Jack’s Winning Words 9/9/13
“The first and great commandment is: Don’t let them scare you.”  (Elmer Davis)  I saw a list of phobias…530 of them.  Did you know that ablutophobia is the fear of bathing?  What is it that scares you?  Spiders?  Public speaking?  Heights?  One study shows the #1 fear to be the Fear of Death.  Whatever it is that scares us, there is comfort in God’s promise:  “Fear not, I am with you.  I will never leave you.”    ;-)  Jack

 FROM TARMART REV:  I'm about to face my "ablutophobia" head on this morning, Jack! Pray for me that I will become "whiter than snow." ====JACK:  Is it scarlet now?

 FROM SHARIN' SHARON:   have heresyphobia. World War II and what happened with regards to the Church and society in Germany has made my heresyphobia pretty serious. However, a few years ago, at one of the SEMI WELCA meetings, did hear the first ELCA woman bishop address this fear. She said "Don't worry about heresy. God will take care of that." And guess He did with World War II being won by the Allies but oh my the suffering of so many people in the concentration camps and on the battle field. I wasn't even born then--found out about it by hearsay--but still it's taking quite a long time for me to recover from the horror of it all.  Great law/Gospel WW.====JACK:  I was recently reading some articles by some religious leaders, written prior to WW 2, promoting pacifism.  I think of that now in connection with the Syrian crisis.  It would be easier to make choices, if we could see the results ahead of time.  But, of course, that's not how life operates.

 FROM JE IN MICHIGAN:  Very good one for today. It’s seven weeks until the School Bond Election. Of course I’m doing everything I can to make sure it passes…  but there is a fear.====JACK:  There's an old saying:  "Keep going no matter what.  Control what you can and leave the rest to God."  I've read that “Success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration."  Runners have a saying that puts it this way:  "Success is 90% preparation (mental) and 10% physical."  Either way, success depends on hard work, mentally and physically.  Good luck!====JE:  I also like the saying: "Get up, dress up, show up and never give up!"

 FROM RJP IN NAPLES:  fear is false expectations appearing real and my only fear is trying to one up Jack Freed..... very frightening. ====JACK:  I'm sure you've had greater fears than that in your lifetime.  A verse from a hymna I learned in Sunday School goes like this..."No matter what may be the test,    God will take care of you!  Lean, weary one, upon His breast,    God will take care of you!"====RJP:  You challenge my thought process. I was trying to think of what fears I really had beside the simple ones of going on stage or jumping off the high dive. Truth is the only real serious fear I have is for the well being of my family.
Other than that I remember one fear I had many years ago when I did the service for you when you visited your MOM. I was afraid you would find out that I left out a part of the service. One of the ushers pointed out my error after the service....I hoped you would never know, but now OOOOPs now the cat is out of the bag and my fear has abated.====JACK:  In retrospect, our fears often lose their scariness.  You probably aren't afraid of the bogey man any longer....or are you?

 FROM MICHIZONA RAY:  It's a good thing to remember in all situations...I think if one follows the progression of thoughts regarding one's "fears" it will inevitably lead to the fear of death. And in that experience one's faith is the only comfort.====JACK:  Ben Franklin said:  "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."  But, since, some people don't pay taxes, the only thing certain is death.  Henry Ward Beecher's last words were these: "Now comes the mystery."

 FROM BLAZING OAKS:  Syria is a fearful situation, for sure.  My S.S. lesson yesterday was on the FEARS of Abraham, and God saying, "Don't be AFRAID, I am your shield, and you will be blessed!"  For sure, hindsight is 10/20 but facing forward is challenging to say the least. Albert Camus once said, "When the oppressed take up arms in the name of justice, they take a step toward Injustice..."  Violence breeds more violence, it seems.  Anyway, we try  not to be afraid, with the Lord as our shield....HE has our backs! ====JACK:  My Prayer List shows that some people are facing fears greater than Syria.  I guess that "fear" is really in the eye of the beholder.  Your advice to the Sunday School class was good.

 FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER:  The number one fear is the fear of dog bites. Death is second on the list I saw. Dog bites works for me. When I was a paper boy, I had a couple of dogs on my route that scared the hell out of me.====JACK:  For me, it's acrophobia.  I get queasy, just looking at a picture showing steel workers sitting high up on a beam eating their lunch.

  FROM WATERFORD JAN:  I'm not afraid of dying, thank you Jesus, but I'm fearful that one of those many rooms in God's mansion might have one room which is ruled by spiders--especially relatives of the ones I've feared and killed.====JACK:  It's a good thing that Noah and his family weren't afraid of spiders. 

 FROM AW IN ILLINOIS:  My fear is being incapacitated  and useless.  Incidentally, I picked up a book at recent sale called " 14,000  things that make me happy. The author has been making lists for the last 20 years.   It could well have been labeled,  14,000 Things I have  to be thankful to God  for.====JACK:  The fear of being incapacitated is certainly a real fear, but (as we know) it does not necessarily need to be connected with being useless.  Ironically, there are incapacitated people who are happy and useful, in their own way.