Welcome to Jhene Stephen's Blog...

L ife could never be perfect; if life were perfect, there would be no challenges for a person to face plus there would be no interesting phase of life. Perhaps God made life imperfect so that people will have responsibilities to do. The missing links in life becomes tools for people to use in grappling with circumstances that they encounter in life everyday; otherwise, man would just sit down and do nothing if life were perfect. Life is a mystery we really don’t have all the answers…. Sometimes we need to hear so many No’s before we get the one YES, we might need to kiss so many frogs before we find our prince charming… The road to success is fraught with pain and rejection but each NO takes you closer to your big YES… Always remember you will need only one YES to make your big break! Be it business, relationship, job offer, marriage proposal etc. Just be patient and keep keeping on, we will all make it to the finish line… life is a roller coaster we just got to ride it.

A t 6:50 p.m., as evening fell in Mexico City in 1968, John Stephen Akhwari of Tanzania painfully hobbled into the Olympic stadium - the last man to finish the punishing marathon race. The victory ceremony for the winning runner was long over and the stadium was almost empty as Akwari – his leg bloody and bandaged -- struggled to circle the track to cross the finish line. Watching from a distance was Bud Greenspan, a documentary filmmaker famous for his Olympic movies. Intrigued, Greenspan walked over to the exhausted Akwari and asked why he had continued the grueling run to the finish line.The young man from Tanzania did not have to search for an answer. He said: " My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race. They sent me 5,000 miles to finish the race." Commit or quit ... it's up to you.

In ancient times, a king had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the king’s wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the king for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the big stone out of the way. Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. On approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. As the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the king indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The peasant learned what many others never understand. Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve one’s condition.

A well known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?" Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this." He proceeded to crumple the dollar bill up. He then asked, "Who still wants it?" Still the hands were up in the air. "Well," he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty . "Now who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air. "My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20." Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that

Recently I hopped in a Taxi and we took off for the Airport.  We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right  in front of us.   My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches!  The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy.  And I mean, he was really friendly.   So I asked, 'Why did you just do that?   This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!'  This is when my Taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck'  He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment.  As their Garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you.  Don't take it personally.  Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on.  Do

T here are two days in every week about which we should not worry, two days which should be kept free from fear and apprehension. One of these days is Yesterday with all its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains. Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control. All the money in the world cannot bring back Yesterday. We cannot undo a single act we performed; we cannot erase a single word we said. Yesterday is gone forever. The other day we should not worry about is Tomorrow with all its possible adversities, its burdens, its large promise and its poor performance; Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control. Tomorrow's sun will rise, either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds, but it will rise. Until it does, we have no stake in Tomorrow, for it is yet to be born. This leaves only one day, Today. Any person can fight the battle of just one day. It is when you and I add the burdens of those two awful eternities Yesterday and Tomorrow that we