Jack’s Winning Words 8/29/14
“Say HELLO to a stranger…Talk less and Listen more…Look at problems as challenges.” (From DMC’s Ways To Cope With Stress) This quote is from a list of 101 Ways To Cope With Stress. Here’s another one…“Say something in Pig Latin.” (I’m waiting…) This world is a stressful place. I heard that one our presidents would read from the Psalms when he faced particular stress situations. What do you do? ;-) Jack
FROM TARMART REV: Face it (hopefully with God's help and not just with my deternination which is greater at times) . . . that was what got me from East Detroit to West Bloomfield . . . found life too short to stay in the midst of such to me and find a new adventure sharing a Christlike life of faith with you good folk . . . most rememberable five years of a faith walk up to this date!! ====JACK: It's interesting the take 5-year-snapshots of our life years. Right now (in my mind) I'm looking back on some of them and enjoying what I see. Today is the birthday of one of our daughters. It was a happy time when she was born into the life of our family.
FROM LVEEC: Lora and Lisa could both speak Pig Latin fast and fluently.====JACK: Do you mean Oralay and Isalay?
FROM PLH IN MINNESOTA: listening well has never been my strong suit. i still have to work on that one!====JACK: I know that it's an old one, but it's still a valid truism..."God gave us two ears and one mouth, so that we would listen more than we talk." Preachers repeat the "truisms" of the Bible week after week in the hope that the old, old story will be heeded.====PLH: well, we sure try. some seed lands on the path, the weeds, the rocks, and thankfully the good soil too! ====JACK: As a mission developer, I learned that for every ten doors I knocked on, I'd come up with a prospect. Even the other usually provided interesting conversation and a "who knows what the future may bring?". There's more than one way to sow the seed.
FROM HCC CHUCK: I like to take a walk alone.====JACK: And sometimes we sense that we are not alone.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: Pig Latin! ellohay to days gone by! HA! I try to remember "Don't sweat the small stuff.( P.S. It's all small stuff), and as my mom used to say, "In a 100 years, it's not going to matter in the grand scheme of things".... Felix Baumgartner, record setting Austrian skydiver says, "I wish the whole world could see what I see. Sometimes you have to go up really high to understand how small you really are.." That, or stand beside Niagara Falls! :-) These are certainly stressful times in our world!!====JACK: I didn't take Latin in school until I went to college, and it has really helped me to understand the derivation of words. I never did take a course in the other Latin. Re: stress in the world...There has always been stress, when you come to think of it. That's why Jesus said, "Come unto me, all you who are stressed, and I will give you rest."
FROM SBP IN FLORIDA: Well, I try to and usually find something to laugh about. Laughter, for me, is a great loosening up agent. Prayers for help! Cryptograms...the stress is redirected. And I haven't heard of pig Latin for years! Ankthay eryvay uchmay orfay ethay ecollectionray.====JACK: Yes, we all find ways to handle stress...or just to live with it. As I recall, it always seemed to be the smart kids communicating in a language that I wasn't able to understand.
FROM SB IN MICHIGAN: While Mom was in the hospital ICU, Dad and I read from Psalms to her daily and read or sang some of her favorite hymns to her. She found the Psalms especially comforting during her final illness.
FROM SB IN MICHIGAN: While Mom was in the hospital ICU, Dad and I read from Psalms to her daily and read or sang some of her favorite hymns to her. She found the Psalms especially comforting during her final illness.====JACK: Who can count the number of times the 23rd Psalm has been spoken in times of stress...and how it has brought calm?
Friday, August 29, 2014
Thursday, August 28, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 8/28/14
“A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.” (Nelson Mandela) The 4-H youth organization emphasizes Head, Heart, Hands and Health. It’s a group mainly for farm kids, but its aims fit all youth…to develop citizenship, leadership, responsibility and skills. Their motto is “To make the best better.” Teaching the 3-R’s is important, but it wouldn’t hurt to toss some of the 4-H teaching, too. ;-) Jack
FROM HONEST JOHN: Too much Christianity in America would exclude the head.====JACK: I think I know what you're getting at, but I'd like clarification before I surmise.====JOHN: The right wing insists that the Bible. Is to be read as a textbook and won't let it be what it is....thus, they end up with conflicts with Science which shouldn't happen.====JACK: Our individuality shows itself in that we each can use our brain and reach a different conclusion about the same subject. While I side with you, I like the Gospel song with the line..."We'll understand it all, by and by."
