BANABU

I get a lot of email and sometimes I don't read it all (gasp!!)

This morning I was looking for a particular piece of mail and came across some stories that were sent to me around Christmas. They brought tears to my eyes and one in particular stood out as fitting the theme of Building a New and Better Universe and I thought I would share it here today.

The Old Man and The Gas Station

The old man sat in his gas station on a cold Christmas Eve. He hadn't been anywhere in years since his wife had passed away. It was just another day to him. He didn't hate Christmas, just couldn't find a reason to celebrate. He was sitting there looking at the snow that had been falling for the last hour and wondering what it was all about when the door opened and a homeless man stepped through.

Instead of throwing the man out, Old George as he was known by his customers, told the man to come and sit by the heater and warm up. "Thank you, but I don't mean to intrude," said the stranger. "I see you're busy, I'll just go."

"Not without something hot in your belly." George said.

He turned and opened a wide mouth Thermos and handed it to the stranger. "It ain't much, but it's hot and tasty. Stew ... Made it myself. When you're done, there's coffee and it's fresh."

Just at that moment he heard the "ding" of the driveway bell. "Excuse me, be right back," George said. There in the driveway was an old '53 Chevy. Steam was rolling out of the front.. The driver was panicked. "Mister can you help me!" said the driver, with a deep Spanish accent. "My wife is with child and my car is broken." George opened the hood. It was bad. The block looked cracked from the cold, the car was dead.

"You ain't going in this thing," George said as he turned away.

"But Mister, please help ..." The door of the office closed behind George as he went inside. He went to the office wall and got the keys to his old truck, and went back outside. He walked around the building, opened the garage, started the truck and drove it around to where the couple was waiting. "Here, take my truck," he said. "She ain't the best thing you ever looked at, but she runs real good."

George helped put the woman in the truck and watched as it sped off into the night. He turned and walked back inside the office. "Glad I gave 'em the truck, their tires were shot too. That 'ol truck has brand new ." George thought he was talking to the stranger, but the man had gone. The Thermos was on the desk, empty, with a used coffee cup beside it. "Well, at least he got something in his belly," George thought.

George went back outside to see if the old Chevy would start. It cranked slowly, but it started. He pulled it into the garage where the truck had been. He thought he would tinker with it for something to do. Christmas Eve meant no customers. He discovered the the block hadn't cracked, it was just the bottom hose on the radiator. "Well, shoot, I can fix this," he said to himself. So he put a new one on.

"Those tires ain't gonna get 'em through the winter either." He took the snow treads off of his wife's old Lincoln. They were like new and he wasn't going to drive the car anyway.

As he was working, he heard shots being fired. He ran outside and beside a police car an officer lay on the cold ground. Bleeding from the left shoulder, the officer moaned, "Please help me."

George helped the officer inside as he remembered the training he had received in the Army as a medic. He knew the wound needed attention. "Pressure to stop the bleeding," he thought. The uniform company had been there that morning and had left clean shop towels. He used those and duct tape to bind the wound. "Hey, they say duct tape can fix anythin'," he said, trying to make the policeman feel at ease.

"Something for pain," George thought. All he had was the pills he used for his back. "These ought to work." He put some water in a cup and gave the policeman the pills. "You hang in there, I'm going to get you an ambulance."

The phone was dead. "Maybe I can get one of your buddies on that there talk box out in your car." He went out only to find that a bullet had gone into the dashboard destroying the two way radio.

He went back in to find the policeman sitting up. "Thanks," said the officer. "You could have left me there. The guy that shot me is still in the area."

George sat down beside him, "I would never leave an injured man in the Army and I ain't gonna leave you." George pulled back the bandage to check for bleeding. "Looks worse than what it is. Bullet passed right through 'ya. Good thing it missed the important stuff though. I think with time your gonna be right as rain."

George got up and poured a cup of coffee. "How do you take it?" he asked.

"None for me," said the officer..

"Oh, yer gonna drink this. Best in the city. Too bad I ain't got no donuts." The officer laughed and winced at the same time.

The front door of the office flew open. In burst a young man with a gun. "Give me all your cash! Do it now!" the young man yelled. His hand was shaking and George could tell that he had never done anything like this before.

"That's the guy that shot me!" exclaimed the officer.

"Son, why are you doing this?" asked George, "You need to put the cannon away. Somebody else might get hurt."

The young man was confused. "Shut up old man, or I'll shoot you, too. Now give me the cash!"

The cop was reaching for his gun. "Put that thing away," George said to the cop, "we got one too many in here now."

He turned his attention to the young man. "Son, it's Christmas Eve. If you need money, well then, here. It ain't much but it's all I got. Now put that pea shooter away."

