Jack’s Winning Words 4/30/14
“I’m not going to tell you to worry less. I’m going to tell you to hope more.” (Cora from Downton Abbey) You can tell people not to worry…but most of us worry just the same. When an “unknown” is bothering us, worry usually kicks in. Cora suggests letting “hope” replace some of that worry-time. The psalmist writes (71:14), “I will always have hope. I will praise the Lord more and more.” Let’s try to echo those words. ;-) Jack
FROM PERSNICKITY LOU: It's not "Downtown"; it's "Downton"!====JACK: I only copied what was sent to me. Since I haven't seen any of the series, what do I know?
FROM TARMART REV: "Strength for today...hope for tomorrow!!"====JACK: There are people I know who need that strength for their tomorrows, as well as for today.====REV: I'm hoping that "bread of strength for today" causes us to hope for the same tomorrow."====JACK: What is "bread of strength?"====REV: I was using a little 'word game' to make my point..."give us our daily bread" or strength for today...with the sure hope He will provide that same "daily bread of strength" for tomorrow...' I get too wordy at times, Jack...I know!! 0;-/
FROM PEPPERMINT MARY: we're getting ready for preschool graduation. the last song the children sing in the presentation is bob marley's, "three little birds". "don't worry 'bout a thing...cause every little thing gonna be alright!"====JACK: From your experience...What are the worries that bother little children, and how do you reassure them?====MARY: little ones are afraid of what they are not told by the adults in their realm. i am always honest with children and assure them that whatever comes their way will be ok with help from the "big people" in their life. then it is our responsibility to help their big people through the transitions. it's a big world out there. thanks for asking.
FROM IKE AT THE MIC: My favotite quote on worrying is:"Worrying will do nothing about solving your problems for tomorrow, but it'll sure mess up your today."====JACK: One day at a time...as the saying goes!
FROM TAMPA SHIRL: II is good to be an eternal optimist one day at a time.====JACK: The song. "One day at a time, Sweet Jesus," was written by Patsy Cline, but she died before she was able to record it. You can hear it on YouTube.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: I'm not sure why, but this quote reminded me of a comment by Gen Colin Powell when asked what it was like to oversee a war,(Iraq); "I sleep like a baby; every two hours I wake up screaming..":-) I'm a fan of Downton Abby, having watched it from the inception of the series. Worry comes with the territory of being human, I'd say, but faith in God being in ultimate charge, does help, at least it helps me!====JACK: You probably heard tornado warning sirens this week. Did you worry or hope or both?
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 4/29/14
“Drive is considered aggression today. I knew it, then, as purpose.” (Bette Davis) BD is one of the great movie actresses of all time, even though she had a reputation of being difficult to deal with. She said, “I was thought to be stuck up. I was just sure of myself.” One thing we need to know about people is that what they show on the outside is not necessarily who they are…really. Try to see beyond the façade…today. ;-) Jack
FROM TARMART REV: Good advice from a good friend this morning!!====JACK: Are you an aggressive or passive driver?====REV: Probably would find others discovering me passive . . . I see me as a self-motivated aggressive driver on my part, always looking for ways to connect with folk. 0;-/====JACK: Just so you don't connect, metal to metal.====REV: That would even curl a balding man's hair!! 9;-)
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: Trying to see beyond the façade...today. It's hardest to see beyond the façade of self-sufficiency. That looks so comfortable but it's probably usually a mirage. Thanks for your WW again today, thinking some upon them.====JACK: Façade is an interesting word. It means that masks are worn on more days than one.
FROM BB IN ILLINOIS: Thanks Jack – and isn’t it sometimes a matter of interpretation. We are so easy to judge others behavior, motivations, habits rather than “put the best construction on everything”. Gosh we Missouri sinners memorized a lot of catechism.====JACK: I just saw a couple of political TV ads knocking the opposing candidate who's running to be a U.S. senator. That candidate is a personal friend of mine, and the ads were anything but charitable.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: I have her famous saying, "Old Age Is Not For Sissies!" on a hand-painted plate hanging on my kitchen wall. Often true! :-) As Eleanor Roosevelt said, "No one can make you feel inferior, without your consent." You have to have avid faith in yourself, to be successful in what you do. That involves inner drive or being sure of yourself! BD figured it out! ====JACK: There was fire in those Bette Davis eyes. BTW, I like that song, Bette Davis eyes. I think I'll go to YouTube and listen to it.
FROM RI IN BOSTON: Celebrities often dispense excuses for their arrogance or aberrant behavior. Frank Lloyd Wright flaunted himself, regularly explaining that he had a choice of hypocritical humility or honest arrogance, and he chose the latter. Of course he never said why it was necessary to limit oneself to just those two extremes.====JACK: It's said that if you want to know what a man is really like, ask his valet (or wife).
FROM SBP IN FLORIDA: What a plethora, myriad, whirlwind of thoughts and feelings today's WW called up! My first reaction was a sense of poignancy....of sadness, loneliness, behind a façade that I didn't understand. {Webster's doesn't included in it's synonyms .... I'd add "shield":) But it's a topic that I'll spring on our next family gathering. I think. do with the ....when 've looked into...diverse purposes, needs, feelings......Not a topic that we can determine what's "behind the mask."...in ten words or less! When we look beyond the façade and think we understand....what do we do? I know what I've done in many instances....but there is such a diversity of facades. ====JACK: Even though the face may be covered with a false face, the eyes (Bette Davis eyes) continue to be a window to the soul. I asked my ophthamologist if that was true about the eyes. She said that she didn't know about that. I guess it's a philosophical question.
“Drive is considered aggression today. I knew it, then, as purpose.” (Bette Davis) BD is one of the great movie actresses of all time, even though she had a reputation of being difficult to deal with. She said, “I was thought to be stuck up. I was just sure of myself.” One thing we need to know about people is that what they show on the outside is not necessarily who they are…really. Try to see beyond the façade…today. ;-) Jack
FROM TARMART REV: Good advice from a good friend this morning!!====JACK: Are you an aggressive or passive driver?====REV: Probably would find others discovering me passive . . . I see me as a self-motivated aggressive driver on my part, always looking for ways to connect with folk. 0;-/====JACK: Just so you don't connect, metal to metal.====REV: That would even curl a balding man's hair!! 9;-)
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: Trying to see beyond the façade...today. It's hardest to see beyond the façade of self-sufficiency. That looks so comfortable but it's probably usually a mirage. Thanks for your WW again today, thinking some upon them.====JACK: Façade is an interesting word. It means that masks are worn on more days than one.
FROM BB IN ILLINOIS: Thanks Jack – and isn’t it sometimes a matter of interpretation. We are so easy to judge others behavior, motivations, habits rather than “put the best construction on everything”. Gosh we Missouri sinners memorized a lot of catechism.====JACK: I just saw a couple of political TV ads knocking the opposing candidate who's running to be a U.S. senator. That candidate is a personal friend of mine, and the ads were anything but charitable.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: I have her famous saying, "Old Age Is Not For Sissies!" on a hand-painted plate hanging on my kitchen wall. Often true! :-) As Eleanor Roosevelt said, "No one can make you feel inferior, without your consent." You have to have avid faith in yourself, to be successful in what you do. That involves inner drive or being sure of yourself! BD figured it out! ====JACK: There was fire in those Bette Davis eyes. BTW, I like that song, Bette Davis eyes. I think I'll go to YouTube and listen to it.
FROM RI IN BOSTON: Celebrities often dispense excuses for their arrogance or aberrant behavior. Frank Lloyd Wright flaunted himself, regularly explaining that he had a choice of hypocritical humility or honest arrogance, and he chose the latter. Of course he never said why it was necessary to limit oneself to just those two extremes.====JACK: It's said that if you want to know what a man is really like, ask his valet (or wife).
FROM SBP IN FLORIDA: What a plethora, myriad, whirlwind of thoughts and feelings today's WW called up! My first reaction was a sense of poignancy....of sadness, loneliness, behind a façade that I didn't understand. {Webster's doesn't included in it's synonyms .... I'd add "shield":) But it's a topic that I'll spring on our next family gathering. I think. do with the ....when 've looked into...diverse purposes, needs, feelings......Not a topic that we can determine what's "behind the mask."...in ten words or less! When we look beyond the façade and think we understand....what do we do? I know what I've done in many instances....but there is such a diversity of facades. ====JACK: Even though the face may be covered with a false face, the eyes (Bette Davis eyes) continue to be a window to the soul. I asked my ophthamologist if that was true about the eyes. She said that she didn't know about that. I guess it's a philosophical question.
Monday, April 28, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 4/28/14
“Nothing is work, unless you’d rather be doing something else.” (George Halas) I’ve had many jobs, starting in Kindergarten with selling The Saturday Evening Post. I still love working. I don’t know that I would have enjoyed playing football for Coach Halas. “Dirty Jobs” is a TV show, featuring Mike Rowe doing jobs that most people would avoid. Mike usually finds that workers enjoy what they do. How about you? ;-) Jack
FROM HONEST JOHN: At church. I shoveled the walks, did custodial work, helped put on roofs, etc. whatever it took. Got criticized by other pastors for doing it. Thought they were missing something.====JACK: I did the same things, except for the roofing. As for criticism by others...I couldn't care less. I loved my work.
FROM PH IN MINNESOTA: Jack, the Night Owl, burning the 4 a.m. oil!====JACK: I happen to love being an early riser. It's been part of my routine ever since I was a baby.
FROM TARMART REV: I remember more so when starting out as a youth pastor following up on directions from the senior pastor...felt often I was given assignments he really did not want to do...probably was, but later realized it gave me more experiences being in places and situations with other folk who became friends and personal acquaintances for a lifetime...even today other pastors gladly give those types of choices up forfeiting the benefits of knowing to whom they have been called to serve.====JACK: When I first decided I wanted to enter the ministry, my home pastor gave me a list of people who had stopped attending church, and he asked me to call on them to try and discover why. It wasn't because he didn't want to make the calls. He wanted me to have the experience to see if I really did want to become a pastor. Even though some of the calls were negative, for me they were positive, because I enjoyed doing that job.====REV: I'm sure many were blessed by your visit and concern.====JACK: The Lord only knows.
FROM PEPPERMINT MARY: i am a worker bee. i am my happiest when i am working. whether cleaning my house, working in the garden, helping others with their work, or being with the children at school. i am getting better at relaxing as i age, but still feel best when i am doing something productive. now...off to work!====JACK: Your song for the day...
Heigh-ho, heigh-ho
It's off to work I go
I keep on singing all day long
Heigh-ho
Heigh-ho, heigh-ho
Got to make your troubles go
Well, you keep on singing all day long
Heigh-ho
Heigh-ho, heigh-ho
FROM BS IN ENGLAND: I have loved all the jobs that I have had so far in my life from working in Woolworths on Saturdays when I was 13 to nursing, midwifery, teaching, receptionist. Not to mention the unpaid jobs. Wife, mother and the voluntary work that I still enjoy. I do think that when you are doing a job you should give it 100% of yourself. I get so angry when I am shopping and the cashier is discussing with a colleague how much longer she has to work and how how she hates the job. Not good!====JACK: A sister-in-law of mine had a particularly rude store clerk. She politely asked her, "Are you having a bad day, or are you always this way?" I don't know how the clerk responded.
FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: I absolutely love my job now (I'm retired). As Gary gets closer to retirement (in about a year) he loves his job. Truly though, he will be very glad to be able to pick his job now rather than having to do his high stress job now. There's so much to do in retirement that we are looking forward to I guess you could say we are looking forward to our next "work" while enjoying the life we are living now.====JACK: I found that I liked my after-retirement work as much as the work before.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: HA! Bill played football under Halas, and he did not tolerate "slackers"! And players were paid a pittance, compared to later standards! It was the honor of making the team, and love of the game for them! I loved teaching (In Jr.High...not most teachers' favorite!) and directing church choirs, etc.and we enjoyed serving in the ministry, absolutely. i suspect even when you love your work, there are many days when work is still very much WORK!! Most feel fortunate to HAVE work, in these times!====JACK: What a thrill to be able to say, "I played for the Bears when George Halas was the coach. Even more of a thrill to say, "I played on the Lord's team and loved the coach."
FROM CPA BOB: I almost always have liked what I do. I especially like it now – doing mostly tax work & working shorter hours. I feel lucky (about a lot of things) about my work because I have felt for the longest time that public accounting has been the best occupation for me.====JACK: When I was in high school, I enjoyed my accounting classes and was encouraged to pursue that occupation. But, somehow, I chose another path.
TODD BLACKLEDGE: "The six W's: Work Will Win When Wishing Won't."
FROM FLYER C: I enjoy my job. I don't enjoy being away from my family! A true Catch-22. ====JACK: I know the term, Catch-22, but I had to look up the background. I see that it's a military rule meaning--Contradictory circular logic. I knew what it meant, but not the reason.
FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER: To a Golfer. ANYTHING else is work.====JACK: I like the PGA where the golfers get paid on the way they perform. I think that it should be that way in other sports, as well. BTW, if you were to be a pro-player, which sport would you choose?
FROM JT IN MICHIGAN: I loved my work, as I know you did. Isn't helpful when you are sure you were led by Someone to where you were meant to be?====JACK: What would your reaction have been if, when in high school, someone were to tell you what your life's work would be? When I said that I might become a minister, my sister laughed. "You?"
FROM HCC CHUCK: I enjoyed working still enjoy being asked to do a task or job. I like to keep busy.====JACK: From what I've seen, you take a job and do it well.
FROM TAMPA SHIRL: I enjoyed my teaching career in Moline and in Long Beach and my reservations job with Eastern Airlines. My first job as a caseworker for an orphanage and for a home for delinquent girls was not so enjoyable. BYW I have just finished reading Orphan Train and was amazed to learn that 200,000 orphans were sent out to Minnesota by the Childrens Aid Society.in the late 1900s and early 20th century. We can all count our blessings for our lives.====JACK: How did it feel to teach where you were once a student?====SHIRL: When you asked how it was to teach in a school where I had been a student, it was good, too. Mr Wood was still the principal, and Miss Mallette was the head of the social studies department. There was a mandatory rule that teachers had to retire at 65, so she went out to Colona and taught until she was at least 80. Teaching was hard but also very rewarding.
“Nothing is work, unless you’d rather be doing something else.” (George Halas) I’ve had many jobs, starting in Kindergarten with selling The Saturday Evening Post. I still love working. I don’t know that I would have enjoyed playing football for Coach Halas. “Dirty Jobs” is a TV show, featuring Mike Rowe doing jobs that most people would avoid. Mike usually finds that workers enjoy what they do. How about you? ;-) Jack
FROM HONEST JOHN: At church. I shoveled the walks, did custodial work, helped put on roofs, etc. whatever it took. Got criticized by other pastors for doing it. Thought they were missing something.====JACK: I did the same things, except for the roofing. As for criticism by others...I couldn't care less. I loved my work.
FROM PH IN MINNESOTA: Jack, the Night Owl, burning the 4 a.m. oil!====JACK: I happen to love being an early riser. It's been part of my routine ever since I was a baby.
FROM TARMART REV: I remember more so when starting out as a youth pastor following up on directions from the senior pastor...felt often I was given assignments he really did not want to do...probably was, but later realized it gave me more experiences being in places and situations with other folk who became friends and personal acquaintances for a lifetime...even today other pastors gladly give those types of choices up forfeiting the benefits of knowing to whom they have been called to serve.====JACK: When I first decided I wanted to enter the ministry, my home pastor gave me a list of people who had stopped attending church, and he asked me to call on them to try and discover why. It wasn't because he didn't want to make the calls. He wanted me to have the experience to see if I really did want to become a pastor. Even though some of the calls were negative, for me they were positive, because I enjoyed doing that job.====REV: I'm sure many were blessed by your visit and concern.====JACK: The Lord only knows.
FROM PEPPERMINT MARY: i am a worker bee. i am my happiest when i am working. whether cleaning my house, working in the garden, helping others with their work, or being with the children at school. i am getting better at relaxing as i age, but still feel best when i am doing something productive. now...off to work!====JACK: Your song for the day...
Heigh-ho, heigh-ho
It's off to work I go
I keep on singing all day long
Heigh-ho
Heigh-ho, heigh-ho
Got to make your troubles go
Well, you keep on singing all day long
Heigh-ho
Heigh-ho, heigh-ho
FROM BS IN ENGLAND: I have loved all the jobs that I have had so far in my life from working in Woolworths on Saturdays when I was 13 to nursing, midwifery, teaching, receptionist. Not to mention the unpaid jobs. Wife, mother and the voluntary work that I still enjoy. I do think that when you are doing a job you should give it 100% of yourself. I get so angry when I am shopping and the cashier is discussing with a colleague how much longer she has to work and how how she hates the job. Not good!====JACK: A sister-in-law of mine had a particularly rude store clerk. She politely asked her, "Are you having a bad day, or are you always this way?" I don't know how the clerk responded.
FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: I absolutely love my job now (I'm retired). As Gary gets closer to retirement (in about a year) he loves his job. Truly though, he will be very glad to be able to pick his job now rather than having to do his high stress job now. There's so much to do in retirement that we are looking forward to I guess you could say we are looking forward to our next "work" while enjoying the life we are living now.====JACK: I found that I liked my after-retirement work as much as the work before.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: HA! Bill played football under Halas, and he did not tolerate "slackers"! And players were paid a pittance, compared to later standards! It was the honor of making the team, and love of the game for them! I loved teaching (In Jr.High...not most teachers' favorite!) and directing church choirs, etc.and we enjoyed serving in the ministry, absolutely. i suspect even when you love your work, there are many days when work is still very much WORK!! Most feel fortunate to HAVE work, in these times!====JACK: What a thrill to be able to say, "I played for the Bears when George Halas was the coach. Even more of a thrill to say, "I played on the Lord's team and loved the coach."