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: Our daughter attended public schools in our area which high school had 95% African American students. Just last night she was telling me that she is on a new project at her job--the company wanted diversity, some younger engineers and some women. Brenda is 30 years old. Everyone else at the meeting were over 40 years old and men. She seems to be the diversity so far but was also telling me how thankful she is for her earlier school experience as it really helped her to be comfortable "as a minority". There are very important things to learn at school besides reading, writing and arithmetic.====JACK: Being in the minority can be a positive and a negative, depending on how we respond. Sometimes "even-up" results in a stalemate, with nothing being accomplished. I have a picture of Rosa Parks' bus on my wall as a reminder of what a minority of one can accomplish.
FROM NORWEGIAN JAN: I spent 9 years in 4-H; it’s one of the reasons I’m a good baker and not a great cook. (You can’t take a pot-roast to the fair.) I had a lot of great opportunities through 4-H (leadership trips to Washington D.C., a summer on a farm in northern Norway, etc.). My nieces grew up in a suburb of the Twin Cities and still live in that area, but they’re considering enrolling their kids in 4-H. (I guess there are not enough true farm-kids anymore to keep it going, so I’m glad the organization is willing to enroll “city-folk” now too.)====JACK: As I recall, the 4-H has it's own building and a big presence at the Minnesota State Fair. The program is also supported by the University of Minnesota.
FROM JE IN MICHIGAN: Love this Jack and I agree. I love the 4-H philosophy too.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: 4H is quite strong in our area, which has many farms, and rural kids.Certainly emphasizes high ideals and service! Andy Wimmer, who left his job as a financial advisor to volunteer ata hospice center in Kalighat, India, (est.by mother Teresa) said it well: "My life is a loan, given from God. I will give this loan back, but with interest...You love; your serve the brother or sister in front of you. That is how you have a happy life." AMEN!====JACK: There are many Winning Words out there to inspire us.
FROM KF IN MICHIGAN: & more ZZZZZ's for students : )====JACK: "Early to bed and early to rise makes a student healthy and wise."
FROM MK IN MICHIGAN: I totally agree!! The boys elementary school just started a 4H group at their school. The boys joined & love it!! They built a herb garden last year. We helped maintain it over the summer. What a great experience it has been!====JACK: I'm seeing this as a growing trend...bringing what is seen as a program for farm kids to the city and suburbia for all kids.
FROM SG IN MICHIGAN: "I give my head to clearer thinking, my heart to greater loyalty, my hands to larger service, and my health to better living, for my club, my community and my country." Wow, I remembered this after 50+ years!! 4-H did teach me a lot, and I am so thankful for being raised a "farm kid."====JACK: What a great pledge for all kids to make!
“A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.” (Nelson Mandela) The 4-H youth organization emphasizes Head, Heart, Hands and Health. It’s a group mainly for farm kids, but its aims fit all youth…to develop citizenship, leadership, responsibility and skills. Their motto is “To make the best better.” Teaching the 3-R’s is important, but it wouldn’t hurt to toss some of the 4-H teaching, too. ;-) Jack
FROM HONEST JOHN: Too much Christianity in America would exclude the head.====JACK: I think I know what you're getting at, but I'd like clarification before I surmise.====JOHN: The right wing insists that the Bible. Is to be read as a textbook and won't let it be what it is....thus, they end up with conflicts with Science which shouldn't happen.====JACK: Our individuality shows itself in that we each can use our brain and reach a different conclusion about the same subject. While I side with you, I like the Gospel song with the line..."We'll understand it all, by and by."
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: Our daughter attended public schools in our area which high school had 95% African American students. Just last night she was telling me that she is on a new project at her job--the company wanted diversity, some younger engineers and some women. Brenda is 30 years old. Everyone else at the meeting were over 40 years old and men. She seems to be the diversity so far but was also telling me how thankful she is for her earlier school experience as it really helped her to be comfortable "as a minority". There are very important things to learn at school besides reading, writing and arithmetic.====JACK: Being in the minority can be a positive and a negative, depending on how we respond. Sometimes "even-up" results in a stalemate, with nothing being accomplished. I have a picture of Rosa Parks' bus on my wall as a reminder of what a minority of one can accomplish.
