Jack’s Winning Words 9/19/13
“If you can't be a highway then just be a trail,  If you can't be the sun be a star; It isn't by size that you win or you fail--Be the best of whatever you are!”  (Douglas Malloch)  A recent BBC headline: “Scientists can implant false memories in mice.”  Think about that…the possibility of being able to feel like you are someone else.  Perhaps it’s best to think about how you (and I) can be the best of whatever you are.    ;-)  Jack

 FROM BEC IN MICHIGAN:  Kind of similar to the one …If you can't be a tree on the side of a hill?... be a shrub?…Or something like that.  I like this one/today's!  Yesterday's brought a tear to MY eye! ====JACK:  These are words from a longer poem which encourages the reader to just be who you are.

 FROM FACEBOOK LIZ:  amazing & scary at the same time.  read recently that scientists can reverse down syndrome in mice w/one shot. ====JACK:  I hadn't read that about Down's Syndrome.  I remember when DS people were "sent away to a home."  Nowadays, many are mainstreamed and are proving to be an asset to their families and to the community.  With implanted memories...who are we...really?====LIZ:   the world is moving too fast for me... that memory stuff is just plain evil, in my opinion.====JACK:  Is it possible that memory implants might be a good thing in helping those afflicted with Alzheimer's Disease?  Ethical choices sometimes mean weighing the good against the bad.  Life is often like that. 

 FROM HONEST JOHN:  That's what I call Zebheimer's Disease...remembering things that never were...a lot of old people have that when they " remember" the old glory days.====JACK:  With your interest in philosophy and theology, who are we, if and when "false memories" are implanted in us?  Is there a positive side in helping people to overcome mental problems?  Do teachers and pastors (and life in general) implant memories...false or true... in us?====JOHN:  I. Just read Beetle Bailey and I couldn't help but think of you...Zero says "It should've against the law to destroy dreams with facts".   I love that and partially agree with it.====JACK:  Who determines the ethical boundaries of a nation or a person or a church?  Jesus spoke: "You have heard it said....BUT I say unto you."  Are the boundaries subject to change?  Even the funny papers of today and those of yesteryear speak to an ever changing society.

FROM TARMART REV:  Early on in my life...probably back in late high school or the first few years of college I remember saying to myself, if I could carry with me a higher position in ministry (whatever that would look like) but used that knowledge and ability in  a lower position, wouldn't that be better for the whole approach in ministry...I can still remember driving by a large looking church while in high school saying to myself that I would be happy to just be on staff in a church like that...even though I have challenged myself as I did in West Bloomfield and in a home mission work in Ohio, I must say my fulfillment has come in the earlier perspective I had that day driving by the church in Wichita, Kansas.  See what you have stirred up in my mind this early morning hour, Jack?====JACK:  Isn't it grat that you and I can still remember.  What a great gift from God is the gift of being able to recall events and people from the past.

 FROM TAMPA SHIRL:  What you are is God's.gift to you.  What you become is your gift to God. ====JACK:  Is it possible to give a gift to God who doesn't need anything?  Maybe it's like a parent who receives a handmade gift from a child and says, "This is the best gift ever!"