Category: Close To The Heart
MAMA, WHY DO BABIES CRY?
Packed House Publications is excited to announce we have found a treasure. Author Amy Winfield and illustrator Katlego Kagbale is the first children book team to join our family.
“Mama, Why Do Babies Cry?” is Mrs. Winfield’s first book. In this heartwarming story a young child asks her mother why babies cry. The answers that follow are both rich and insightful.
Married to the text are the most eye-popping illustrations that will make you take notice and will remain with you for years to come. Katlego Kgabale, is the most talented illustrator I have seen in a long time. Her eye for detail is remarkable; she is truly an illustrator to watch.
When asked why she wrote this lovely children’s book, Mrs. Winfield answers in her no-non-sense style. “I wrote this book specifically as a way to assist parents, grandparents, and all caretakers in their efforts to explain why babies cry. It is my hope that the beautiful imagery of this multicultural book will not only entertain your child, but will also help them grow socially and intellectually.”
Packed House Publications is blessed to have found these very talented women. It is our hope there will be many more amazing works from this incredible duo.
Please purchase your copy of “Mama, Why Do Babies Cry,” today!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B016NMQJQM
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TOGETHER WE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD
(Photo and story by Shortstoriesshort.com)
When I started this blog, I had high hopes. But I must admit, there were many doubts too. Over the years I have seen this blog grow beyond my wildest dreams. And I have each and every visitor that comes to Cop-A-Squat or shares this blog with others, to thank for its huge success. I am mostly grateful to our Heavenly Father: without Him, none of our good fortune would have happened.
What can one man do? Quite a bit, if you look at the lives of some of the greatest men that ever lived. What can an army of men do with a solid purpose? Together they can move the world. Just like a bundle of sticks, there is more strength together than one stick alone.
As we enter a new year, what are your plans to change the world? What can you do to make a positive impact on others? We, at Cop-A-Squat, publish posts and books that we hope will entertain and inspire people to enjoy healthy reading, that hopefully will make reading more enjoyable and impact their lives in positive ways.
With every purchase of our books you are helping us change the world, one reader at a time. We can bring encouraging stories to the world, but we cannot do this alone. We need each and every one of you, because there is strength in unity – we ask you to join us on our journey.
I want to share an inspiring short story and a short video with you on the power of working together. See how the power of many makes all the difference.
Please enjoy the ‘Unity is Strength’ short story and its accompanying video. See you all in the coming months. We wish you all a Happy New Year.
The Cop-A-Squat Family
UNITY IS STRENGTH
Once, an old man was very ill and lay dying in his bed. He had four sons who were always fighting with each other. He always worried about them and wanted to teach them a lesson and asked his sons to come to him. When they came, the old man gave them a bundle of sticks and said, “Can you break these sticks?”
The first son tried to break the bundle but nothing happened. He tried very hard and finally gave up. Then it was the turn of the second son to try his luck. He thought it would be an easy task and picked up the sticks easily. He tried his best to break the sticks but nothing happened. Then, the third son tried to break the bundle of sticks, but he couldn’t do anything either.
Meanwhile, the youngest son jeered at his brothers and thought they were very incompetent. He thought he was very clever and took one stick at a time and easily broke all of them.
The old father then smiled at his sons and said, “Children, do you understand what happened? It is always easy to break the sticks one by one. But when they are bundled together, none of you could break them. In the same way, you four brothers should always be together. No one will be able to hurt you then.” The four brothers realized what their father was trying to teach them, forgetting all their enmity and learning that unity is strength.
From that day onwards, they never fought with each other and lived together in peace and harmony.
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The Best Short Christmas Story I’ve Ever Read (The Gold Wrapping Paper)
(Photo and Story by: Fred Burks for PEERS and WantToKnow.info )
I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year. I pray you all have a safe holiday, while spending time with loved ones. Speaking of loved ones, here’s a story I’m sure will make you appreciate those you love even more. A word of warning: get some Kleenex; you’re going to need it.
The Gold Wrapping Paper – An Inspirational Short Christmas Story
Once upon a time, there was a man who worked very hard just to keep food on the table for his family. This particular year a few days before Christmas, he punished his little five-year-old daughter after learning that she had used up the family’s only roll of expensive gold wrapping paper.
As money was tight, he became even more upset when on Christmas Eve he saw that the child had used all of the expensive gold paper to decorate one shoebox she had put under the Christmas tree. He also was concerned about where she had gotten money to buy what was in the shoebox.
Nevertheless, the next morning the little girl, filled with excitement, brought the gift box to her father and said, “This is for you, Daddy!”
As he opened the box, the father was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction, now regretting how he had punished her.
