Urban Report

Long Journey to Freedom

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Yvonne Lewis (Host), Camille McKenzie

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Series Code: UBR

Program Code: UBR000152A


00:01 Stay tuned to meet a woman who has overcome adversity
00:03 and teaches others to do so too.
00:05 My name is Yvonne Lewis
00:07 and you're watching Urban Report.
00:33 Hello and welcome to Urban Report.
00:35 My guest today is Camille McKenzie,
00:37 Lifestyle Coach and Author of
00:40 "Long Journey to Freedom:
00:41 Seven Steps to Confidence and Joy. "
00:44 Welcome to Urban Report Camille.
00:46 Thank you Yvonne for having me, it's a pleasure.
00:48 Oh, it's so great to have you, you know,
00:51 first I met you at the event that "True Health TV" had
00:57 which is a wonderful...
00:59 it is an affiliate of Dare to Dream,
01:01 in Atlanta and you and your husband
01:04 sat at our table with Jason and me,
01:06 and you told me you had written a book
01:09 but then you sent the book to me
01:12 and you sent the Trailer about the book
01:15 and before we really get into our interview,
01:18 I really would like for our Viewers
01:20 to see the Trailer, so they can kind of have a sense
01:23 of what the book is about
01:26 and then we'll talk about your journey.
01:27 Let's take a look at the Trailer.
01:29 Okay, Yvonne.
01:31 Music playing...
01:35 Locked Behind Bars
01:40 Locked Behind Bars of Mental Imprisonment
01:48 for 27 years.
01:55 But then the Son came and changed her life.
02:01 She has never been the same!
02:05 The Son took her out of prison.
02:09 By showing her the way to freedom.
02:13 He can do the same for you.
02:18 Are you locked behind bars of insecurity,
02:21 self-doubt and shame?
02:24 Are you living the life of your dreams?
02:26 Or is fear stopping you?
02:29 Do you want more joy, peace, love
02:32 and confidence in your life?
02:33 The power of choice.
02:38 The power of truth.
02:40 The power of thoughts.
02:43 The power of words.
02:46 The power of gratitude.
02:50 The power of contentment.
02:53 the Power of love.
02:56 Join Camille Mckenzie on a journey...
03:00 A journey to freedom.
03:06 Long Journey to Freedom.
03:12 She will show you the way to freedom.
03:19 www. longjourneytofreedom. com
03:26 music
03:32 Available at Amazon. com
03:38 What a lovely Promo...
03:43 Thank you Yvonne.
03:45 Lovely, and I...
03:47 as I read your book,
03:48 and I got a sense of your journey,
03:51 I thought,
03:53 "Well, this is so good" this is...
03:55 you have some very interesting things
03:58 that have happened to you,
03:59 let's talk a little bit about your journey.
04:03 So, as a child, what was going on in your life?
04:07 You start... you talk in the book about
04:08 drinking a poison and how the poison was... you know...
04:13 your father drank, and your grandfather drank,
04:15 what poison are you talking about?
04:17 The terminology of "poison"
04:20 is to really indicate to the reader that
04:22 what I am about to talk about
04:24 is something that can cause death,
04:25 it's lethal and the death that I'm talking
04:27 about is psychological
04:29 but sometimes takes a form of where it's physical
04:32 and what happened to me is that from ten years old,
04:35 I started to experience extreme bullying at school.
04:38 I think the skies of inferiority had already started to
04:42 wash over me,
04:43 I already started to sense that within my little young mind
04:47 I think, just growing up
04:49 and looking at other people, comparing myself to them,
04:51 and just... not feeling that I was good enough,
04:53 but the poison ultimately was in school,
04:56 in school I was teased mercilessly about who I was
05:00 and thinking about that
05:02 and reflecting upon that each day that it was happening
05:05 just made me feel like
05:06 I was just this "complete nothing"
05:09 that God had created an absolute loser,
05:11 and I didn't deserve to be on earth
05:13 and so, at a young age I really wanted to take my life,
05:17 I didn't have the courage to do so,
05:19 but I wanted to, because the poison was
05:21 "you're not good enough, how God created you,
05:24 is absolutely wrong, and you need to know that"
05:27 and so I believed it.
05:28 You know, the whole situation with bullying
05:33 is so intense, I think that as adults,
05:36 and if we don't have young children,
05:39 we can minimize the impact of bullying,
05:43 but bullying is so prevalent and it's so damaging
05:47 and it's so impactful,
05:49 it can impact you for the rest of your life.
05:51 Amen... amen...
05:53 So, how did you navigate through that,
05:56 Camille, what did you do during those years to deal with that?
06:00 Great question, I did nothing,
06:02 I internalized it,
06:04 I sat silently each day as it was happening,
06:07 and I just assumed that
06:09 this was the way it was supposed to be.
06:10 Actually, I deserved it, you know, I was ugly,
06:13 I didn't look good and God created me to be a loser
06:16 so why not just accept what was happening to me,
06:19 so it continued to happen
06:20 because I didn't do anything about it
06:22 and at the end of the day, Yvonne,
06:24 I think, one of the messages that God
06:26 wants to really get through to those who read the book is
06:29 this, "Bullying is not a small issue,
06:32 it is a serious issue because as you said,
06:34 it has an impact that can last for long years to come. "
06:39 It is that studies have been done
06:41 in which people who have been studied,
06:44 they realize until 50-years old or older,
06:47 they are still dealing with the mental and emotional scars
06:50 of bullying and physical scars as well,
06:53 because your body starts to experience different stresses
06:56 because of what they're experiencing
06:58 so bullying is not a small issue,
07:00 and I think the two things I want to highlight about it
07:03 is this... the first is the psychological death
07:05 that's the poison that I alluded to earlier,
07:08 the psychological death
07:09 of not feeling that you're good enough,
07:12 psychological death of being in a sense
07:14 someone who's living but really dead,
07:17 I don't want to live my life,
07:18 I'm here but I'm kind of
07:20 taking up space, that's where I was,
07:21 I'm just going through life every single day
07:23 doing what it is that I'm "supposed" to do
07:26 but I don't deserve to be here,
07:28 that was the mental space that I was in
07:30 and so, the psychological death
07:32 for someone who's bullied, that is really real,
07:34 you're not living your life,
07:36 the second thing as well is
07:37 that suicide is often very prevalent
07:40 for those who are bullied,
07:42 the other day I saw a startling statistic,
07:44 you're talking about,
07:45 it is the fourth leading cause of death, suicide that is...
07:49 among people who are... from the ages of ten to fourteen
07:52 and then also,
07:53 it is the third leading cause of death
07:55 for those who are in the age group from 15- to 24-years old
07:59 so this is serious,
08:01 God is seeing people who are precious in His sight,
08:04 created in His image,
08:05 but are not understanding who they are
08:08 and, therefore, are living lives that are really "dead. "
08:11 Oh, there are so many things that I can ask you from that.
08:15 How did your family deal with this whole thing,
08:21 did they know what was going on
08:23 how did you... was it being reinforced at home?
08:25 How did you deal with that at home?
08:28 Good question, I didn't say anything.
08:31 Is that often the case with kids that are being bullied?
08:35 Yeah, you're silent and parents don't know about it
08:38 until... sometimes it's too late.
08:39 In my case, I hardly said anything about anything
08:43 much less bullying, I was very quiet
08:46 and just introverted and so with the bullying,
08:48 that was no different, I said nothing
08:50 and the only way that my parents found out
08:53 about it particularly my mom,
08:54 was she found the letter that I wrote,
08:56 and she saw in that letter details in which...
08:59 I indicated that she wanted to take my life,
09:01 she saw a knife in the picture, and she realized,
09:04 "Oh my gosh, this is happening"
09:05 she spoke to me about it, I told her what I was thinking
09:09 and she just assured me that "Camille, you're beautiful,
09:13 you don't need to think about ending your life"
09:17 but I still felt the way that I felt inside,
09:20 the healing wasn't there.
09:21 You know, when you think about the passages that we go through,
09:26 in childhood,
09:28 going on into adulthood, and you think about
09:31 all of the natural feelings of inferiority,
09:34 lack of self-confidence,
09:36 that a teenager kind of automatically feels,
09:39 and then you compound that with the bullying,
09:42 that has got to be it's, as you said,
09:47 it's leading to suicide, Right.
09:49 and often we hear on the News about this young person
09:54 was bullied
09:55 and they committed suicide
09:57 Right, right, right, hmmm... hmmm...
