Winning Words 8/25/10
“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is tying its shoes.” (Mark Twain) The speed of the internet makes it possible for lies to travel even faster than that. The point, as I see it, is not the speed of the lie, but, rather, how quickly some people are prone to see something as the truth without making a further investigation. Where is M.T. when we need him to put this thought into his kind of words? ;-) Jack

FROM YOOPER BOB: Your word for today reminds me of the pastor who had a gossiper in the congregation. He called the woman in and asked her to bring a pillow filled with feathers. He took the pillow, slit it with a knife, shook it out the window into a strong wind, and asked her to go out and pick them up. She replied it was impossible. He then lectured her on her gossip and half truths that spread quickly but could not be corrected. Yep, sounds like the internet. FROM JACK: Isn't it amazing what can be done with the internet and modern technology. Yesterday I was reading about a farmboy whose father wouldn't let him plant corn, because the rows weren't straight enough for the dad. Now the boy is grown and has his own farm. With his new John Deere planter and it's technology the corn rows can be within a half inch of perfection. "Good enough, Dad?"
MORE FROM BOB: Last fall I used that technology to chisel plow a strip 34 ft. wide. All I needed to do was turn the tractor around at the end of the field. Everything else directed itself. It is so clever that if you are going around bends, such as at a field by a river, you simply need to flip the switch the first path telling the computer to follow the route I stear, from then on it will follow the same curvitures and plow the entire field correctly.


FROM SH IN MICHIGAN: "how quickly" grabbed me. How quickly we move in today's world seems like it grows in us a superficiality of relationships. New fads are constantly opportunities for us and we are so busy often we don't do a deeper investigation. But, at the same time, I sense a counter-culture of hope and longing and yearning to really use these opportunities and get to know each other. Some one who is travelling around pretty fast can, in my opinion, if they are deeply authentic and centered in their faith, dispel a lot of the lies which are seeking to do damage to His creation in the world. I think the challenge is to deal with the authenticity more than the speed or slowness. Maybe this is a theory of spiritual relativity or something. FROM JACK: Looking back and looking ahead can sometimes be escapism...an unwillingness to deal with the the problems of the present. It's not always so, but we need to be on guard. "Fear" can cause us to look for safety..in the past or in the future.

FROM GOOD DEBT JON: “I pity the fool that believes without investigating.” Mr. T. Oh, sorry wrong Mr. T. FROM JACK: More advice from Mr. T: "You're going through college, and you're going to be faced with a lot of things. You're going to face adversity, the main thing is don't quit. For many people it's easy to quit, but don't. That's what separates the winners from the losers, what separates the all-stars from the also-rans." I have a grandson who's going to be a college freshman. I should let him kmow what Mr. T said.

FROM AS IN MICHIGAN: very good and sooo true in these perplexing times! FROM JACK: Perplexing is an interesting and appropriate word.

FROM PRPH IN MINNESOTA: how true this is!! FROM JACK: And it came within an hour from MN to MI.

FROM CJL IN OHIO: Remember the phrase: Be careful what you do & say, you may be the only Bible somebody reads.... FROM JACK: Do remember the Sunday School song:

Oh, be careful little eyes, what you see.
Oh, be careful little eyes, what you see.
There's a Father up above, looking down in tender love,
So be careful little eyes, what you see.

Be careful little ears what you hear
Be careful little mouth what you say...
Be careful little hands, what you touch...
Be careful little feet, where you go...

FROM MOLINER CF: Today, M.T. would probably put it, " A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its Flip-Flops." FROM JACK: I don't know about that. Flip-flops can be put on pretty fast.

FROM ME IN CALIFORNIA: I always like the MT winning words. He and Norman Rockwell are 2 Americans that, from my perspective, shared a similar sense of humor and ability to capture the essence of the most wholesome and down to earth aspects of both American life and thought.

FROM MO IN ILLINOIS: Hitler said, "The Bigger the lie, the more it is believed..." I guess that has been proven, also. Good quote: We are all too gullible! I try to verify through truthorfiction.com., or snopes before I pass on something too fantastic, but sometimes I am "snookered"...again! FROM JACK: Instead of being gullible, I'd rather say that the average person wants to believe what's being told to him/her.