FROM CPA BOB: I almost always have liked what I do. I especially like it now – doing mostly tax work & working shorter hours. I feel lucky (about a lot of things) about my work because I have felt for the longest time that public accounting has been the best occupation for me.====JACK: When I was in high school, I enjoyed my accounting classes and was encouraged to pursue that occupation. But, somehow, I chose another path.
TODD BLACKLEDGE: "The six W's: Work Will Win When Wishing Won't."
FROM FLYER C: I enjoy my job. I don't enjoy being away from my family! A true Catch-22. ====JACK: I know the term, Catch-22, but I had to look up the background. I see that it's a military rule meaning--Contradictory circular logic. I knew what it meant, but not the reason.
FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER: To a Golfer. ANYTHING else is work.====JACK: I like the PGA where the golfers get paid on the way they perform. I think that it should be that way in other sports, as well. BTW, if you were to be a pro-player, which sport would you choose?
FROM JT IN MICHIGAN: I loved my work, as I know you did. Isn't helpful when you are sure you were led by Someone to where you were meant to be?====JACK: What would your reaction have been if, when in high school, someone were to tell you what your life's work would be? When I said that I might become a minister, my sister laughed. "You?"
FROM HCC CHUCK: I enjoyed working still enjoy being asked to do a task or job. I like to keep busy.====JACK: From what I've seen, you take a job and do it well.
FROM TAMPA SHIRL: I enjoyed my teaching career in Moline and in Long Beach and my reservations job with Eastern Airlines. My first job as a caseworker for an orphanage and for a home for delinquent girls was not so enjoyable. BYW I have just finished reading Orphan Train and was amazed to learn that 200,000 orphans were sent out to Minnesota by the Childrens Aid Society.in the late 1900s and early 20th century. We can all count our blessings for our lives.====JACK: How did it feel to teach where you were once a student?====SHIRL: When you asked how it was to teach in a school where I had been a student, it was good, too. Mr Wood was still the principal, and Miss Mallette was the head of the social studies department. There was a mandatory rule that teachers had to retire at 65, so she went out to Colona and taught until she was at least 80. Teaching was hard but also very rewarding.
Friday, April 25, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 4/25/15
“I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.” (Dr. Seuss) Did you know that “arbor” is the Latin word for tree? Did you know that the first Arbor Day in America was in 1872? Have you ever heard “tree-hugger” used in a derogatory way? Can “tree-hugger” be used positive-ly?” In Detroit, acres of empty space is being transformed into a tree farm. Can you think of other ways to creatively observe Arbor Day? ;-) Jack
FROM RI IN BOSTON: A concentration of trees on the vacant urban land of Detroit...that's an excellent idea. In time, when Detroit recovers, it will have its own urban forest to match Central Park, Hyde Park, Tiergarten or Bois de Boulogne. Let the planting begin!====JACK: People are also beginning to use empty next door lots for gardens, similar to the WW2 Victory Gardens. More lots will open up as a demolition program continues.
FROM TARMART REV: For me . . . I need to "brush up" on it . . . haven't given it any thought until this morning . . . I'm hugging a tree today, just because of you!!====JACK: I think it was Martin Luther who was asked, "What if you knew that you were going to die tomorrow?" He responded, "I'd go out and plant a tree."====REV: BTW...while at Temple Kol Ami, our congregation planted a few trees in Jerusalem in their name as an act of gratitude for the opportunity of worshiping in their facility. I had forgotten that before your e-mail.====JACK: Jews, offering Christians the use of their building for use as a worship place...What a "holy" thing to do.
FROM PEPPERMINT MARY: hug a tree!====JACK: I wonder if anyone actually does that?
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: An increasing number of people we know are seriously concerned around Christmas time, what kind of Christmas tree they will have. One friend bought some kind of evergreen that they can keep continuously year-round in their living room. For a few years now we have had no Christmas tree because we are concerned to cut one down and don't like to anymore just toss it out in the garbage. And, because we are tree-huggers we don't particularly like plastic trees--that's sort of insulting to trees isn't it? Thanks for starting us off this morning reflecting on the importance of trees in the world and in our lives.====JACK: When I served a congregation in northern Wisconsin, some of the members made a living by raising and selling Christmas trees. It was like farming. In fact, their land was called a tree farm. When they cut trees, they would also plant trees, much like the farmer who plants corn, harvests it, and plants again.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: "i think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree...." as the song goes. I have lost seven trees on my property in the 20 years I've been here, due to tornado and old age. Makes a big difference shade-wise! The Reader's Digest has a feature article about a family who have replaced hundreds of redwood trees wherever they could be accommodated. They'll never see them mature, but are investing in the future of the Earth! God bless people who invest their time, money and talents to do projects like that!!====JACK: I think that my favorite tree is a stately oak. But, trees are living things, like people. As the writer of Ecclesiastes says: "For every thing there is a season."
FROM SANDY B IN MICHIGAN: This weekend there will be an Earth Day festival in Rochester, MI, along Main Street. Various environmental groups and vendors will be sharing info about how to protect the environment and to enjoy healthy living.====JACK: I'll bet there'll be a lot hugging going on this weekend in Rochester.
FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER: Years ago I saw a "Tree-hugger" ad that showed a mountainside of pine trees. Headline was, What the Sunday paper really costs." Never forgot it and I get my news electronically.====JACK: The livelihood of many people depends on the paper industry. Paper companies have extensive reforestation in order to maintain their supply of wood. We like the morning paper so much that we subscribe to two of them.
FROM SBP IN FLORIDA: An "Off the cuff"contribution, I will check Google reforestation sources to see what is being done in Haiti (also California) where the denuding of trees (forests) has allowed mudslides to do such damages. ====JACK: Every action has a re-action.
“I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.” (Dr. Seuss) Did you know that “arbor” is the Latin word for tree? Did you know that the first Arbor Day in America was in 1872? Have you ever heard “tree-hugger” used in a derogatory way? Can “tree-hugger” be used positive-ly?” In Detroit, acres of empty space is being transformed into a tree farm. Can you think of other ways to creatively observe Arbor Day? ;-) Jack
FROM RI IN BOSTON: A concentration of trees on the vacant urban land of Detroit...that's an excellent idea. In time, when Detroit recovers, it will have its own urban forest to match Central Park, Hyde Park, Tiergarten or Bois de Boulogne. Let the planting begin!====JACK: People are also beginning to use empty next door lots for gardens, similar to the WW2 Victory Gardens. More lots will open up as a demolition program continues.
FROM TARMART REV: For me . . . I need to "brush up" on it . . . haven't given it any thought until this morning . . . I'm hugging a tree today, just because of you!!====JACK: I think it was Martin Luther who was asked, "What if you knew that you were going to die tomorrow?" He responded, "I'd go out and plant a tree."====REV: BTW...while at Temple Kol Ami, our congregation planted a few trees in Jerusalem in their name as an act of gratitude for the opportunity of worshiping in their facility. I had forgotten that before your e-mail.====JACK: Jews, offering Christians the use of their building for use as a worship place...What a "holy" thing to do.
FROM PEPPERMINT MARY: hug a tree!====JACK: I wonder if anyone actually does that?
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: An increasing number of people we know are seriously concerned around Christmas time, what kind of Christmas tree they will have. One friend bought some kind of evergreen that they can keep continuously year-round in their living room. For a few years now we have had no Christmas tree because we are concerned to cut one down and don't like to anymore just toss it out in the garbage. And, because we are tree-huggers we don't particularly like plastic trees--that's sort of insulting to trees isn't it? Thanks for starting us off this morning reflecting on the importance of trees in the world and in our lives.====JACK: When I served a congregation in northern Wisconsin, some of the members made a living by raising and selling Christmas trees. It was like farming. In fact, their land was called a tree farm. When they cut trees, they would also plant trees, much like the farmer who plants corn, harvests it, and plants again.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: "i think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree...." as the song goes. I have lost seven trees on my property in the 20 years I've been here, due to tornado and old age. Makes a big difference shade-wise! The Reader's Digest has a feature article about a family who have replaced hundreds of redwood trees wherever they could be accommodated. They'll never see them mature, but are investing in the future of the Earth! God bless people who invest their time, money and talents to do projects like that!!====JACK: I think that my favorite tree is a stately oak. But, trees are living things, like people. As the writer of Ecclesiastes says: "For every thing there is a season."
FROM SANDY B IN MICHIGAN: This weekend there will be an Earth Day festival in Rochester, MI, along Main Street. Various environmental groups and vendors will be sharing info about how to protect the environment and to enjoy healthy living.====JACK: I'll bet there'll be a lot hugging going on this weekend in Rochester.
FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER: Years ago I saw a "Tree-hugger" ad that showed a mountainside of pine trees. Headline was, What the Sunday paper really costs." Never forgot it and I get my news electronically.====JACK: The livelihood of many people depends on the paper industry. Paper companies have extensive reforestation in order to maintain their supply of wood. We like the morning paper so much that we subscribe to two of them.
FROM SBP IN FLORIDA: An "Off the cuff"contribution, I will check Google reforestation sources to see what is being done in Haiti (also California) where the denuding of trees (forests) has allowed mudslides to do such damages. ====JACK: Every action has a re-action.
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 4/24/14
“You should always admire what you cannot understand.” (Blaise Pascal) It is said that Pascal knew the Bible by heart and could quote any verse when asked. How does a mind work like that? Yesterday’s WWs was erased before I could send it, so I had to find a new one. Today, the old one came back. Why? How? More puzzling…”Who has known the mind of God?” What I do know is
this…”God is love.” ;-) Jack
FROM HONEST JOHN: What is key is that we don't turn "Love" into the schmaltzy word it has become in this day....====JACK: Is "love" what the philosophers and theologians say, or is it what the individual experiences? Or, can it be both, and? At this point in time, it appears that the schmaltz lovers are winning the battle. But I'm with you in promoting a "true" understanding of the word.
FROM TARMART REV: Enjoyed a few of those "God is gracious" moments myself, Jack!! ====JACK: The word "enjoy" cannot begin to express the feeling when we sense the grace of God. The Shakers began to shake, and the Quakers began to shake. For me, it's simply a realization of the power and presence of God.====REV: Mom used to display a "quivering lip" at such times...most often, mine comes with the biggest and most gracious smile I have at that very moment.====JACK: Some Biblical persons would remove their sandals, because they believed they were standing in the presence of God.====REV: Always amazed as well reading about those of old when copying the Scriptures would stop and wash there hands before writing the name of God.====JACK: Some of my Jewish friends consider the Lord's name to be so holy that must spell it, G-d...too holy to write out.
FROM FACEBOOK LIZ: Like.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: I think it's difficult to ADMIRE something you cannot understand; Maybe respect it or marvel at it in some cases....Pascal was amazing, I was just reading about him, as a friend's daughter named her baby boy Pascal in honor of him! Can't imagine the mind that could master the entire Bible to memory!! I see Judy Judy quotes from one of my all time favorite movies, "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel"...There are few movies I care to see twice or more, but that is one of them.====JACK: I have no problem with "admire." It's from the Latin, "to wonder at." It's interesting to read the bio of Blaise, also.
“You should always admire what you cannot understand.” (Blaise Pascal) It is said that Pascal knew the Bible by heart and could quote any verse when asked. How does a mind work like that? Yesterday’s WWs was erased before I could send it, so I had to find a new one. Today, the old one came back. Why? How? More puzzling…”Who has known the mind of God?” What I do know is
this…”God is love.” ;-) Jack
FROM HONEST JOHN: What is key is that we don't turn "Love" into the schmaltzy word it has become in this day....====JACK: Is "love" what the philosophers and theologians say, or is it what the individual experiences? Or, can it be both, and? At this point in time, it appears that the schmaltz lovers are winning the battle. But I'm with you in promoting a "true" understanding of the word.
FROM TARMART REV: Enjoyed a few of those "God is gracious" moments myself, Jack!! ====JACK: The word "enjoy" cannot begin to express the feeling when we sense the grace of God. The Shakers began to shake, and the Quakers began to shake. For me, it's simply a realization of the power and presence of God.====REV: Mom used to display a "quivering lip" at such times...most often, mine comes with the biggest and most gracious smile I have at that very moment.====JACK: Some Biblical persons would remove their sandals, because they believed they were standing in the presence of God.====REV: Always amazed as well reading about those of old when copying the Scriptures would stop and wash there hands before writing the name of God.====JACK: Some of my Jewish friends consider the Lord's name to be so holy that must spell it, G-d...too holy to write out.
FROM FACEBOOK LIZ: Like.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: I think it's difficult to ADMIRE something you cannot understand; Maybe respect it or marvel at it in some cases....Pascal was amazing, I was just reading about him, as a friend's daughter named her baby boy Pascal in honor of him! Can't imagine the mind that could master the entire Bible to memory!! I see Judy Judy quotes from one of my all time favorite movies, "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel"...There are few movies I care to see twice or more, but that is one of them.====JACK: I have no problem with "admire." It's from the Latin, "to wonder at." It's interesting to read the bio of Blaise, also.
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 4/23/14
Every adversity carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.” (Nap Hill) I’m reading a book in which the author writes, “My problems have been my greatest gifts.” An unplanned pregnancy, dropping out of school, divorce, cancer. Gifts? She goes on to tell how each of these “bad” events turned out to be “good.” One of the chapters is titled, “Give time time.” It’s happened in my life. And, yours? ;-) Jack
FROM JAYDEE IN MINNESOTA: "ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD FOR THOSE THAT LOVE THE LORD."====JACK: When things don't seem to be working out for the good, some may wonder whether or not the Lord loves them. We must reassure them (and us) that God is love...God is love...God is love.
FROM TARMART REV: The driving force from within to overcome my insecurity has very often been my greatest motivator for a higher degree of success.====JACK: Even the motivators need motivation.
FROM THE KALUMET KING: Zippidy du dah, zippidy ay, my of my what a wonderful day. Jesus is risen, He’s here today! Jesus is risen to show us the way! I sung that to open the worship on Easter morning.====JACK: The choir at our church sang the Hallelujah Chorus. Leave it you to sing Zippidy du dah. I wish I could have been there to hear it...and what followed..
FROM ST PAUL IN ST PAUL: good thoughts for today, Jack. thanks.====JACK: For more good thoughts, read the book...GOD NEVER BLINKS by Regina Brett.
FROM A FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR: Your winning words today really hit home - we have all faced adversity at one time or another and with God's grace we are better for it. Thank you for sharing. ====JACK: "Into each life some rain must fall..." God's grace can be an umbrella.
FROM HAWKEYE GEORGE: Thanx, Jack. Hill is a voice out of the past for me. I've read his books. Have a great day!====JACK: Napoleon, Zig, Earl...those were some good motivational speakers. Can you name some others?====GEORGE: One guy whose name I've forgotten was a "Mr. Positive." He came to the QCs once to speak and published a monthly magazine on the power of positive thinking.====JACK: Could it have been David Boufford? He calls himself Mr. Positive and is a consultant to businesses, helping them to see the glass, not only half-full, but overflowing.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: This reminds me of a Philip Yancy (one of my favorite authors!) QUOTE: "Faith, I've concluded, means believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse." So often what seems like a terrible situation, irons out to be, as you say, a blessing, or gives us new insights. I like "Give time, time!"====JACK: I'm saving that Yancy quote. It's a good one. There are some true stories out there that illustrate the truth of Yancy's words.
FROM JUDY, JUDY: My favorite quote from the movie “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” is: Everything will be all right in the end... if it's not all right then it's not yet the end.====JACK: Thanks for a great follow up quote. Don't be surprised if it shows up one day as Winning Words.
FROM AW IN MICHIGAN: More winning words with plenty of food for thought. Thanks. ====JACK: Food for thought? Yes...Something to chew on and digest and give strength!
FROM DP IN MINNESOTA: I sent this message to my dear daughter who is scheduled for open heart surgery May 1. This week she underwent a procedure to close a hole in her heart, but when that did not work,the next best option will be open heart surgery. Painful for all of us.====JACK: It's amazing what the doctors are able to do these days...things that were impossible a few years ago. But...even more amazing are the workings of God. We trust your daughter into the grace of God, the great physician.
Every adversity carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.” (Nap Hill) I’m reading a book in which the author writes, “My problems have been my greatest gifts.” An unplanned pregnancy, dropping out of school, divorce, cancer. Gifts? She goes on to tell how each of these “bad” events turned out to be “good.” One of the chapters is titled, “Give time time.” It’s happened in my life. And, yours? ;-) Jack
FROM JAYDEE IN MINNESOTA: "ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD FOR THOSE THAT LOVE THE LORD."====JACK: When things don't seem to be working out for the good, some may wonder whether or not the Lord loves them. We must reassure them (and us) that God is love...God is love...God is love.
FROM TARMART REV: The driving force from within to overcome my insecurity has very often been my greatest motivator for a higher degree of success.====JACK: Even the motivators need motivation.
FROM THE KALUMET KING: Zippidy du dah, zippidy ay, my of my what a wonderful day. Jesus is risen, He’s here today! Jesus is risen to show us the way! I sung that to open the worship on Easter morning.====JACK: The choir at our church sang the Hallelujah Chorus. Leave it you to sing Zippidy du dah. I wish I could have been there to hear it...and what followed..
FROM ST PAUL IN ST PAUL: good thoughts for today, Jack. thanks.====JACK: For more good thoughts, read the book...GOD NEVER BLINKS by Regina Brett.
FROM A FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR: Your winning words today really hit home - we have all faced adversity at one time or another and with God's grace we are better for it. Thank you for sharing. ====JACK: "Into each life some rain must fall..." God's grace can be an umbrella.