09:58 and you wanted... you know, you think,
10:01 "Wow! is it that bad, can it be that bad?"
10:03 And obviously it is, obviously it is...
10:06 day after day after day, being told that you're nothing
10:11 that has got to be so painful.
10:14 It is Yvonne, you know, the thing with bullying is this,
10:18 when we think about what the Bible says
10:20 that death and life is in the power of the tongue,
10:23 that is a pretty powerful statement
10:25 we often think with words... that words are just "words"
10:27 and so when we think of bullying,
10:29 "Stick and stones may break my bones
10:31 but words will never hurt me"
10:32 so when we hear about bullying,
10:34 and we say, "that's a side issue,
10:35 come on now, get over that,
10:36 were talking about that, it's just a little thing"
10:39 but God doesn't recognize it as that,
10:41 when He sees the impact that that is having on young lives
10:45 and that, not just the lives of a young person
10:48 but ultimately they are going into adulthood with these issues
10:52 that the dreams and the passion that He has for their lives,
10:55 the purpose that He has for their lives,
10:56 that ultimately can be aborted
10:58 because of how they see themselves,
11:00 God says, "You know what, I want this to be an issue
11:03 that is recognized as serious"
11:05 and ultimately,
11:07 I believe that part of the calling of God in life,
11:09 is to take that particular message to the world,
11:12 it's to say, at the end of the day
11:14 whether you are a young child, or whether you are an adult,
11:18 your words have incredible power,
11:20 you have the power to be able to speak life...
11:23 in the life of other people, or you have the opportunity
11:25 to also speak something else which is that,
11:27 God says, "Choose life,
11:29 speak life in those in whom you meet"
11:31 and the world will begin to blossom
11:33 into a place in which all of us
11:34 can feel a greater sense of hope, resiliency and love.
11:38 Come on now, I love that, I love that,
11:41 you know, as I listen to you Camille,
11:45 you have taken this adversity, this pain,
11:49 and God has allowed you to transform that into a purpose
11:55 from pain to purpose, Amen.
11:58 so now, you are on fire about delivering
12:02 this message of wholeness
12:04 and is that what inspired you to write this book?
12:08 How did you get inspired to write the book?
12:10 Great question,
12:11 the inspiration came from the One who gives, ultimately...
12:16 inspiration and calling,
12:17 my God and great Savior, Jesus Christ,
12:20 when I felt the impression of the Spirit to write the book,
12:24 I'm like, "Oh God, I could write but not necessarily about me"
12:27 you know, but, I understood,
12:30 when the impression came to write the book, "why"
12:32 I understood that lives needed to be saved,
12:35 I understood that calling...
12:37 some people's lives needed to be lived,
12:39 I understood that there are many people
12:42 who are going to their graves,
12:43 in a way in which they are dying,
12:45 and... they are dying empty,
12:47 and some of them are dying full,
12:48 but in the end their grave is the wealthiest place
12:51 on the planet, because so many people,
12:53 who found themselves in a place where they're limited within,
12:57 they do not know their own power,
12:59 they do not understand the power which God has given them,
13:02 and so they go through lives as I said, "dead men walking"
13:06 not living the lives that God has called them to live,
13:09 so the inspiration ultimately came from God,
13:11 and from that,
13:13 I decided that I wanted to see young girls around the world
13:17 rise up and see themselves as how God sees them.
13:20 Yes, and it's so important
13:22 to have a different picture of ourselves
13:25 than the one the enemy tries to plant within our heads,
13:30 Amen. and in this Society,
13:31 there is such an emphasis on how you look
13:36 and what color you are and all of these things,
13:40 that should not play into it but they do
13:44 and we internalize that Right.
13:47 and then we're just kind of stuck in this morass of pain
13:53 so, the Holy Spirit inspired you to take your pain
13:57 and make it your purpose, and that's what you're doing
14:02 how would you...
14:04 if you were talking to the "Camille" of fifteen,
14:09 what would you say to her?