George pulled $150 out of his pocket and handed it to the young man, reaching for the barrel of the gun at the same time. The young man released his grip on the gun, fell to his knees and began to cry. "I'm not very good at this am I? All I wanted was to buy something for my wife and son," he went on. "I've lost my job, my rent is due, my car got repossessed last week."

George handed the gun to the cop. "Son, we all get in a bit of squeeze now and then. The road gets hard sometimes, but we make it through the best we can."

He got the young man to his feet, and sat him down on a chair across from the cop. "Sometimes we do stupid things." George handed the young man a cup of coffee. "Bein' stupid is one of the things that makes us human. Comin' in here with a gun ain't the answer. Now sit there and get warm and we'll sort this thing out."

The young man had stopped crying. He looked over to the cop. "Sorry I shot you. It just went off. I'm sorry officer."

"Shut up and drink your coffee " the cop said.

George could hear the sounds of sirens outside. A police car and an ambulance skidded to a halt. Two cops came through the door, guns drawn. "Chuck! You ok?" one of the cops asked the wounded officer.

"Not bad for a guy who took a bullet. How did you find me?"

"GPS locator in the car. Best thing since sliced bread. Who did this?" the other cop asked as he approached the young man.

Chuck answered him, "I don't know. The guy ran off into the dark. Just dropped his gun and ran."

George and the young man both looked puzzled at each other.

"That guy work here?" the wounded cop continued.

"Yep," George said, "just hired him this morning. Boy lost his job."

The paramedics came in and loaded Chuck onto the stretcher. The young man leaned over the wounded cop and whispered, "Why?"

Chuck just said, "Merry Christmas boy ... and you too, George, and thanks for everything."

"Well, looks like you got one doozy of a break there. That ought to solve some of your problems."

George went into the back room and came out with a box. He pulled out a ring box. "Here you go, something for the little woman. I don't think Martha would mind. She said it would come in handy some day."

The young man looked inside to see the biggest diamond ring he ever saw. "I can't take this," said the young man. "It means something to you."

"And now it means something to you," replied George. "I got my memories. That's all I need."

George reached into the box again. An airplane, a car and a truck appeared next. They were toys that the oil company had left for him to sell. "Here's something for that little man of yours."

The young man began to cry again as he handed back the $150 that the old man had handed him earlier.

"And what are you supposed to buy Christmas dinner with? You keep that too," George said. "Now git home to your family."

The young man turned with tears streaming down his face. "I'll be here in the morning for work, if that job offer is still good."

"Nope. I'm closed Christmas day," George said. "See ya the day after."

George turned around to find that the stranger had returned. "Where'd you come from? I thought you left?"

"I have been here. I have always been here," said the stranger. "You say you don't celebrate Christmas. Why?"

"Well, after my wife passed away, I just couldn't see what all the bother was. Puttin' up a tree and all seemed a waste of a good pine tree. Bakin' cookies like I used to with Martha just wasn't the same by myself and besides I was gettin' a little chubby."

The stranger put his hand on George's shoulder. "But you do celebrate the holiday, George. You gave me food and drink and warmed me when I was cold and hungry. The woman with child will bear a son and he will become a great doctor.

The policeman you helped will go on to save 19 people from being killed by terrorists. The young man who tried to rob you will make you a rich man and not take any for himself. "That is the spirit of the season and you keep it as good as any man."

George was taken aback by all this stranger had said. "And how do you know all this?" asked the old man.

"Trust me, George. I have the inside track on this sort of thing. And when your days are done you will be with Martha again."

The stranger moved toward the door. "If you will excuse me, George, I have to go now. I have to go home where there is a big celebration planned."

George watched as the old leather jacket and the torn pants that the stranger was wearing turned into a white robe. A golden light began to fill the room.

"You see, George ... it's My birthday. Merry Christmas."

George fell to his knees and replied, "Happy Birthday, Lord Jesus"

As it said on the bottom of this particular email -- "This story is better than any greeting card." (Although the season has passed) - MERRY CHRISTMAS AND GOD BLESS!

BANABU
Fran

Familarity

Familiarity breeds contempt - This means that the more you know something or someone, the more you start to find faults and dislike things about it or them.

However familiarity can also cause us to look pst someone or something and not see the true beauty of the person or thing.

This morning I was reading "The Messages of Easter" by Elizabeth Peal Allen of Guideposts and was struck by the following in the message: "Our vision is so often dulled by familiarity. We go along in our habitual way, maybe looking at the ground, or so distracted by our thoughts and inner stress that we don't really see what's around us. We even miss miracles."

How many times have you driven somewhere, only to arrive and think, "when did I pass the gas station or traffic lights or whatever...." We put ourselves on auto pilot and just drive. Have you ever automatically turned a certain way when you were planning on going somewhere else?