FROM NORWEGIAN JAN: I spent 9 years in 4-H; it’s one of the reasons I’m a good baker and not a great cook. (You can’t take a pot-roast to the fair.) I had a lot of great opportunities through 4-H (leadership trips to Washington D.C., a summer on a farm in northern Norway, etc.). My nieces grew up in a suburb of the Twin Cities and still live in that area, but they’re considering enrolling their kids in 4-H. (I guess there are not enough true farm-kids anymore to keep it going, so I’m glad the organization is willing to enroll “city-folk” now too.)====JACK: As I recall, the 4-H has it's own building and a big presence at the Minnesota State Fair. The program is also supported by the University of Minnesota.
FROM JE IN MICHIGAN: Love this Jack and I agree. I love the 4-H philosophy too.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: 4H is quite strong in our area, which has many farms, and rural kids.Certainly emphasizes high ideals and service! Andy Wimmer, who left his job as a financial advisor to volunteer ata hospice center in Kalighat, India, (est.by mother Teresa) said it well: "My life is a loan, given from God. I will give this loan back, but with interest...You love; your serve the brother or sister in front of you. That is how you have a happy life." AMEN!====JACK: There are many Winning Words out there to inspire us.
FROM KF IN MICHIGAN: & more ZZZZZ's for students : )====JACK: "Early to bed and early to rise makes a student healthy and wise."
FROM MK IN MICHIGAN: I totally agree!! The boys elementary school just started a 4H group at their school. The boys joined & love it!! They built a herb garden last year. We helped maintain it over the summer. What a great experience it has been!====JACK: I'm seeing this as a growing trend...bringing what is seen as a program for farm kids to the city and suburbia for all kids.
FROM SG IN MICHIGAN: "I give my head to clearer thinking, my heart to greater loyalty, my hands to larger service, and my health to better living, for my club, my community and my country." Wow, I remembered this after 50+ years!! 4-H did teach me a lot, and I am so thankful for being raised a "farm kid."====JACK: What a great pledge for all kids to make!
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 8/27/14
“Regardless of what’s going on around you, make the best of what’s in your power, and take the rest as it occurs.” (Epictetus) If Epictetus had owned a TV he probably would never have watched the news. He believed that events like that were controlled by fate. Focus on the things you can control..smiling..honesty..listening..the people you hang out with. Life is not what happens, but how we react to what happens. ;-) Jack
FROM TARMART REV: Another excellent word to begin my day with . . . going to the Minnesota State Fair today, Jack . . . I trust your day will be filled with adventure as I trusting mine will as well. ====JACK: When you're at the Fair, "control" your appetite, and smile a lot at the people you pass.
FROM FACEBOOK LIZ: Like====JACK: Those who followed Epictetus were called Stoics. Do you like being called a Stoic?====LIZ: i am too vociferous to be considered "stoic."
FROM SBP IN FLORIDA: Right! Sometimes easier said than done.Without going into details we're experiencing just such a situation right now...with a close friend. She's allowing her feelings and is dealing with the realities, emotionally but pragmatically. "Life goes on.".... Stoicism? Grant Woods' " "The American Gothic" comes to mind as a portrayal of stoicism.====JACK: Grant Wood's couple reminds me of the TV stoics...Oliver and Lisa in Green Acres is the place for me. Farm livin' is the life for me. Land spreadin' out so far and wide. Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside. New York is where I'd rather stay. I get allergic smelling hay. I just adore a penthouse view. Dah-ling I love you but give me Park Avenue. ...The chores. ...The stores. ...Fresh air. ...Times Square You are my wife. Good bye, city life. Green Acres we are there.
“Regardless of what’s going on around you, make the best of what’s in your power, and take the rest as it occurs.” (Epictetus) If Epictetus had owned a TV he probably would never have watched the news. He believed that events like that were controlled by fate. Focus on the things you can control..smiling..honesty..listening..the people you hang out with. Life is not what happens, but how we react to what happens. ;-) Jack
FROM TARMART REV: Another excellent word to begin my day with . . . going to the Minnesota State Fair today, Jack . . . I trust your day will be filled with adventure as I trusting mine will as well. ====JACK: When you're at the Fair, "control" your appetite, and smile a lot at the people you pass.
FROM FACEBOOK LIZ: Like====JACK: Those who followed Epictetus were called Stoics. Do you like being called a Stoic?====LIZ: i am too vociferous to be considered "stoic."
