"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."

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...

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...

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

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...

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)

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...

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..?

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