Jack’s Winning Words 10/29/13
“Not everything that can be counted, counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”  (Albert Einstein)  Yogi Berra wrote, “I really didn’t say everything I said.”  Many quotes are attributed to Einstein.  I wonder how much he didn’t say that they say he said?  A friend of mine was at Princeton and saw the retired Einstein walking on campus.  Have you ever met someone famous?  I once talked with Billy Graham.    ;-)  Jack

  FROM RI IN BOSTON:  OK then, let's step up and talk about the company we keep!  I met and talked with Eleanor Roosevelt, then had my picture taken with her.  Jimmy Carter stopped to talk with me, after his Presidency.  My wife and I were invited to have dinner with Bernard Leach in his home.  And the list goes on...well, don't "count" on it!====JACK:  I had to look up Bernard, but that says more about me than it does about him.  He, indeed, is (was) a famous person.  I didn't have to Google Jimmy or Eleanor.

 FROM BBC IN ILLINOIS:  I enjoyed this one especially. Thanks====JACK:  I'm sure that you, in your experiences, have met someone famous.

 FROM BM IN MICHIGAN:  Elie Wiesel; John F. Kennedy (five seconds).====JACK:  Those two are famous in two different ways.  Which of them has had the most influence on people...do you think?

FROM TARMART REV:  I identity more with people with whom I have a relationship with...Paul Harvey and I passed on an escalator, he going down and me going up, we smiled cordially at each other in passing. ====JACK:  You might have  said, "Hi Paul; my names Paul, too."

 FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER:  "Some people count some of the time and all of the people count some of the time, but not all of the people count all of the time." Abe Hodson ====JACK:  With Jesus, everybody counts all of the time.

 FROM DB IN MICHIGAN:  Jack, you got to talk with Billy Graham? That's very interesting!  What did you two talk about?  When and where?====JACK:  I once took a group of kids to hear a popular youth pastor named, Rev. Bill Graham.  He was visiting in our community of Moline, Illinois.  Years later, when Billy Graham was speaking to the Detroit Economic Club, I went up to him afterward and asked if he remembered that time in Moline.  He actually did.  He was a guest in the home of a minister that I knew.  We talked about those days, and he wanted to know what kind of work I was doing in Detroit.  I told him about Holy Spirit Chuirch.  It was a good conversation, like two friends reminiscing.====DB:  That's really fantastic!  -- especially to find out that he was a "regular guy."  Thanks for sharing!

FROM JB IN WISCONSIN:  I talked to Paul Harvey.====JACK:  What's the rest of the story?====JB:  Wally and I were at a conference in Las Vegas - Paul Harvey was the keynote speaker.  Wally and I were walking through the almost empty lobby at the MGM Grand when in walked Paul Harvey.  My feet fairly flew me across the lobby to meet him.  He was very nice.  I enjoyed listening to him on the radio and enjoyed his books.  If Paul Harvey endorsed a product, I had to believe it was good because he had so much integrity.  That meeting is a very special memory for me.

 FROM JT IN MINNESOTA:  Wow!! Billy Graham.  That would be an impressive person to talk with.  The closest I think I ever got was when I was in the bathroom with Elizabeth Dole.  She washed her hands while I washed mine.  Wow !   My brother Jack, salt of the earth farmer, says memorably statements.  We were playing cards one night and he said, "If I don't get to bed pretty soon, I'll sleep all night."  I wish I could remember more.====JACK:  My words with Billy were an actual conversation about an event that happened many years before, when he was a young preacher.  It was fun to talk with him as a person and not as a celebrity.  It didn't take place in the men's room.

 FROM SHARIN' SHARON:  I sold a soft drink to Loretta Lyn at the concession stand in Des Moines, Iowa, and also walked past Shirley Temple Black in the San Francisco Airport. Neither of them were very tall and look bigger in their pictures.====JACK:  My brother-in-law and I were playing golf.  Don Meredith, the pro football player (for the Dallas Cowboys), and his friend asked if they could play along with us.  They hit the ball a lot further than we did.

 FROM BLAZING OAKS:  BILL AND I SAT AT THE SAME TABLE WITH BILLY GRAHAM IN CHICAGO WHEN A GROUP WAS PLANNING THE WHEATON CRUSADE; HAD CURSORY CONVERSATIONS, BUT WE WERE VERY IMPRESSED WITH HIS HUMILITY AND "DOWN HOME" EASY MANNER....HE DID NOT SEEM AT ALL IMPRESSED WITH HIMSELF, EXCEPT AS A VESSEL TO BE USED BY GOD!  I LOVED HIS WIFE RUTH, SUCH A SENSE OF HUMOR AND LIVELINESS....BILLY WOULDN'[T HAVE BEEN WHO HE WAS WITHOUT HER, IN MY, AND MANY OTHERS' OPINION.  THE VICTORY CHORUS IN MOLINE SANG WITH HOWARD KEEL AND JANET GAYNOR IN CHICAGO.  THEY COULDN'T HAVE BEEN NICER TO US MIDWESTERN HIGH SCHOOLERS!!====JACK;  Billy Graham graduated from Wheaton College (with a degree in antropology), after leaving Bob Jones Univ, because it was too legalistic.  The Trinity Luther League went to hear him at the Scottish Rite Cathedral when he just a young pastor.:

 FROM SBP IN FLORIDA:  Today's WW certainly filled my day with a range of memories of "famous" (for me) someones ....William Glasser.Dr. Robert Schuller, Lucille Clifton, Chiam Potok, Dr. Benjamin Carson....and some near misses. And they all counted so much! It's been a fun day Thanks, once aain, ......Oh, and Carl Sandburg...touched his sleeve with my thumb!!!!! ==-==JACK:  Those are some good ones.  I also met Schuller.  We talked about how we both began our ministries near the same time.  His became the Crystal Cathedral, and mine became Winning Words.

 ====KF:  Depends on your definition of famous!  I met Danny Thomas  at The Roostertail; in high school I used to work on the ALSAC campaign which supported St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital; he sponsored a dinner for the volunteers. Wish I still had that picture  (maybe I do?).  I also 'ran into' Gordie Howe at Somerset Collection about 10 years ago; Mark and I talked to him for a bit (he was just sitting by himself , waiting for his wife); Steph & Rose were underwhelmed by the visit - they weren't around when he was such a star!  I'd still like to meet Billy Graham - & we are in the Asheville area just about every year. Maybe we'll run into him......====JACK:  If you happen to run into Billy, ask him if he remembers the conversation he had with me.  BTW, When I first moved to the Detroit area, someone came up to me in a restaurant and said, "You're Gordie Howe, aren't you?" .