Grace and Glory by Paul E Hubenak

There is no greater joy in life than praising the Lord, our Creator. That's the message of Grace and Glory, a remarkable collection of poetry and song inspired by Him and His wonderful acts. In dozens of pieces collected here, the poet Paul E. Hubenak masterfully expresses the incomparable feeling of exalting in God's glory. Explored are man's relationship with God, His unceasing love for us, His gift of grace, and the incredible beauty of His creation in all its forms.



"As long as I can remember I have enjoyed watching my surroundings," says Hubenak. “Once I realized there was common thread to all these things, I spent a countless amount of time pondering the vastness of all that was created by God and for the glory of God.”



The results are these poems, which remind us, in vivid imagery, just how blessed we are to have a Father so powerful, loving, merciful and glorious. Explore God's grace and forgiveness, the promise of salvation, the magnificence of peace and security that is His Word. Grace and Glory is perfect for Bible study, daily meditation, or simply for whenever you need spiritual succor. And it is an ideal companion for both those new to Christ as well as longtime Christians.


About Paul E Hubenak

Paul E. Hubenak is a child of God and proud father. He was born in Albuquerque, but raised on the west side of Fort Worth, Texas. A computer programmer by trade, he enjoys using his creativity to help others realize Christ’s message and mission.
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What Have I Done...?

What have I done to the food service industry? Why do they give me such a hard time? Do I expect to much from the "I'm uh honor student soooo....yeah" lack luster logical little brainiac on the other side of the counter who is more worried about how lame they think their job is than listening to what I am ordering? OK here is the latest thing to happen to me. Now before I tell you what it is I have to tell you, I am really puzzled by the fact that I can absolutely have this very same thing happen to me, almost word for word every time I go to a Jimmy John's ...ANY Jimmy John's (BTW Jimmy John's is a chain of sandwich shops that bill themselves as having the "World's Greatest Gourmet Sandwiches"). At Jimmy John's ALL their club sandwiches cost $5.50. Now 2 of the many types of club sandwiches they list on their menu board are called the Hunter's Club and the Beach Club. Both these sandwiches have provolone cheese, mayo, lettuce and tomato on the same homemade bun. The Hunter's Club is made with roast beef. The Beach Club is made with turkey and additionally has cucumber, avocado and beansprouts. So, I want everything that the Beach Club has on it but instead of turkey I want roast beef. The person taking my order tells me "I'm sorry we cannot substitute any meat on our sandwiches." When I tell them I got made this way last time I was here, the order taker turns to the manager and explains what has transpired. The manager in a very authoritative voice usually apologizes and repeats what I've already heard "We cannot substitute any meat on our sandwiches." So I then tell them that instead I will settle for a Hunter's Club But I would like to add cucumber, avocado and beansprouts. "Yes sir" comes the reply. I get my sandwich the way I want it and I didn't substitute any meat on their sandwich........right?

Specks Of Sand

The indirect light from the pink shadow box rains like a mist on the faux marble table. Piped in music creates a soft bed upon which ambient noise rests. A general murmur and tinkling of forks impregnated with a dozen accented voices singing “Hoppy Birdsday” comes from over my left shoulder. I sit midship on a cruise, in the middle of the ocean. How many people have been here before me? What seems so surreal, so many decades ago was once very real for many times. I too, will be lost to others, like a speck of sand in the sea. What separates me from them?
I walk to the rail of deck ten. The rumbling of voices is replaced by the roaring of the wind and splashing of the wake as we skim over the blue gelatinous water. I can only see a few stars in the night sky directly above me. As I look out into the moonless night, I see nothing but black, a void. No sky. No sea. No horizon. I see nothing, yet still, it’s God’s creation. The very same creation that connects us all . . . that connects me to all people, all things in all those other past moments in time and all those moments yet to come. How amazing that God continually creates, continually watches each of us, and reaches out to everyone of us. His Grace follows every speck of creation, every human soul forever.

“Shurp… Shlurp….Slurshpee?”

OK I pull up to the 7-Eleven by my house and notice this marketing sign prominently displayed in the window. The sign was made to LOOK LIKE a homemade "lost and found" type sign that said "SLURPEE" across the top. Near the bottom it said "I lost my Slurpee 866-696-7829 Reward If Found." That is all it said. There was no expanations. I was not interested enough to call the number, but decided I would ask the cashier. So, when I asked, he replied "Shhhurrrpeee?" He seemed confused at best. I tried one more time only this time I enhanced the question with a visual aid. I pointed out the sign in the window. I figured that might help. Well it did not he replied "Shurp...Shlurp...Slurshpee?" He then called the other cashier over and said something that sounded like a string of vowel sounds being uttered in the oscillating tone of a British siren and ending in Shhhruppee. The other cashier replied "Shhwuppy?" He looked a me then said "Shwuppy? you want Shwuppy? - I get you Shwuppy. What flaywer?" Here I am still in mid gesture pointing to the sign in the window. I was convinced that if I keep pointing to it that soon my question would be understood. How can 7-Eleven have a promotion and not tell their employees anything about it?

