Winning Words 11/2/10
“It’s unbelievable how much you don’t know about the game you’ve been playing all your life.” (Mickey Mantle) This baseball quote by a Hall of Fame player shows that there’s always something new to learn. It can be about a sport; it can be about a craft; it can be about religion; you name it. I don’t want to sound pedantic, but I’m suspicious of those who have all the answers. ;-) Jack

FROM PO IN MICHIGAN: All the answers?!! I'd be happy with just a few! FROM JACK: For the learner, there will always be questions.

FROM MF IN MICHIGAN: No Jack, you don't sound ostentatious, I admire your desire to continue to learn.... How bout those Giants? and I wrote Edgar Renteria off as could'nt help us when he left the Tigers. So, I've learned something again about baseball, you never know. FROM JACK: Aubry Huff, too. We often consign people to the scrap heap, thinking that their usefulness is over. What do we know? I like the bumper sticker: "God Don't Make Junk." I'm glad that God is the final judge.

FROM RS IN MICHIGAN: I had to look up "pedantic". I learned a new word. FROM JACK: There was a time when I looked it up, too, because I didn't know what it meant.

FROM MOLINER CF: The person who knows all of the answers doesn't know the questions. FROM JACK: It's easy to know the answers, if you're the one in control of the questions.

FROM JE IN MICHIGAN: I never have all the answers. I like this quote. I took it as the game of “life.” We are not in the “driver’s seat.” We like to think we know what we have planned and we know how our day will go….but WE are not in control. He is in control and we have to give each day to him and let Him know HIS will is what we will be doing. That is so hard some days. FROM JACK: Our experiences teach us, don't they? At least they do, some of of the time. I like the line of the song that goes..."When will we ever learn? The answer is blowin' in the wind.""

FROM CJL IN OHIO: I thought you did.... FROM JACK: A few, but not all.

FROM SH IN MICHIGAN: Enjoyed your WW words again this day. Hope you had a grand time at your grandchild's confirmation. Especially was charmed by Mantle's word "unbelievable". That's how we people talk too when we're highly astonished at something. Last night at our Bible study we were talking and sharing various things and I shared what a struggle it has been to go from a Church of Christ background to a Lutheran understanding of things, how the teaching back then had seemed so off-the-mark. So I was changed by others'
teaching but how surprising and unbelievable it has been to go back and worship in the Church of Christ in Bayard, Iowa, and see that THEY HAVE CHANGED TOO--WHY THEY EVEN HAVE A CRUCIFIX RIGHT THERE ON THEIR PLAIN LINEN-COVERED TABLE ALTAR. The more I think I know about religion, the more I find out I don't know yet either. Don't know a huge amount of churches changing yet (I'm only 64) , but hope I am grounded in the Church and there's some things that aren't going to change. Must be in the same boat as a lot of other people, both here and there. Mickey Mantle makes a lot of sense. Correction--I'm 63, my math is worse than it ever was. FROM JACK: I've lived to see unbelievable changes in situations in people. In the dark days of WW 2, Churchill encouraged his people by saying: "Never, never, never, never give up." I may waver, but I try not to give up on people.

FROM CWR IN B'MORE: ........harsh, but true... FROM JACK: Harsh? Yes, it's sharper than a two-edged sword.

FROM MO IN ILLINOIS: I can't imagine who thinks they have all the answers! I've changed some of my viewpoints quite radically as I've aged. The more you know, the more you realize you don't know! A quote from THE FATHER'S BOOK OF WISDOM went something like this: "Our lifetime of knowledge amounts to no more than a grain of sand, in a shoreline that stretches to infinity." So much to know, so little time...but most of us are seekers until the end! FROM JACK: That's a good quote about the grains of sand. The next time I'm on the beach, I'll pick up a handful of sand and try to count the grains.