GreenBucks

This is a part of a tag done in this blog. Click here to read.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

— The Best Gift Ever —
A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer’s showroom and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted. As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation his father called him into his private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautiful wrapped gift box. Curious, but somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with the young man’s name embossed in gold. Angrily, he raised his voice to his father and said, “With all your money you give me a Bible?” And stormed out of the house, leaving the Bible. Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized his father was very old and thought perhaps he should go to him. He had not seen him since that graduation day. Before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care of things. When he arrived at his father’s house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart. He began to search through his father’s important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago. With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. His father had carefully underlined a verse,

Matt 7:11, “And if ye, being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Heavenly father which is in heaven, give to those who ask Him?”

As he read those words, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer’s name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words… PAID IN FULL.

How many times do we miss God’s blessing because they are not packaged as we expected? I trust you enjoyed this. Pass it on to others. Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for…

5 Comments »

Yes, I know I am a day late (Pacific time) with my post but I believe that peace transcends all time and situations, if only we will allow it to happen.

Peace is not the absence of violence but also has the presence of justice, according to Mahatma Gandhi.

Peace is a rare commodity.Its a commodity because it is expensive. Billions are spent to curtail war, to stop terrorism, to have peace. But with all the families broken, the souls destroyed, antiquities forever gone, do we even say that peace has been achieved? Are we even happy with the way things turned out? Can we truly say that we feel safe and secured? Can we really say that justice has been served or is being served or will be served to those who truly deserve it?

I do not understand why people have to fight over territories, why people have to prove who reigns supreme. Maybe I do not want to really understand for if I do, I would believe that this is the right way and therefore would promote the fighting. Why can’t people learn to live with each other, accept each others’ uniqueness and eccentricities and maybe, we would have peace. But this is hard, for everyone has his own agenda, his own reasons for the actions being done, and his own righteous beliefs?

Oppression. Killing. Famine. War. Terrorism. Environmental destruction. Natural disaster. Even family matters that seem trivial, all these and more, cause disturbance of peace.

Through it all, maybe peace is a mindset, a lifestyle and a kind of wishful thinking. With all the negative things happening, can one really have a peaceful mindset? I do not know if I am even making any sense here, I feel like I am rambling.

The Bible says that: For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. (Romans 8:6).

Thank you, Mimi, for starting this Blog Blast for Peace where bloggers can stand up as one voice and express our feelings about this matter. Here is Mimi’s Blog Blast for Peace Revolution of Words post.

Dona Nobis Pacem

14 Comments »

This is just an observation for bloggers who want to exchange links, not about linking or pinging back some of their posts with their current post.

In my other blog, I had one commentor who wrote something like: “I have linked you with my other three blogs and I hope you do the same”. I repeat, this was what the “tone/message” that the blogger has written, though not exactly as I have written. Did I link the blogger? No, I didn’t ask this blogger to link me in the three blogs that s/he has, why would I link the blogs to mine, I don’t even visit the blogs mentioned.

At the beginning of my blogging “career”, I found it necessary to ask for other bloggers if they care to exchange links with them. What did I do? Most of them, I emailed, asking for this favor. I wanted to have virtual friends and I did. I was right in choosing these bloggers for until now, we still get in touch. Some of them became good, albeit, virtual friends who later on, became my buddies. Some blogs that I regularly visit, why, I haven’t asked them to exchange links with me, even if I have them in my links and even in my Google Reader.

Anyway, I digress, I am yapping too much here.

The gist of my topic is just this: I read in a friend’s blog, a comment like this:

i don’t see my name here. did we ever xlinks?

What the…?

What say you, huh?

12 Comments »

I have heard one time over the radio about the possibility of issuing RICE COUPONS and FOOD STAMPS here in our country when the rice crisis gets worse. Unbelievable to think the government can shoulder these expenses. Maybe they will, but their kickbacks are bigger.I can’t believe I heard that. How can we, a poor third world country issue rice coupons and food stamps? This is not an answer, albeit temporarily that is, to the rice crisis  we currently have.

I don’t know what the answers are, nor will I ever offer one. What I feel we need to do is to work harder to be able to afford what we need to sustain our growing family.

Of course, no other course but to work doubly harder since everything is going up these days. Flour, rice, sugar, pork, electric bills,  fastfood prices, price of gasoline. Will there be no end in sight?

Sigh.

No Comments »

This is what parents hammer into the minds of their children when they are growing up.

But with today’s unconventional ways of living, people do not really rely on having good education to have that dream job to be able to have some form of purchasing power.

A lot of the parents now are probably a product of this kind of philosophy which they got from their parents. I am sure this line of thinking is what exactly they are telling their children who go to school.

Sure, it is a comforting thought to have a solid educational background to up the resume. Who wouldn’t want to hire someone with an MA or MBA or PhD? Who wouldn’t want to hire someone whose GPA is somewhere near 4.0? More often than not, these people are highly qualified to apply to a job that would need their expertise. But are they up to the challenge to maintain that status they so want to achieve?

Continue reading here.

4 Comments »

Nighttime reading of the sequel to Twilight after a grueling weekend of teaching, even on a Sunday.

If you have time please visit another WS entry here. Have a great week everyone! Thanks 🙂

28 Comments »