Humor in the Grocery Store signs

Have you ever noticed the humor in the signs at grocery stores? The first time I noticed was a few years back when a new Albertson's opened near my house. It had a sign hanging in the frozen foods section that said "Frozen Desert" It stayed there for 3 years until I told the manager one day just to see if he cared enough to change it. Apparently he did. The next week they found a "S" to place in the middle of the desert. I do have to share what I noticed this evening. It caught my eye when I was going down the same frozen food section and I noticed this sign that said "Ethnic" - I had to see what was considered"Ethnic" food. The shelves contained tacos, burritos quesadillas etc. Why are these things seperated? Why was there not an "Ethnic sign over the Salsa and Queso and other Mexican foods?BUT upon a closer look I noticed that this section was like it own little market. or should I say mercado. An area of the store that did not conform to the organization of the rest of the store and its products. In this section, not only was there salsa and queso but there was various houshold items that appeared as though they were just brought in from Mexico. With in the 10 feet of this section there was Soap, Food, cooking oil, hot chocolate, laundry soap, chilis, Guava juice, Mexican mineral water, instant pudding and of course Jesus Votive Candles. I don't know why this section followed its own organization nor do I know why it did not have an "Ethnic" sign. This was not the end of my observations. There was the pasta, Marinara sauce, Alfredo Sauce section but there was not any other products from Italy. and the sign only said "Pastas" not Ethnic". Yet 2 aisles over I saw a sign that said "Asian". In this section they had various Asian noodles and rice (you had to go to the produce section to find Asian Pears). I did not find other Asian products AND I also found rice in other locations. I also noticed there was another section. The Kosher section why isn't this the "Ethnic" section or the "Israeli" section. Maybe it is because it is rooted in a religion.... but wait didn't we find Jesus votives in the Non-ethnic Mexican section? I'm confused.

Illogical Business Practices

Call me weird but....(Well you would not be the first) but I seem to always notice when businesses do things in a weird way or at least somewhat illogical. I have three examples. Let's start with Jason's Deli. I have often wondered what the secret code was. I would like to know when I order my food, if I was going to have to stand at the end of the food line waiting for them to call out my order, indicating it was ready for me to pickup OR if they are going to give me a numbered placard so I can go sit down so they could bring me my order when it was ready. It seems like they just randomly decide that some people get lucky and get the numbered placard. It’s like winning the lottery as opposed to standing in the crowd of people waiting for the tray monitor/tray filler guy to look up at the mob of people and call your order.
OK, enough of that let’s move on to La Madeleine. I bet you are thinking I am going to harp on the wildly fake, French accents. You would be La Wrong! I have noticed the same thing at every La Madeleine to which I would like to know who thought up how to organize a serving line for them. I mean most people can usually figure out that one person follows another and as you pass through the serving line you get the things you would like to purchase and then you pay at the end (unless you happen to be at an all you can eat place where you COULD pay in the beginning). BUT NO! At La Madeleine you line up and proceed until such time that you actually get to the food counter. Once you get to this general area, the organization of the line becomes a menagerie of meandering people speaking to the chaotic conclave of college kids who randomly (as in no particular order or organization) are either dishing up something, ringing up something on a register, directing people to go to the left or right (one of these directions is turning the line into a traffic jam by turning it back on itself) or picking someone from the back of the crowd to ask if they could help them. I have never understood why their line does not go from point A to point B and then serve in an orderly, progressive fashion. The serving line should not go pastries, trays, eating utensils cash register salads, drinks, sandwiches, more drinks, soups, cash register, drinks, bread butter and jelly ahhhhhhh!! what sense does this make?!?
Now lastly, I have to mention only the most recent of illogical business practices witnessed/experienced by me, carried out as S.O.P.(Standard Operating Procedure) by Frye’s Electronics. Yes I have several stories about these people and their ideas of service and/or inventory control. I was at the checkout counter this week paying for one item. I paid with my American Express. Just as I was signing the Amex Slip for my purchase I remembered I had intended to also buy a gift card as well. I grabbed one from the display at the check-out stand and told the clerk I needed to pay for this card as well. This seemed to go well, except, once she was finished the second transaction, she asked me if I minded if she took my card to the back in order to make a photo copy of it. I said “No” and asked why would she need to do that? She told me that since She was making a second transaction with the same card that this photo copy would supposedly prove that she did not just write the card number down and fraudulently use it. Somehow by PHOTO copying the card, this would prove that she did not write the number down....HUH?!? I had a ridiculously hard time getting my card back from her because I did not want her to make the photo copy of it. I still cannot figure out how that protected her let alone me from fraud. It seems like it would increase the likelihood of it happening. In the words of Spock from Star Trek “That’s Illogical”

