Jack’s Winning Words 7/21/14
“I wouldn’t have seen it, if I hadn’t believed it.”  (Marshall McLuhan)  Media expert McLuhan “saw” the web, 30 years before it happened.  Where do people come up with those ideas?  Archimedes had his “idea-moment” while he was taking a bath and called out, “Eureka!”  While I am still in the process of learning about God and the meaning of life, there have been those “aha-moments.”  Have you experienced them, too?    ;-)  Jack

FROM TARMART REV:  I believe I'm in one now, Jack...the last 10+ years is a culmination of the first 30 of preparation...certainly enjoying a feeling of harvest time presently.====JACK:  Charles Dickens wrote, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."  It's that way with life; the good times are often good, because of the bad times.  Ain't life grand?

FROM MICHIZONA RAY:  I am reminded of Jesus' statement that "whatever we ask the Father in my name, and believe that you have received it, it shall be given you". The belief that you have already received it, even before any evidence of its manifestation, seems a very important caveat. More simply, if I believe that a person is unkind, will I be able to provide all the evidence I need for proof? If I believe that same man is generous, will I not also be able to provide evidence of that as well? Or, might it be true that we generate, through our own "sight", the kind of personal-world that we step into? What we believe seems to shape us into the people we become. So, as Jesus has loved us, let us love one another. Let us "count the ways" and believe in that.====JACK:  I like the biblical phrase, "We see through a glass darkly."  Our knowledge is limited; therefore, our judgment, too, must be limited.  Sometimes, the "bad old days" turn out to be good...with perspective.  Many of our judgments must wait until the FINAL judgment in order to be validated, or not.

FROM SHARIN' SHARON:  Actually, I have these aha moments pretty regularly every Sunday--after I've prayed all week for the Pastor to have the prayer time and preparation time necessary for her to craft a sermon based on the needs of us and using the personal integrity of her personal experiences and the wisdom to be able to divide the Word and not have anything from the first half of the sermon be an obstacle to my receiving the second half of the sermon, Sunday morning it's aha--a sermon to me pretty faithful to what God would have us learn for now and for us to use as we live out the following week. It's kind of an impressive experience.====JACK:  Sometimes pastors think that it all depends on them, forgetting that there are people like you, praying for them...and that there is a God who hears and answers prayer.  Then, again, some pastors understand this.

FROM PLH IN MINNESOTA:  i have always liked the line:  seeing is believing but believing is also seeing.  there are some things in life we will never "see" until we take that first (often tentative) leap of faith.====JACK:  I've come to realize that understanding is more important that seeing.

FROM FACEBOOK LIZ:  archimedes invented the vacuum sweeper... who knew?  many a-has!====JACK:  He wanted to make life easier for his wife.