Bible Verse of the Day

Saturday, March 23, 2019

"Do you know how to catch wild pigs?"

There was a chemistry professor in a large college that had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab, the professor noticed one young man, an exchange student, who kept rubbing his back and stretching as if his back hurt.

The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new communist regime. In the midst of his story, he looked at the professor and asked a strange question. He asked: "Do you know how to catch wild pigs?"

The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said that it was no joke. "You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come every day to eat the free food".

"When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence".

"They get used to that and start to eat again.You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side". "The pigs, which are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat that free corn again. You then slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd".

"Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity."

The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening in many countries. The government keeps pushing us toward Communism/Socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tax exemptions, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops, welfare entitlements, medicine, drugs, etc., while we continually lose our freedoms, just a little at a time as the government forces us to participate in many of these programs whether or not we want to.

One should always remember two truths: There is no such thing as a free lunch, and you can never hire someone to provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself.

If you see that all of this wonderful government "help" is a problem confronting the future of democracy, you might want to share this with your friends.

God help us all when the gate slams shut!

Quote for today: "The problems we face today are there because the people who work for a living are now outnumbered by those that vote for a living."

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Salty Coffee

He met her at a party. She was so outstanding, many guys chasing after her, while he was so normal, nobody paid attention to him. At the end of the party, he invited her to have coffee with him, she was surprised, but due to being polite, she went along.

They sat in a nice coffee shop, he was too nervous to say anything, she felt uncomfortable, she thought, please, let me go home... Suddenly he asked the waiter: “Would you please give me some salt? I’d like to put it in my coffee.”

Everybody stared at him, so strange! His face turned red, but, still, he put the salt in his coffee and drank it. She asked him curiously: why do you have this quirk?

He replied: “When I was a little boy, I was living near the sea, I liked playing in the sea, I could feel the taste of the sea , just like the taste of the salty coffee. Now every time I have the salty coffee, I always think of my childhood, think of my hometown, I miss my hometown so much, I miss my parents who are still living there”. While saying that tears filled his eyes. She was deeply touched.

That’s his true feeling, from the bottom of his heart. A man who can talk about his homesickness, he must be a man who loves home, cares about home, has responsibility of home... Then she also started to speak, spoke about her faraway hometown, her childhood, her family.

That was a really nice talk, also a beautiful beginning of their story. They continued to date...

She found that actually he was a man who met all her demands; he had tolerance, was kindhearted, warm, careful. He was such a good person but she almost missed him! Thanks to his salty coffee!

Then the story was just like every beautiful love story, the princess married the prince, and they lived a happy life… And, every time she made coffee for him, she put some salt in the coffee, as she knew that’s the way he liked it.

After 40 years, he passed away, and left her a letter which said: “My dearest, please forgive me, forgive my whole life held a lie. This was the only lie I told you - the salty coffee. Remember the first time we dated? I was so nervous at that time, actually I wanted some sugar, but I said salt. It was embarrassing for me to change, so I just went ahead and continued with it. I never dreamed that it would be the start of our communication.

I tried to tell you the truth many times in my life, but I was too afraid to do that, as I had promised not to lie to you about anything. Now I’m dying, and unafraid of nothing, so I tell you the truth: I don’t like the salty coffee, what a strange bad taste... But I have had the salty coffee my whole life! Since I knew you, I never feel sorry for anything I do for you. Having you with me is my biggest happiness in my whole life. If I can live for the second time, still I would want to know you and have you for my whole life, even though I have to drink the salty coffee again”.

Her tears made the letter totally wet. One day, someone asked her: "What’s the taste of salty coffee?"

"It’s sweet.", she replied...

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Stafford SammyBear Lakay: What's your excuse...?

Stafford SammyBear Lakay: What's your excuse...?: Years ago, when people would tell me about their problems coping with life, I'd consider the unconscious motivations for their behavio...

Sunday, March 27, 2016

Christ is Risen... He is risen indeed!

Did you hear the news today? Jesus, the One crucified on the cross, is risen! Do you believe it? Have you told anyone about it? Jesus' resurrection is unreasonable and awe-inspiring. It was no more reasonable more than 2,000 years ago than it is today. Rise from the dead? How? And why wasn't there any warning? There was. The prophets, and Jesus himself, repeatedly foretold this death and resurrection. At least three times, we are told, Jesus predicted His impending death.

On Easter Sunday the church tells the story of the empty tomb and the charge by the messenger to “go and tell.”  For the next several weeks Christians tell and retell stories of Jesus’ first followers who encountered Him against all hope. Amidst their doubt, fear, and longing, suddenly He was present -risen from the dead, and encountering them in a locked room, by the lakeshore, on the road to Emmaus.

The Church combines these resurrection stories with stories from Acts of the Apostles: the efforts of the first Christian communities to spread the gospel through the world. The early church celebrated these weeks after Easter. They instructed newly baptized Christians during this time, and encouraged them to explore, in their new community, the joyful mystery of the encounter of the risen Christ with their lives. As we celebrate, we learn again to recognize the risen Jesus where He is to be found: in our midst, in our stories, in the breaking of the bread - and as we faithfully bear witness to the reality of Christ’s presence to the world.

Jesus said: "See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified; and on the third day he will be raised" (Matthew 20:18-19).