"One of the messages of the Easter story is simply this: Open your eyes. Look for a touch of beauty and brightness in an unexpected place. Search for a trace of Christ's likeness in the face of the person serving you in the grocery store, or riding with you on the bus, or sitting beside you in the doctor's waiting room. Be alert for wonders and you'll find them everywhere." (EPA)

What a wonderful message - Open your eyes. Just look around you at all the wonders of spring - the trees are budding, the grass is growing and soon the flowers will begin to peek through the ground. People will begin to come out of their houses and go for walks. Take the time to really see them, to say hello. Your life will be better for this.

BANABU

Fran

Have You Ever Had One of Those Days?

Have you ever had one of those days? You know, the kind where you know you should be doing something specific, like writing your blog post, but you just can't wrap your brain around it at the moment and so you search endlessly through various files on your computer, reading this, watching that and thinking about what you should be writing but nothing materializes? Well that's where I am today.

I looked at some articles on removing clutter from my life and I removed a few papers from a few file folders, and deleted some emails. I watched a video on leadership and posted it to my Toastmasters Facebook page. I made a couple of phone calls and that was about it. Oh yes, and I did attend a one hour Webinar on creating Teleseminars (which was very good). But I didn't really feel like I accomplished anything and I finally realized why. I didn't write out a list of what I wanted to accomplish today. I simply let the day take me by the hand instead of me managing it. (Oh, perhaps I should mention I am self-employed and work at home.)

Now, it is ok to let that happen every now and then, but if this becomes a pattern for your life, then it can create some major problems. If you have some projects you need to accomplish and you just let the day take you, you will find yourself rushing to complete them at the last minute, or just letting them slide.

So, I am now going to sit down and plan my day for tomorrow so that by the end of the day I will have a feeling of accomplishment. I will book the appointment for my oil change and a hair cut to start and then plan the rest of the day around those appointments.

I hope you are not having "one of those days" and that your day has been much more fulfilling than mine was.

To Building A New and Better Universe (BANABU)

Fran Watson

Steps to Building A New And Better You

"A Better You" Your 7 day program to self-development

I have lost count of how many times I've read and heard of celebrity marriages failing almost left and right. Just this morning on the news they announced another Hollywood split and the magazines at the checkout counter have headlines that scream about breakups. Not that I care (and really I don't). It seems strange that we often see movie and TV stars as flawless people, living the fairytale life of riches and glamour. However, we all have to stop sticking our heads in the clouds and face reality.

So what does it take to be a cut above the rest? Here are some of the things you can think about and improve on that should be enough for a week. At the end of the week, recycle the steps and go through them again until they become habits.

1. Know your purpose: Are you wandering through life with little direction -hoping that you'll find happiness, health and prosperity?
Identify your life purpose or mission statement and you will have your own unique compass that will lead you to your truth north every time. This may seem tricky at first when you see yourself to be in a tight or even dead end. But there's always that little loophole to turn things around and you can make a big difference to yourself.

2. Know your values: What do you value most? Make a list of your top 5 values. Some examples are security, freedom, family, spiritual development, learning. As you set your goals for 2012 - check your goals against your values. If the goal doesn't align with any of your top five values - you may want to reconsider it or revise it. The number shouldn't discourage you, instead it should motivate you to do more than you can ever dream of.

3. Know your needs: Unmet needs can keep you from living authentically. Take care of yourself. Do you have a need to be acknowledged, to be right, to be in control, to be loved? There are so many people who lived their lives without realizing their dreams and most of them end up being stressed or even depressed for that matter. List your top four needs and get them met before it's too late!

4. Know your passions: You know who you are and what you truly enjoy in life. Obstacles like doubt and lack of enthusiasm will only hinder you, but will not derail your chance to become the person you ought to be. Express yourself and honor the people who have inspired you to become the very person you wanted to be.

5. Live from the inside out: Increase your awareness of your inner wisdom by regularly reflecting in silence. Commune with nature. Breathe deeply to quiet your distracted mind. For most of us city slickers it's hard to even find the peace and quiet we want even in our own home. Try just sitting in a dimly lit room and play some classical music. There's sound, yes, but music does soothe the savage beast.

6. Honor your strengths: What are your positive traits? What special talents do you have? List three - if you get stuck, ask those closest to you to help identify these. Are you imaginative, witty, good with your hands? Find ways to express your authentic self through your strengths. You can increase your self-confidence when you can share what you know to others.

7. Serve others: When you live authentically, you may find that you develop an interconnected sense of being.

When you are true to who you are, living your purpose and giving of your talents to the world around you, you give back in service what you came to share with others -your spirit - your essence. The rewards for sharing your gift with those close to you is indeed rewarding, much more if it were to be the eyes of a stranger who can appreciate what you have done to them.

Self-development is indeed one type of work that is worth it. It shouldn't always be within the confines of an office building, or maybe in the four corners of your own room. The difference lies within ourselves and how much we want to change for the better.