FROM HAWKEYE GEORGE: Thanx, Jack. Hill is a voice out of the past for me. I've read his books. Have a great day!====JACK: Napoleon, Zig, Earl...those were some good motivational speakers. Can you name some others?====GEORGE: One guy whose name I've forgotten was a "Mr. Positive." He came to the QCs once to speak and published a monthly magazine on the power of positive thinking.====JACK: Could it have been David Boufford? He calls himself Mr. Positive and is a consultant to businesses, helping them to see the glass, not only half-full, but overflowing.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: This reminds me of a Philip Yancy (one of my favorite authors!) QUOTE: "Faith, I've concluded, means believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse." So often what seems like a terrible situation, irons out to be, as you say, a blessing, or gives us new insights. I like "Give time, time!"====JACK: I'm saving that Yancy quote. It's a good one. There are some true stories out there that illustrate the truth of Yancy's words.
FROM JUDY, JUDY: My favorite quote from the movie “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” is: Everything will be all right in the end... if it's not all right then it's not yet the end.====JACK: Thanks for a great follow up quote. Don't be surprised if it shows up one day as Winning Words.
FROM AW IN MICHIGAN: More winning words with plenty of food for thought. Thanks. ====JACK: Food for thought? Yes...Something to chew on and digest and give strength!
FROM DP IN MINNESOTA: I sent this message to my dear daughter who is scheduled for open heart surgery May 1. This week she underwent a procedure to close a hole in her heart, but when that did not work,the next best option will be open heart surgery. Painful for all of us.====JACK: It's amazing what the doctors are able to do these days...things that were impossible a few years ago. But...even more amazing are the workings of God. We trust your daughter into the grace of God, the great physician.
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 4/22/14
“One of the sincerest forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say.” (Bryant McGill) Dale Carnegie, famous for his book, “How to Win Friends etc.”, says that knowing how to listen is important to successful communication. At home, at school, in business…”Let people finish…Don’t butt in…Listen with an open mind.” Today, we’ll each have opportunities to “win friends and influence people.” ;-) Jack
BTW…Did you “listen” to my trash talk yesterday?
FROM HONEST JOHN: Actually the key to debating is to actually listen to the opposition. Bill Clinton is good at that. Romney didn't have a clue.====JACK: In "real" life, I try to see both sides of an issue. I wouldn't be a good debater.====JOHN: Actually, you must be able to see all sides to debate. The closed minded are doomed.====JACK: A lot of people see debating as arguing... arguing in the sense of what goes on in many homes. In that type of situation, people don't seem to be of a mind to actually listen. Just an observation....
FROM TARMART REV: ...good eye contact while listening is the icing on the cake!!====JACK: Multi-tasking is sometimes difficult. Seeing...hearing...thinking. One can get in the way of others. ====REV: So true...blessed when they are all in sync.
FROM EDUCATOR PAUL: I was cycling in Detroit over the weekend with a Detroit cycling friend of mine. We did a couple of laps around Belle Isle. I learned there is an interesting controversy going on regarding the DNR and the Grand Prix. The mission statement of the DNR is "The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is committed to the conservation, protection, management, use and enjoyment of the state's natural and cultural resources for current and future generations." The residents are asking the DNR, how creating an event that produces so much pollution and potential harm to animals and plant life fits that mission statement? That's interesting!!!====JACK: Oh, if it were a perfect world. Sometimes compromises have to be made. In the case of the Island, the DNR is a caretaker for a time. A caretaker's main tool is not a hammer.====PAUL: Still..interesting!====JACK: In your work and in mine, you learn that some things take time and a process of education. "Rome wasn't built in day!"
FROM RI IN BOSTON: Listening not only shows respect...you may actually learn something. Keeping an open mind is important because "there are two sides to every story."====JACK: You can get run over by people going in both directions if you stand in the middle of the road, but sometimes that's the chance you take.
FROM DR J IN OHIO: Happy Earth Day - Every Day!====JACK: I'm finding it VERY difficult to follow my own suggestion...Don't create any garbage on Earth Day.
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: Jesus is always my premier example in being able to listen. And then he can say, after an encounter with someone, "Your faith has made you well." Or something like that, I have to read my Bible some more. Everyone I know, who has taken the Carnegie courses (including my daughter) has always been impressed with the wisdom in them and I'm guessing Jesus and Carnegie must have known each other intimately. Thanks for these WW too.====JACK: I like this hymn verse...
Thank you, Lord, for hearing me.
Thank you, Lord, for knowing who I am.
Thank you, Lord, for seeing me.
It's so easy to get lost these days
In the shuffle and the noise.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: "Today is the oldest you've ever been, and the youngest you'll ever be": We're never to old to really start paying attention to what's said to us, and really communicating. My son pastor Fred has that gift of being totally involved with a person, and asking questions to further his interest and knowledge of their (our) situations. I'm often guilty of "butting in" as you put it, to add something of my own! Will try to be more "respectful", remembering this WW post! ====JACK: Your "butting in" comment reminded me of advice that I got when I was a kid..."Don't be a buttinski!" Have you ever heard that term?
FROM MK AT WBFD: Happy Easter! This is the best time! I really need to listen better I am a butter inner! Especially with soft spoken people who hesitate, I am really working on it! I don’t want anyone to think that I think what I have to say is more important!====FROM JACK: Your wanting to talk doesn't necessarily mean that you're not listening. In fact, it may mean that you are totally involved. The world needs that kind of a person. The world is a better place because of who you are.
FROM GOOD DEBT JON: A simple way to show you are actually listening is to recap or paraphrase what the speaker has said after a few minutes. This lets the person know you are really listening and actually care about what is being said. BTW, I ignored the trash talk yesterday...on purpose. ====JACK: Yes, I know about your advice to recap, but I, like a lot of others, are itching to put in our two cents worth. Recapping takes precious time. Sardonic!====JON Yes most are just waiting for their turn to speak, not really listening. The recap and paraphrase is only used for those relationships you really care about...
FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: Oh how nice it is when you are telling someone an important story and they don't stop you to answer the phone or to give advice. It's hard sometimes not to butt in, however, a good friend listens first and then talks. That's a hard one for me sometimes except with my grandchildren. I can listen to them all day without saying a word. The stories and the things they share are wonderful. PS. Yes, I did listen to your trash talk. I didn't throw anything away yesterday. Nothing at all...well except the things that needed throwing away.====JACK: Sometimes it's necessary to butt (indirectly) in and encourage the talker to get to the point.
FROM EMT SINGS IN MICHIGAN: Actually, I have been trying to think of ways to do more to save the earth. I recycle almost everything: newspapers, cardboard, take hangers back to dry cleaners, etc. However, I struggle in some areas like saving water. I guess I am a work in progress! I will keep trying!====JACK: The earth has been soooo forgiving. I just wonder how much longer before she says, "Enough, already!"
FROM LP IN PLYMOUTH: Today is trash day in our sub. So I've been keeping an eye on what i add to the now-empty bin.====JACK: Yesterday I saw a pickup truck cruising our subdivision streets, stopping occasionally to pick up items waiting for today's trash haulers. Recycling!
“One of the sincerest forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say.” (Bryant McGill) Dale Carnegie, famous for his book, “How to Win Friends etc.”, says that knowing how to listen is important to successful communication. At home, at school, in business…”Let people finish…Don’t butt in…Listen with an open mind.” Today, we’ll each have opportunities to “win friends and influence people.” ;-) Jack
BTW…Did you “listen” to my trash talk yesterday?
FROM HONEST JOHN: Actually the key to debating is to actually listen to the opposition. Bill Clinton is good at that. Romney didn't have a clue.====JACK: In "real" life, I try to see both sides of an issue. I wouldn't be a good debater.====JOHN: Actually, you must be able to see all sides to debate. The closed minded are doomed.====JACK: A lot of people see debating as arguing... arguing in the sense of what goes on in many homes. In that type of situation, people don't seem to be of a mind to actually listen. Just an observation....
FROM TARMART REV: ...good eye contact while listening is the icing on the cake!!====JACK: Multi-tasking is sometimes difficult. Seeing...hearing...thinking. One can get in the way of others. ====REV: So true...blessed when they are all in sync.
FROM EDUCATOR PAUL: I was cycling in Detroit over the weekend with a Detroit cycling friend of mine. We did a couple of laps around Belle Isle. I learned there is an interesting controversy going on regarding the DNR and the Grand Prix. The mission statement of the DNR is "The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is committed to the conservation, protection, management, use and enjoyment of the state's natural and cultural resources for current and future generations." The residents are asking the DNR, how creating an event that produces so much pollution and potential harm to animals and plant life fits that mission statement? That's interesting!!!====JACK: Oh, if it were a perfect world. Sometimes compromises have to be made. In the case of the Island, the DNR is a caretaker for a time. A caretaker's main tool is not a hammer.====PAUL: Still..interesting!====JACK: In your work and in mine, you learn that some things take time and a process of education. "Rome wasn't built in day!"
FROM RI IN BOSTON: Listening not only shows respect...you may actually learn something. Keeping an open mind is important because "there are two sides to every story."====JACK: You can get run over by people going in both directions if you stand in the middle of the road, but sometimes that's the chance you take.
FROM DR J IN OHIO: Happy Earth Day - Every Day!====JACK: I'm finding it VERY difficult to follow my own suggestion...Don't create any garbage on Earth Day.
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: Jesus is always my premier example in being able to listen. And then he can say, after an encounter with someone, "Your faith has made you well." Or something like that, I have to read my Bible some more. Everyone I know, who has taken the Carnegie courses (including my daughter) has always been impressed with the wisdom in them and I'm guessing Jesus and Carnegie must have known each other intimately. Thanks for these WW too.====JACK: I like this hymn verse...
Thank you, Lord, for hearing me.
Thank you, Lord, for knowing who I am.
Thank you, Lord, for seeing me.
It's so easy to get lost these days
In the shuffle and the noise.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: "Today is the oldest you've ever been, and the youngest you'll ever be": We're never to old to really start paying attention to what's said to us, and really communicating. My son pastor Fred has that gift of being totally involved with a person, and asking questions to further his interest and knowledge of their (our) situations. I'm often guilty of "butting in" as you put it, to add something of my own! Will try to be more "respectful", remembering this WW post! ====JACK: Your "butting in" comment reminded me of advice that I got when I was a kid..."Don't be a buttinski!" Have you ever heard that term?
FROM MK AT WBFD: Happy Easter! This is the best time! I really need to listen better I am a butter inner! Especially with soft spoken people who hesitate, I am really working on it! I don’t want anyone to think that I think what I have to say is more important!====FROM JACK: Your wanting to talk doesn't necessarily mean that you're not listening. In fact, it may mean that you are totally involved. The world needs that kind of a person. The world is a better place because of who you are.
FROM GOOD DEBT JON: A simple way to show you are actually listening is to recap or paraphrase what the speaker has said after a few minutes. This lets the person know you are really listening and actually care about what is being said. BTW, I ignored the trash talk yesterday...on purpose. ====JACK: Yes, I know about your advice to recap, but I, like a lot of others, are itching to put in our two cents worth. Recapping takes precious time. Sardonic!====JON Yes most are just waiting for their turn to speak, not really listening. The recap and paraphrase is only used for those relationships you really care about...
FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: Oh how nice it is when you are telling someone an important story and they don't stop you to answer the phone or to give advice. It's hard sometimes not to butt in, however, a good friend listens first and then talks. That's a hard one for me sometimes except with my grandchildren. I can listen to them all day without saying a word. The stories and the things they share are wonderful. PS. Yes, I did listen to your trash talk. I didn't throw anything away yesterday. Nothing at all...well except the things that needed throwing away.====JACK: Sometimes it's necessary to butt (indirectly) in and encourage the talker to get to the point.
FROM EMT SINGS IN MICHIGAN: Actually, I have been trying to think of ways to do more to save the earth. I recycle almost everything: newspapers, cardboard, take hangers back to dry cleaners, etc. However, I struggle in some areas like saving water. I guess I am a work in progress! I will keep trying!====JACK: The earth has been soooo forgiving. I just wonder how much longer before she says, "Enough, already!"
FROM LP IN PLYMOUTH: Today is trash day in our sub. So I've been keeping an eye on what i add to the now-empty bin.====JACK: Yesterday I saw a pickup truck cruising our subdivision streets, stopping occasionally to pick up items waiting for today's trash haulers. Recycling!
Monday, April 21, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 4/21/14
“Let’s talk trash!” (T-shirt Slogan) A study has shown that each American creates 4.5# of garbage every day…close to a ton a year. Tomorrow is Earth Day, and the suggestion has been made...to see if you of can go the whole day without creating any garbage. I’m going to try; how about you? Maybe we should put a reminder note by the waste basket. There are many ways to protect the environment. Do you have any ideas? ;-) Jack
FROM HONEST JOHN: I remember as a kid that we never had to carry trash out to the curb. ====JACK: Not even the clinkers?
FROM TARMART REV: I drive by our "trash site" often north of Willmar . . . maintained well and many would not even recognize it as such . . . but I'm haunted often by seeing the world's garbage throughout the day at Wal-Mart, Target and other fast-food eateries. The multi-multiple bags and stacks of paper products, flattened cardboard boxes, plastic containers and such things as amount of toilet paper, toweling and the like that pass by sight everyday. I would suppose if we would eat at home, wash our dishes and glasses instead of eating out would put a major dent in some of this . . . of course put numerable fast-food places out of businesses as well. Overwhelming!! 0:-/====JACK: Do you use throw-away plastic glasses for communion at your church?====REV: Yes, Sir...4-5 times a year...I do miss our once traditional monthly times around the communion table... however, Good Friday service found us walking to the front taking a piece of bread and dipping it into a chalice before partaking.====JACK: Do you think that it's reasonable to suggest that churches stop using throw-away glasses in order to protect the environment? Is life a matter of compromises?====REV: Would "eatable bread-like cups" holding the juice or wine take away the symbolism that is needed? ====JACK: WWJD?
FROM NORM'S MILFORD BLOG: Thanks for the inspiration - http://normsmilfordblog.com/2014/04/21/three-little-words-that-can-change-your-life-lets-talk-trash/
====JACK: I have a feeling that "no trash day" tomorrow will be easier said than done. But, isn't that why our planet continues to be increasingly polluted?
FROM BEECEE IN MICHIGAN: That'll be a tough one!====JACK: Usually doing the things that are worthwhile take some effort.
FROM RI IN BOSTON: The only way I'm going to be able to go a whole day without creating garbage is that I'll postpone my batch until the next day. Another means of resisting garbage accumulation is to do nothing all day long. The T-shirt encouraging people with "Let's talk trash" is overkill...just listening to today's music, tuning in to rap, or overhearing conversation in a variety of public places will provide all the "talking trash" one could hope for. For Earth Day I shall plant a tree.====JACK: "Noise" can be another kind of pollution. Creative people can think of creative ways to cut down on pollution. How about burying coffee grounds and banana peels?====RI: Your suggestions are good, and I agree with you that creative people can come up with more ways to reduce the problem. Nevertheless, putting it bluntly, to get rid of trash we need to get rid of people. ====JACK: Haven't you seen the ubiquitous graffiti, "God Don't Make No Trash!"?====RI: Your WW today created quite a response. Your comments about trash pollution made me think again about an article in The Boston Globe about how we survive in the event of a global disaster. I thought you might like to read the piece. The following appeared on Bostonglobe.com:
Headline: Want to reboot civilization? What you’ll need - The Boston Globe
Date: Apr 21, 2014 When you’re looking down the barrel of a civilization-erasing event, you have to plan for a world where humanity has lost everything. Canned goods might be nice, but you’d better have brought along a can opener—or know how to make one. What information should we leave survivors? And how do we store it so they can actually make use of it? In recent years, these questions have jumped onto the research agendas of a range of thinkers, from physicists to philosophers to agricultural engineers to librarians, who are considering how to curate and preserve caches of the most useful and important information, tools, and biological samples from today’s world.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2014/04/19/want-reboot-civilization-what-you-need/fReMGOEq2ZkgZ8WPu3xLCL/story.html?s_campaign=8315
FROM PH IN MINNESOTA: i just read the other day that the Mall of America creates over 26 tons of trash a day!! the good news is that they recycle about 70% of it. and they are working to do better. 440 stores can create a lot of trash i guess. hope you had a good Easter.====JACK: I read that NYC creates enough trash each day to fill the Empire State Building. Some churches join the recycling movement by having rummage sales.
FROM SPARTAN JS: Recycling does not count as garbage, correct? I try to recycle or reuse just about everything.====JACK: Earth Day should be easier for you than for the average polluter. I remember the difference a 10-cent can deposit meant for the landscape. I also remember when there was no curbside recycling and everything was considered garbage. But, more can be done.
FROM GUSTIE MARLYS: I can't eat the rind of my grapefruit--or the grounds of my coffee. ====JACK: But you could start a compost pile...or just dig them into your garden.====MARLYS: I live in a townhouse--no garden.====JACK: Sneak out at night and dig a hole under one of the shrubs.
FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER: Stay in bed.====JACK: Your get-up-and-go has gotten-up-and-went.
FROM DC IN KANSAS: And how about "talking trash"? How about more than one day for that?====JACK: It would be pretty quiet on Jayhawkers' basketball floor.
FROM DAIRYLAND DONNA: We bought a large recycling container at Home Depot and every week have more in that container that our regular trash container. You just need to think before you throw things away.====JACK: As long as the recycling bin contains more than the trash cans, you're on the right track.
FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: Sure, I will try it. We recycle most of our trash now anyway. Over by Richmond there is a huge dump. It is hundreds of feet high. Most of the garbage comes from Canada. They pay to have it shipped over here. Can you imagine that????====JACK: The privy was one of the original ways of composting.====JUDY: Yep, everything went down the hole. One of the stories I heard from my Aunt Pat was how my dad (her brother) threw her dolly down the hole when he got mad at her!
FROM BBC IN ILLINOIS: Great one! We are committed to recycling and the more you recycle the more you realize how much we consume. Have you ever read Moby Duck? It’s the great/sad story of a H.S. teacher who goes in search of 200,000 little rubber ducks that were dumped into the ocean in 1992 when there was a tropical storm. He visits the ocean gyres that they’ve talked about last month (after the plane crash) and how much plastic is in the ocean – both whole and in tiny fractions of pieces…very frustrating.====JACK: No, I haven't read Moby Duck. I did read about all of the Tsunami debris that has washed up on the shore. I think that some communities dump their garbage into the ocean. Even China is beginning to realize that they can't continue to dump pollutants into the air. The old song takes on new meaning, "When will they ever learn...?"====BBC: The sad/interesting thing about 400 pp Moby Duck was that recycling almost doesn’t matter. The amount of plastic produced is so immense that unless production is virtually stopped, it does not matter how much we recycle or reuse. There are too many billion people on the earth to continue making more of a product that does not biodegradeWe’ve been reusing and recycling for years but are going to purchase permanent (glass) bottles to completely stop wasting…I hope.====JACK: "At this time" there appears to be no solution. But, given time...things happen.
FROM DR J IN OHIO: NASA invites you -- and everyone else on the planet -- to take part in a worldwide celebration of Earth Day this year with the agency's #GlobalSelfie event. On Earth Day NASA is asking you to step outside and take a picture of yourself holding a piece of paper telling NASA where you are located. NASA has provided templates in more than 2 dozen languages. At GLOBE, we have added the GLOBE logo so that you can identify with the GLOBE Community. Find your form on the GLOBE website, print it, and use it in your selfie. Next, post your selfie to social media. Your #GlobalSelfie will be used to create a mosaic image of Earth -- a new "Blue Marble" built image-by-image with your photos.====JACK: Lake Superior State Univ in the UP publishes an annual list of words that should be eliminated from the English language, This year, selfie was on the list.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: Like many others, recycling of paper, plastic bags, cans and bottles, has reduced my weekly trash to one small bag, except when I have a houseful of company! But as one blogger said (in frustration, I"m sure), "we need to get rid of some people"...Observing some "pigs" on the highway,, with trash streaming out windows, and in our parks, where debris is often left everywhere but in containers provided,is so exasperating! But we who are responsible, will do our darndest to honor the environment and beautify it because we CARE!====JACK: Let's celebrate what has been accomplished in our lifetime! Count them. Name them one by one. See what has been done.
FROM FACEBOOK LIZ: i am conscious of this every day.====JACK: The world thanks you!
FROM TAMPA SHIRL: To stop all littering would be a good start. One year we were in DC the day after earth day and you would not believe all of the trash on the national mall. It was like do as a day, not what do. Turning off the lights and recycling mostly everything, by putting it in the recycling bin or giving it to someone who can use it.====JACK: Earth Day trashers...How ironic!
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: Today's WW help. Last fall I took a Coursera Internet Course, "Subsistence Marketplace" and the professor showed a lot of slides and videos of places all over the world where people are living at a subsistence level. You would think, having not much money, there would not be much garbage but there were plastic bags and bottles, etc., etc., etc. all over their landscape too. Plastic is so cheap and convenient. But, just as there was a time "before plastic", hopefully someone will invent something better and there will be a time "after plastic" and hopefully there will still be people around then too. Even, if I am fatigued thinking about this subject, did enjoy reading the various perspectives on your blog and realizing that people are cogitating and some doing something about this problem.====JACK: I, too, was surprised at the amount of "trash talk" today. But tomorrow is the day when talk has to turn into action.
“Let’s talk trash!” (T-shirt Slogan) A study has shown that each American creates 4.5# of garbage every day…close to a ton a year. Tomorrow is Earth Day, and the suggestion has been made...to see if you of can go the whole day without creating any garbage. I’m going to try; how about you? Maybe we should put a reminder note by the waste basket. There are many ways to protect the environment. Do you have any ideas? ;-) Jack
FROM HONEST JOHN: I remember as a kid that we never had to carry trash out to the curb. ====JACK: Not even the clinkers?
FROM TARMART REV: I drive by our "trash site" often north of Willmar . . . maintained well and many would not even recognize it as such . . . but I'm haunted often by seeing the world's garbage throughout the day at Wal-Mart, Target and other fast-food eateries. The multi-multiple bags and stacks of paper products, flattened cardboard boxes, plastic containers and such things as amount of toilet paper, toweling and the like that pass by sight everyday. I would suppose if we would eat at home, wash our dishes and glasses instead of eating out would put a major dent in some of this . . . of course put numerable fast-food places out of businesses as well. Overwhelming!! 0:-/====JACK: Do you use throw-away plastic glasses for communion at your church?====REV: Yes, Sir...4-5 times a year...I do miss our once traditional monthly times around the communion table... however, Good Friday service found us walking to the front taking a piece of bread and dipping it into a chalice before partaking.====JACK: Do you think that it's reasonable to suggest that churches stop using throw-away glasses in order to protect the environment? Is life a matter of compromises?====REV: Would "eatable bread-like cups" holding the juice or wine take away the symbolism that is needed? ====JACK: WWJD?
FROM NORM'S MILFORD BLOG: Thanks for the inspiration - http://normsmilfordblog.com/2014/04/21/three-little-words-that-can-change-your-life-lets-talk-trash/
====JACK: I have a feeling that "no trash day" tomorrow will be easier said than done. But, isn't that why our planet continues to be increasingly polluted?
FROM BEECEE IN MICHIGAN: That'll be a tough one!====JACK: Usually doing the things that are worthwhile take some effort.
FROM RI IN BOSTON: The only way I'm going to be able to go a whole day without creating garbage is that I'll postpone my batch until the next day. Another means of resisting garbage accumulation is to do nothing all day long. The T-shirt encouraging people with "Let's talk trash" is overkill...just listening to today's music, tuning in to rap, or overhearing conversation in a variety of public places will provide all the "talking trash" one could hope for. For Earth Day I shall plant a tree.====JACK: "Noise" can be another kind of pollution. Creative people can think of creative ways to cut down on pollution. How about burying coffee grounds and banana peels?====RI: Your suggestions are good, and I agree with you that creative people can come up with more ways to reduce the problem. Nevertheless, putting it bluntly, to get rid of trash we need to get rid of people. ====JACK: Haven't you seen the ubiquitous graffiti, "God Don't Make No Trash!"?====RI: Your WW today created quite a response. Your comments about trash pollution made me think again about an article in The Boston Globe about how we survive in the event of a global disaster. I thought you might like to read the piece. The following appeared on Bostonglobe.com:
Headline: Want to reboot civilization? What you’ll need - The Boston Globe
Date: Apr 21, 2014 When you’re looking down the barrel of a civilization-erasing event, you have to plan for a world where humanity has lost everything. Canned goods might be nice, but you’d better have brought along a can opener—or know how to make one. What information should we leave survivors? And how do we store it so they can actually make use of it? In recent years, these questions have jumped onto the research agendas of a range of thinkers, from physicists to philosophers to agricultural engineers to librarians, who are considering how to curate and preserve caches of the most useful and important information, tools, and biological samples from today’s world.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2014/04/19/want-reboot-civilization-what-you-need/fReMGOEq2ZkgZ8WPu3xLCL/story.html?s_campaign=8315
FROM PH IN MINNESOTA: i just read the other day that the Mall of America creates over 26 tons of trash a day!! the good news is that they recycle about 70% of it. and they are working to do better. 440 stores can create a lot of trash i guess. hope you had a good Easter.====JACK: I read that NYC creates enough trash each day to fill the Empire State Building. Some churches join the recycling movement by having rummage sales.
FROM SPARTAN JS: Recycling does not count as garbage, correct? I try to recycle or reuse just about everything.====JACK: Earth Day should be easier for you than for the average polluter. I remember the difference a 10-cent can deposit meant for the landscape. I also remember when there was no curbside recycling and everything was considered garbage. But, more can be done.
FROM GUSTIE MARLYS: I can't eat the rind of my grapefruit--or the grounds of my coffee. ====JACK: But you could start a compost pile...or just dig them into your garden.====MARLYS: I live in a townhouse--no garden.====JACK: Sneak out at night and dig a hole under one of the shrubs.
FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER: Stay in bed.====JACK: Your get-up-and-go has gotten-up-and-went.
FROM DC IN KANSAS: And how about "talking trash"? How about more than one day for that?====JACK: It would be pretty quiet on Jayhawkers' basketball floor.
FROM DAIRYLAND DONNA: We bought a large recycling container at Home Depot and every week have more in that container that our regular trash container. You just need to think before you throw things away.====JACK: As long as the recycling bin contains more than the trash cans, you're on the right track.
FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: Sure, I will try it. We recycle most of our trash now anyway. Over by Richmond there is a huge dump. It is hundreds of feet high. Most of the garbage comes from Canada. They pay to have it shipped over here. Can you imagine that????====JACK: The privy was one of the original ways of composting.====JUDY: Yep, everything went down the hole. One of the stories I heard from my Aunt Pat was how my dad (her brother) threw her dolly down the hole when he got mad at her!
FROM BBC IN ILLINOIS: Great one! We are committed to recycling and the more you recycle the more you realize how much we consume. Have you ever read Moby Duck? It’s the great/sad story of a H.S. teacher who goes in search of 200,000 little rubber ducks that were dumped into the ocean in 1992 when there was a tropical storm. He visits the ocean gyres that they’ve talked about last month (after the plane crash) and how much plastic is in the ocean – both whole and in tiny fractions of pieces…very frustrating.====JACK: No, I haven't read Moby Duck. I did read about all of the Tsunami debris that has washed up on the shore. I think that some communities dump their garbage into the ocean. Even China is beginning to realize that they can't continue to dump pollutants into the air. The old song takes on new meaning, "When will they ever learn...?"====BBC: The sad/interesting thing about 400 pp Moby Duck was that recycling almost doesn’t matter. The amount of plastic produced is so immense that unless production is virtually stopped, it does not matter how much we recycle or reuse. There are too many billion people on the earth to continue making more of a product that does not biodegradeWe’ve been reusing and recycling for years but are going to purchase permanent (glass) bottles to completely stop wasting…I hope.====JACK: "At this time" there appears to be no solution. But, given time...things happen.
FROM DR J IN OHIO: NASA invites you -- and everyone else on the planet -- to take part in a worldwide celebration of Earth Day this year with the agency's #GlobalSelfie event. On Earth Day NASA is asking you to step outside and take a picture of yourself holding a piece of paper telling NASA where you are located. NASA has provided templates in more than 2 dozen languages. At GLOBE, we have added the GLOBE logo so that you can identify with the GLOBE Community. Find your form on the GLOBE website, print it, and use it in your selfie. Next, post your selfie to social media. Your #GlobalSelfie will be used to create a mosaic image of Earth -- a new "Blue Marble" built image-by-image with your photos.====JACK: Lake Superior State Univ in the UP publishes an annual list of words that should be eliminated from the English language, This year, selfie was on the list.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: Like many others, recycling of paper, plastic bags, cans and bottles, has reduced my weekly trash to one small bag, except when I have a houseful of company! But as one blogger said (in frustration, I"m sure), "we need to get rid of some people"...Observing some "pigs" on the highway,, with trash streaming out windows, and in our parks, where debris is often left everywhere but in containers provided,is so exasperating! But we who are responsible, will do our darndest to honor the environment and beautify it because we CARE!====JACK: Let's celebrate what has been accomplished in our lifetime! Count them. Name them one by one. See what has been done.
FROM FACEBOOK LIZ: i am conscious of this every day.====JACK: The world thanks you!
FROM TAMPA SHIRL: To stop all littering would be a good start. One year we were in DC the day after earth day and you would not believe all of the trash on the national mall. It was like do as a day, not what do. Turning off the lights and recycling mostly everything, by putting it in the recycling bin or giving it to someone who can use it.====JACK: Earth Day trashers...How ironic!
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: Today's WW help. Last fall I took a Coursera Internet Course, "Subsistence Marketplace" and the professor showed a lot of slides and videos of places all over the world where people are living at a subsistence level. You would think, having not much money, there would not be much garbage but there were plastic bags and bottles, etc., etc., etc. all over their landscape too. Plastic is so cheap and convenient. But, just as there was a time "before plastic", hopefully someone will invent something better and there will be a time "after plastic" and hopefully there will still be people around then too. Even, if I am fatigued thinking about this subject, did enjoy reading the various perspectives on your blog and realizing that people are cogitating and some doing something about this problem.====JACK: I, too, was surprised at the amount of "trash talk" today. But tomorrow is the day when talk has to turn into action.
Friday, April 18, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 4/18/14
“I’m really ready for Easter!” (Seminary Student) What he really meant was that he was ready for things to change. He was ready for a break. The season of Lent has seen enough tragedies…crises…bad news! I’m ready for some good news. I need a break. I’m ready for good music, flowers, alleluias. I’m ready for Easter! The Easter event means that the bad can/did/will change to good…really! Hang on to that hope! ;-) Jack
FROM EDUCATOR PAUL: Once again you made me remember and think a little bit. I once had a great conversation with an orthodox jewish friend of mine. I asked him why does he go through all of this every Friday night through Saturday? Was it this overwhelming desire to please G'd? His answer to me was very simple. He told me that by observing "Shabbos", he was forced to take a break and clear his mind of all weekly activities. The more he adhered to the rituals, the better the break. That had some clarity for me.====JACK: "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy," is a command for all believers, Christian and Jewish. "To keep it holy" is a matter of interpretation. Our Holy Days give us a chance to rest and reflect.
FROM LP IN PLYMOUTH: Ready for Easter music? Here is my Easter version of the song "Happy" that I shared with you before. (http://24hoursofhappy.com/). See if you can sing the new version. I'll see if I can record our Sunday School kids signing it!====JACK: When I tried to play it, the computer called for a new add-on which disabled something that I think I needed. But God is good, and I think that the problem can be remedied. Such is life!
FROM JE IN MICHIGAN: Happy Easter Jack! I'm ready to see my red bud in bloom! God bless you on this Holy Good Friday!====JACK: Isn't it amazing, how the trees and flowers "know" when we need to see them bloom? It happens every year.
FROM JB ON THE EASTSIDE: Great message Jack. Happy Easter.====JACK: Easter has a special meaning for those who have lost loved ones...a day for thanks and hope and faith.
FROM TARMART REV: Ready for Easter in Minnesota . . . long and hard winter this year!! ====JACK: A hard winter for some in more ways than one. But given time, and the grace of God, both the snow and the tears will melt.====REV: Found that to be true over the past years as well.. .sad memorial service at church tomorrow for the family of the young wife and mother...looking forward to Sunday and spring.====JACK: Those sermons are difficult, but made somewhat easier because it's on the eve of Easter. Even "Jesus wept" at the death of his friend, Lazarus.
FROM JAYDEE IN MINNESOTA: SURREXIT!====JACK: Is that Greek, Hebrew or Swedish?
====JAYDEE: LATIN---RESPONSE VERE SURREXIT! HAPPY EASTER TO YOU. ====JACK: What a great Easter greeting. Hanging out with those "high church" guys paid off for you, didn't it? "ANCORA IMPARO," as Michelangelo once said.
FROM DOCTOR JUDY: Saw this last nite on Facebook. It's really beautiful. When I saw your Winning Words this morning, I knew I should send it to you. ENJOY!!
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=guhr0Vh2hE0
====JACK: Very Good! I like the word, Hallelujah. From the Hebrew, "Praise the Lord!" ====JUDY: And I love that it was written by Leonard Cohen -- gotta be Jewish. Amazing isn't it?!
FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: There is something so very special about Resurrection Sunday! It hales flowers, warmth, baby birds, sunshine and a Risen Lord! Hallelujah! He has risen!====JACK: I like the term, Resurrection Sunday.
“I’m really ready for Easter!” (Seminary Student) What he really meant was that he was ready for things to change. He was ready for a break. The season of Lent has seen enough tragedies…crises…bad news! I’m ready for some good news. I need a break. I’m ready for good music, flowers, alleluias. I’m ready for Easter! The Easter event means that the bad can/did/will change to good…really! Hang on to that hope! ;-) Jack
FROM EDUCATOR PAUL: Once again you made me remember and think a little bit. I once had a great conversation with an orthodox jewish friend of mine. I asked him why does he go through all of this every Friday night through Saturday? Was it this overwhelming desire to please G'd? His answer to me was very simple. He told me that by observing "Shabbos", he was forced to take a break and clear his mind of all weekly activities. The more he adhered to the rituals, the better the break. That had some clarity for me.====JACK: "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy," is a command for all believers, Christian and Jewish. "To keep it holy" is a matter of interpretation. Our Holy Days give us a chance to rest and reflect.
FROM LP IN PLYMOUTH: Ready for Easter music? Here is my Easter version of the song "Happy" that I shared with you before. (http://24hoursofhappy.com/). See if you can sing the new version. I'll see if I can record our Sunday School kids signing it!====JACK: When I tried to play it, the computer called for a new add-on which disabled something that I think I needed. But God is good, and I think that the problem can be remedied. Such is life!
FROM JE IN MICHIGAN: Happy Easter Jack! I'm ready to see my red bud in bloom! God bless you on this Holy Good Friday!====JACK: Isn't it amazing, how the trees and flowers "know" when we need to see them bloom? It happens every year.
