TO HAVE AND TO HAVE NOT

The Master left his mansion angrier than a hornet shook from it's hive.
The Servant smiled as he waved his Master Goodbye.

"I have, and you have not," the Master screamed to the servant tending his yard.
"Why are you always smiling, when I know your life must be very hard?"

The servant turned and shook his head.
The Master got angrier and forced him to listen instead.

"I have a home, one hundred times the size of your shack.
I have cars, wealth, fashionable clothes and I give you just enough to keep you coming back."

The servant tried to hide the pitiful look in his eyes.
However, the Master saw this and it fueled his anger inside.

"I have the best physicians in the world, I have the most wonderful food to eat and I belong to many important clubs.
You don't have insurance, your food is scrap and you look at me as if I'm corrupt?"

The servant raised his gaze from the ground below.
As the Master continued to speak, the servants smile began to grow.

"I am a man of importance, one who travels and hunts...
I vacation where my heart desires and I do whatever I want...
But you, you are just the help, no one respects you and never will.
You're the one who cleans the dishes, not the one who pays the bill.
Your back is breaking, while mine is being rubbed.
Your hands are blistering, while mine are washed up.
What is so good about your life that I never see you cry,
Why is it you always smile, when I believe you should want to die?

The servant rolled his shoulders back as if he was going to speak.
He laid his rake to the ground and took off the boots from his feet.

"You may have a mansion, but I have a warm home.You may have wealth, clothes and status, but I have a peace you will never know...
While you are fighting to have more, I have all I will ever need... You see, I want nothing, but your belly hurts from the flames of your greed.
You say this is your grass, but I am the one that helps it grow.
You call this your land, but there are parts of it you don't even know.
I stock the fish for your pond, but you never watch one swim around.
I plant your flowers and you never smell them or pick them from the ground...You're always worrying you will lose what you have, but I can never lose the amazing life I have found...You tear down and I build up.
You are ungrateful, but I know the fullness of my cup...You eat and drink more than you should, and because of it you pay the price...You are overweight and sick, but I always feel all right...You measure yourself against others, but I love who I am...You can't see past your wallet, but I see a magnificent plan... So, you want to know why it is I smile and I'm always so nice?...It's because I have found more than you have in this short wonderful life...When I look back I see those things I have nourished and helped to grow... I see those I have served and all those I have been blessed to know...What is it you see Master, when your life stares you in the face?...Is it those you've abused and taken advantage of? It must be a darker place....You've taken without asking and never given, even to a few...And now you want to know why it is I smile when you never do?...It is because I have something you don't and that much is very true...And no matter what you think you have, until you change, I will always be greater than you...We each have a part to play, but I understand the greater plot...And to store up treasure in this world, it most surely is not...It is to love and serve others and find joy and purpose in your lot...When you do this, you will HAVE as I HAVE, but right now Master, you absolutely HAVE NOT!

Jacob























































peace to you

For God and Country

A deaf old man watched sadly as the few, the proud and the brave prayed, “God grant us victory” while marching off to war one day.

This was a prayer the old man knew too well.
Like those young heroes he once cheered, “For God and country” as well…

But after sixty long years war remains,
After sixty long years it still leaves behind great and terrible pain.
Father and Mothers lose Sons and Daughters; Daughters and Sons lose Fathers and Mothers, And many friends are lost in between.

So the old man thought long and hard for whom he should pray.
He lived on the border of both countries, he’s a native of both he could say.

To pray for one means defeat for the other.
And to pray for the other surely means the same.

How could he wish death and destruction on one or the other?
When a prayer for one, most surely means death to his other brother.

The old man glanced up from his bible at the darkening sky.
“How should I pray Lord?” the old man cried...as the drums and the screams of war were shouted on high.
“I am brother to both, how can I ever choose a side?”
Just then the wind blew the pages of his bible to a truth that brought tears to the old man’s eye.

Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those that curse you, and pray for those who hurt you…”

The bible fell from his hands and the old man forgot his fear.
When the bombs and gun fire of his past made deaf his ears,
These were words he could not see very clear.

But after sixty long years he now understands how true victory is found. So he walked to the border of both and there he stood his ground.
If any army was to fight, it would be his life that would first be laid down.

“He’s one of our country men" the soldier from one side said.
“Hold your fire, hold your fire,” a soldier from the other shouted, “We don’t want our brother dead.”

It was then both armies saw the one thing they had in common,
It was a love for their brother, which was something they had forgotten.


Jacob











































































































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