Yet the witnesses at Jesus' tomb were surprised. The Gospel of Mark tells us that "terror and amazement" seized them. They were so afraid they said nothing to anyone - at first. But when they began sharing the good news of God's love for both Jews and gentiles, the Holy Spirit moved among them (Acts 10).

Likewise today, the Easter story of God's love for all should be shared. We too are disciples of Jesus, growing in Christ's image and our relationship with God. The Easter story inspires and asserts God's unfathomable love for us: Jesus broke the powers of sin and death, canceled our debt of sin and opened the way to new life through God's grace.

We need that good news, and so does our world. Economic turbulence, warfare and injustices run rampant today. We live in "catastrophic, catatonic, catalytic" times. Our world yearns for new movement. Evil, though not always acknowledged, is among us. But the Easter story reminds us how Jesus embodied God's redeeming love for all.

Like those first witnesses at Jesus' grave, how often are we afraid, unwilling or not invited to share our stories? Created in God's image, we each have a piece of God's story. As we welcome each other into this unfolding story, we empower each other. Storytelling, at its core, is an act of hospitality. And we have an amazing story to tell: Jesus no longer lives among us but within us.

We continue sharing today. "This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it," says Psalm 118:24.

And what a reason for gladness and joy: The Lord is risen! Now let us share this good news with the world.

I AM - BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED ME! ~ Stafford

“For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!” ~ Romans 5:10

Thursday, November 19, 2015

25th of May...

At least once in your life, have you ever turned your back on love?
Have you ever felt love demanded too much from you, or too much of you?
Ever felt love plays favoritism and you believed you weren’t one for it?
Sometimes in our lives, we can’t deny that our stars are arranged that way..
When we purposely force ourselves to leave love behind because at one point, everything hits beside the mark.
No matter how we try to put our shattered pieces back together, nothing ever fits perfectly again.....
We try so hard to move on with life having a beaten drive.
We go on with a figuratively dying self, crawling with the very last strength we have.......
There’s always this one time when losing a significant part of us forces us to learn the tough way.
But, there’s also this time when struggling gets easier day after day...
When getting by doesn’t hurt as much anymore......
One day, tears naturally dry up and fears start melting away.
And then the next thing we know, we are beginning to be whole again.
We wake up every morning to meet new people with the hope of finally finding the one........
But at the end of the day, it’s either none turns out right or we settle for less...
Oftentimes, we are selfish; we demand immediacy from love because we can’t stand being alone.
We find comfort in somebody else’s home rather than in our own.......
But we need to accept that love requires time, sometimes, even longer than we are willing to wait.
Time hurts over and over because it wants us to grow.
Or simply because, it’s for the best.
And when we are already with the one we love, realities become more honest.
We start identifying flaws and differences.
As days go by, we realize standing up to loving unconditionally gets more difficult to persevere.
We go back to asking what is in it for us...
Then, we redefine who we want.
We pursue seeking those who can keep up to our senseless checklists without realising that we are missing out on what matters more.
Inevitable are the times when some things fall short.
Then, our ears start to shut down as we permit our mouths and fears do the work...
We unintentionally hurt each other for shallow and selfish reasons...
And with this, we fail to love ...
For love, when hurt, loves more.
It spares rooms for mistakes.
It allows pain to linger so that we can grow. Sometimes, it tears us apart to remind us that we are still frail.
Hurrying love may make you a better lover but waiting patiently can make you profound.
Yes, differences push people away but at one point, it brings people back together more beautifully.
Mistakes may break us, disappoint us.
We hurt not because of love, but because we forget what love is...

Monday, May 25, 2015

What's your excuse...?

Years ago, when people would tell me about their problems coping with life, I'd consider the unconscious motivations for their behaviour. You know, associations such as: "Your father abandoned you at a young age, and of course you'd be scared to trust men. That explains your promiscuity."

Neat package. Too neat. I was bothered by the notion that a bad experience in the past is the cause of all a person's present problems. I also worry about just how much blaming something in the past keeps people stuck and feeling like victims.

An acquaintance shared with me that at the age of 25 she is leaving her second marriage. I ask, "At what point did you know that husband No. 1 was violent and husband No. 2 was on drugs?"
"I suppose before I married" was her surprisingly frank answer. "My parents were divorced, and my brother died," she explains. "I was upset."
Her answer to being "upset" was to walk through the first two doors available. Now she is single with three children from two attempts to bury her emotional pain.

The modern-day "out" or excuse for such behaviours is generally psychological: "Considering my hurts, disappointments and traumas, I can't be responsible for the havoc I wreak in the lives of others or the mess I've made of my own life." Puhleeese...!!!

Does anyone really believe that only those people graced with great genetics, perfect parentage and ideal social conditions can - and will - behave with character, courage and conscience? Does anyone really believe that laziness and gutlessness are products only of some form of psychoneurosis? Nonsense.

Call me insensitive, but I believe that even with bad stuff in your past, you have choices. Everyone must overcome something. That simply is life. Of course, the typical rejoinder is "How dare you blame the victim for his unhappiness?" But there is a big difference between blaming the victim and trying to get across the fact that it is within his power to gather courage and move on. It seems nobody is acknowledged to have free will or responsibility any more; we have become a society of excuses and victims. Victimization is today's promised land of absolution from personal responsibility.

A comic strip shows two vagrants sitting on a wall and conversing. One says to the other, "Do you believe in fate?" The other replies, "Sure. I'd hate to think I turned out like this because of something I had control over!" - rings true, eh?

