Jack’s Winning Words 2/25/14
“Sometimes you win.  Sometimes you learn.”  (John Maxwell)  This quote is the title of one of Maxwell’s (more than 60) motivational books.  He makes the point that great lessons can be learned from our losses.  It’s possible to turn a step backward into a step forward.  Lincoln did that.  Edison did it, too.  Can you think of others?  Maybe it has happened in your life.  A failure is not necessarily always a failure.    ;-)  Jack

 FROM TARMART REV:  "Something beautiful, something good, all my confusion, He understood . . . all I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife, but He made something beautiful of my life!" (Bill and Gloria Gaither)====JACK:  I remember the story of a man who got up and gave a testimony to his conversion.  He had been an alcoholic, and Jesus performed a miracle in his life.  "He turned wine into furniture."  He had won, and he had learned.

 FROM HUNGRY HOWIE:  Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. Sometimes it rains. (Crash Davis in
Bull Durham).====JACK:  You beat me to it.  I was saving that quote for the first rain-out of the baseball season.  Maybe I'll change it to..."Sometimes it snows."

 FROM SBP IN FLORIDA:  As per the most recent issue of Mental Floss: Steven Spielberg wasn't was turned down threes times for admission to film school Failing sixth grade was achieved by Winston Churchill. 600 rejections were experienced by Jack London before he sold his first story. There are more... Many among us who have "failed" have achieved using a variety of approaches.....Failures shut doors and open windows. A lot of praying is sustaining.====JACK:  These are also examples of persistence.  When I was starting a new church by going door to door, gauging the interest of people in the project, I made 2000 cold calls during the first year.  I had it figured out that I would get one prospect for every 10 calls.  So, I wasn't bothered by 9 turn downs, because I knew the next one would be a winner.

 FROM MICHIZONA RAY:  I think failure is failure; but at the same time it is not necessarily the end. An acorn takes a long time to become the oak tree that it is by design. We too might consider the process of life in a similar way. The victories and losses are only little guideposts in the bigger, more complete picture of one's life. In this sense, a victory is truly no more significant than a failure -- both a merely ingredients of the full life.====JACK:  In the grand scheme of things, if every acorn became an oak tree...do the math!  There would eventually no room for the beautiful flowers and you and me.====RAY:  That's probably why every tree is not an oak tree; nor every person the same.

 FROM QUILTIN' CAROL IN RICE LAKE:  Sometimes it proves you are human and not “perfect” but still ok.====JACK:  Perhaps imperfection in the mark of being human.  The need for a "way out" is what makes us seek a leader, a Messiah.

 FROM DR J IN OHIO:  Steve Jobs… fired by Apple!====JACK:  I'm thankful for the teachers who  didn't "fire" me as I was finding my way through school.  Maybe that's the difference between a true teacher and a company.

 FROM SHARIN' SHARON:  This quote makes me so happy because I think, coming from God, it is sometimes we win and God's deepest desire is we always learn (He never desires failure for us, we are the ones who do that to ourselves) so God also says "Sometimes you win. Sometimes you learn" and that's the truth of it all.====JACK:  God's judgment is not like the world's judgment.  He can separate the sheep from the goats.

 FROM GOOD DEBT JON:  I like this WW.  Often failure is more memorable. Saturday, I put a solid state drive into my brand new computer (had it out of the box for 20 minutes) everything was great then I hooked up the old drive (to be a back-up) and restarted, nothing-black screen no way back.  Sunday a friend at church and expert in computers fixed it, saying it blew up because I had two master drives. I guess the Biblical verse is true: "No one can serve two masters; not even Dell."   This was an example of forced learning, but I won't forget."====JACK:  When messing with computers, a little bit of knowledge can get you into big trouble...but without making mistakes, how do you learn.  So, I still mess once in a while.

 FROM DB IN MICHIGAN:  That is so true!  Last semester in chemistry class, my last lab (titration) was an absolute disaster.  While I dreaded doing it again last week, the lessons learned from last semester made last week's titration lab a great success!  Thanks for the good words!====JACK:  You have proved the truth of the adage..."You learn from your mistakes!"  See, it can happen, when you pay attention.