SushiYaa, Sushi Noo, SushiMaybe

Where is all the service going these days? I'm not hard to please. I don't demand a lot. BUT I do notice when I am paying for a service and do not get it. I could recite several stories each day of some place I have gone where the service was much less than what I was expecting if it even existed at all. I want to tell you of the most recent ocurrance. I just spent 12 hours at work. Not wanting to go home and prepare dinner I thought I would reward myself with a little sushi. I went to this little buffet called SushiYaa. It is not great but fair to above par. One thing I like about this place is in addition to the sushi they have a nice selection of Tempura _________(fill in the blank) as well a a selection of other asian niceties and the price is relatively low. Tonight I was greatly disappointed in the level of service. There were only 3 other tables with customers. On duty was one waiter and 2 waitresses. Once I entered I was seated and asked what I would like to drink. I immediately got up and went to the buffet. When I returned to my table my ice tea was waiting for me. I ate my entire plate of food, drank my entire glass of tea and then ate the ice. I then went back for 2 or 3 additional pieces of sushi. I only saw the waiter and waitresses as they passed me by. I really would have liked some more tea or water or something to drink. I finally decided it was time to go. So I waited...............and...............waited. After several minutes of me staring at the wait staff and failing to gain their attention, the waiter finally stopped and asked, "Do you need anything else?" I replied, " I would like my check, please." He walked off and I continued my wait. This wait went on a rediculously long time. I felt like I could have easily walked out and no one would have noticed. I finally got up turned my chair around 180 degrees to face the waiter station where they were all gathered gossipping about who knows what. There I sat, arms crossed stairing at them. No one noticed. I got up, moved my chair a foot or so closer. Sat back down assuming the same meditative position. Still, no one seemed to notice. I repeated the moving the chair and waiting in disgusted pose about 5 more times until I found myself about half way across the floor almost to the waitress station. Finally one of the waitresses turns around and is startled into a nervous squeek as she nearly ran over me on her way to .........( I do not know where - It certainly was not to tend to her tables). Quite startled she asked if she could help me. By now, the other waitress and waiter are standing there. I simply said "I STILL would like my check please." I was quite surprised at how rapidly they got my check and got me out of there...........I tipped accordingly.

OK one of my pet peeves occurs when I am at a restaurant. It seems like common sense to me for the waiters and waitresses to NOT interrupt dinner conversation going on at the table they are serving. I can somewhat overlook it in some situations. After all, they may be busy and in need getting to other customers. In any case they should keep interruptions short and to the point AND by no means they should never join in on the conversation. I say all of this just to let you know how I feel about such things before I tell you about my experience Saturday night. I was out with my Mom, Dad, sister and niece. This particular night the waitress was very good in every way. The problem was the manager. First thing was she was dressed in blue jeans and other such street type clothes. So when she walked up to our table the first time we thought she was another patron of the restaurant. It did not help that she did not introduce herself. She just butted in, while inquiring how we were enjoying our meal. We finally figured out that she must of been the manager because she referenced our waitress by name in her conversation. She came back again later, near the end of the meal, again interrupting to ask if everything was going well. I know it seems like a minor thing but it really irritates me to be interrupted like that when we were obviously engaged in conversation.

Yo, I'm jus' sayin' - know whad I mean

Ok So I am in the restaurant this evening waiting for my food. This young guy walks in who looks to be about 20 years old. Now I only wish I had a video camera to show you what I am about to describe. He has his pants belted up tight below his butt. He has No tattoos. No Piercings, but does have extremely pale skin, freckles and a face that looked like it belonged to a 5 year old. He swaggered with a low strut that I suppose was portraying the idea that he is tough. Instead it looked like it was right from the Monty Python's Ministry of Silly Walks. Here is the best part. His shirt was a GIRLS Lime green baseball jersey with matching lime green baseball hat That was about 2 sizes too big for his head. He wore it OVER the tips of his ears with the bill to the front. I wondered what was going on in the space in his head that made him suddenly decide that this look is not quite right, thus, for no apparant reason, he took off his cap and placed it precariously askew on the side of his head with the bill to the side like a real "gangsta". Yes! That was the look that instilled fear in the patrons of this establishment.

Friday family night at the movies

Ok, so I went to see "Friday the 13th" with my son Adam. The movie was not good for several reasons. One of which was the over the top gratuitiss(Scary Mom - How do you spell "gratuitous?") sex scenes which should have earned this an NC-17 rating. Adam had been wanting to see this movie for a while. Once we got there it was quite uncomfortable for both of us to watch. For once I was thankful that there was one of the nine people in the theater, rude enough to be talking on his cell phone in a normal speaking voice. This was a catalyst for both of us to complain to each other and distract us from what was going on in the movie. Now, this only lead us to noticing something else going on that was shocking to us both. Directly behind us was a constant and continuous murmuring of 2 parents talking, interrupted only a few times every 5 seconds by the voice of a five year old little boy asking things like "what are they doing?" and "Are they Dead?"
When the movie was over both Adam and I stopped and observed this family of four out on what seemed to be a family outing. Note that I said family of four. They also had there little baby there as well. Nothing like Friday family night at the movies. We both wanted to say something to them but were both at a loss for words. Adam still is shocked and talking about "Those people that brought that little kid."

Titles are important

Why doesn't the news media realize That Sen. Obama's title is just that at this point "Senator" There is no such thing as an official title of "president elect" AND THEN....Today ...The local NBC News was doing a story on where President and Mrs Bush are going to live once they move out of the White House. They actually refered to the President as "The Future Former President".