After listening to people's stories over the years, I have come to the conclusion that the path to healthy relationships and self-respect starts with the decision to do the right thing.

Another friend related her story to me about her repeated childhood molestations by both a stranger and a family friend, her parents' divorce when she was six, and the poverty that kept her from attending university. "Under these conditions I could have a become a 'victim,' " she concluded. "But I chose to change my circumstances through hard work and perseverance.
"While some of my decisions were indirectly related to what happened in my childhood, I'm still responsible for the choices I made. Once we decide to make the best of whatever our situation is, we will be better people, and the world will be a better place in which to live."

Acknowledging that you are responsible for messing up your own life is admittedly very upsetting.
But it is that very acknowledgment that gives you the power to change things.

The young son of a close friend was on drugs for eight years. "I took anything," he admitted. Why? "To have fun with my friends. It was a blast. I just liked it."
Today he is drug-free. "I had some long-range goals, and they just weren't panning out," he told me. "I tried changing jobs, friends, love relationships, and still wasn't getting anywhere. Then I realized that I was the constant in the equation, and the constant was that I was using drugs."
He decided to confront a bad habit and kick it. He wasn't diseased. He wasn't a victim.

Uncertainty. Loss. Lonesomeness. Conflict. Sometimes life seems a like a huge maze, an obstacle course, a trial by fire, even a bad joke with you as the subject. I don't believe for a minute that everything that happens to you is your doing or your fault. But I do believe that the ultimate quality of your life and your happiness is determined by your courageous and ethical choices and your overall attitude.

You may get some bad bricks and weak steel, but you are still the general contractor. What do you want to do? Fake it? Bemoan it? Change the plans? Wait for better parts?

As a friend said to me very recently, "The more time we spend blaming our circumstances on others, the more time we waste, because while we were blaming, we could've been doing."

God bless y'all - (thank you to LAURA for the original content and train of thought)


Saturday, April 25, 2015

FLAWLESS CHANGE...

'The more things change, the more they stay the same' - I'm not sure who's the first person who said that; but it's a sentence that somewhat explains our tragic flaw; our inability (or fear) to change.

The more you get to know people you realise its kind of everyone's flaw; staying exactly the same, for as long as possible. Standing perfectly still feels better, safer somehow; and if you're suffering at least the pain is familiar. Because if you took that leap of faith, went outside the box, did something unexpected, who knows what other pain might be waiting out there; chances are it could be even worse.

So you maintain the status-quo - you choose the road already travelled, and it doesn't seem that bad; not as far as flaws go... you're not a hopeless addict, you're not killing anyone - except maybe yourself a little, bit by tiny bit.

When you finally do change, it doesn't happen as an earthquake or massive explosion, nor are you all of a sudden this totally different person; it's smaller than that. It's the kind of thing most people won't even notice; unless they looked really, really close - which, thank GOD, they hardly ever do! But you notice it, inside you, that change feels like a world of difference (and you hope that it is); that this is the person you get to be forever, that you never have to change again...

Friday, April 17, 2015

HOW - is always blurry...


She may be the face I can't forget
The trace of pleasure or regret
May be my treasure; or the price I have to pay
She may be the song that summer sings
May be the chill that autumn brings
May be a hundred different things
Within the measure of a day

She may be the beauty or the beast
May be the famine or the feast
May turn each day into a Heaven or a Hell
She may be the mirror of my dreams
A smile reflected in a stream
She may not be what she may seem
Inside her shell

She, who always seems so happy in a crowd,
Whose eyes can be so private and so proud
No one's allowed to see them when they cry
She may be the love that cannot hope to last
May come to leap from shadows in the past
That I’ll remember 'til the day I die

She may be the reason I survive
The why and wherefore I'm alive
The one I’ll care for through the rough and ready years

Me, I'll take her laughter and her tears
And make them all my souvenirs
And where she goes I've got to be
The meaning of my life is She...


www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRxVkt9Eg9o

This is for the broken hearted...

How how do I honour THIS challenge..?

"I also feel that it shouldn’t be my choice to come back to you (again). After the first time when you had the courage to approach me and started our relationship, every other time I have initiated the contact. The two occasions when I made contact with you again after we broke up – my sense was that you didn’t want to be with me enough to give up whatever else made you give me up and that you were still holding onto (was it fear?). And this time round again I was the one to initiate contact, and am having to do the work and make the sacrifices to see you.
So I am putting it back into your court again. If you really want to be with me this time – you do the work in separating from or conquering whatever it is you need to, so that you can come into your full personal power. And come to me as a man who is seeking to be a ‘’king, warrior, magician and lover’’ so that I can be your queen, and we can build a mature relationship.  I am not perfect by any means, and I realize that we are work in progress and that in a relationship we will continue to heal each other with our love. But there are some things which I feel you need to address before we can even get started.
You are the one I want to be with, and I am not going anywhere with anyone else. If you are prepared to do the work, you’ll know where to find me when you are ready to."

When answers aren't forthcoming, it is our human nature to 'conjure' up some sort of answer to make sense of it all. This may help us to move on, and is helpful in that way; but what if our 'educated' opinion should prove to be be untrue? Is it wise to carry on in pretense of acceptance of that potential lie? And most of the time we include that underlying fabrication into our 'freedom' from the past. Surely the blatant and glaring wrong in this can only manufacture a false reality? How wholesome can this be...?