But when he opened the shoebox, he found it was empty and again his anger flared. “Don’t you know, young lady,” he said harshly, “when you give someone a present, there’s supposed to be something inside the package!”
The little girl looked up at him with sad tears rolling from her eyes and whispered: “Daddy, it’s not empty. I blew kisses into it until it was all full.”
The father was crushed. He fell on his knees and put his arms around his precious little girl. He begged her to forgive him for his unnecessary anger.
An accident took the life of the child only a short time later. It is told that the father kept this little gold box by his bed for all the years of his life. Whenever he was discouraged or faced difficult problems, he would open the box, take out an imaginary kiss, and remember the love of this beautiful child who had put it there.
In a very real sense, each of us has been given an invisible golden box filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children, family, friends and God. There is no more precious possession anyone could hold.
Whew. Gotcha, didn’t it? Leave a comment letting me know what you think about this wonderful, heartfelt story.
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Confessing Jesus
Hey, come on in. How you been? Great, glad to hear everything’s going well. Come, cop a squat, there’s something I like to share with you.
I want you to imagine you live in a place where you will lose your life if you confess your faith in Jesus. How would you be able to preach the word of God in such an environment? Would you boldly obey Jesus’s command in Mark 16:15? “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Would the fear of losing your life tie your tongue? Or would you confess your love and faith in Jesus? Unfortunately, many of us today, all over the world, including yours truly, are not fully heeding the grand commission that Jesus commands his followers to obey.
It appears, for many, that it is best not to stand too firm for Christ, just blend in – don’t make waves. Oh, we preach, but mostly to other known Christians. Most of us don’t take God’s word out to the unsaved masses that need it most. We are so happy being in our personal, “Holy Huddles,” to bother with Jesus’s great commission. Why are we so negligent when it comes to confessing our faith to the world? Why are we afraid? If we love Jesus, then we should want to tell the whole world about Him. Telling everyone we meet we love Him and put our undying faith in Him. In Matthew 10:32-33, Jesus says, “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.”
How can any of us be willing to lose our life for Christ, when we are not willing to tell the world about Him? I like for you to check out the following video: see a woman willing to lose her life for standing up for God’s word. Please pray for her. Please let her example, and many others like hers, compel each of us to confess our faith in the only savior mankind has. You know His name, our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.
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Almost Everything You Need to Know about Christianity…On a T-Shirt
As a follow up to our recently reblogged “The Tithe is a Lie” post, we wanted to share these T-shirts with you. (We sell them here, at SnaggyTees.com). We at Cop-A-Squat are not about destroying or ridiculing Christianity, but rather, we want everyone to see the truth of what Christianity really is: the love of Jesus, and the fellowship we should share because of Him. Yes, we’re flawed – look at how we twist and misread God’s Word – but God never leaves us, and He is truly awesome. That’s the message we wish to share at Cop-A-Squat, and we want you to share it with others.
Check out these tees. We serve a wonderful God – now share it with the world (and leave a comment if you wish).
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Snaggy Tees – The Best T-Shirt Company You’ll Ever Find
Cop-A-Squat has been quiet for a while now, but I’m very excited to present our latest venture.
I present to you all:
SnaggyTees is our new t-shirt company, and we are dedicated to providing the most interesting, funniest, and most thought-provoking t-shirts to our customers nationwide.
Not only do we hope you love our t-shirts (and we’re sure you will), but we would like you to join us in our plan to become a t-shirt company that doesn’t only provide funny sayings, but makes you think. (It’d also be cool to become as big [or bigger] than the Life is Good brothers.)
Of course, there’s much more to come. We’re currently creating the best quality t-shirts, both in style and comfort.
Come on over, take a look, snag a great deal! We’re happy to welcome you into the SnaggyTees family.
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HURT PEOPLE, HURT PEOPLE
You’ve heard the saying: “Hurt people, hurt people.” In other words, bullies are really just cowards. Look at their victims. Their prey is someone who is trying to find themselves in our big old world. And social media, which isn’t sociable at all, is a sure hangout for these oppressors.
As a member of the Goodreads community, I discovered that this is one of the best places on the internet for bullies. These aggressors pretend to be interested in reviewing books. However, their real intention is to be crude and cruel with their reviews.
Most authors would be okay if a reviewer didn’t like his or her book. But for a reviewer to make a showy display of their disdain for a book, just to solicit laughs at the expense of the author – well, that’s not humorous. That’s bullying.
Last week I encountered a pact of bullies on Goodreads. A young author who had written her second novel was viciously attacked by, one would imagine, the Leader, for when I pointed out that her review was more of an attack than just a simple review, the Leader’s followers came out bearing their claws. No doubt, the Leader sent direct messages crying on the shoulders of her minions to come to her rescue. And they did.
