“What happened to you?” I asked a friend I had not seen in a long time. He was a professional photographer who had done work for major news outlets including the CBC.
“I got busted. Lost my ID. Lost my place. Living on the street,” he said.
“You can be a guest in my place,” I said.
That was fate acting.
“Your lawyer is a shyster,” he told me.
My friend was broke. He is Chinese. He was, unlike myself, eligible for legal aid. His lawyer was not a shyster.
That was fate acting.
People will say we are crazy to trust GOD.
GOD is the only one we can trust.
I had another fellow who had been made homeless by the police staying here at the time. He said repeatedly, “Your lawyer is a dumptruck.”
I learned a dumptruck lawyer is one who sells us out and dumps us.
My dumptruck lawyer’s office did their best to terrify me into pleading guilty.
I fired him. I trusted the words of Jesus in the gospels (Come to terms with your opponent before you go before the judge lest you be cast in jail).
The Crown told the court the police had found no evidence. The charges were withdrawn.
When I told the Judge why I had fired three lawyers he said, “They are all like that.”
We learn by passing through the fire.
Jesus said, “If you walk with me everyone you know, father, mother, brother, sister, friend, will turn against you. If you continue with me you will possess your self.”
What else can we possess?
We possess nothing until we possess our self.
Our self alone is all we can take with us from this life to the next if it exists and if it doesn’t why waste our lives trying to hold sand?
How many people who say, “I have Jesus in my heart,” when taken to court give the one who took them there not only their coat but also their shirt?
We are to let ourselves be wronged.
I am told this world has its first trillionaire.
I am richer than him.
For what I possess I can take with me.
A Sufi story:
A man heard people were worshipping a tree in the forest.
Outraged he grabbed his axe.
On the way to the tree he met the Devil who said, “Stop. Leave that tree be.”
The man hit the Devil. He sent him flying.
The Devil dragged his ass back.
He said, “Look we both know it is silly to worship a tree. Why harm the poor tree. Leave that tree alone and I will give you a gold coin every morning for the rest of your life. Think of the good you can do.”
The man said, “Everyone knows you are a liar.”
The Devil said, “If I prove false chop down the tree.”
The man said, “That makes sense.”
The next morning he found a gold coin under his pillow.
“What a great man,” said the people he helped.
However after a time the gold coin no longer appeared under his pillow.
He waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and…
At last he grabbed his axe.
Again along the way he met the Devil however this time when he struck him the Devil could not be moved.
The man said, “The first time I struck you you went flying. Now I can not move you. What happened?”
The Devil said, “The first time you struck me you were working for GOD. This time you are working for gold.”
The word “GOLD” is the word “GOD” with an “L” in it.
When we work for gold every thing goes to Hell.
Do not envy millionaires, billionaires and trillionaires.
I walk with he who fed thousands with a few loaves and fishes.
He said, “What I have done you can do and more.”
As for the tree, leave it alone. It is not the tree’s fault people are silly.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t go to church.
When I went to church those there said, “Don’t come here.”
There is a saying: “The nearer the church/synagogue/temple the farther from Allah/The Buddha/God.”
Religious people seem always to be asking for gold.
They tell us of the good they are doing.
When the taxman asked for gold Jesus said to Peter, “Go down to the lake. Catch a fish. In the mouth of the fish you will find a gold coin. Give him that.”
Jesus said, “As I have done you can do and more.”
This is true.–Reg Hartt (2026–06–19)