14:12 I would have so much to say to her
14:14 the book ultimately... is what I would say to "me"
14:17 and that's why, "Long Journey to Freedom"
14:20 was ultimately written,
14:22 I believe God wanted me to use the pain that I had experienced,
14:25 to help someone else,
14:26 so if there is one young girl out there
14:28 that would pick up that book and say,
14:30 "My gosh, I don't want to go where she was
14:33 27 years for life,
14:36 I want that shortcut, I'm going to read that book. "
14:40 Talk to her, talk to her in that camera,
14:41 "Young lady, young girl, wherever you are in the world,
14:44 what I say to you is,
14:45 first and foremost understand who you are,
14:48 that your Creator has called you beautiful
14:50 that your Creator has called you blessed
14:53 and that He wants you to pick up a mirror,
14:55 a mirror that is not found on earth
14:57 but a mirror that has been built in heaven
14:59 it's called the 'Word of God,'
15:01 and He wants you to search it daily
15:03 to understand who you are and whose you are,
15:06 once you do that
15:07 you'll no longer struggle with who you are. "
15:11 That is so good, and if young men and women
15:16 could just internalize "whose" they are as well,
15:20 that they belong to the Lord and that God has a plan for them
15:25 often on this Program, Camille, we talk about Jeremiah 29:11
15:29 that's like my favorite, my new favorite verse, I think,
15:34 because I allude to it all the time
15:36 about God's thoughts toward us,
15:38 thoughts of peace and not of evil to give us...
15:41 in NIV it says, "a future and a hope"
15:44 and in the King James, it is, "to give us an expected end"
15:49 and so, that says, there is a plan
15:51 and no one can fulfill that plan for you,
15:58 you were created to do that, and once you find that,
16:02 you have found... your divine purpose.
16:05 Tell us what it feels like now as compared to where you were.
16:10 Words can't express it,
16:13 it is the most powerful place on earth to be in.
16:17 I wish this for every single person on the planet,
16:20 that whatever it is that God has called them to do,
16:23 that they would find themselves
16:25 right in the middle of that purpose
16:27 because once you live in that purpose,
16:30 there is a peace that surpasses all understanding,
16:34 there is a joy that grips your soul,
16:36 that allows you to live life with passion
16:39 and just with a sense of just...
16:41 "Thank God I am here I can't wait for the next day"
16:45 I want that for others,
16:47 I want them to dream a bigger dream for themselves
16:50 because ultimately God has dreamed it for them.
16:53 I like the way you said, "God's dream for us"
16:56 because God has His own plan for us,
17:00 and Satan has a plan, and God has a plan,
17:03 Satan's plan is to take you from here
17:06 and spiral you downward and destroy you
17:09 but God's plan is to lift us up
17:12 and to give us the abundant life through Jesus Christ
17:15 and what a difference, Satan kind of lured you
17:19 with different things just to bait you,
17:21 get you into the trap and then... take you down.
17:25 It's amazing, but God has this way
17:30 of taking the darkest times
17:32 and bringing something out of that
17:35 and you know... you know that... first hand
17:38 because you went through another very dark time
17:41 after the bullying, tell us about that.
17:43 Yeah, oh yeah,
17:45 wow! two times that I never would have expected,
17:47 was that, my young husband at 34-years old,
17:51 one morning got up
17:53 and just started to complain that he wasn't feeling too well
17:56 that was not normal so I took that to be
17:59 something very serious, long story short,
18:01 what ended up happening, Yvonne, at 7:38 on November 14, 2009,
18:06 I was told that my husband, at that time, was dead,
18:10 and that was
18:12 one of the most devastating experiences of my entire life
18:15 because I loved him so much,
18:17 we were college sweethearts and he meant the world to me
18:22 and I honestly did not believe that I could live without him,
18:26 I thought that I would ultimately
18:28 not be able to survive it, but God...
18:31 Yvonne: But God... Camille: But God.
18:33 And it just happened all of a sudden?
18:35 All of a sudden, no warning... nothing...
18:37 what he died of was something that is considered
18:41 a silent part of a heart attack
18:44 when you have a silent coronary disease,
18:47 and it was just... one time it happened...
18:49 and that was it,
18:51 and the time that it happened, it took his life.
18:53 Other people may get other opportunities
18:56 to live through it, he did not,
18:57 and so, my world was devastated by that completely
19:02 without hope as to how I was going to get through it,
19:07 but God stepped in, and reminded me who He was
19:11 and His ability to help me, and so I remember
19:14 just praying in my living room and telling God,
19:18 "God, I don't know, I see nothing around me
19:21 but a complete darkness,
19:22 but, I know that you can take this broken heart
19:26 and continue, you can take this broken life
19:29 and you can make something out of it"
19:31 and He has.