FROM SBP IN FLORIDA: Right! Sometimes easier said than done.Without going into details we're experiencing just such a situation right now...with a close friend. She's allowing her feelings and is dealing with the realities, emotionally but pragmatically. "Life goes on.".... Stoicism? Grant Woods' " "The American Gothic" comes to mind as a portrayal of stoicism.====JACK: Grant Wood's couple reminds me of the TV stoics...Oliver and Lisa in Green Acres is the place for me. Farm livin' is the life for me. Land spreadin' out so far and wide. Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside. New York is where I'd rather stay. I get allergic smelling hay. I just adore a penthouse view. Dah-ling I love you but give me Park Avenue. ...The chores. ...The stores. ...Fresh air. ...Times Square You are my wife. Good bye, city life. Green Acres we are there.
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 8/26/14
“Some people walk in the rain. Others just get wet.” (Roger Miller) Go to YouTube and watch Gene Kelly do “Singing In The Rain.” It’s a perfect example of being in the rain and not caring about getting wet. The resilience of some people is amazing. Even with the bad “raining down” upon them, they can see the good. Do you know anyone like that? They are an inspiration, aren’t they? ;) Jack
FROM TRIHARDER: A day that I will remember always, my son was about 12 years old. A torrential downpour was approaching. We were watching the rain get harder and harder. We decided we would go out in the hardest rain either of us could imagine. The rain got harder and harder as we stood there laughing in our rain-proof outfits getting drenched inside and out. Jill was incredulous as she watched her two boys playing in the rain. It was the type of rain that soaks you to the bone; that even a towel can't dry. Well-worth the effort.====JACK: Times we spend with our kids, raining or not, are the best of times...the source of memories.
FROM SF IN MICHIGAN: Thanks, I needed this one today!====JACK: I sometimes wonder, as I send out Winning Words each morning, whether what I'm doing is making a difference to anyone besides me.
FROM MICHIZONA RAY: I think of Viktor Frankl and his story about the Jews and their plight in concentration camps. He focused on how our freely chosen responses to our circumstances makes all the difference, and how "meaning" serves Life -- even in the worst of places and situations. Admittedly, their experience was much worse than enduring some "rain" in their day; but it makes living with "inconveniences" much less annoying in my wonderful world.====JACK: I was recently talking with a Jewish friend (who lost relatives in the Holocaust). I raised the question about whether or not there was good that came out of that event...such as establishment of the nation of Israel. He brought up the potential that was lost in each life that was lost.
FROM TARMART REV: Have many and always enjoy being around them as they inspire me on!!====JACK: People who (love) people are the luckiest people in the world.
FROM DAIRYLAND DONNA: Actually Maya Angelou could have grown into a bitter, sad human being with what happened to her when she was young. Yet, look what she did with her life. Some people are amazing.====JACK: You are so right....and Nelson Mandela is another.
FROM PEPPERMINT MARY: i love to walk in the rain. i enjoy the rhythm, the puddles, and oh the sweet smell. singing while walking is second nature whether the sky is sunny, cloudy, or falling! ====JACK: Speaking of rhythm, I like the Eddie Rabbit Windshield Wiper song....Oh, and I know another that you probably like..."Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head." A couple of songs for your day!
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: My joy was to take an internet course Coursera twice so far. Prof. Madhu, University of Illinois, Champagne-Urbana, teaches it. We watch video after video of staff and students interviewing people in India, Africa, South-America and he has also done this project in places in the U.S.A. "Subsistence Marketplaces". The rain is raining down and people aren't just getting wet--the Prof. believes and teaches that everyone has strengths, that the people at the bottom of the economic pyramid have the most skill and insight into survival, are, in fact, experts at survival and people seeking to help them need to develop skills of "listening to what they have to say", that this is the most responsible and helpful way to respond to the needs of the poor, but also of the whole human community. I'm taking the course for a third time this coming January and practicing some of the things have learned in the course but above all what is catching is Prof. Madhu's belief that everyone knows something, everyone can contribute to making the world a better place to live in and also that richer people need to give up some of their inauthentic thinking and learn from the poor. But he doesn't only teach it abstractly, he goes right into the locations and talks to people and videotapes and gives the students a chance to get at least a glimpse of the relationships and that he has been welcoming into his own thinking the insights of the poor and learning from them. The Prof. became humble and advises others who wish to be helpful for the poor to do likewise. It's a great class!!!!! ====JACK: There was a course in seminary once where a student was dropped off on "Skid Row" with nothing in his pocket and left to live there for several days. Talk about a reality show! My days in seminary were not as challenging as that.
FROM TAMPA SHIRL: That is the point of being an optimist, I guess.====JACK: That reminds me of another song..." Look for the silver lining When e'er a cloud appears in the blue. Remember somewhere, the sun is shining And so the right thing to do is make it shine for you. When e'er a cloud appears in the blue. Remember somewhere, the sun is shining And so the right thing to do is make it shine for you." That's an optimistic song, isn't it?
