Monday, April 20, 2009


There's an old story about two cowboys moving to the South West on the same day. Both cowboys met with an Indian Chief who knew of the new horizons, lands and people.

The first cowboy asked the Chief how the South West was like. The Chief said, "What kind of land did you come from?" The cowboy replied, "A lousy place. I couldn't wait to leave and get out." The Chief said, "The South West is no good either."

The second cowboy said, "I loved the last place were I was, it was home!!!!!!!." The Chief said,"You're gonna love the South West, and you'll hate to leave it, too."

This is Chaplain Humberto, RTCA National Chaplain's REP. We see the world not as it is, but as how we are. What is your view . . . in the high calling of our daily work?...Be blessed

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Cost Of Grace, Simply Too High!


Omar aka "Bombero" , one of the men in my Alpha program, Aqueduct Race Track, wanted to stop using profanity. He asked his friend Ricardo to help him break the habit. The two hatched an aggressive plan. Each Thursday "bombero" would tell Ricardo how many times he'd cussed during the week—and put 25. cents in a jar in the tack room for every bad word then they would show it to me.

The first week Bombero paid for $25 worth of profanity! Over several weeks, the amount contributed shrank a bit, but Bombero wasn't winning the battle. So Ricardo changed the rules: now Ricardo would pay the bill for Bombero's bad words!

The following Thursday, when it was obvious that Bombero had missed the mark again, Ricardo took out a check. "Bombero," he said, "Your sin will still cost someone, but for you it's free. It's called grace." He made a check out to Bombero, signed his name, and left the amount blank. "Just fill in the numbers," Ricardo told his friend. "Next week there'll be more grace."

The first week it cost Ricardo $25. The second week, Ricardo check was written for $5. But the third week? There was no check. For Bombero, the cost of grace was simply too high to continue hurting his friend.