19:33 Amen, amen, so, your response to the dark time
19:38 was not to draw away from God,
19:41 but it was to draw closer to Him.
19:44 Did you find comfort and peace during that time?
19:49 How did it manifest?
19:50 I certainly did, my message to people everywhere
19:54 is ultimately this... that if you are not connected
19:58 to the God of the universe,
19:59 I pray that you will become connected to Him
20:02 because, if you're not going through a storm now,
20:05 you ultimately will,
20:06 and there is no way that you can endure that
20:09 without the power of God, because He brought me through it
20:14 and He knew ten months later
20:16 I was going to be dealing with something else,
20:18 and that was the loss of my dad,
20:20 ten months later, my dad died of Pancreatic Cancer
20:24 and two months prior to that when I got the diagnosis,
20:27 I was just completely just not here...
20:31 it was like, "How is this happening God,
20:34 I lost my husband, and now my dad?"
20:37 But the reality was that God stepped in again
20:40 and His ability, through particularly His words
20:44 to just reassures you that you can get through this,
20:47 is amazing, so, at the end of the day
20:50 what I would say to people is this...
20:52 God makes it clear in His Word
20:54 that "My power is made perfect in your weakness"
20:58 so I will boast of my weakness
21:00 so that the power of Christ rests on me.
21:04 Yes, yes, and look at God, look at how God...
21:09 in spite of the dark time, and He always does this,
21:13 in the wilderness period, you know,
21:16 we wouldn't... when you look back on it,
21:18 you wouldn't trade the closeness with God for anything,
21:21 you don't want to go through the wilderness, obviously,
21:25 but when you're there, once you've gone through it,
21:28 you look back and you say, "Wow! God held me up,
21:32 He held me up through that dark time"
21:35 and then you lost your husband, you lost your dad,
21:39 but when your dad was being cared for,
21:42 tell us about the young man who was caring for your dad.
21:46 Oh, God is great, He is good,
21:50 this is ultimately the story of my life,
21:52 is His greatness, to bring you through anything
21:55 but also to bring some powerful, positive great things
21:58 along with it, Yes, yes.
22:00 and so, throughout my experience with taking care of my dad,
22:02 they talked about bringing in an Alternative Healer
22:07 to work on him, He was at this point, Yvonne,
22:10 where literally it was... there was no hope,
22:13 he was going to die.
22:14 Pancreatic Cancer is very serious
22:16 and it works very quickly.
22:18 You got it, you absolutely got it right
22:20 and it did in his case, so we saw that happening
22:23 but my dad still had hope,
22:24 he was a man of faith and he said,
22:26 "You know what, I want to try whatever
22:28 there still is out there"
22:29 so, my parents called around
22:31 and found that there was this "Alternative Healer"
22:35 that he was a Medical Missionary,
22:37 I had no idea what that was
22:39 because I wasn't an Adventist so I was clueless.
22:41 Oh you weren't an Adventist at this point?
22:43 No, I was a Methodist at that point so, I'm just like,
22:46 "Okay, let's see what this turns out to be"
22:48 very skeptical and ultimately God did something amazing
22:53 I found myself working with him and taking care of my dad,
22:57 and starting to feel feelings... could it be love?
23:03 And so, I started falling in love with him
23:06 and he was as well, and ultimately we got married.
23:09 Now, look at God, and even in the midst of the
23:13 hardest times, He stepped in
23:16 and showed His love for you
23:18 by providing a "Houseband" for you.
23:22 Yes, yes, He provided sunshine in the midst of storm
23:25 and I think that's what I love about God
23:28 is that He is so redemptive,
23:30 He has a power to be able to take the things of life
23:33 that aren't too pleasant and make lemonade out of it.
23:36 Yes. So I love Him for that,
23:37 and I love His ability to bring us through
23:39 to help us to know that, "You know what,
23:41 there are always sunny days ahead. "
23:42 Absolutely, and another thing is so great about God
23:45 since we're just praising Him right now
23:48 another thing is, He can make one move
23:50 and accomplish several things with one move.