FROM JB ON THE EASTSIDE: Great message Jack. Happy Easter.====JACK: Easter has a special meaning for those who have lost loved ones...a day for thanks and hope and faith.
FROM TARMART REV: Ready for Easter in Minnesota . . . long and hard winter this year!! ====JACK: A hard winter for some in more ways than one. But given time, and the grace of God, both the snow and the tears will melt.====REV: Found that to be true over the past years as well.. .sad memorial service at church tomorrow for the family of the young wife and mother...looking forward to Sunday and spring.====JACK: Those sermons are difficult, but made somewhat easier because it's on the eve of Easter. Even "Jesus wept" at the death of his friend, Lazarus.
FROM JAYDEE IN MINNESOTA: SURREXIT!====JACK: Is that Greek, Hebrew or Swedish?
====JAYDEE: LATIN---RESPONSE VERE SURREXIT! HAPPY EASTER TO YOU. ====JACK: What a great Easter greeting. Hanging out with those "high church" guys paid off for you, didn't it? "ANCORA IMPARO," as Michelangelo once said.
FROM DOCTOR JUDY: Saw this last nite on Facebook. It's really beautiful. When I saw your Winning Words this morning, I knew I should send it to you. ENJOY!!
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=guhr0Vh2hE0
====JACK: Very Good! I like the word, Hallelujah. From the Hebrew, "Praise the Lord!" ====JUDY: And I love that it was written by Leonard Cohen -- gotta be Jewish. Amazing isn't it?!
FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: There is something so very special about Resurrection Sunday! It hales flowers, warmth, baby birds, sunshine and a Risen Lord! Hallelujah! He has risen!====JACK: I like the term, Resurrection Sunday.
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 4/17/14
“Step by step and the thing is done.” (Charles Atlas) I first became acquainted with Charles Atlas through a comic book ad which showed a bully kicking sand on a scrawny 97# weakling. “You don’t want to be like this!” For the cost of a 3-cent stamp, Atlas offered a body-building program. I never tried it, but, as a kid, I did dream. Muscle development, weight loss, body conditioning…it’s a step by step process. ;-) Jack
FROM JAYDEE IN MINNESOTA: I SAW THE SAME AD. MAYBE I'M ALIVE TODAY BECAUSE I DIDN'T USE DYNAMIC TENSION. THERES A THEORY THAT SO MANY BASEBALL PITCHERS HAVE TOMMY JOHN SURGERY TODAY BECAUSE OF WEIGHT TRAINING. ALSO FOOTBALL PLAYERS BALLOON IN SIZE AND THEN LATER HAVE HEART AND ORTHOPEDIC PROBLEMS. MODERATION IN ALL THINGS.====JACK: As I recall, moderation was out the window when you played basketball or touch football.
FROM HONEST JOHN: I grew up on eleven acres...mowed three of them every week, had a half acre garden, cut down trees with an axe, trimmed the vineyard, etc....didn't need Charles Atlas stuff...had enuf "workout" stuff to do already.====JACK: I'll bet no bully dared kick sand in your face, either. The mower you used was probably one of those that you pushed, too.
FROM INDY GENIE: Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow!====JACK: That's a new one for me. I've heard it put this way: "Inch by inch...Anything's a cinch." Both work!
FROM RI IN BOSTON: Back when we were kids, comic books had two recurring ads...one was that Charles Atlas body-builder program, and the other was the Johnson Smith novelty catalog. If you sent for it, the catalog came in a 5" x 5" format that was about an inch thick, and it was crammed with a thousand or more whimsical objects, novel toys, and practical joke resources. I believe the company was headquartered in Detroit for quite a while. The catalog was a kids' source of amusement just to read and imagine the possibilities.====JACK: I ordered something from one of those books....It was a little stick, about 1/4" long, coated with a special substance. I put it into one of my dad's cigarettes and watched it explode when he lit it. II made sure that he put the right end in his mouth.
FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: Our lives are step by step programs aren't they? First baby steps, than bigger and bigger steps all through our lives. It is an ongoing process and we must stop and smell the roses by the wayside.====JACK: Finally, shuffling steps. Everything's OK, so long as we're "Stepping in the Light," as the Gospel song goes.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: AH YES, I ALSO REMEMBER THAT AD IN MANY MAGAZINES PROBABLY CHANGED QUITE A FEW LIVES! REMINDS ME OF DANNY KAYE SINGING THE "INCHWORM SONG" IN HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON: "INCHWORM, INCHWORM, MEASURING THE MARIGOLDS, YOU AND YOUR ARITHMATIC WILL PROBABLY GO FAR, INCHWORM, INCHWORM, MEASURING THE MARIGOLDS, SEEMS TO ME YOU'D STOP AND SEE HOW BEAUTIFUL THEY ARE!" SPRING HAS SPRUNG, LET'S NOT BE TOO BUSY "INCHING" ALONG IN OUR LIFE'S GOALS, TO STOP AND SMELL AND SEE THE FLOWERS!!====JACK: AA recognizes the importance of step by step...with their 12-Step program toward recovery.
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: I've been reading books by an amazing author, Marie de Hennezel. "The Warmth of the Heart Prevents Your Body from Rusting." She has a fascinating thesis--that us baby boomers have the best opportunity of any generation. Far from bewailing our gradual loss of faculties and possibly descendence to being completely dependent on others we can start--at any age really-to accept age and lead others counter-culturally away from an obsession with youth and fear of aging. But you don't do this instantaneously but acquire the insight and capability step-by-step. Funny to muse on a possible outcome of our current culture that people have been "let down" by not having sufficient "teachers" to help us become old in a thankful and gracious and loving way.====JACK: It's my observation that people, in general, don't want to learn how to be old (enjoy aging). Aging is looked upon as a negative. Like with McArthur, most just want to fade away...with no pain. ====SHARON: Yes, that's the problem. Old age is looked at very negatively. There are actually other cultures which value some qualities that old age can bring, for example more appreciation for interdependence and community. We're sometimes so used to fighting against such things--because we erroneously believe they restrain us or make our lives restricted in negative ways that we can't even imagine there can be joy in "letting go" "living in a different way of trusting and relating." Personally, I would rather live out my end days with a Marie de Hennezel attitude than the attitude you have observed among so many, and I have observed too. I think that, in the USA old age is sad, not because being old is sad but because our fragmented and broken society and institutions lead to more difficult relationships than need be. Maybe I want to be a Pollyanna about it all--
FROM GOOD DEBT JON: If I recall you send in for information and get a little bit then enroll in a course of paying a few dollars and get a program every few weeks. Seems I spent a few dollars, still didn’t get the girl, and got beat up. I do think Atlas (or his friends) were expert marketers. I learned a little. A little more info: Here is the scoop on Atlas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Atlas
Here is his ad: https://www.flickr.com/photos/paxtonholley/4531752344/ The Wiki page says still selling as of 2010….!====JACK: Charles Atlas was originally Angelo Siciliano. Who would buy body building advice from a guy named Siciliano? Atlas can lift the world above his head.
FROM TRIHARDER: "Every long journey ... " Yes, it's in a lot of processes. A long trip, a step toward graduation, weight loss, conditioning, building a business, ... -- very rarely does it happen all at once.====JACK: Some people can't stand the long wait that it sometimes takes for answered prayer. "Dear God, give me patience. And, I want it right now!"
“Step by step and the thing is done.” (Charles Atlas) I first became acquainted with Charles Atlas through a comic book ad which showed a bully kicking sand on a scrawny 97# weakling. “You don’t want to be like this!” For the cost of a 3-cent stamp, Atlas offered a body-building program. I never tried it, but, as a kid, I did dream. Muscle development, weight loss, body conditioning…it’s a step by step process. ;-) Jack
FROM JAYDEE IN MINNESOTA: I SAW THE SAME AD. MAYBE I'M ALIVE TODAY BECAUSE I DIDN'T USE DYNAMIC TENSION. THERES A THEORY THAT SO MANY BASEBALL PITCHERS HAVE TOMMY JOHN SURGERY TODAY BECAUSE OF WEIGHT TRAINING. ALSO FOOTBALL PLAYERS BALLOON IN SIZE AND THEN LATER HAVE HEART AND ORTHOPEDIC PROBLEMS. MODERATION IN ALL THINGS.====JACK: As I recall, moderation was out the window when you played basketball or touch football.
FROM HONEST JOHN: I grew up on eleven acres...mowed three of them every week, had a half acre garden, cut down trees with an axe, trimmed the vineyard, etc....didn't need Charles Atlas stuff...had enuf "workout" stuff to do already.====JACK: I'll bet no bully dared kick sand in your face, either. The mower you used was probably one of those that you pushed, too.
FROM INDY GENIE: Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow!====JACK: That's a new one for me. I've heard it put this way: "Inch by inch...Anything's a cinch." Both work!
FROM RI IN BOSTON: Back when we were kids, comic books had two recurring ads...one was that Charles Atlas body-builder program, and the other was the Johnson Smith novelty catalog. If you sent for it, the catalog came in a 5" x 5" format that was about an inch thick, and it was crammed with a thousand or more whimsical objects, novel toys, and practical joke resources. I believe the company was headquartered in Detroit for quite a while. The catalog was a kids' source of amusement just to read and imagine the possibilities.====JACK: I ordered something from one of those books....It was a little stick, about 1/4" long, coated with a special substance. I put it into one of my dad's cigarettes and watched it explode when he lit it. II made sure that he put the right end in his mouth.
FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: Our lives are step by step programs aren't they? First baby steps, than bigger and bigger steps all through our lives. It is an ongoing process and we must stop and smell the roses by the wayside.====JACK: Finally, shuffling steps. Everything's OK, so long as we're "Stepping in the Light," as the Gospel song goes.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: AH YES, I ALSO REMEMBER THAT AD IN MANY MAGAZINES PROBABLY CHANGED QUITE A FEW LIVES! REMINDS ME OF DANNY KAYE SINGING THE "INCHWORM SONG" IN HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON: "INCHWORM, INCHWORM, MEASURING THE MARIGOLDS, YOU AND YOUR ARITHMATIC WILL PROBABLY GO FAR, INCHWORM, INCHWORM, MEASURING THE MARIGOLDS, SEEMS TO ME YOU'D STOP AND SEE HOW BEAUTIFUL THEY ARE!" SPRING HAS SPRUNG, LET'S NOT BE TOO BUSY "INCHING" ALONG IN OUR LIFE'S GOALS, TO STOP AND SMELL AND SEE THE FLOWERS!!====JACK: AA recognizes the importance of step by step...with their 12-Step program toward recovery.
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: I've been reading books by an amazing author, Marie de Hennezel. "The Warmth of the Heart Prevents Your Body from Rusting." She has a fascinating thesis--that us baby boomers have the best opportunity of any generation. Far from bewailing our gradual loss of faculties and possibly descendence to being completely dependent on others we can start--at any age really-to accept age and lead others counter-culturally away from an obsession with youth and fear of aging. But you don't do this instantaneously but acquire the insight and capability step-by-step. Funny to muse on a possible outcome of our current culture that people have been "let down" by not having sufficient "teachers" to help us become old in a thankful and gracious and loving way.====JACK: It's my observation that people, in general, don't want to learn how to be old (enjoy aging). Aging is looked upon as a negative. Like with McArthur, most just want to fade away...with no pain. ====SHARON: Yes, that's the problem. Old age is looked at very negatively. There are actually other cultures which value some qualities that old age can bring, for example more appreciation for interdependence and community. We're sometimes so used to fighting against such things--because we erroneously believe they restrain us or make our lives restricted in negative ways that we can't even imagine there can be joy in "letting go" "living in a different way of trusting and relating." Personally, I would rather live out my end days with a Marie de Hennezel attitude than the attitude you have observed among so many, and I have observed too. I think that, in the USA old age is sad, not because being old is sad but because our fragmented and broken society and institutions lead to more difficult relationships than need be. Maybe I want to be a Pollyanna about it all--
FROM GOOD DEBT JON: If I recall you send in for information and get a little bit then enroll in a course of paying a few dollars and get a program every few weeks. Seems I spent a few dollars, still didn’t get the girl, and got beat up. I do think Atlas (or his friends) were expert marketers. I learned a little. A little more info: Here is the scoop on Atlas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Atlas
Here is his ad: https://www.flickr.com/photos/paxtonholley/4531752344/ The Wiki page says still selling as of 2010….!====JACK: Charles Atlas was originally Angelo Siciliano. Who would buy body building advice from a guy named Siciliano? Atlas can lift the world above his head.
FROM TRIHARDER: "Every long journey ... " Yes, it's in a lot of processes. A long trip, a step toward graduation, weight loss, conditioning, building a business, ... -- very rarely does it happen all at once.====JACK: Some people can't stand the long wait that it sometimes takes for answered prayer. "Dear God, give me patience. And, I want it right now!"
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 4/16/14
“Sometimes the wrong choices can bring us to the right places.” (Unknown) Each of us has come to a fork in life’s road where we’ve had to make a choice of direction. Have you ever wondered, “What if?” Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” speaks to this dilemma. Life is a matter of choices, good or bad. There’s a song, “My God and I,” which says that we don’t walk alone, and, because of that, things’ll work out. ;-) Jack
FROM HONEST JOHN: Many choices don't involve right or wrong...they are simply "choices". ====JACK: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Is it also that way with right and wrong...and with good and evil? ====JOHN: I don't think so. Otherwise we relativize God. Some choices simply don't involve ethical considerations
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: I've taken choices at times where I didn't even think the specific choice was really anything of importance, so simple to make because it seemed just a small matter of convenience or expediency and undoubtedly not any risk at all and later found my whole life and the lives of people I deeply care about are tremendously impacted because I took that fork in the road. Now who could figure something like that out, except God being in our lives and "helping" all the time in a way that I never even thought about "rebelling" against.====JACK: We have a jar on our kitchen counter labeled, "Co-incidences or Miracles?". Every time an "A-HA" happening occurs we write it down on a slip of paper and place it in the jar.
FROM TARMART REV: “Sometimes the wrong choices can bring us to the right places.” This week, Pilate's choice reminds me of such a one . . . to the right place and in the fullness of time. -Happy Resurrection Sunday to you and your wife, Jack . . . Passover Celebration as well to our Jewish friends there in West Bloomfield.====JACK: As I look back, it's interesting to see the long and twisting road that has brought me to where I am today. At one of the "twists" I see you coming into my office and introducing yourself.
FROM MW IN ILLINOIS: Thanks for the winning words today, it was perfect for what has occurred in our family's life this week.====JACK: I happened to see your Facebook post today with the picture of your family. I recalled the years... I like the hymn, "Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love."
FROM RS IN TEXAS: Someone asked me once if I could go back and change anything in my life what it would be. Upon reflection, the answer was "nothing". Only because every decision takes you down a path. So, as an example, had I chosen to make the military a career, who knows what that would have brought, but for sure I would never have met my first wife, had my daughter and subsequent grandchildren, and wouldn't have met and married G. So, no regrets from that standpoint. Not to say I haven't learned (I hope!) from some choices I made that I would make differently today. But more and more I believe God has a plan for all of us, and sometimes what seems to be bad puts us where we need to be.====JACK: I remember how proud your parents were when you had been accepted into the program to be trained as a helicopter pilot. When was the last time you were at the controls? Life is made exciting daily because of the forks that continue to appear.
FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER: Always take the road to the right.====JACK: You've got the right idea! Did you use this cadence when you were in the Marines?
WHEN I WAS BORN MY DADDY LEFT! left, right, left.
LATER ON MY MOMMA LEFT! left, right, left.
I GOT DEPLOYED MY WOMAN LEFT! left, right, left.
THE MARINES THE ONLY THING THAT'S LEFT! left, right, left.
COME ON! left, right, left.
LOUDER! left, right, left.
COVER! left, right, left.
AGAIN! left, right, left.
FROM TAMPA SHIRL: Everything happens for a reason. But we do have choices to make all through life, or course.====JACK: Do you think that by giving us the ability to use free will, God also chooses to limit his will?
“Sometimes the wrong choices can bring us to the right places.” (Unknown) Each of us has come to a fork in life’s road where we’ve had to make a choice of direction. Have you ever wondered, “What if?” Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” speaks to this dilemma. Life is a matter of choices, good or bad. There’s a song, “My God and I,” which says that we don’t walk alone, and, because of that, things’ll work out. ;-) Jack
FROM HONEST JOHN: Many choices don't involve right or wrong...they are simply "choices". ====JACK: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Is it also that way with right and wrong...and with good and evil? ====JOHN: I don't think so. Otherwise we relativize God. Some choices simply don't involve ethical considerations
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: I've taken choices at times where I didn't even think the specific choice was really anything of importance, so simple to make because it seemed just a small matter of convenience or expediency and undoubtedly not any risk at all and later found my whole life and the lives of people I deeply care about are tremendously impacted because I took that fork in the road. Now who could figure something like that out, except God being in our lives and "helping" all the time in a way that I never even thought about "rebelling" against.====JACK: We have a jar on our kitchen counter labeled, "Co-incidences or Miracles?". Every time an "A-HA" happening occurs we write it down on a slip of paper and place it in the jar.
FROM TARMART REV: “Sometimes the wrong choices can bring us to the right places.” This week, Pilate's choice reminds me of such a one . . . to the right place and in the fullness of time. -Happy Resurrection Sunday to you and your wife, Jack . . . Passover Celebration as well to our Jewish friends there in West Bloomfield.====JACK: As I look back, it's interesting to see the long and twisting road that has brought me to where I am today. At one of the "twists" I see you coming into my office and introducing yourself.