FROM BLAZING OAKS: My twin sis and I used to sing "Look for the Silver Lining" when we did programs for service organizations, etc in High School. Love that song! And our church men's quartette still sings "Have A Little Talk With Jesus". Love the way you refer to so many songs, in your blog responses! What about Nick Vujicic, born without arms or legs, now an inspirational speaker world wide, a husband and father....who experienced cycles of hope and despair? He is remarkable!!!====JACK: The "Nick" story can be Googled. It's good! I suppose you know that one of the stars of the movie, "Look For The Silver Lining," was June Haver who was born in Rock Island, Ill. Of course, you knew that!
FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER: One if my favorite entertainers. Love his "You can't roller skate in a buffalo herd."====JACK: Have you tried roller skating...let alone with a buffalo herd? One of his first songs was..."There's a picture on the wall. It's the dearest of them all, Mother." His family grew up "dirt poor" during the Great Depression. He was part of The Greatest Generation.
FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: One of our all-time favorite movies! My sister Val has overcome a lot of serious stepping stones in her life. She just keeps dancing, or she will be Able to dance in a few months. She shattered the connecting bones behind her knee. By the way, they used a lot of milk to make the rain show up in Gene's dancing in the rain number!====JACK: Singing in the rain sounds better than singing in the milk.
“Some people walk in the rain. Others just get wet.” (Roger Miller) Go to YouTube and watch Gene Kelly do “Singing In The Rain.” It’s a perfect example of being in the rain and not caring about getting wet. The resilience of some people is amazing. Even with the bad “raining down” upon them, they can see the good. Do you know anyone like that? They are an inspiration, aren’t they? ;) Jack
FROM TRIHARDER: A day that I will remember always, my son was about 12 years old. A torrential downpour was approaching. We were watching the rain get harder and harder. We decided we would go out in the hardest rain either of us could imagine. The rain got harder and harder as we stood there laughing in our rain-proof outfits getting drenched inside and out. Jill was incredulous as she watched her two boys playing in the rain. It was the type of rain that soaks you to the bone; that even a towel can't dry. Well-worth the effort.====JACK: Times we spend with our kids, raining or not, are the best of times...the source of memories.
FROM SF IN MICHIGAN: Thanks, I needed this one today!====JACK: I sometimes wonder, as I send out Winning Words each morning, whether what I'm doing is making a difference to anyone besides me.
FROM MICHIZONA RAY: I think of Viktor Frankl and his story about the Jews and their plight in concentration camps. He focused on how our freely chosen responses to our circumstances makes all the difference, and how "meaning" serves Life -- even in the worst of places and situations. Admittedly, their experience was much worse than enduring some "rain" in their day; but it makes living with "inconveniences" much less annoying in my wonderful world.====JACK: I was recently talking with a Jewish friend (who lost relatives in the Holocaust). I raised the question about whether or not there was good that came out of that event...such as establishment of the nation of Israel. He brought up the potential that was lost in each life that was lost.
FROM TARMART REV: Have many and always enjoy being around them as they inspire me on!!====JACK: People who (love) people are the luckiest people in the world.
FROM DAIRYLAND DONNA: Actually Maya Angelou could have grown into a bitter, sad human being with what happened to her when she was young. Yet, look what she did with her life. Some people are amazing.====JACK: You are so right....and Nelson Mandela is another.
FROM PEPPERMINT MARY: i love to walk in the rain. i enjoy the rhythm, the puddles, and oh the sweet smell. singing while walking is second nature whether the sky is sunny, cloudy, or falling! ====JACK: Speaking of rhythm, I like the Eddie Rabbit Windshield Wiper song....Oh, and I know another that you probably like..."Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head." A couple of songs for your day!
