Thursday, November 06, 2008

Jack’s Winning Words 11/6/08
“My parents brought me up to persevere, work hard, to keep your mouth shut and your eyes and ears open.”
(Bob Feller) This Hall of Fame pitcher turned 90 the other day. He still tries to live according to the values his parents taught him on the family farm in Van Meter, Iowa. I suppose that all of us can look back with appreciation for the values we learned at home. My pastor once wrote: “Virture is learned at mother’s knee. Vice is learned at other joints.” ;-) Jack

FROM M.L. IN IL: i may have shared this with you before. mark's mother raised four boys with this creed. "stand up straight, smile, and be pleasant". we used it when raising our children and have passed it on to others. by the way...her boys, all four, grew up to be great men!

FROM M.E. IN CA: Like this one.

FROM PR F.M. IN WI: My, you know how to make a person feel old - Bob Feller was one of my baseball heroes - he can't be 90! I recall pictures of him in his youth throwing a baseball out by one of their barns! He learned baseball in the barn yard - not a bad place to pick up some learning's!

FROM D.S. IN SAN DIEGO:Bob Feller was one of my boyhood heroes, Jack. What a great guy. I can truly believe those were his values having grown up in the Midwest.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The only part of your Winning Words today that bother me a bit is the "keep your mouth shut" part. I know that is in a lot of stoic northern European cultures so many of us immigrants come from but I think sometimes it hurts us. People seem to be flocking to churches where they can praise and shout to the Lord and witness and testify lustily to what God has done in their lives and a lot of the rest of us are depending on our pure presence to convey our testimony to the world. That's what I am observing with my eyes and ears open. What IS the best way long-term?
Pondering-- born Iowan-- wanting to be faithful,
Sharon