It's hard to let go when we don't know why they're gone. It's natural to want an explanation, an understanding, something that puts their leaving into perspective.
It's hard to move on when there is nothing but silence, or worse, a strangely formal way of relating, as though you made the whole thing up.

But we can't put our lives on hold, waiting for an answer that may never come. Maybe they will tell us one day, or maybe they will never understand it themselves. It isn't that important. What is important is that we don't abandon ourselves in the heart of loss.
That we don't make another's presence more important than our own.
That we don't lock ourselves in a prison of our own making, waiting for an external liberator to set us free.
If they have left, we have to leave too. We have to let the pain through the holes they left behind so it can find its ultimate destination.

 Because we have so much left to do. Our precious life waits on no one...

I know how you feel. Perhaps like I once felt; empty, betrayed with no happiness whatsoever. You don't want to laugh, because you know it's not going to help, but you don't want to cry, because it will just make you feel worse. You feel like your heart is falling apart, but not only that, but you know soon your life is going to feel like it's falling apart too. You don't think it will ever end, and no matter what this person has done to you, it feels impossible to stop loving them. And everyone wonders why if they have hurt you so much, then why do you still love them. That's the confusing part, you don't know why, you just do, and the people who hurt you the most, and normally the ones you love the most. And then, after a few weeks, you finally feel a sense of relief, like you're getting happy again, but you know inside that you're just going into denial. And after a few more weeks, you're back to where you were an empty soul and teary eyes. You thought you got over them, but really, you just stopped showing it. And you can't help but to show it again. It leaves deep scars on your heart that is there forever. And no one understands how you feel, and how deep you are hurt, no matter who they are, because it hasn't happened to them And even if it has, every broken heart is different. They don't know the true pain you feel and carry each and everyday now, so you learn that basically you are alone with all this. And the feeling starts to overwhelm you, and suddenly you just break down, right there, because you know you've had enough, the tears just instantly start flowing, and you're to the point where you don't care who sees. Because you've spent so many nights lying awake in bed, and so many days being haunted by the scars and fear of rejection. And in the midst of all these tears, you know that it’s not helping any, and it's not going to bring them back, if you ever even had them in the first place. After about a million tears have been cried, you finally pull yourself back together and keep going. Your throat starts to clench and your eyes burn with the tears you are trying to hold back. Everyone says, "It will be okay…” But you know it won't. And that’s the truth, it won’t. And you look back on all of the hurt you had from this, and you realize that people are horrible. You're still hurt, but you've learned to hide it so that everyone thinks you are okay. So now every time you think of or imagine you see this person, you know you still love them, and you feel a slight tingle in your heart yearning for them to love you, screaming out, but for some reason they don't hear it. And then you sit back and wonder how one person could have caused all of this...

From all the responses I'm getting to recent updates, on various social media platforms, I thought I'd share my feelings over a romantic heartbreak... I just told a friend recently how I'm surrendering it into God's hands bit by bit. And I ask myself, 'why don't you just let it go in one heap, why not give it all to Jesus?' - I reckon it's a personal choice; a battle with the ego - even though it hurts I want to hold on to parts of it I'm afraid I'll forget forever - parts that make me what, and who, I am right now... but I'm getting there - pray for me... Here goes:

I sit here and think about everything that happened in the recent past and not a single tear runs down my cheek. Maybe it’s because I'm too hurt to cry, or maybe I'm just too mad at you. Maybe just maybe it’s my heart's way of telling me this isn't over yet. What do you do when the only person who can stop your tears is the one making you cry? I'd like to think I'll be happy again, but I really need to just stop and cry now, and sometimes I wish I could just scream at you, and show you what you did to me. And even though you lied, and even though you pretended to care I can't seem to get you out of my mind and even though it seems like I should be over you, with every tear that falls, it reminds me of how much I am still in love with you.

You always say you hate to see me hurt, and you hate to see me cry. So all those times that you hurt me, did you close your eyes? Sad isn't it? How no matter what you do or say to me... when you come back...when you need me again... I'll be here... right here waiting for you; I'll take you back... no questions asked. Sad isn't it?

So... from now on... when you think of me... just remember that I could've been the best thing you ever had. You hurt me more than I deserve, how can you be so cruel? I love you more than you deserve, why am I such a fool? You asked me what was wrong, I smiled and said 'nothing', when you turned around and a tear came down and I whispered to myself... 'Everything is'. I don't know which I would rather believe... that you never did care or that you eventually stopped. While I was holding on all you did was let go.

I just wonder how many people never get the one they want, but end up with the one they're supposed to have. There were reasons we met, reasons for the good times and reasons for the bad times, and most importantly a reason to end. We have more to learn, more to experience and more loving to do in this lifetime. Somehow I know we'll meet again, not quite sure where and not sure when, you're in my heart until then.

I've been lying here all night, listening to the rain. Talking to my heart and trying to explain. Why sometimes I catch myself wondering what might have been. Yes I do think about you, every now and then. I didn't ask for it to be over, but then again, I didn't ask for it to begin. For that's the way it is with life, as some of the most beautiful days come completely by chance. But even the most beautiful days eventually have theirs sunsets.

