Jack’s Winning Words 7/9/13
“The ruin of a nation begins in the homes of its people.”  (African Proverb)  I like that part in “The Wizard of Oz” when Dorothy says, “There’s no place like home.”  It’s from the song, “Home, Sweet Home,” a favorite of Lincoln, who had the experience of living both in a log cabin and in the White House.  Edgar Guest wrote, “It takes a heap o’ livin’ in a house t’ make it home.”  We all have remembrances of home, don’t we?    ;-)  Jack

  FROM HONEST JOHN:  I lived in the EM house for 25 years.  And my present house for 30 years...They both are "home" to me.====JACK:  I grew up as a Moliner, but I've lived half of my life in the place where I now reside.  Do you recall this hymn?
I’m but a stranger here,
Heaven is my home;
Earth is a desert drear,
Heaven is my home;
Danger and sorrow stand
Round me on every hand;
Heaven is my fatherland,
Heaven is my home.

 FROM RJP IN NAPLES:  Whenever we went on a trip and were returning my Mom would always be singing " Highways are happy ways when they lead the way to home, highways bring happy days for the lonesome hearts that roam etc"====JACK:  I remember that song...and I remember your mom, too.  In my mind, I can picture her singing that song.

 FROM SHARIN' SHARON:  This is an interesting proverb. At first I was thinking that there must be something wrong in the homes of the nation's people that then goes out and is the ruin of the nation. But, recalling that early Christianity basically started out--if I understand correctly--in the homes of the Christians and the nation around--Rome I guess--was falling to ruin, well it's just an interesting thing to think about the relationship between what is going on in our homes and what is going on in our country. Thanks for these WW arriving again into our homes to provoke us into thinking.====JACK:  I see the words as a simple message...In Africa and in America, homes are very important!

 FROM WALMART REV:  One of the values lost (I believe) in today's busyness and single parented homes with mom’s often working long hours trying to make ends meet. Many of the larger churches can help with programs and ministries to assist...we have a single mom's support group, benevolence support for our various outreach opportunities and summer camp programs, full-fledged kid's and teenager ministries, giving single moms and dads an opportunity to experience their own worship time in the sanctuary if they so choose, etc. I couldn't provide as such in the smaller churches I pastored.====JACK:  Life is change.  It is also adapting  to change.  But, God does not change, and he is with us always.  As the hymn, Abide With Me, says: "O Thou, who changeth not, abide with me."

 FROM CL IN MICHIGAN:  This is so true!====JACK:  I'll put a more positive "spin" on the quote.  "The strength of a nation begins in its homes."

 FROM PH IN MINNESOTA:  and almost all of my memories of home are warm and positive for which i will be forever thankful..====JACK:  Count your many blessings, name them one by one.  Home is one!

 FROM BBC IN ILLINOIS:  Like your trivia; I had no idea Dorothy’s song had a Lincoln connection.  How cool is that?  Thanks for sharing.====JACK:  I read that during the Civil War, commanders would not allow their troops to sing, Home Sweet Home.  Too many soldiers would desert and head for home.

 FROM DONNA THE BADGER:  As much as I love Michigan, it will always be Wisconsin.====JACK:  My wife is one of those "Wisconsin" girls, too.  There's no place like Wisconsin.

 FROM BLAZING OAKS:  The stability of the home certainly impacts the stability of the nation, and ours appears to be disintigrating, or is it just my "old" eyes?  I am grateful for a close-knit and strong family, but it seems much more rare in these times.  I have a favorite poem framed in a family collage of pictures, hoping for reunion in our "heavenly home": ARE ALL THE CHILDREN IN?

I think of times as the night draws nigh
     Of an old house on the Hill----
Of a yard all wide and blossom-starred
     where the children  played at will.
And when the night at last comes down
     Hushing the merry din
Mother would look around and ask ---
     "Are all the Children in?"

'Tis many and many a year since then
      And the old house on the hill
No longer echoes with childish feet
     And the yard is still, so still ---
But I see it all as the shadows creep,
     and though many the years have been
since then, I can hear my mother ask,
     "Are all the children in?"

I wonder if when the shadows fall
     On the last short earthly day,
When we say goodbye to the world outside
     All tired with our childish play ---
When we step out into that other land
     Where mother so long has been ---
Will we hear her ask, just as of old,
     "Are All The Children In?"
Every Christian Parent's concern....
====JACK:  When my sister and I were adults and past 60, my mother would still refer to us as "the kids."

  FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER:  You forgot "Home is where the heart is." ====JACK:  One of life's tragedies is when people forget things.  I sometimes read of senior citizens who go out for a walk and can't find their way back home.  Thanks for reminding me of that quote.

 FROM CJL IN OHIO:  We all remember what we have experienced and what you have pointed out to us.
Keep it up.