FROM MW IN ILLINOIS: Thanks for the winning words today, it was perfect for what has occurred in our family's life this week.====JACK: I happened to see your Facebook post today with the picture of your family. I recalled the years... I like the hymn, "Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love."
FROM RS IN TEXAS: Someone asked me once if I could go back and change anything in my life what it would be. Upon reflection, the answer was "nothing". Only because every decision takes you down a path. So, as an example, had I chosen to make the military a career, who knows what that would have brought, but for sure I would never have met my first wife, had my daughter and subsequent grandchildren, and wouldn't have met and married G. So, no regrets from that standpoint. Not to say I haven't learned (I hope!) from some choices I made that I would make differently today. But more and more I believe God has a plan for all of us, and sometimes what seems to be bad puts us where we need to be.====JACK: I remember how proud your parents were when you had been accepted into the program to be trained as a helicopter pilot. When was the last time you were at the controls? Life is made exciting daily because of the forks that continue to appear.
FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER: Always take the road to the right.====JACK: You've got the right idea! Did you use this cadence when you were in the Marines?
WHEN I WAS BORN MY DADDY LEFT! left, right, left.
LATER ON MY MOMMA LEFT! left, right, left.
I GOT DEPLOYED MY WOMAN LEFT! left, right, left.
THE MARINES THE ONLY THING THAT'S LEFT! left, right, left.
COME ON! left, right, left.
LOUDER! left, right, left.
COVER! left, right, left.
AGAIN! left, right, left.
FROM TAMPA SHIRL: Everything happens for a reason. But we do have choices to make all through life, or course.====JACK: Do you think that by giving us the ability to use free will, God also chooses to limit his will?
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 4/15/14
“Passover and Easter are the only Jewish and Christian holidays that move in sync, like the ice skating pairs we saw during the winter Olympics.” (Marvin Olasky) Paul Bradshaw and Lawrence Hoffman co-authored “Passover and Easter” which is part of their quest to bridge the liturgies of Christians and Jews. “On Being a Jew at Christmas” is the title of a Hoffman article. My Jewish friends and I look for similarities in how we believe and worship. The differences do not keep us from being friends. ;-) Jack
FROM TARMART REV: So true...learned that at Temple Kol Ami...even have a few Muslim friends in my area today who feel the same about our faiths. Happy Passion Week, Jack!!====JACK: Too bad that the Kol Ami partnership had to end. It would have been a real positive statement to the community. But, it was good while it lasted.
FROM PH IN MINNESOTA: Jack, you are as much of an insomniac as i am! Holy Week blessings to you and yours. if i recall my church history, the origins of Lent began around the Council of Nicea in 325 AD and the two holy-days were deliberately separated to distinguish one from another. at the same time, they are both built around the paschal moon (not totally sure why this was the case) and therefore they do "track" each other. google "history of Lent" sometime and you get a LOT of info. ====JACK: Right now, the search engine I use is called, Dogpile. It seems to work as well as Google. When you want an answer, it says, "Go Fetch!" This year, some of the synagogues here are locking their doors, because of the recent shooting.in Kansas City.
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: Over the years, I've bought quite a few books of Jewish commentary on their scripture and also receive Rabbi Wein's weekly sermon and commentary on some story from the Torah and don't know if my self-understanding is deceived or something but always feel that I have "received well" the Jewish reflections, they don't seem "alien" to my own way of thinking and receiving scripture. It would be interesting if any observant Jewish person would write commentary on the New Testament--there may be where we part ways. Some pastors are dilly-dallying with going with a "narrative" lectionary--I hope we still continue using a large dose of Hebrew Scriptures because I think the future of religion on this earth is moving towards reconciliation and more perfect love and understanding and appreciation for each other. Thanks for your wonderful WW today again!!!!!====JACK: There's something to be said for living in a diverse community (religiously, economically and racially). It helps toward understanding others and reexamining our own beliefs.
FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: Good words! There's enough in this world to keep us divided...beliefs in God shouldn't. We may believe in different ways to worship but that should be a good thing not bad. Seeds are sown on different soils.====JACK: There is so much good in the worst of us,
And so much bad in the best of us, That it hardly behooves any of us To talk about the rest of us. (Edward Wallis Hoch)
FROM EDUCATOR PAUL: Amen.====JACK: I knew that we'd agree on this.
FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER: Am I wrong, or wasn't Christ a Jew? Maybe that's what should bind us. (Theology is not my forte. Obviously.)====JACK: Jewishness can refer both to a person's religion and nationality. It appears that Jesus was a Jew in both senses of the word. His purpose was not to set up a new religion, but to appear as God in human form, so that people, both Jew and Gentile, could see and hear God's will and God's love for them. The choice was to accept or reject or yawn. It's the same choice for each generation.
FROM INDY GENIE: Love this:)====JACK: The religious part or the skating part? I liked both. ====GENIE: I also like that you and your friends talk about your similarities...I'd like to be in on that conversation.
FROM MY LAWYER: Amen brother!!!====JACK: Do people ever shout "Amen!" in the synagogue like they do in some churches
FROM WATERFORD JAN: While involved with the first Bethel Bible Class at church many years ago, we visited Temple Beth El and were hosted by a very learned gent who revealed his knowledge of the New Testament beyond ours! We were invited to attend a Bar Mitzvah service and were pleasantly surprised at the similarity in some of their service to ours. Our class agreed that Christians need to know the Old Testament as well as the New Testament, and we need to know other believers, whatever their history--and that some of it is also ours.====JACK: While he said it in another context, I like what the father cried to Jesus, "I believe. Help my unbelief." There is so much to learn about God.
FROM HUNGRY HOWIE: There is a gefilte fish shortage! Oh no. Apparently there was an 11th plague this winter, the polar vortex, that caused extensive freezing of the Great Lakes limiting the white fish catch resulting in many Jewish families in New York being unable get the white fish needed to make their gefilte fish, a traditional dish at the Passover Seder. This was a lead story in today’s NY Times. It was written in mock seriousness and with a sense of “oh well, we’ll just have to soldier on thru another hardship”====JACK: One of the differences between Passover and Easter that I can live with is Honey Baked Ham instead of gefilte fish...but, in all honesty, I've never tasted gefilte fish.
FROM FACEBOOK LIZ: easter eggs derive from jewish passover seder... =====JACK: I haven't been able to a source that connects the Easter egg with the seder, but it may be true. Most cultures see the egg as a symbol of rebirth, so the Easter "rebirth" of Jesus seems to fit with that. Some see the egg as a smaller representation of the stone that sealed the tomb. ...and, some have the custom of dying the eggs red, symbolizing the spilled blood of Jesus. Most anything can be turned into a symbol of something, if you try hard enough.
FROM SBP IN FLORIDA: Right or wrong, I've always felt that almost every group of humans has the need for attribution to higher deities/beings, support from, with many requiring obedience and praise and sacrifice.....And we, here, in an ever increasing amalgam that is population.... anywhere..... have the opportunity to explore the differences and likenesses in the wide range of beliefs. I believe that -many of the tenets we hold as Christians are present in some form or other in most other religions/beliefs. And in lieu of personal contacts we have Google (and such) for expanding our knowledge and understanding.====JACK: That's why what we believe is called, faith. One problem some people have with religion is that they want to be SURE. A man that I know was a nuclear physicist. He would sit in the parking lot, while his little girl attended Sunday School. One Sunday the pastor of the church (I know him, too) went out to the car and invited the man into church, saying: "You know, you don't have park your brain in the car when you go to church. Let's go inside." They became good friends. Eventually the man left his job as a physicist and became a pastor...and later a bishop.
“Passover and Easter are the only Jewish and Christian holidays that move in sync, like the ice skating pairs we saw during the winter Olympics.” (Marvin Olasky) Paul Bradshaw and Lawrence Hoffman co-authored “Passover and Easter” which is part of their quest to bridge the liturgies of Christians and Jews. “On Being a Jew at Christmas” is the title of a Hoffman article. My Jewish friends and I look for similarities in how we believe and worship. The differences do not keep us from being friends. ;-) Jack
FROM TARMART REV: So true...learned that at Temple Kol Ami...even have a few Muslim friends in my area today who feel the same about our faiths. Happy Passion Week, Jack!!====JACK: Too bad that the Kol Ami partnership had to end. It would have been a real positive statement to the community. But, it was good while it lasted.
FROM PH IN MINNESOTA: Jack, you are as much of an insomniac as i am! Holy Week blessings to you and yours. if i recall my church history, the origins of Lent began around the Council of Nicea in 325 AD and the two holy-days were deliberately separated to distinguish one from another. at the same time, they are both built around the paschal moon (not totally sure why this was the case) and therefore they do "track" each other. google "history of Lent" sometime and you get a LOT of info. ====JACK: Right now, the search engine I use is called, Dogpile. It seems to work as well as Google. When you want an answer, it says, "Go Fetch!" This year, some of the synagogues here are locking their doors, because of the recent shooting.in Kansas City.
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: Over the years, I've bought quite a few books of Jewish commentary on their scripture and also receive Rabbi Wein's weekly sermon and commentary on some story from the Torah and don't know if my self-understanding is deceived or something but always feel that I have "received well" the Jewish reflections, they don't seem "alien" to my own way of thinking and receiving scripture. It would be interesting if any observant Jewish person would write commentary on the New Testament--there may be where we part ways. Some pastors are dilly-dallying with going with a "narrative" lectionary--I hope we still continue using a large dose of Hebrew Scriptures because I think the future of religion on this earth is moving towards reconciliation and more perfect love and understanding and appreciation for each other. Thanks for your wonderful WW today again!!!!!====JACK: There's something to be said for living in a diverse community (religiously, economically and racially). It helps toward understanding others and reexamining our own beliefs.
FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: Good words! There's enough in this world to keep us divided...beliefs in God shouldn't. We may believe in different ways to worship but that should be a good thing not bad. Seeds are sown on different soils.====JACK: There is so much good in the worst of us,
And so much bad in the best of us, That it hardly behooves any of us To talk about the rest of us. (Edward Wallis Hoch)
FROM EDUCATOR PAUL: Amen.====JACK: I knew that we'd agree on this.
FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER: Am I wrong, or wasn't Christ a Jew? Maybe that's what should bind us. (Theology is not my forte. Obviously.)====JACK: Jewishness can refer both to a person's religion and nationality. It appears that Jesus was a Jew in both senses of the word. His purpose was not to set up a new religion, but to appear as God in human form, so that people, both Jew and Gentile, could see and hear God's will and God's love for them. The choice was to accept or reject or yawn. It's the same choice for each generation.
FROM INDY GENIE: Love this:)====JACK: The religious part or the skating part? I liked both. ====GENIE: I also like that you and your friends talk about your similarities...I'd like to be in on that conversation.
FROM MY LAWYER: Amen brother!!!====JACK: Do people ever shout "Amen!" in the synagogue like they do in some churches
FROM WATERFORD JAN: While involved with the first Bethel Bible Class at church many years ago, we visited Temple Beth El and were hosted by a very learned gent who revealed his knowledge of the New Testament beyond ours! We were invited to attend a Bar Mitzvah service and were pleasantly surprised at the similarity in some of their service to ours. Our class agreed that Christians need to know the Old Testament as well as the New Testament, and we need to know other believers, whatever their history--and that some of it is also ours.====JACK: While he said it in another context, I like what the father cried to Jesus, "I believe. Help my unbelief." There is so much to learn about God.
FROM HUNGRY HOWIE: There is a gefilte fish shortage! Oh no. Apparently there was an 11th plague this winter, the polar vortex, that caused extensive freezing of the Great Lakes limiting the white fish catch resulting in many Jewish families in New York being unable get the white fish needed to make their gefilte fish, a traditional dish at the Passover Seder. This was a lead story in today’s NY Times. It was written in mock seriousness and with a sense of “oh well, we’ll just have to soldier on thru another hardship”====JACK: One of the differences between Passover and Easter that I can live with is Honey Baked Ham instead of gefilte fish...but, in all honesty, I've never tasted gefilte fish.
FROM FACEBOOK LIZ: easter eggs derive from jewish passover seder... =====JACK: I haven't been able to a source that connects the Easter egg with the seder, but it may be true. Most cultures see the egg as a symbol of rebirth, so the Easter "rebirth" of Jesus seems to fit with that. Some see the egg as a smaller representation of the stone that sealed the tomb. ...and, some have the custom of dying the eggs red, symbolizing the spilled blood of Jesus. Most anything can be turned into a symbol of something, if you try hard enough.
FROM SBP IN FLORIDA: Right or wrong, I've always felt that almost every group of humans has the need for attribution to higher deities/beings, support from, with many requiring obedience and praise and sacrifice.....And we, here, in an ever increasing amalgam that is population.... anywhere..... have the opportunity to explore the differences and likenesses in the wide range of beliefs. I believe that -many of the tenets we hold as Christians are present in some form or other in most other religions/beliefs. And in lieu of personal contacts we have Google (and such) for expanding our knowledge and understanding.====JACK: That's why what we believe is called, faith. One problem some people have with religion is that they want to be SURE. A man that I know was a nuclear physicist. He would sit in the parking lot, while his little girl attended Sunday School. One Sunday the pastor of the church (I know him, too) went out to the car and invited the man into church, saying: "You know, you don't have park your brain in the car when you go to church. Let's go inside." They became good friends. Eventually the man left his job as a physicist and became a pastor...and later a bishop.
Monday, April 14, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 4/14/14
“We can’t always control what happens to us, but we can control our perspective.” (Nataly Kogan) Nataly has created “Happier app” where people post things that make them happier…like writing a “gratitude note” to someone, a “spur-of-the-moment” gift to a charity. It’s been found that sharing happy thoughts with others can make them happier, even healthier. What “happier” thought might you share today? ;-) Jack
FROM TARMART REV: Spent last evening at the hospital and throughout the night thinking and contemplating the consequences from a fatal accident taking the life of one of our young mothers . . . the family was coming home from a Sunday trip to South Dakota and not far from home when they were broadsided by a semi at an intersection south of Willmar, both thinking the traffic light was in their favor. I had to tell the very young children the mother wasn't able to survive the impact. Heaven is sounding like a much happier place at the moment!! 0;-/====JACK: With perspective and enough time, those children will understand that a pastor was with them in time of need.
FROM TRIHARDER: When something alarming occurs to me, I try to take myself out of the moment and try to perceive how I will look at it weeks or months from now. It's so comforting to know that the very vast majority of occurrences that take place in ones life are so much more meaningful (good and bad) in the moment and that down the review mirror of life, they are much less significant.====JACK: "The very vast majority...." is true. But, it's the ones that don't fit into that category (like when the pastor had to tell some young children that their mother wouldn't becoming back) that stay with us.====TH: I'm not trying to be flippant, but even those kids move on and adjust -- eventually. But, yes, very painful.
FROM EEC IN MICHIGAN: That's neat! I have a book called THE HAPPY BOOK I'll have to show you-I think you'll find it interesting!====JACK: Sharing a Happy Book certainly is a way of making people happier.
FROM MICHIZONA RAY: This quote is an example of the existential "given" termed: Responsibility. We always have the "ability" to "respond" to circumstances, even though we don't always have the ability to determine them. Freedom identifies our accountability for those responses we have chosen. Hence, nothing "makes" us happy; we simply choose happiness or something else we freely decide. In this Holy Week, we are reminded of Jesus command to "Love one another; as I have loved you, love one another." Jesus connotes the same sort of Freedom and Responsibility for the same. Love was His chosen response to all circumstances in which He found Himself. He tells us to do the same -- not necessarily as we might "love" one another (which requires a good reason), but as He loves us. Hence, Love never has condition. The phrase "unconditional love" is merely an example of a term used by one who doesn't know that Love can have no condition by its nature. Think how "happy" we would be to love one another as we are loved by Him who commanded us to do the same!====JACK: God's grace is an example of unconditional love. Perhaps choice was one of characteristics of Jesus that indicated his humanness.
FROM BM IN MICHIGAN: April 15th comes only once a year!====JACK: Looking on the bright side...If someone happens to be in the business of preparing taxes for others, it's a big payday!
FROM RI IN BOSTON: Another way of expressing control of our perspective, I suppose, would be "the power of positive thinking."====JACK: Some may think that Norman Vincent Peale invented Positive Thinking, but way back in the 1st century Epictetus said, "The thing that upsets people is not so much what happens, but what they think about what happens."====RI: You just gave me an "aha" moment.
FROM JT IN MICHIGAN: I'm grateful for your friendship. Thank you.====JACK: And it goes with many happy memories.
FROM JT IN MICHIGAN: I'm grateful for your friendship. Thank you.
FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER: Spring has sprung.====JACK: Thanks for the happy note. The daffodils are poking out of the ground.
FROM JB IN M ICHIGAN: I painted a sailing ship on the back wall of my classroom with a similar saying - "I can't control the wind, but I can set my own sails" I used it a lot with the students when things didn't go their way.====JACK: I wonder how many of them had ever been on a sailboat? There's more to teaching than what's in the textbook.
FROM DB IN MICHIGAN: My happy thought: taking time to draft a letter of my good wishes and joy to a younger cousin who are about to marry! :) It makes me happy! (Even though I can't be there :( - out of state) So, its the next best thing to being there! -- giving a part of myself ... ====JACK: A personal letter is even better than a text or e-mail. There's something exciting about receiving a stamped envelope and wondering what's inside.
