Welcome to Ray Flatt's Weekly BubbaGram They tell me this week marks the first days of summer. Don't you remember being a kid and looking forward to a long summer break from school. Somehow this new concept of year round school seems like child abuse to me. In my day, year round school meant you had to go to summer school to catch up. We looked upon it as punishment for not doing our work during the regular school year. Didn't realize it but the one being punished was the poor teacher that either volunteered or was drafted for summer school duty. Ah, looking back third grade was the best three years of my life (only kidding). Probably the most exciting thing that ever happened to me in school was one day in the fourth-grade a teacher asked the children what their fathers did for a living. All the typical answers came up -- fireman, mechanic, businessman, salesman, doctor, lawyer, and so forth. But little Jake was being uncharacteristically quiet, so when the teacher prodded him about his father, he replied, "My father's an exotic dancer in a gay cabaret and takes off all his clothes in front of other men and they put money in his underwear." The teacher, obviously shaken by this statement, hurriedly set the other children to work on some exercises and then took little Jake aside to ask him, "Is that really true about your father?" "No," the boy said, "He's a football coach for the University of Tennessee, but I was too embarrassed to say that in front of the other kids." Alright, I'll save the football stories until the fall. But just remember, the truth is probably not as embarrassing as your mind makes it out to be. ----- Summer days brings up many fond memories of farming. Reminds me of one of the stories my uncle told me. Seems he went out to plow the fields one summer day with his mule. He took along with him a little lunch. Some crackers and a stick of bologna which he placed under a tree to keep cool while he plowed. Needless to say a crow found the crackers and bologna. The crow ate and ate and ate until he could hold no more. The bird ate so much he couldn't even take flight. About this time, my uncle stopped to take a break. The crow saw the plow and decided if he could climb up the plow handle then he could jump off, flap his wings and be assisted in taking flight. He climbed up the handle. Jumped. Flapped his wings rapidly. Unfortunately he had too much weight. Fell straight to the ground. And Died. The moral of this story: "Don't fly off the handle when your full of Bologna." After you quit moaning, please continue to read. By the way, when you feast on your problems you will eventually fly off the handle and everyone will think your just full of bologna. ----- Speaking of summer and those upcoming hot days. I was driving down the road this morning I passed an old man walking along the road with a big heavy sack on his shoulders. I don't normally pick up hitchhikers, but in this case the man wasn't asking for a ride. I just felt like he was in need of help. As I pulled over my pickup and offered him a ride, being a self sufficient individual he was reluctant at first. Between the heat and his obviously tired legs, he finally reluctantly accepted. As he climbed in the truck, I told him that it was perfectly acceptable to place the heavy sack in the back of the truck. To which he replied, "You've already been mighty nice to give me a ride, I couldn't impose anymore and have you carry my bag also. I'll just continue to carry it myself." Does it sound sort of dumb to you. Well we all do it everyday. Seems we have a heavenly Father who carries us each and everyday. But somehow we seem to want to continue being burden down with junk and we just won't let go of it. He's already carrying us. Just let go of the junk. Don't be embarrassed, quit being so self reliant, quit being full of bologna and get it off your back. Just like the bird that junk will kill you. The battle is in the mind. Throw it in the back of the truck, let it be hauled for you and for goodness sake just enjoy the ride. ----- Bubbaism of the week - "Many folks want to serve God, but only as advisors." ----- That's all from BubbaLand, talk to ya next week. Like always, if you have something to share with the group, just drop me an email. Be sure to pass this BubbaGram on to friends, enemies and family. They to can join the list at www.rayflatt.com. PS: If you got this eMail in error or would not like any future BubbaGrams (story on a weekly basis)...just send it back with the words UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject.