Jack’s Winning Words 5/1/14
“Sometimes not getting what you want is a stroke of luck.”  (Lorii Myers)  One of the advantages of aging is the opportunity to look back and see times when bad choices have been avoided.  Maybe it could be called, “luck,” but I would call it “the grace of God.”  Take a bit of time to review some “grace moments” in your life, when it seems that God has intervened, or, at least, made a strong suggestion to change your direction.    ;-)  Jack

  FROM TARMART REV:  Thinking about that again just the other day, Jack . . . 'only for the grace of God at those particular times', how different my life might have been in an adverse way. Soooooooooooooooooo thankful!! ====JACK:  Grace is one of the most beautiful words that I know.  Think of the various situations in which it can be used.

FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  So are so many times God has stepped in and lifted me up, supplied my needs, answered my prayers (not always what I want but always what I need) it would hard to name them all.  We do tend to look more kindly at our opportunities as we age.  Even our bad choices in life seem to be for a reason.  We are truly blessed to have a loving Father!====JACK:  "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall white as snow."  God has the means to change things, even to turn the bad into good.

FROM RI IN BOSTON:  Luck is a curious word.  Each time I've used phrases like "good luck", or "I wish you luck", or "best of luck to you", I've felt that's a bit silly.  The events in our lives don't happen simply like a roll of the dice over which we have no control.  They happen from various related conditions which cause some sort of result, for one reason or another.  It becomes a matter of how good or bad the result will be.  Maybe "I wish you good judgment" would be a better comment.  ====JACK:  I read that LUCK comes from Low German and was associated with chance, as in gambling. ====RI:  I suppose "luck" is applicable when it's a matter of chance, like a throw of the dice, pulling a card from the deck, or scratching a lottery ticket.====JACK:  Even those whose job it is to make judgments, sometimes are forced to leave their rulings to chance.

FROM SBP IN FLORIDA:  I'm sure that in my span of life I have used "luck" as an explanation. But for a very long time my comfort has been in "God never shuts a door, but what he opens a window." And a great sense of security comes with "God has a plan!" Wonderful to know that "You're in good hands....".====JACK:  Somewhere I read..."A pound of pluck is worth a ton of luck."  Pluck allows us to continue to trust in God through the winding pathways of life...searching for those open windows.

FROM BLAZING OAKS:  Barbara Bush says, "You don't just LUCK into things as much as you'd like to think you do. ;You build step by step, whether it's a friendship or opportunities."  I can remember when we decided we would petition to be missionaries to Democratic Republic of Congo, just after Bill graduated from Seminary, but at 33, with 3 yrs. of French language study required, the board felt we'd be too old. Ten years later they called to see if we would still consider going to Congo, (!)  but by then all our children (4 by then!) were involved in athletics and school programs, etc. etc. and we decided against it, but did do a month's mission work there.  I'm very happy with how our lives panned out...!====JACK:  It's always fun to play the "What if?" game.  It might not be so much fun if the unknown became known.  As Iris DeMent sings in her song, "I think I'll just let the mystery be."  You can listen to it on YouTube.

FROM JR IN ILLINOIS:  Your “words” remind me of the great Garth Brooks song, “Thank God for unanswered prayers”.   And speaking of the road not travelled, Who is behind my connection with a Pastor Martin R who is helping me organize my trip to northern Germany this summer.  He is apparently no relation, and was introduced to me by a stranger via e-mail, but he has been a great blessing to me.   You perhaps hoped for a Pastor R, now I have one.   By the way, thank you, for your belief in me.====JACK:  Sometimes there are pastors who are pastors, not in the usual sense of the word.  There's a children's song, "I sing a song of the saints of God."  Most important is to be a saint.
1. I sing a song of the saints of God,
 patient and brave and true,
 who toiled and fought and lived and died
 for the Lord they loved and knew.
 And one was a doctor, and one was a queen,
 and one was a shepherdess on the green;
 they were all of them saints of God, and I mean,
 God helping, to be one too.
2. They loved their Lord so dear, so dear,
 and his love made them strong;
 and they followed the right for Jesus' sake
 the whole of their good lives long.
 And one was a soldier, and one was a priest,
 and one was slain by a fierce wild beast;
 and there's not any reason, no, not the least,
 why I shouldn't be one too.
3. They lived not only in ages past;
 there are hundreds of thousands still.
 The world is bright with the joyous saints
 who love to do Jesus' will.
 You can meet them in school, on the street, in the store,
 in church, by the sea, in the house next door;
 they are saints of God, whether rich or poor,
 and I mean to be one too.