It's really painful to say goodbye to someone that you don't want to let go but it’s even more painful to ask someone to stay if they never wanted to stay. In love you find the oddest combinations; materialistic people find themselves in love with idealists; clingers fall in love with players; home bodies capture and try to smother butterflies. If it wasn't so serious we could laugh at it.

I was never one to patiently pick up broken fragments and glue them together again and tell myself that the mending whole was good as new. What is broken is broken - and I'd rather remember it as it was at its best; and try to mend it and see the broken places. Love is a perky elf dancing a merry little jig and then suddenly he turns on you with a miniature machine gun.

After a while, you learn the difference between holding a hand, and falling in love. You'll learn kisses don't always mean something. Promises can be broken just as easily as they were made, and as hard as it is to believe, sometimes goodbyes are forever. Life doesn't hurt until you have time to yourself to think about how things have changed, who you've lost along the way, and how much of it is your fault. If you don't love me at my worst then you don't deserve me at my best.

Make me stay. Say something sweet and tender and untrue and make me stay. Or otherwise tell me directly why I have to go. The hardest thing about knowing you don't love me is that you spent so much time pretending that you did. Sometimes - no matter how long or how much you love someone, they will never love you back and somehow you have to learn to be okay with that. If you’re gonna make me cry, at least be there to wipe away the tears. How could you make me love you and then not be there to love me back..?



Sunday, April 05, 2015

Easter - the celebration of life over death

Today we celebrate the truth that Death is Dead. Jesus was dead, but now He is alive. He was on the cross and in the grave but now He is seated at the Father’s right hand and rules in power! This is not just an obscure historical moment we celebrate and commemorate today. It is a present-day reality! Each of us are able to experience the same power that raised Jesus from the dead being at work in our lives, today!

The power that raised Jesus from the dead can:
Resurrect your personal life;
Resurrect your partnership;
Resurrect your relationship with your children and/or your parents;
Resurrect your love for life;
Resurrect your joy;
Resurrect your vision;
Resurrect your hope;
Resurrect our nation, our community, our friendships - the world!

But for this power to be released in us we need to surrender to Him and allow Him to rule and reign in our lives. I pray that each of us will have the grace to do so today. So have a wonderful celebration today! Give your life to Jesus as Lord! And receive His resurrection power!!

HAPPY EASTER! Christ is risen, He is risen indeed! ~ much love, Stafford





Christ is Risen... He is risen indeed!

Did you hear the news today? Jesus, the One crucified on the cross, is risen! Do you believe it? Have you told anyone about it? Jesus' resurrection is unreasonable and awe-inspiring. It was no more reasonable more than 2,000 years ago than it is today. Rise from the dead? How? And why wasn't there any warning? There was. The prophets, and Jesus himself, repeatedly foretold this death and resurrection. At least three times, we are told, Jesus predicted His impending death.

On Easter Sunday the church tells the story of the empty tomb and the charge by the messenger to “go and tell.”  For the next several weeks Christians tell and retell stories of Jesus’ first followers who encountered Him against all hope. Amidst their doubt, fear, and longing, suddenly He was present -risen from the dead, and encountering them in a locked room, by the lakeshore, on the road to Emmaus.

The church combines these resurrection stories with stories from Acts of the Apostles: the efforts of the first Christian communities to spread the gospel through the world. The early church celebrated these weeks after Easter. They instructed newly baptized Christians during this time, and encouraged them to explore, in their new community, the joyful mystery of the encounter of the risen Christ with their lives. As we celebrate, we learn again to recognize the risen Jesus where He is to be found: in our midst, in our stories, in the breaking of the bread - and as we faithfully bear witness to the reality of Christ’s presence to the world.

Jesus said: "See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified; and on the third day he will be raised" (Matthew 20:18-19).

Yet the witnesses at Jesus' tomb were surprised. The Gospel of Mark tells us that "terror and amazement" seized them. They were so afraid they said nothing to anyone - at first. But when they began sharing the good news of God's love for both Jews and gentiles, the Holy Spirit moved among them (Acts 10).

Likewise today, the Easter story of God's love for all should be shared. We too are disciples of Jesus, growing in Christ's image and our relationship with God. The Easter story inspires and asserts God's unfathomable love for us: Jesus broke the powers of sin and death, canceled our debt of sin and opened the way to new life through God's grace.

We need that good news, and so does our world. Economic turbulence, warfare and injustices run rampant today. We live in "catastrophic, catatonic, catalytic" times. Our world yearns for new movement. Evil, though not always acknowledged, is among us. But the Easter story reminds us how Jesus embodied God's redeeming love for all.

Like those first witnesses at Jesus' grave, how often are we afraid, unwilling or not invited to share our stories? Created in God's image, we each have a piece of God's story. As we welcome each other into this unfolding story, we empower each other. Storytelling, at its core, is an act of hospitality. And we have an amazing story to tell: Jesus no longer lives among us but within us.

We continue sharing today. "This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it," says Psalm 118:24.

And what a reason for gladness and joy: The Lord is risen! Now let us share this good news with the world.

I AM - BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED ME! ~ Stafford

“For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!” ~ Romans 5:10


Saturday, April 04, 2015

Self-respect

Your Needs - It isn’t selfish to take care of your needs; it is essential. You are instructed to put the oxygen
mask on yourself first on a plane. Likewise, you take care of yourself so that you will have something to give to others in a healthy way. It is easy to neglect your needs in difficult relationships because others often pressure you to put them first, but if you don’t honor yourself by taking care of your needs, you are not respecting yourself.