“We can’t always control what happens to us, but we can control our perspective.” (Nataly Kogan) Nataly has created “Happier app” where people post things that make them happier…like writing a “gratitude note” to someone, a “spur-of-the-moment” gift to a charity. It’s been found that sharing happy thoughts with others can make them happier, even healthier. What “happier” thought might you share today? ;-) Jack
FROM TARMART REV: Spent last evening at the hospital and throughout the night thinking and contemplating the consequences from a fatal accident taking the life of one of our young mothers . . . the family was coming home from a Sunday trip to South Dakota and not far from home when they were broadsided by a semi at an intersection south of Willmar, both thinking the traffic light was in their favor. I had to tell the very young children the mother wasn't able to survive the impact. Heaven is sounding like a much happier place at the moment!! 0;-/====JACK: With perspective and enough time, those children will understand that a pastor was with them in time of need.
FROM TRIHARDER: When something alarming occurs to me, I try to take myself out of the moment and try to perceive how I will look at it weeks or months from now. It's so comforting to know that the very vast majority of occurrences that take place in ones life are so much more meaningful (good and bad) in the moment and that down the review mirror of life, they are much less significant.====JACK: "The very vast majority...." is true. But, it's the ones that don't fit into that category (like when the pastor had to tell some young children that their mother wouldn't becoming back) that stay with us.====TH: I'm not trying to be flippant, but even those kids move on and adjust -- eventually. But, yes, very painful.
FROM EEC IN MICHIGAN: That's neat! I have a book called THE HAPPY BOOK I'll have to show you-I think you'll find it interesting!====JACK: Sharing a Happy Book certainly is a way of making people happier.
FROM MICHIZONA RAY: This quote is an example of the existential "given" termed: Responsibility. We always have the "ability" to "respond" to circumstances, even though we don't always have the ability to determine them. Freedom identifies our accountability for those responses we have chosen. Hence, nothing "makes" us happy; we simply choose happiness or something else we freely decide. In this Holy Week, we are reminded of Jesus command to "Love one another; as I have loved you, love one another." Jesus connotes the same sort of Freedom and Responsibility for the same. Love was His chosen response to all circumstances in which He found Himself. He tells us to do the same -- not necessarily as we might "love" one another (which requires a good reason), but as He loves us. Hence, Love never has condition. The phrase "unconditional love" is merely an example of a term used by one who doesn't know that Love can have no condition by its nature. Think how "happy" we would be to love one another as we are loved by Him who commanded us to do the same!====JACK: God's grace is an example of unconditional love. Perhaps choice was one of characteristics of Jesus that indicated his humanness.
FROM BM IN MICHIGAN: April 15th comes only once a year!====JACK: Looking on the bright side...If someone happens to be in the business of preparing taxes for others, it's a big payday!
FROM RI IN BOSTON: Another way of expressing control of our perspective, I suppose, would be "the power of positive thinking."====JACK: Some may think that Norman Vincent Peale invented Positive Thinking, but way back in the 1st century Epictetus said, "The thing that upsets people is not so much what happens, but what they think about what happens."====RI: You just gave me an "aha" moment.
FROM JT IN MICHIGAN: I'm grateful for your friendship. Thank you.====JACK: And it goes with many happy memories.
FROM JT IN MICHIGAN: I'm grateful for your friendship. Thank you.
FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER: Spring has sprung.====JACK: Thanks for the happy note. The daffodils are poking out of the ground.
FROM JB IN M ICHIGAN: I painted a sailing ship on the back wall of my classroom with a similar saying - "I can't control the wind, but I can set my own sails" I used it a lot with the students when things didn't go their way.====JACK: I wonder how many of them had ever been on a sailboat? There's more to teaching than what's in the textbook.
FROM DB IN MICHIGAN: My happy thought: taking time to draft a letter of my good wishes and joy to a younger cousin who are about to marry! :) It makes me happy! (Even though I can't be there :( - out of state) So, its the next best thing to being there! -- giving a part of myself ... ====JACK: A personal letter is even better than a text or e-mail. There's something exciting about receiving a stamped envelope and wondering what's inside.
Friday, April 11, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 4/11/14
“Don’t let life discourage you; everyone who got where he is had to begin where he was.” (Richard L. Evans) Everyone, once in a while, faces difficult times with sleepless nights. On such occasions I’ve found this Bible verse to be helpful: “All things work together for good for those who love God.” Things have a way of working out. God knows and cares. “Now I lay be down to sleep,” with that thought in mind. ;-) Jack
FROM JD IN MINNESOTA: YES JACK, IT'S THE LONG VIEW VERSUS THE SHORT VIEW. I COULDN'T SLEEP LAST NITE AFTER WATCHING THE MOST EXCITING HOCKEY GAME EVER IN THE FROZEN FOUR. U OF MN DEFEATING N D STATE 2 - 1 WITH .2 SECONDS LEFT. IT'S NOT GOOD FOR OLD HEARTS.====JACK: The Golden Gophers have had a great hockey season. Now, it's on to the Twins...and a rest for your heart.
FROM TARMART REV: Okay . . . not too funny, but it was the first thought that came to my mind this morning after reading your first quote . . . Someone once told the famous Liberace to take his piano and go back to where he started from . . . he didn't take it too seriously, but his mother died of a heartache thinking of that possibility . . . would make for a pretty crowded birth canal, I'd bet!! ====JACK: Going back....My call to become a pastor was actually a telephone call when someone asked, "Have you ever thought about becoming a pastor?"====REV: mine came from an afternoon movie I was watching just out of high school, called "I'd Climb the Highest Mountain" . . . bawled like a baby and felt called to follow in the footsteps of that minister.
FROM FACEBOOK LIZ: Like.====JACK: On the TV News last night I saw a segment concerning a young man who lost both legs in the Boston Marathon bombing. He is now walking again with artificial legs...and smiling.
FROM LH IN MICHIGAN: Maybe you’ll like this, too. I have no idea who wrote it.
Happiness keeps you sweet, Trials keep you strong,
Sorrows keep you human, Life keeps you humble.
====JACK: It all adds up to be a help in those times of discouragement.
“Don’t let life discourage you; everyone who got where he is had to begin where he was.” (Richard L. Evans) Everyone, once in a while, faces difficult times with sleepless nights. On such occasions I’ve found this Bible verse to be helpful: “All things work together for good for those who love God.” Things have a way of working out. God knows and cares. “Now I lay be down to sleep,” with that thought in mind. ;-) Jack
FROM JD IN MINNESOTA: YES JACK, IT'S THE LONG VIEW VERSUS THE SHORT VIEW. I COULDN'T SLEEP LAST NITE AFTER WATCHING THE MOST EXCITING HOCKEY GAME EVER IN THE FROZEN FOUR. U OF MN DEFEATING N D STATE 2 - 1 WITH .2 SECONDS LEFT. IT'S NOT GOOD FOR OLD HEARTS.====JACK: The Golden Gophers have had a great hockey season. Now, it's on to the Twins...and a rest for your heart.
FROM TARMART REV: Okay . . . not too funny, but it was the first thought that came to my mind this morning after reading your first quote . . . Someone once told the famous Liberace to take his piano and go back to where he started from . . . he didn't take it too seriously, but his mother died of a heartache thinking of that possibility . . . would make for a pretty crowded birth canal, I'd bet!! ====JACK: Going back....My call to become a pastor was actually a telephone call when someone asked, "Have you ever thought about becoming a pastor?"====REV: mine came from an afternoon movie I was watching just out of high school, called "I'd Climb the Highest Mountain" . . . bawled like a baby and felt called to follow in the footsteps of that minister.
FROM FACEBOOK LIZ: Like.====JACK: On the TV News last night I saw a segment concerning a young man who lost both legs in the Boston Marathon bombing. He is now walking again with artificial legs...and smiling.
FROM LH IN MICHIGAN: Maybe you’ll like this, too. I have no idea who wrote it.
Happiness keeps you sweet, Trials keep you strong,
Sorrows keep you human, Life keeps you humble.
====JACK: It all adds up to be a help in those times of discouragement.
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 4/10/14
“It’s better to walk alone than with a crowd going in the wrong direction.” (Diane Grant) Parents advise their children to avoid getting in with the wrong crowd. I read an article which said that, psychologically, an individual can put aside what they know is right when they are with a bad crowd. It can work in the other direction, too. The right crowd can influence for the better. Even adults need to choose friends wisely. ;-) Jack.
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: This reminds me of the old Marty Robbins song "I Walk Alone". ====JACK: ...and then there's the song, "You'll never walk alone," which reminds me of the popular poem, "Footprints."
EDUCATOR PAUL: I love this!!!!! Thanks!====JACK: Thanks for being a friend.
FROM TAMPA SHIRL: Old friends and new friends are what makes this life interesting. At our age we should have the smarts to know how to choose friends-usually those with the same interests and values. We saw Jersey Boys last night and that is definitely a message of choosing friends in my opinion.====JACK: You are really "with it," going to see Jersey Boys. You probably knew some of the songs. Was there dancing in the aisles?
FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: This reminds me of the song Jerry Lewis always sang at the end of the MD tele-a-thon. "Walk on walk on.... you will never walk alone." It's easy to say and do this now as I read it, but when I was young, it was hard to tell which path to take. I think I would probably have been one of those people in the crowd to watch Jesus take his long walk to the cross but I would have been hiding behind the crowd and would have watched from a distance.====JACK: It can be lonely to walk alone...but the Lord says, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee," so we are never alone. ====JUDY: I'm glad we do have a God Who won't desert us in the midst of trial!
FROM BLAZING OAKS: So true! I'm glad I had "wholesome" friends, growing up in Moline! i'm on my son's computer, as mine has been out since Monday,l and won't be fixed until next mondayl, the 14th!! :-( ====JACK: The "Y" had a big influence of my life...and my after school work, too.
“It’s better to walk alone than with a crowd going in the wrong direction.” (Diane Grant) Parents advise their children to avoid getting in with the wrong crowd. I read an article which said that, psychologically, an individual can put aside what they know is right when they are with a bad crowd. It can work in the other direction, too. The right crowd can influence for the better. Even adults need to choose friends wisely. ;-) Jack.
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: This reminds me of the old Marty Robbins song "I Walk Alone". ====JACK: ...and then there's the song, "You'll never walk alone," which reminds me of the popular poem, "Footprints."
EDUCATOR PAUL: I love this!!!!! Thanks!====JACK: Thanks for being a friend.
FROM TAMPA SHIRL: Old friends and new friends are what makes this life interesting. At our age we should have the smarts to know how to choose friends-usually those with the same interests and values. We saw Jersey Boys last night and that is definitely a message of choosing friends in my opinion.====JACK: You are really "with it," going to see Jersey Boys. You probably knew some of the songs. Was there dancing in the aisles?
FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: This reminds me of the song Jerry Lewis always sang at the end of the MD tele-a-thon. "Walk on walk on.... you will never walk alone." It's easy to say and do this now as I read it, but when I was young, it was hard to tell which path to take. I think I would probably have been one of those people in the crowd to watch Jesus take his long walk to the cross but I would have been hiding behind the crowd and would have watched from a distance.====JACK: It can be lonely to walk alone...but the Lord says, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee," so we are never alone. ====JUDY: I'm glad we do have a God Who won't desert us in the midst of trial!
FROM BLAZING OAKS: So true! I'm glad I had "wholesome" friends, growing up in Moline! i'm on my son's computer, as mine has been out since Monday,l and won't be fixed until next mondayl, the 14th!! :-( ====JACK: The "Y" had a big influence of my life...and my after school work, too.
Wednesday, April 09, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 4/9/14
“’Tain’t worthwhile to wear a day all out before it comes.” (Sarah Orne Jewett) In Guatemala there’s the legend of the “Worry Doll.” You tell your worries to a little doll, place it under your pillow, and the doll will worry for you. Or, how about this Bible verse… “Cast all of your cares on the Lord, for he cares about you.” “’Taint” easy to give up worrying. There’s a saying…”Let go and let God!” Good advice. ;-) Jack
FROM HONEST JOHN: I've found that careful planning erases a lot of worries.====JACK: Estate planning falls into that category.
FROM PEPPERMINT MARY: during some tough years i never went anywhere without a worry doll in my pocket. i had a wreath filled with them on our door. i believe that they helped me find and focus on the positive. our first born beth had a similar doll. it was her mary-cathy. when she was really mad she slammed it against the wall and called her mary. when she was gentle and calm the doll was named cathy...a sweet and good friend of ours. egos need to be strong in this life!
====JACK: My wife got a Dammit Doll from our son-in-law. Everytime something goes wrong, you slam the doll on the table, instead of saying….
FROM DP IN MINNESOTA: Thanks, I needed that today !====JACK: So, you worry once in a while, too?
FROM FLYIN' CHUCK: You do have a way Jack! Those are just the exact words I needed to hear today! Thank you.====JACK: Winning Words and a sermon seem to work in the same way. The words seem to come in a mysterious way.
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: If often put my worries "under my pillow" in some form or another. And lay my head on them because my greatest worry is that I am not "seeing the whole picture" and am not worrying smartly. I think the Jewish ways of wearing that little box on their heads which contain the Word of God or else wearing the prayer shawl with the fringes really God gave them some useful ways that are totally appropriate to our human needs. I always wonder if Jesus wore those things as he was called a Rabbi. Anyway, God helps us to devise crutches and I personally don't feel less faithful or able when I take advantage of benefitting from using them in a healthy constructive way especially if it ultimately benefits other people around me too.====JACK: I don't think that Jesus was an "official" rabbi. I think that some people just saw him as a teacher, and the word, rabbi, can mean teacher.
FROM INDY GENIE: I use worry dolls...they work! I pray too. I had forgotten until now that as a child I was fascinated by the Roman Catholic rosary ...as a teenager I called them "worry beads".====JACK: I have a priest friend who was also a personal friend of Pope John Paul. He gave me a rosary (worry beads) that had been blessed by the Pope.
FROM GOOD DEBT JON: it was quite a weekend worrying needlessly. Kind of like your WW today.====JACK: "Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile..." as the WW 1 song goes.
FROM FACEBOOK LIZ: i designed & made these many years ago. these kind ladies worry for me... i worry plenty!!! i will have to make these as gifts again. i had all different countries, as i recall. swedish for you?====JACK: 1/2 Swedish and 1/2 German.====LIZ: aaah, a fellow german... explains your feistiness!
FROM TARMART REV: "Don't be a worry wart!" -- Doesn't that bring make a memory or two!!====JACK: I haven't heard that phrase used in a long time. I'll have to investigate its origin.
“’Tain’t worthwhile to wear a day all out before it comes.” (Sarah Orne Jewett) In Guatemala there’s the legend of the “Worry Doll.” You tell your worries to a little doll, place it under your pillow, and the doll will worry for you. Or, how about this Bible verse… “Cast all of your cares on the Lord, for he cares about you.” “’Taint” easy to give up worrying. There’s a saying…”Let go and let God!” Good advice. ;-) Jack
FROM HONEST JOHN: I've found that careful planning erases a lot of worries.====JACK: Estate planning falls into that category.
FROM PEPPERMINT MARY: during some tough years i never went anywhere without a worry doll in my pocket. i had a wreath filled with them on our door. i believe that they helped me find and focus on the positive. our first born beth had a similar doll. it was her mary-cathy. when she was really mad she slammed it against the wall and called her mary. when she was gentle and calm the doll was named cathy...a sweet and good friend of ours. egos need to be strong in this life!
====JACK: My wife got a Dammit Doll from our son-in-law. Everytime something goes wrong, you slam the doll on the table, instead of saying….
FROM DP IN MINNESOTA: Thanks, I needed that today !====JACK: So, you worry once in a while, too?
FROM FLYIN' CHUCK: You do have a way Jack! Those are just the exact words I needed to hear today! Thank you.====JACK: Winning Words and a sermon seem to work in the same way. The words seem to come in a mysterious way.
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: If often put my worries "under my pillow" in some form or another. And lay my head on them because my greatest worry is that I am not "seeing the whole picture" and am not worrying smartly. I think the Jewish ways of wearing that little box on their heads which contain the Word of God or else wearing the prayer shawl with the fringes really God gave them some useful ways that are totally appropriate to our human needs. I always wonder if Jesus wore those things as he was called a Rabbi. Anyway, God helps us to devise crutches and I personally don't feel less faithful or able when I take advantage of benefitting from using them in a healthy constructive way especially if it ultimately benefits other people around me too.====JACK: I don't think that Jesus was an "official" rabbi. I think that some people just saw him as a teacher, and the word, rabbi, can mean teacher.
FROM INDY GENIE: I use worry dolls...they work! I pray too. I had forgotten until now that as a child I was fascinated by the Roman Catholic rosary ...as a teenager I called them "worry beads".====JACK: I have a priest friend who was also a personal friend of Pope John Paul. He gave me a rosary (worry beads) that had been blessed by the Pope.
FROM GOOD DEBT JON: it was quite a weekend worrying needlessly. Kind of like your WW today.====JACK: "Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile..." as the WW 1 song goes.
FROM FACEBOOK LIZ: i designed & made these many years ago. these kind ladies worry for me... i worry plenty!!! i will have to make these as gifts again. i had all different countries, as i recall. swedish for you?====JACK: 1/2 Swedish and 1/2 German.====LIZ: aaah, a fellow german... explains your feistiness!
FROM TARMART REV: "Don't be a worry wart!" -- Doesn't that bring make a memory or two!!====JACK: I haven't heard that phrase used in a long time. I'll have to investigate its origin.
Tuesday, April 08, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 4/8/14
“If you don’t believe
in miracles, perhaps you’ve forgotten that you are one.” (Karen Salmansohn) In the doctor’s examining room there’s often
a poster showing the various parts of the human body. Sometime, while you’re waiting, take a look
at it and appreciate the miraculous you.
The largest human organ is the skin, and the smallest is the pineal
gland. What other miracles do you
see? We’re amazing, aren’t we? ;-) Jack FROM RI IN BOSTON: Those WW really hit home. Each of us is a miracle, and we have dormant miracles of new generations inherent in our being. What miracles do I see? My eyesight in itself is a miracle. Furthermore, every day the various components of my body do their job of keeping my body functioning, with no overt directive from me. Yes, we're amazing.