23:53 Like your dad... was getting somewhat better,
23:57 during that time, and then,
23:59 He also... God brought you a husband,
24:01 He knew what you needed, Yes.
24:03 you know the two main men in your life,
24:06 had been removed, and God sent you
24:09 another husband and what a blessing,
24:12 what a blessing.
24:14 Amen, and you know Yvonne,
24:16 I wouldn't have chosen that path for myself
24:18 because after my first husband, I was going to remain a widow,
24:21 I just believed that there was no other man on the earth
24:24 that could eclipse him... that could surpass who he was
24:27 but God ended up proving me wrong.
24:30 Amen. I'm glad He did.
24:32 God is good, so, let's just get back
24:37 to the seven steps in that long journey toward freedom.
24:41 What are those seven steps, just give us a little hint
24:45 of each one and whoa, our time is running out
24:48 I can't believe it, our time is running out,
24:50 so just give us a little taste of what are those seven steps.
24:54 All right, the seven steps are pretty much proven to work.
24:57 The first is thinking about the power of choice.
25:01 When we talk about choice, we often don't realize that
25:04 this is something that's often taken for granted
25:07 but in every situation in life, you have the power to choose
25:10 whether or not you will make that situation
25:12 a great one or whether or not you're going to deteriorate
25:14 that experience into a negative one.
25:16 Then there's the power of thought
25:18 where... how do you think about
25:20 whatever events are happening in your life,
25:22 is it in a way that is going to lead to life
25:24 or is it in a way that is going to lead to death.
25:26 Then you have the power of words.
25:28 The words in which we speak, I talk about that...
25:30 obviously my experience with bullying,
25:32 that that has incredible power, not only just who you're like
25:36 but the lives of other people,
25:37 and then we have the power of gratitude.
25:40 Gratitude can cure a multitude of ills,
25:43 it can make you sing in times of great darkness
25:46 it is one of the most powerful forces on the planet
25:49 and there are many others, I don't know if we have time
25:52 to talk about the others, We do.
25:54 Okay, all right, and in regards to the other ones,
25:57 the power of contentment,
25:59 being able to realize at the end of the day
26:01 that what is... is what is...
26:03 I can still soar, I can still look for other ways
26:05 in which my life can be better,
26:07 but in the meantime, I can be able to say,
26:09 "God, thank you for where I am today. "
26:11 So, the power of love,
26:13 that is one of the powers that is the most purest
26:16 and fondest to my heart, because I believe that
26:18 as Dionne Warwick said,
26:20 "What the world needs is love sweet love"
26:22 when we have that love,
26:24 we can be able to bring people and ourselves
26:27 to a place that is just higher,
26:28 we live life higher, we're encouraged
26:31 and we are the ones who bring healing to the world.
26:33 So that is my message,
26:35 my message is that we have these powers,
26:38 these seven powers,
26:39 that can cure a multitude of ills.
26:42 Oh, that's incredible, and you are taking that...
26:46 that message to churches and wherever you're invited.
26:50 Right, right, right.
26:52 You want people to invite you to come
26:53 and share this message with their churches,
26:56 how can they reach you?
26:57 if you want to reach me, just go to:
27:00 www. longjourneytofreedom. com or
27:02 info@longjourneytofreedom. com
27:04 and I would love for you to go there
27:06 because I have a free offer for you,
27:08 so those of you
27:09 who would like to be coached by me
27:10 in terms of weight loss and just mind, body and spirit,
27:13 I would love to work with you, so contact me.
27:16 Oh great, so there's a free offer,
27:18 they can consult with you?
27:21 Absolutely, they will have that,
27:23 I would love to have the privilege of working with them.
27:25 Praise the Lord, well, thank you so much,
27:27 thank you so much for sharing your journey with us,
27:31 and for being transparent and just letting us know
27:34 what God has brought you through.
27:36 God bless you.
27:37 Thank you, Yvonne. Thank you.
27:39 And thank you so much for joining us.
27:41 It's really important that you "Like" us on Facebook
27:44 that you ask the Lord
27:46 just how you can support this ministry,
27:49 because, we really, really design Programs
27:52 with you in mind,
27:53 well, we've reached the end of another Program,
27:55 join us next time, because you know what?
27:58 It just wouldn't be the same... without you.


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Revised 2016-01-11