Your Boundaries – Difficult people don’t like boundaries and will push you to change them for their own selfish interest. Your boundaries define what is and isn’t acceptable for you. When you allow things to violate your boundaries, you are disrespecting yourself because you are living in a way that violates your standards. Figure out what your limits are, and then respect yourself by standing firm in them.

Your Opinions – Remember, just because someone says it doesn’t make it so. Don’t discount your thoughts and beliefs because other people disagree with you. Your opinions are just that – yours. It doesn’t make them wrong when someone believes differently. It is tempting to give in to the pressure in difficult relationships to conform yourself to others’ perceptions and beliefs, but you need to resist it to be true to yourself.

Your Feelings – It is tempting to judge your feelings as right or wrong, but your feelings are simply there to teach you about how you are being affected by the people in your life so you can make decisions that value yourself. It is tempting to discount them and deny them. Instead, let yourself feel all your emotions, pay attention to them, and let them teach you about yourself.

Your Talents – God gave you your gifts and talents and expects you to do something with them. Don’t neglect them to take care of others or minimize them by deciding they are unimportant; instead, work on accepting yourself just as God made you rather than putting yourself down and comparing yourself to others. And figure out how to fulfill the purpose that God made you for by using your talents wisely.

Respecting yourself is important because if you don’t respect yourself, others won’t either.

Pray with me...

Dear Lord God,
Help me live in a way that honours who You made me to be and conduct myself in a way that is self-respecting.
Amen

Wednesday, March 04, 2015

Fear - the controller...

What if that one person in your life right now that you're not feeling so much love for, was also the one person in your life right now for whom you could make the greatest difference?

Deal with Your Fear of Honesty - “Admit your faults to one another and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” ~James 5:16

If you want relief and release from the hurts, habits, and hang-ups in your life, you’re going to have to deal with the fear of honesty that you’ve got in your life. Honesty deals with some of the most common fears that Satan uses to keep you stuck in your rut and afraid to face the truth -

The fear of your own emotions - You’re afraid that if you deal with that issue, memory, event, sin, abuse, accident, or hurt, that you will not be able to handle your emotions and the grief and the shame. You think you may just go crazy! If you’ve ever felt like that, relax. Every human being has had that fear. Everybody has felt at some time in their life that they were losing their mind. It’s not as big a deal as you may think it is. In fact, only rational people have that fear. You are broken, but you are not crazy. You’re also in good company, because we’re all broken. We all have insecurities, fears, and habits we don’t like.

The fear of how others will react - You’re afraid to be honest because you might be rejected or dismissed or abandoned. Others might think you’re less of a believer in God than you claim to be. A fraud. You’re afraid to be yourself, because your overactive emotional mind tells you, that in the end, you’re all you’ve got. And if people don’t like what they see, you’re in trouble. And, you’re afraid that others will try to fix you. You've got to get over that fear!

The fear that being honest is useless - What will it do? What’s the point? Why tell anybody else about what you’re struggling with? You feel like you’ve been there before, and it didn’t help - But you didn’t go there! You haven’t ever really been totally honest, because if you had, you’d already be released.

The Bible says, “Admit your faults to one another and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” - When you can let go of your fears and admit your faults to other people, God has promised you the healing you’ve been looking for.

Think and Talk It Over - How does knowing that other people have the same fears as you help you talk about those fears with someone else? What is it about yourself or your past that you want to keep hidden from others? How have you experienced healing through confession to God and by sharing your hurts and fears with others? Question it, question yourself.

Everybody needs healing from some sort of hurt, hang-up, or habit - As the song goes: 'Honesty is such a lonely word. Everyone is so untrue. Honesty is hardly ever heard. And mostly what I need from you...'

The fear of your own emotions.
The fear of how others will react.
The fear that being honest is useless.
 - the release is HONEST COMMUNICATION... to your God and yourself be true.






FEAR is a product of CONTROL - and guess what? - you are not in control - GOD IS IN CONTROL - Work with Him to work through you...

(formulation acknowledgement to Rick Warren ~ Stafford)

Saturday, February 28, 2015

Inconvenient Truths... God, please be our help and strength!

If you keep soliciting for human support for the gospel you preach, you will be forced to compromise God’s word to please your hearers. Your most important goal should be to please our Lord and Master Jesus Christ. Beware of the temptation to seek for human support; neither should you be afraid of the empty threats of the ungodly. If you are preaching God’s truth, you will be persecuted, abused, insulted and called names. Even our Lord was accused of being a servant of Satan.

Think for a moment what it means to be an earthly soldier, talk more of being a soldier of Christ. You will need to endure so much and free yourself from every form of entanglement which come in form of receiving flattery, gifts and accolades from the ungodly to pervert the truth.“You therefore must endure hardship as a true soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please Him who enlisted him as a soldier.” ~ 2 Tim. 2:3-4

If people are hearing what you preach and they are affirming you while continuing deeper in their sin, then you have been deceived by Satan to preach what pleases the flesh and people. When people affirm you, it should be because you have given them God’s undiluted truth that will set them free and this should cause them to glorify Jesus Christ NOT you. If it is God’s truth, it MUST pierce even to the division of the soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, discerning every thought and intent of the hearts of the hearers. To those who are being saved, the truth of God will be the aroma of life leading to life. To them who are perishing, it will be the aroma of death leading to death because they are refusing to receive the undiluted truth of God’s word; they fear that their evil deeds will be exposed.

ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT GOD NEVER DEALS WITH THE ‘MAJORITY’ -

DO NOT over-analyse, mis-interpret, rationalise, or dilute God’s word to suit the flesh and to please your hearers/readers. Please beware of preaching doctrines that indirectly glorify or protect Satan and demons. Let your motivation for preaching God’s word NOT be the number of ‘likes’, ‘comments’ or friends you get on Facebook, Twitter, G+ or other social web-sites, or how much applause you receive in the church services.

Do not be deceived by Satan to believe that you should apologise because someone got hurt when you preached God’s truth; never apologise to anyone for preaching or sharing God’s word against sin or for preaching righteousness, holiness and right-living - NEVER! "If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted ME, they will also persecute you..." ~ John 15:18-20

"Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven." ~ Matt. 10:27-33

NEVER STOP PREACHING GOD’S TRUTH JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE AFRAID OF LOSING FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS. ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT THERE IS A SECTION (far worse than other sections) RESERVED IN HELL FOR COMPROMISING SERVANTS OF GOD; FEAR GOD! KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE CROWN OF LIFE THAT AWAITS YOU; AND THE RECEPTION THAT OUR LORD JESUS IS PREPARING FOR YOU FOR YOUR TRIUMPH AND FAITHFULNESS...

“Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” ~ 1 Cor. 9:27

Friday, February 27, 2015

Don't let your emotions make you a bitch?

Some of our struggles involve making decisions, while others are a result of the decisions and choices we have made. Some struggles result from choices others make that affect our lives. We cannot always control everything that happens to us in this life, but we can control how we respond.


Many struggles come as problems and pressures that sometimes cause pain; others come as temptations, trials and tribulations...


Life may have different chapters, but one bad chapter doesn't mean its the end of your book. Its just a new beginning for you, see it as a second opportunity in life to be greater and do better in your next chapter. How successful you are is completely determined on how you appreciate what you've got and what you'll make out of what you have.

We often fear too much; that eventually our own fears cheat us out of our dreams; right now God is bigger than whatever you're worried about, even though life puts you in tough situations; don't ask why? Just say try me. Understand that every day is a challenge but not every day is the same challenge, its like a test; you pass or you fail, but that doesn't mean give up on yourself, believe in yourself enough to know what's your worth, and don't overlook the people, answers and signs He places in your path...


Life is not perfect; it never will be. You just have to make the very best of it and have to open your heart to what the world can show you, sometimes its terrifying and sometimes its incredibly beautiful. So, ignore the next person's ignorance, hate, drama and negativity - it stops you from becoming the best person you can be. Mistakes made are proof that you are trying; it's not proof that you'll never be successful - God hasn't given up on you, why would you want to give up on yourself?


You need to learn how to select you thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day, this is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad - work on the mind. That's the only thing you should be trying to control. Once you learn how to be happy, you won't tolerate being around people who make you feel anything less... - you are somebody's reason to smile... it is part and parcel of God's purpose for placing you here - find, embrace and revel in that purpose!


Godspeed, y'all! (",)

Saturday, February 21, 2015

The character of love...

“Reputation is what others think of us; character is what God knows of us. When you have spent what feels like eternity trying to repair a few moments of time that destroyed the view others once had of you then you must ask yourself if you have the problem or is it really them? God doesn’t make us try so hard... only enemies do.” - Shannon L. Alder

May God bless and enhance your day (",)


Friday, February 20, 2015

Break Me and Make Change...

Have you ever heard the saying that old habits are hard to break? That means that change is hard to do. The definition of change is "to alter, to transform, to switch, or to transfer". However, the definition that really stuck out the most to me was "to break", meaning "to shift to a lower register" as in to "Make Change".


In order to "Make Change" out of a rand, it has to be "broken". When you allow God to make change in your life, things you have have to be broken.


 You may end up having a lot of fragmented pieces once He starts breaking things down in your life, but it's okay. You may end up as 10 ten-cent pieces, or even 100 cents, but once he adds all the change, you end up being whole again.

"He heals the broken hearted, and binds up their wounds." (Psalm 147:3)

Familiarity is often hard to walk away from, but it breeds complacency and stagnation. While on the other hand, change is altering - doing away with a routine or habit. Change is a breaking point in our lives where we have to step out of the ordinary to step into the extraordinary. To change means we have to sacrifice things to become broken - to be made whole.

Allow God to "make change" in your life. A path in a circle eventually takes you back to where you started, so you end up going nowhere. You end up in a cycle that seems to keep repeating itself over and over again... The same bad choices with the same results. The same mountain. The same test that you have taken so many times that you end up memorizing the questions. If this applies to you, you need God to break you and "Make Change".

"Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Do not cast me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart You, God, will not despise." (Psalm 51:8-12; 17)

Monday, February 02, 2015

Awaken your soul to the eternal things...

I was out jogging one day when I noticed a person in front of me; about a quarter of a mile ahead. I could tell he was running a little slower than me, and I thought, 'good', I'll try to catch him. I had about a mile to go on my path before I needed to turn off.

So I started running faster and faster. Every block, I was gaining on him just a little bit. After just a few minutes I was only about 100 yards behind him, so I really picked up the pace and pushed myself. One would have thought I was running the last leg of an Olympic event, so determined was I to catch him. And finally I did it! I caught up and passed him by.

