Jack’s Winning Words 4/25/08
“It’s pathetic to hear mosquitoes cough.” (Old Swedish Expression) The late Krister Stendahl used this quote, saying that we sometimes get so caught up in defending the Bible that it kills the joy in reading it and practicing it.. Yes, we often pay so much attention to coughing mosquitoes that we miss what’s really important. And it’s not just with regard to the Bible. ;-) Jack

FROM G.G. IN INDY: so true, so true...it's like..."I could be SO happy if only those darn mosquitos would stop coughing!"

FROM MOLINER G.S.: Hm................... gotta think on this one........... Does that also mean that we can be so heavenly concerned that we're no earthly good?

FROM MOLINER C.F.: If a mosquito coughs in the forest, does it make a noise?

FROM J.L. IN MICHIGAN: One of the strangest expressions I have ever heard!!! The Bible is very simple and direct...no hidden messages. Do do tend to get caught up in the most unimportant aspect of life don't we? Let's put the emphasis on the important ones this weekend! Blessings everyone!

FROM J.T. IN MICHIGAN: Jack, this reminds me of a talk that Fr. Len Crobot gave some 30 years ago. He referred to things we do as "pole vaulting over an ant hill."

FROM J.C. IN HONG KONG: Huh? Methinks some expressions are better left in Sweden!?!
MORE FROM J.C.: I found Stendahl's article. It's self-indulgent and frivolous, not WW-worthy material at all. Perhaps it's better suited for SUPERCILIOUS WORDS, where most arrogant liberal THINKING belongs.

FROM B.S. NEAR ORLANDO: Thank you Krister Stendahl. I appreciate your help in catching the important facts and solutions.
MORE FOM B.S.: I worked on a farm owned by Eunice and Pat Sandin, Eunice was a childhood friend of my mother, and daughter of Grandpa Carl and Grandma Hammer. Eunice didn't know how to cook very well but her mother was a better cook and baker than my mother. I earned $2.00 a week for about a 92 hr week in the summer, and a 56 hr week during school days. So I had $2.00 a week for my ride to Wilmot every day, and for the hot lunch, and a 5cent ice cream from Hageman's Drug Store at lunch time, except when Mz Bessie Barnes let us dance students borrow her equipement, so we could practice our dance steps during the noon hour. I am glad the Good Lord shared "Youth" with me during those years. But they didn't teach me Swedish.