where they again made sure we knew how to type, and also had us memorize (though I've forgotten most of it) some of the common commands in Japanese (copy/paste/recyle bin/etc...). So I know at least the basics if maybe not a little more about how the computers and the Japanese language works.
The only reason I know about tako = kite is that one of our weekend activities in Japan was to go to a kite-making shop and make our own basic takos. I still have mine, as my suitcase was juuuuust big enough to get it back (though it did rip :-/...). That's how I knew which kanji to pick.
I can send you some of the writing examples I had to do for my classes if you're really interested. Any help with my Japanese couldn't be appreciated more (though I must admit I may get busier as my quarter goes on, lol). Just don't put off other things for me is all I'd humbly ask.
Here's a breakdown of this one:
): はい。分かりました。今、（私の町の）天気はちょっとくもりです。そして、弱い風をふいています。
You wrote: Mata shukudai dasu yo! Nihongo de kotaete kudasai. Kyou no Sukotto no machi no tenki wa dou desu ka?
I'll type: また宿題出すよ！ 日本語でこたえてください。今日のスコットの町の天気はどうですか。
My translation (how I'd do it in my head): You still have homework to do. Please answer in Japanese. What's the temperature like in your hometown today, Scott?
My answer (right or wrong
Other thing you should know (lol):
I must admit I'd forgotten 出す even existed until I typed it in and hit space. I honestly don't use it much, and the meaning for me's a bit fuzzy, but I get enough of an idea. I only left the kanji in (anywhere) of things I should be able to recognize and generally would (whether or not I can at any other moment may be an entirely different matter, lol). We've gone over また (still) and もう(already), though I'm still not experts at using them, I can understand them well-enough now. I think we learned こたえる already, but I must admit I'd forgotten it and its kanji. I had to look that one up. The reason I put （私の町の）in parenthesis is that I'm pretty sure I heard one of the easiest ways to spot a foreigner or person who doesn't really understand Japanese is that use 私 wayyyyyyy too much. Like there's no you, there is an I, but it should be used sparingly, so I'm trying not to overuse it, and learn how to say what I need to without using 私 all the time.
Oh yeah, one last thing: I'm really, really bad at writing in casual form. We've generally learned polite and pseudo-practiced casual, so if you ask me any of those questions, you'll why I might end up answering in polite form, lol. Plus, I should answer in polite form to you in almost any way you look at it right now. At least our relationship isn't as complex as some of the ther ones in JApan which I can't even imagine how awkward it is for them to try and figure out how to adrress each other. Again, for now, I think getting polite form down would suffice for my liking
haha.
God bless (sorry these are always so long, lol),
~Scott
You are right, learning polite forms first is safe, because that way you don't sound rude or stupid. At the language school that I went to they just stayed with desu-masu and didn't use anything else, so we learned to speak like humans instead of "men in black" yakuza. Haha! You can pick up the more casual stuff later.
The only compuker that I have ever had has been a Japanese one, so I had to stumble through it all. They do have the first letter of the command after the kanji title on the button, so that helped me figure it out as in 編集(E) is Edit. Whatever I learned was in Japanese first, so I might not be so great at compuker language in English.
The hardest part of Japanese grammar for me is transitive and non-transitive verbs. I mess them up all the time. Like 焼く 焼ける、育つ 育てる und so weiter which is et cetera ドイツ語で。 子供を育てる。I raise the child. 子供が育つ。The child muddles through on his own. 家が焼けるis an accident because it happens, but 家を焼くis arson.
Actually, the fact that people feel free to speak with no subject in their sentence sometimes drives me crazy. Hubby is especially guilty of this, and will begin talking about something with no context and no subject and expects me to know what he is talking about. Maybe I am just 理屈っぽい。(a hopeless stickler for details?)
You can be polite or not - whatever you feel like practicing. 宣教師になるのだったら今のうちにできるだけ練習した方がいい準備になります。
Actually, it is better to know some of the impolite stuff so you know it is bad and not to use it. I wanted to know if my kids were being nasty to people so I could correct them. Some of the stuff that I have encountered in school I have been able to deal with because I knew what it was and could let the students know that I knew what it was. "Yes, ladies, you are going to learn aaaaaaall about that in health class next year. Meanwhile, this is English class...."
In one class the girls wanted to know how to discuss the passing of the winds, and I told them that a standard expression was "pass gas." They wanted to know something worse, and I told them it was お下品gehin, so one girl made an honorific laden sentence about somebody farting. 誰々様はおならをおふられになられました。That really cracked me up. Now if I didn't know about that a perfectly good joke would have gone to waste.
Yes it is easy to spot a foreigner if they overuse 私, but I think there are other things that tip people off first, especially if you have blue eyes or something. Excuse my giggling... Now if you are using a phone, it may be a different story. I hate using the phone. Do you know that people bow to each other over the phone, even if it can't be seen? Yeah, I do it too.
When I teach my kids, "Nice to meet you!" I tell them that a handshake goes along with it (no dead fish, please) just like a bow goes along with a greeting. And I check their handshakes to make sure the fish are fresh.
American teachers do get paid for summer break. But I dont think they have to come in for work. They are pretty much off for the summer... Unless they are a coach. then they come in for foot ball practice and stuff like that...
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