On the inside I felt so good. "I beat him!", of course he didn't even know we were racing. And after I passed him, I realised that I had been so focused on competing against him, that I had missed my turn. I had gone nearly six blocks past it. I had to turn around and go all the way back.

Isn't that just what happens in life when we focus on competing with co-workers, neighbours, friends, family - trying to outdo them, or trying to prove that we are more successful or more important? We fail to recognise that we spend our time and energy running after them; and we miss out on our own path to our God given destinies. We compare our journey Home with temporary things, instead of Jesus Christ's example.

The problem with unhealthy competition is that it is a never ending cycle. There will always be somebody
ahead of one - someone with a better job, a nicer car, more money in the bank, more education, a more attractive partner, better behaved children, etc. It is therefore very important, and more blessed, to realise that, "You can be the best that you can be, when you are not competing with anyone." - i.e. just being a better YOU than yesterday. Some people are insecure because they pay too much attention to what others are doing, where others are going, wearing, driving and living.

Take and use what God has given you - your height, weight, personality, state of prosperity and current circumstances. Dress well and wear it proudly! Let it blend into your Godly character. You'll be blessed by it, when using it to the glory of God!

Stay focused and live a healthy life. There's no competition in DESTINY - run your own RACE and wish others WELL! There are no comparisons in ETERNITY - to wit - ETERNITY is incomparable...


Thursday, January 22, 2015

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?

Good Day to y'all - give thanks with a grateful heart...

Browsing through the messages on my various social media platforms earlier, I came across this cryptic 'missal': "What have you done?"

Nothing further, just the question, "What have you done?" - it was amazing (yet not surprising) how my immediate thoughts went scouring through my behaviour, my utterances and actions that may have caused distress or harm to someone. In other words, I looked for the worst thing I may have perpetrated recently that would condemn me as a 'bad person.' I don't know, because the message didn't elaborate on anything, or give me any indication about what I was supposed to have done - and because I cannot read minds, does that mean (the intention is this?) I have to squirm in torment?

It prompted me to say a quick prayer request for guidance; as to how I should proceed; and then an amazing thing happened - my ruthless optimism kicked in; my FAITH in a loving, gracious and merciful God brought my mind back to the realisation that His peace is with me.

If 'what I have done' has caused disharmony that is contrary to His glory, I must ask for forgiveness, and do whatever I can, within the scope of my changing attitude and resources to set it right, or retract it - incidentally, I couldn't think of anything that was sooo bad that I couldn't correct with His help and strength - then again 'what have I done', could be something good or worthily life-changing for this other entity that I may have affected - I'd like to think that is the case...

I just pray that the next time someone leaves the message, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" - my first thought would be peaceful, because whatever I do should always be to the glory of God; and thereby cryptic oneliners become commonplace validation of the goodness inside of me; and not the agony of ambivalent self-recriminations.

Stay blessed - and remember, no good deed goes unpunished (",)

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Given For Free...

I have no doubt that many of us are carrying some deep wounds that we’ve carried for months, maybe even years. When one thinks about that person who hurt one, it’s still as fresh as if it happened this morning. The pain is still there, and we’re still filled with resentment.

We say, “Why in the world should I forgive that person who hurt me so much? You have no idea how much they hurt me. Why should I offer grace to that person?”

We ought to do it for three reasons:

1. We need to be gracious to others and forgive those who have hurt us because God has been gracious to us.

We can never forgive anyone else more than Christ has already forgiven us. We should consider that we don't always get what we deserved, either. God has been gracious to us; now be gracious with others.

2. We need to forgive others because the alternative is bitterness.

Scientists tell us that resentment is the unhealthiest emotion there is. It always hurts you more than anybody else! Resentment will not change the past, and it won’t solve the problem. It doesn’t even make you feel better. In fact, it makes you feel worse.

Scripture says (and I paraphrase), “Be careful that none of you fails to respond to the grace which God gives; for if you do there can very easily spring up in you a bitter spirit, which is not only bad in itself, but can also poison the lives of many others.”

3. We need to show grace to and forgive others because God expects us to do it.

If one says, “I could never forgive that person,” then best hope you never sin. If you just don’t feel like doing it, do it anyway, because it’s the right thing to do.

The reason why some of us have a hard time forgiving is because we don’t feel forgiven; and if that is so, pray this prayer of liberation and freedom from the depths of your heart:

“Dear Lord, You know that I have been hurt by others. You know that my resentment has made me act in ways that have been unreasonable and unhelpful and unhealthy. I need Your power to release and forgive those who have hurt me so I can stop letting them control me. Lord, please replace my hurt with your peace. God, I realize that I have hurt a lot of other people with my habits and my bad decisions and my hang-ups; please forgive me for the way I've hurt others. Help me to make a list of those I've harmed and in the right way at the right time to humbly seek to make amends. I want to refocus my life on YOU. I want to face the future courageously with love and peace in my heart. I implore You, dear Father, to help me replace my resentment with Your love, and my bitterness with Your grace.
My sincere and contrite thanks for Your gracious forgiveness for all the things that I've done wrong - help me to help You set things right. Amen.”

This is the first and most important step to start loving yourself again; in His mercy and to His glory - stay blessed, love Staf xxxxxxx