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: Interesting to read that the largest human organ is the skin and the smallest is the pineal gland. It is very visually evident that large people and small people have very different sizes of their skin but it occurs to me that the teeny-tiny little pineal gland might be relatively the same size for a goodly number of large and small people. We can say we all have a lot in common and are amazing.
FROM GOOD DEBT JON: Yes. Amazing. I find it amazing that so many parts of the body work together for good to preserve the overall purpose: life. The spleen filters things and can even control platelets in the blood (my most recent health scare). In a way when operating properly the body’s systems and parts do all they can to serve us. It reminds me of how the body (church) is supposed to work.
FROM BBC IN ILLINOIS: I think we’ve talked about the film, Millions, no? If not, please treat yourself and see if you agree with me that it illustrates the Miracle point well.
FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER: The thumbs! They are what make us able to work miracles ourselves.====JACK: It would be a true miracle if we were all thumbs.
Friday, April 04, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 4/4/14
“’What day is it?’ asked Pooh. ‘It’s today,’ squeaked Piglet. ‘My favorite day,’ said Pooh.” (A.A. Milne) Do you have a favorite day? Is it Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve or TGIF. I like the optimistic spirit of the song from Oklahoma, “O what a beautiful mornin’…” Each day is what we make it. Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year.” ;-) Jack
FROM EEC IN MICHIGAN: I like this one!====JACK: I like you're quick response, too. I just sent WWs out 5 minutes ago.
FROM TARMART REV: "Welcome to a new day, Jack, never been lived in before!!"====JACK: Robert Schuller used to begin his Hour of Power broadcasts by quoting Psalm 118:24..."This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it."
FROM IKE AT THE MIC: I thought you might appreciate my closing remark that I make at the end of my radio & TV show "BRIGHT SIDE OF AGING" saying:"Yesterday is history,tomorrow is a mystery,today is a gift & that's why we call it the "present"!====JACK: This Shaker song, Simple Gifts, seems to relate...
Its a gift to be simple, Its a gift to be free,
Its the gift to come down where you ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
Will be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gained,
To bow and to bend, we will not be ashamed,
To turn, turn, will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come round right
Till by turning, turning we come round right
FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER: But tomorrow provides Hope. Right Annie?====JACK: Hope is what Yogi meant when he said, "It's never over til it's over."
FROM TRIHARDER: "The corn is as high as an elephants eye and it looks like it's climbing clear up to the sky." Sang it in 8th grade choir (Detroit)====JACK: The chorus of that song indicates that it's a beautiful mornin', not just because of the weather, but because "everything's goin' my way." That's my favorite day!.
FROM GOOD DEBT JON: Pooh quotes are always a bit more positive than Eeyore... "It's snowing still," said Eeyore gloomily. "So it is." "And freezing." "Is it?" "Yes," said Eeyore. "However," he said, brightening up a little, "we haven't had an earthquake lately."====JACK: The Optimist Club members have a "creed" which begins..."Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind, to talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet. etc." Eeyore might have a problem with that. ====JON: Eeyore is Kiwanian....;)
FROM DL IN OREGON: Thanks Jack for the continuing inspiration of "Winning Words"!! May favorite day? Trying to make everyday exactly that is my ambition!====JACK: One of the Bible translations that I like is the Good News Bible. In it, Proverbs 27:1 appears like this..."Never boast about tomorrow. You don't know what will happen between now and then." We have our hands full, just dealing with today...and appreciating it.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: I absolutely LOVE Winni-the-Pooh and his companions; I read all of his stories to my kids growing up, and we still laugh over "the Heffalumps". etc.Eeore always brot giggles...Of course I was very dramatic in my reading of the "voices of Pooh and friends!" Yes, each day has its "best" aspect; I have birthday cards with RWE's saying that you quoted today.. It's a good one to live by!
have a BEST day!====JACK: The Cubs used to open their broadcast with..."It's a beautiful day for a ballgame." It was a rainy day in Detroit today, but the Tigers played b-ball anyway. Cabrerra hit a homerun, got hit #2000, the team scored 17 runs and now have a record of 3 and 0. It was a beautiful day for the ballgame.
FROM KP IN OHIO: Every day is a good day for the game of life!
FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: Some days are better than the others but I especially like the ones where I wake up!
“’What day is it?’ asked Pooh. ‘It’s today,’ squeaked Piglet. ‘My favorite day,’ said Pooh.” (A.A. Milne) Do you have a favorite day? Is it Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve or TGIF. I like the optimistic spirit of the song from Oklahoma, “O what a beautiful mornin’…” Each day is what we make it. Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year.” ;-) Jack
FROM EEC IN MICHIGAN: I like this one!====JACK: I like you're quick response, too. I just sent WWs out 5 minutes ago.
FROM TARMART REV: "Welcome to a new day, Jack, never been lived in before!!"====JACK: Robert Schuller used to begin his Hour of Power broadcasts by quoting Psalm 118:24..."This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it."
FROM IKE AT THE MIC: I thought you might appreciate my closing remark that I make at the end of my radio & TV show "BRIGHT SIDE OF AGING" saying:"Yesterday is history,tomorrow is a mystery,today is a gift & that's why we call it the "present"!====JACK: This Shaker song, Simple Gifts, seems to relate...
Its a gift to be simple, Its a gift to be free,
Its the gift to come down where you ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
Will be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gained,
To bow and to bend, we will not be ashamed,
To turn, turn, will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come round right
Till by turning, turning we come round right
FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER: But tomorrow provides Hope. Right Annie?====JACK: Hope is what Yogi meant when he said, "It's never over til it's over."
FROM TRIHARDER: "The corn is as high as an elephants eye and it looks like it's climbing clear up to the sky." Sang it in 8th grade choir (Detroit)====JACK: The chorus of that song indicates that it's a beautiful mornin', not just because of the weather, but because "everything's goin' my way." That's my favorite day!.
FROM GOOD DEBT JON: Pooh quotes are always a bit more positive than Eeyore... "It's snowing still," said Eeyore gloomily. "So it is." "And freezing." "Is it?" "Yes," said Eeyore. "However," he said, brightening up a little, "we haven't had an earthquake lately."====JACK: The Optimist Club members have a "creed" which begins..."Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind, to talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet. etc." Eeyore might have a problem with that. ====JON: Eeyore is Kiwanian....;)
FROM DL IN OREGON: Thanks Jack for the continuing inspiration of "Winning Words"!! May favorite day? Trying to make everyday exactly that is my ambition!====JACK: One of the Bible translations that I like is the Good News Bible. In it, Proverbs 27:1 appears like this..."Never boast about tomorrow. You don't know what will happen between now and then." We have our hands full, just dealing with today...and appreciating it.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: I absolutely LOVE Winni-the-Pooh and his companions; I read all of his stories to my kids growing up, and we still laugh over "the Heffalumps". etc.Eeore always brot giggles...Of course I was very dramatic in my reading of the "voices of Pooh and friends!" Yes, each day has its "best" aspect; I have birthday cards with RWE's saying that you quoted today.. It's a good one to live by!
have a BEST day!====JACK: The Cubs used to open their broadcast with..."It's a beautiful day for a ballgame." It was a rainy day in Detroit today, but the Tigers played b-ball anyway. Cabrerra hit a homerun, got hit #2000, the team scored 17 runs and now have a record of 3 and 0. It was a beautiful day for the ballgame.
FROM KP IN OHIO: Every day is a good day for the game of life!
FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: Some days are better than the others but I especially like the ones where I wake up!
Thursday, April 03, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 4/3/14
“We don’t get offered crises, they arrive.” (Elizabeth Janeway) There’s a game called “Crisis” where the players are presented with situations where they have to make quick decisions. Life is sometimes like that, only it’s not a game. You probably know of someone who’s facing a difficult challenge. There are books on what to do when things fall apart. I have D.F.T.P. posted by my computer. Don’t Forget To Pray. ;-) Jack
FROM MK IN MICHIGAN: Thank you for all your winning words. They truly help me:)====JACK: When I send out WWs each morning I feel somewhat like the sower in the biblical parable. I fling out the seed, but I don't know where it will land or where it will take root. The sower rejoices when some of them take root.
FROM TARMART REV: Another good thought to ponder early this morning . . . .I want to try and remember the "DFTP"!! ====JACK: Background of DFTP....A businessman had those initials carved into the edge of his desk that faced him. He would see DFTP as he sat and pondered difficult decisions..
FROM MY LAWYER: OK, I give up! What does D.F.T.P. stand for?====JACK: Don’t Forget To Pray.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: As we age, we see many people facing difficult challenges! But deciding to be happy; never goes out of style...I called on a dear friend who has been in a nursing home the past 3 years (used to be an alto soloist in my church choir) and when I asked her , "How're you doing today?! Her response was "Great...one day at a time, dear Jesus, and I know nobody wants to hear about all your aches and pains!" She is upbeat, "in spite of", so it is a Joy to visit. An inspiration, if I should ever be in a like situation! Your DFTP is a good one!!====JACK: I read that Hubert Humphrey was that kind of upbeat person when he was in the hospital being treated for the cancer that took his life. He would go up and down the halls cheering up the patients (and staff).
“We don’t get offered crises, they arrive.” (Elizabeth Janeway) There’s a game called “Crisis” where the players are presented with situations where they have to make quick decisions. Life is sometimes like that, only it’s not a game. You probably know of someone who’s facing a difficult challenge. There are books on what to do when things fall apart. I have D.F.T.P. posted by my computer. Don’t Forget To Pray. ;-) Jack
FROM MK IN MICHIGAN: Thank you for all your winning words. They truly help me:)====JACK: When I send out WWs each morning I feel somewhat like the sower in the biblical parable. I fling out the seed, but I don't know where it will land or where it will take root. The sower rejoices when some of them take root.
FROM TARMART REV: Another good thought to ponder early this morning . . . .I want to try and remember the "DFTP"!! ====JACK: Background of DFTP....A businessman had those initials carved into the edge of his desk that faced him. He would see DFTP as he sat and pondered difficult decisions..
FROM MY LAWYER: OK, I give up! What does D.F.T.P. stand for?====JACK: Don’t Forget To Pray.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: As we age, we see many people facing difficult challenges! But deciding to be happy; never goes out of style...I called on a dear friend who has been in a nursing home the past 3 years (used to be an alto soloist in my church choir) and when I asked her , "How're you doing today?! Her response was "Great...one day at a time, dear Jesus, and I know nobody wants to hear about all your aches and pains!" She is upbeat, "in spite of", so it is a Joy to visit. An inspiration, if I should ever be in a like situation! Your DFTP is a good one!!====JACK: I read that Hubert Humphrey was that kind of upbeat person when he was in the hospital being treated for the cancer that took his life. He would go up and down the halls cheering up the patients (and staff).
Wednesday, April 02, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 4/2/14
“Most ball games are lost, not won.” (Casey Stengal) “The Old Perfessor” managed 3747 games during his Hall of Fame career and lost about half of them. He also said, “You gotta lose ‘em some of the time, but when you do, lose ‘em right.” We can’t have things go our way all of time, but the successful person is the one who learns from his/her mistakes. A good teacher wrote on a student’s test, “Do better next time.” ;-) Jack
FROM MK IN MICHIGAN: Garrett broke his wrist on the monkey bars at school yesterday. His season of baseball(which he Loves) was just about to start. We're hoping his season is not completely 'lost.' We go to the orthopedic doctor today. Praying that some of this outcome 'goes his way.'====JACK: I've lived long enough to experience the "reality" that some bad breaks can turn out to be good in the long run...though it's hard to believe that in the short run. I'm sure that Jose Iglesias (the Tigers' shortstop) would rather be playing this year instead of waiting for his fractures to heal. Having said that, I hope that the doctor, after his examination, gives some good news.
FROM HONEST JOHN: I've found when competing that you can give others the opportunity to lose...they often seize upon it.====JACK: I would have had a tough time facing you on the tennis court or in a debate competition. In both arenas, you probably won more often than you lost.
FROM TARMART REV: "Do better next time" . . . always a good phrase of encouragement for those set backs we all face . . . "The best is yet to come!" Good morning, Jack . . . let's go face our new day together while apart!!====JACK: Each new day is a "do better next time" opportunity. It is our responsibility to take advantage of it.
FROM IKE AT THE MIC: On this theme.I subscribe to the saying that: "Everyone is entitled to make a fool of themselves for 5 minutes per day,the ones to avoid are those that go over the 5 minutes"====JACK: I watched the questioning of GM's Mary Barra on C-Span yesterday by some Congressmen. Each was given 5 minutes. Some ran over the limit. There instances where your "saying" showed itself.
FROM MICHIZONA RAY: I'm reminded of our old basketball adage: you can't win with defense; but you can certainly lose because a lack of it! We need a good balance of both...just like we learn from both having things go our way and not. In this way, we either "win" or we "don't win". "Not winning" is much different than "losing". Experience is not a zero-sum game.====JACK: The basketball adage works for many sports and in business situations, too...as with the current GM problem. Your words fit for the "game" of life, too.
FROM TRIHARDER: Like, "Good pitching beats good hitting every time. And vice- versa." ====JACK: You can't win if you don't score, and, as they say, "A tie is like kissing your sister." Probably the best-known tie in major league history was the record 26-inning game between Brooklyn and Boston, May 1, 1920. They ran out of daylight. It should be noted that both starters, Cadore and Oeschger, went the distance. Good pitching!
FROM PH IN MINNESOTA: good thoughts for this day, Jack! thanks.====JACK: I try to make day's words...winning ones. "You win some; you lose some." Optimistically, they come out on the positive side.
FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER: If you don't swing, you'll never hit a homer!====JACK: Longtime announcer for the Tigers, Ernie Harwell, used to say, when a batter took a called 3rd strike..."He stood there like the house by the side of the road." The phrase is from a poem by Sam Walter Foss.
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
Where the race of men go by-
The men who are good and the men who are bad,
As good and as bad as I.
I would not sit in the scorner's seat
Nor hurl the cynic's ban-
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.
FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: Some lose and some win. It's a good thing not to get our way all of the time....we would be in a big mess!====JACK: That's why the Lord taught us to pray, "Thy will be done."
“Most ball games are lost, not won.” (Casey Stengal) “The Old Perfessor” managed 3747 games during his Hall of Fame career and lost about half of them. He also said, “You gotta lose ‘em some of the time, but when you do, lose ‘em right.” We can’t have things go our way all of time, but the successful person is the one who learns from his/her mistakes. A good teacher wrote on a student’s test, “Do better next time.” ;-) Jack
FROM MK IN MICHIGAN: Garrett broke his wrist on the monkey bars at school yesterday. His season of baseball(which he Loves) was just about to start. We're hoping his season is not completely 'lost.' We go to the orthopedic doctor today. Praying that some of this outcome 'goes his way.'====JACK: I've lived long enough to experience the "reality" that some bad breaks can turn out to be good in the long run...though it's hard to believe that in the short run. I'm sure that Jose Iglesias (the Tigers' shortstop) would rather be playing this year instead of waiting for his fractures to heal. Having said that, I hope that the doctor, after his examination, gives some good news.
FROM HONEST JOHN: I've found when competing that you can give others the opportunity to lose...they often seize upon it.====JACK: I would have had a tough time facing you on the tennis court or in a debate competition. In both arenas, you probably won more often than you lost.
FROM TARMART REV: "Do better next time" . . . always a good phrase of encouragement for those set backs we all face . . . "The best is yet to come!" Good morning, Jack . . . let's go face our new day together while apart!!====JACK: Each new day is a "do better next time" opportunity. It is our responsibility to take advantage of it.
FROM IKE AT THE MIC: On this theme.I subscribe to the saying that: "Everyone is entitled to make a fool of themselves for 5 minutes per day,the ones to avoid are those that go over the 5 minutes"====JACK: I watched the questioning of GM's Mary Barra on C-Span yesterday by some Congressmen. Each was given 5 minutes. Some ran over the limit. There instances where your "saying" showed itself.
FROM MICHIZONA RAY: I'm reminded of our old basketball adage: you can't win with defense; but you can certainly lose because a lack of it! We need a good balance of both...just like we learn from both having things go our way and not. In this way, we either "win" or we "don't win". "Not winning" is much different than "losing". Experience is not a zero-sum game.====JACK: The basketball adage works for many sports and in business situations, too...as with the current GM problem. Your words fit for the "game" of life, too.
FROM TRIHARDER: Like, "Good pitching beats good hitting every time. And vice- versa." ====JACK: You can't win if you don't score, and, as they say, "A tie is like kissing your sister." Probably the best-known tie in major league history was the record 26-inning game between Brooklyn and Boston, May 1, 1920. They ran out of daylight. It should be noted that both starters, Cadore and Oeschger, went the distance. Good pitching!
FROM PH IN MINNESOTA: good thoughts for this day, Jack! thanks.====JACK: I try to make day's words...winning ones. "You win some; you lose some." Optimistically, they come out on the positive side.
FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER: If you don't swing, you'll never hit a homer!====JACK: Longtime announcer for the Tigers, Ernie Harwell, used to say, when a batter took a called 3rd strike..."He stood there like the house by the side of the road." The phrase is from a poem by Sam Walter Foss.
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
Where the race of men go by-
The men who are good and the men who are bad,
As good and as bad as I.
I would not sit in the scorner's seat
Nor hurl the cynic's ban-
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.
FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: Some lose and some win. It's a good thing not to get our way all of the time....we would be in a big mess!====JACK: That's why the Lord taught us to pray, "Thy will be done."
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