About fifteen of her followers attacked me. Some of them even flagged my two comments. I guess telling someone to seek therapy because they’re reacting irrational is considered an attack. However, the mean spirited review towards the young author’s book and the insulting rants they hurled at me – one of them even called me a troll – I guess were compliments.
Cue the knight in shining armor! Out comes one author guy who sees a chance to maybe impress the ladies and maybe, just maybe, make a quick book sale. He claims I have a fragile ego, and I suffer from insecurities that are suffocating me. His advice: “I should move to a world where only flowery reviews are written.” What?
Why did these people think it was wrong for me to review the reviewer, but it was okay for the reviewer to hatefully attack and try to destroy a budding author’s chance at success?
Cognitive Blindness. We experience cognitive blindness when we are either too macro-focused or too micro-focused. Either way, being aware of our surroundings is imperative.
I asked the Leader of this band of misguided souls: did she take into account the feeling of the author? She bluntly replied, “I don’t care what the author thinks of my review.”
People, like the ones that attacked the young author, are incapable of making their light shine bright. So they do what comes natural to them: they dim the light of others.
I wish the best for the young author and those like her on Goodreads. But in my humble opinion, Goodreads is where authors go and die. There is no life in most of its members. It’s a haven for tyrants. I don’t have a sore spot for bad reviews; I have a soft spot in my heart for the victims of bullies. So, with that said, I bid a farewell to Goodreads and its band of tormenters.
And my rating for Goodreads is:
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PLAY WELL
Every Lego builder owes a word of thanks to Ole Kirk Christiansen (born 7 April 1891), a carpenter from Billund, Denmark, who began making wooden toys in 1932.
In 1934, his company came to be called “Lego”, from the Danish phrase leg godt, which means, “Play well”.
It expanded to producing plastic toys in 1947. In 1949 Lego began producing, among other new products, an early version of the now famous interlocking bricks, calling them “Automatic Binding Bricks”.
Since the 1960s, the Lego Group has released thousands of sets with a variety of themes, including town and city, space, robots, pirates, trains, Vikings, castle, dinosaurs, undersea exploration, and wild west.
In 1978, Lego produced the first minifigures, which have since become a staple in most sets.
Today, Legos are everywhere, in theme parks, video and board games, retail stores, clothing, film and television, movies, etc.
So when a Legos Convention came to our town, my son an avid Lego fan wanted to go. So off we went with camera in hand and snapped up these wonderful photos of the hard and wondrous work that many men and women put into building these outstanding works of art.
So next time you snap two Lego pieces together, think of Ole Kirk Christiansen and “play well.”
May the force be with you.
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THE INDESCRIBABLE MAN – DO YOU KNOW HIM?
(Video by Albert Martin)
What would you give a man that saved your life? What would he ask of you? What if that man only wanted to love you and for you to love Him? Can you fathom such as man? No, you cannot. There are no words that can describe Him. He is truly indescribable. But His love for you can be defined with one word:
EVERLASTING.
We should get to know Him. There’ll never be another so indescribable.
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AND THE WINNER IS!
Congratulations to Eva King of the UK. She is the first prize winner of our short story contest. She has written a wonderful short story. Thank you Eva for sharing your work. Without further ado, her story. Enjoy.
TOO LATE
I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to have found such a good man to spend the rest of my life with. My sinful, criminal past threatening to come back and haunt me, but I wouldn’t let it ruin it anymore, if I could help it.
On a wonderful, frosty morning, the love of my life proposed during breakfast, giving me the dreams I always wished and wanted. He made my life worthwhile, and without hesitation I agreed to be his wife. Finally the things the other people took for granted were going to be mine.
Against all my wishes, he had to go to work; I walked with him not wanting to let his hand go. I knew that as soon as he left my side I would miss him. It terrified me that if he wasn’t next to me something terrible would happen and my fragile bliss would break.
I kissed him fervently, lingering in his arms as I brushed the paranoid thoughts of my mind; letting go of him reluctantly. He walked away from me, smiling; his beautiful blue eyes twinkling with mischief, his cheeks rosy; either from my kiss or from the cold wind.
As soon as he started to cross the road, I saw it at the corner of my eye. It was my Judgment day, red car sped on the icy road, going over the speed limit. The driver lost control of the wheel and it skidded towards him. As my heart stopped, his athletic body flew in the air like a ragdoll, slamming against the concrete floor.
I ran towards him, my legs full of lead as the driver left unharmed. My knees gave away at the side walk, right beside him as my happiness and my only wish were ripped away from me.
Cop A Squat 