To Building A New And Better You (BANABU)

Fran

Saving The Environment

The following is an excerpt from an article posted by Emily of Live Renewed

on "Save The Environment and Your Wallet by Buying"

Shopping is a favorite pastime for many women. Whether it’s high-end designer shopping or bargain hunting, most of us women love to shop, myself included.

But as my family has been moving toward living a more green and simple lifestyle, I have found that where and how I shop has significantly changed over the past few years. I now purposely seek to buy things used before I purchase them new, and my favorite places to shop have become garage sales and thrift stores rather than Target and the mall. We can all make a difference in our world, and on the environment, by changing our shopping habits.

Read more here: http://green.yourway.net/save-the-environment-and-your-wallet-by-buying-used/

Building a New And Better Universe by reducing, reusing and recycling!

You can do your part...

Fran

God's Grace - Something To THink About

This just came to me in an email and I thought I'd share it here.

God's Grace

There once was a man named George Thomas, pastor in a small New England town. One Easter Sunday morning he came to the Church carrying a rusty, bent, old bird cage, and set it by the pulpit. Eyebrows were raised and, as if in response, Pastor Thomas began to speak....

"I was walking through town yesterday when I saw a young boy coming toward me swinging this bird cage. On the bottom of the cage were three little wild birds, shivering with cold and fright.

I stopped the lad and asked, "What do you have there, son?"
"Just some old birds," came the reply.
"What are you going to do with them?" I asked.
"Take 'em home and have fun with 'em," he answered. "I'm gonna tease 'em and pull out their feathers to make 'em fight. I'm gonna have a real good time."

"But you'll get tired of those birds sooner or later. What will you do then?" "Oh, I got some cats," said the little boy. "They like birds. I'll take 'em to them."
The pastor was silent for a moment. "How much do you want for those birds, son?" "Huh?? !!! Why, you don't want them birds, mister. They're just plain old field birds. They don't sing. They ain't even pretty!"

"How much?" the pastor asked again.

The boy sized up the pastor as if he were crazy and said, "$10?" The pastor reached in his pocket and took out a ten dollar bill. He placed it in the boy's hand. In a flash, the boy was gone. The pastor picked up the cage and gently carried it to the end of the alley where there was a tree and a grassy spot. Setting the cage down, he opened the door, and by softly tapping the bars persuaded the birds out, setting them free. Well, that explained the empty bird cage on the pulpit, and then the pastor began to tell this story:

One day Satan and Jesus were having a conversation. Satan had just come from the Garden of Eden, and he was gloating and boasting. "Yes, sir, I just caught a world full of people down there. Set me a trap, used bait I knew they couldn't resist. Got 'em all!"
"What are you going to do with them?" Jesus asked.

Satan replied, "Oh, I'm gonna have fun! I'm gonna teach them how to marry and divorce each other, how to hate and abuse each other, how to drink and smoke and curse. I'm gonna teach them how to invent guns and bombs and kill each other. I'm really gonna have fun!"

"And what will you do when you are done with them" Jesus asked?

"Oh, I'll kill 'em," Satan glared proudly.

"How much do you want for them?" Jesus asked.

"Oh, you don't want those people. They ain't no good. Why, you'll take them and they'll just hate you. They'll spit on you, curse you and kill you. You don't want those people!!"

"How much? He asked again.

Satan looked at Jesus and sneered, "All your blood, tears and your life."
Jesus said, "DONE!" Then He paid the price.

The pastor picked up the cage and walked from the pulpit. I pray, for everyone who sends this on, whether to their entire address book or just a few, that God will bless them in a special way. And for those that just deleted it...and I KNOW there will be a few....? WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?

I thank God everyday for my blessed life. I'm not rich, don't live in a mansion and don't have the nicest of material things, but, I have a roof over my head, clothes on my back, food on my table, a family that loves me and lifelong friends to get me through. I'd say I have a lot to be thankful for.

Have you counted your blessings today?
May you always be Blessed

Fran

Trash Prayers

Pat Herring of Ohio is a prime example of BANABU philosophy. She is making the world a better place one piece of garbage at a time. I read her story in the Upper Room, July-August 2011 edition.. She said when she was walking every day and saw trash lying around she saw it as an eyesore and was annoyed as it interrupted her walk as she picked it up and put it in the trash can, but then something changed.

One day as she picked up an empty beer can she thought about the people who struggle with addictions and prayed for them. When she picked up empty fast food containers, she prayed for people who didn't have enough to eat, those with food addictions, and those who need to learn to eat better. An empty diaper box reminded her of young parents and single moms. She said that with each piece of garbage she picked up she became aware of new people and their needs. She continues to walk and pray and pick up the trash, continuing to make our world a New and Better Universe.

Thanks Pat

Fran Watson
www.franwatson.ca