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: My joy was to take an internet course Coursera twice so far. Prof. Madhu, University of Illinois, Champagne-Urbana, teaches it. We watch video after video of staff and students interviewing people in India, Africa, South-America and he has also done this project in places in the U.S.A. "Subsistence Marketplaces". The rain is raining down and people aren't just getting wet--the Prof. believes and teaches that everyone has strengths, that the people at the bottom of the economic pyramid have the most skill and insight into survival, are, in fact, experts at survival and people seeking to help them need to develop skills of "listening to what they have to say", that this is the most responsible and helpful way to respond to the needs of the poor, but also of the whole human community. I'm taking the course for a third time this coming January and practicing some of the things have learned in the course but above all what is catching is Prof. Madhu's belief that everyone knows something, everyone can contribute to making the world a better place to live in and also that richer people need to give up some of their inauthentic thinking and learn from the poor. But he doesn't only teach it abstractly, he goes right into the locations and talks to people and videotapes and gives the students a chance to get at least a glimpse of the relationships and that he has been welcoming into his own thinking the insights of the poor and learning from them. The Prof. became humble and advises others who wish to be helpful for the poor to do likewise. It's a great class!!!!! ====JACK: There was a course in seminary once where a student was dropped off on "Skid Row" with nothing in his pocket and left to live there for several days. Talk about a reality show! My days in seminary were not as challenging as that.
FROM TAMPA SHIRL: That is the point of being an optimist, I guess.====JACK: That reminds me of another song..." Look for the silver lining When e'er a cloud appears in the blue. Remember somewhere, the sun is shining And so the right thing to do is make it shine for you. When e'er a cloud appears in the blue. Remember somewhere, the sun is shining And so the right thing to do is make it shine for you." That's an optimistic song, isn't it?
FROM BLAZING OAKS: My twin sis and I used to sing "Look for the Silver Lining" when we did programs for service organizations, etc in High School. Love that song! And our church men's quartette still sings "Have A Little Talk With Jesus". Love the way you refer to so many songs, in your blog responses! What about Nick Vujicic, born without arms or legs, now an inspirational speaker world wide, a husband and father....who experienced cycles of hope and despair? He is remarkable!!!====JACK: The "Nick" story can be Googled. It's good! I suppose you know that one of the stars of the movie, "Look For The Silver Lining," was June Haver who was born in Rock Island, Ill. Of course, you knew that!
FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER: One if my favorite entertainers. Love his "You can't roller skate in a buffalo herd."====JACK: Have you tried roller skating...let alone with a buffalo herd? One of his first songs was..."There's a picture on the wall. It's the dearest of them all, Mother." His family grew up "dirt poor" during the Great Depression. He was part of The Greatest Generation.
FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: One of our all-time favorite movies! My sister Val has overcome a lot of serious stepping stones in her life. She just keeps dancing, or she will be Able to dance in a few months. She shattered the connecting bones behind her knee. By the way, they used a lot of milk to make the rain show up in Gene's dancing in the rain number!====JACK: Singing in the rain sounds better than singing in the milk.
Monday, August 25, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 8/25/14
“Today, why don’t you look up and say: ‘Hi, God!’” (Noodles du Jour) One thing I like about Tevye (the Fiddler) is how he talks to God. It’s like conversing with a good friend. “Am I bothering you too much?” In teaching confirmands about prayer, I would place an empty chair before them and have them talk to “God” in ordinary conversation. Do you have a concern today? “Hi, God! This is what’s on my mind etc.” ;-) Jack
FROM MICHIZONA RAY: I remember as a kid having the common "conversations" with God all the time. I never thought of it as anything but common and ordinary. I thought that's what everyone else did as well. When we learned "prayer", I thought that was something distinct from general conversations...as if it were a better "adult" way to address God. All of my conversations with God are prayer --- just not the stuff someone wrote down for me to memorize!====JACK: Paul wrote: "When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put away childish things." That's not always for the better, is it?
FROM LOUIE: Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. is a 1970 book by Judy Blume, typically categorized as a young adult novel, about a girl in sixth grade who grew up without a religious affiliation. Margaret's mother is Christian and her father is Jewish, and the novel explores her quest for a single religion. Margaret also confronts many other pre-teen female issues, such as buying her first bra, having her first period, coping with belted sanitary napkins (changed to adhesive sanitary pads for recent editions of the book), jealousy towards another girl who has developed a womanly figure earlier than other girls, liking boys, and whether to voice her opinion if it differs from those of her friends.====JACK: God hears all kinds of prayers. I don't see him using a grading system to determine the good from the bad.
FROM PLH IN MINNESOTA: the line i love is when he says, (after learning of another coming pogrom): Lord, i know we are the chosen people but would you please choose someone else once in a while!====JACK: You've indicated another example of letting God your true feelings. Pogrom? While formal prayers can sound stilted, I'm content to let God have his likes and dislikes.
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: My family, when growing up, were fairly private regarding faith. We always went to church but we didn't talk about faith much, except sometimes when us kids speculated about if there was a God at all and how did He do those miracles. But what continues to be most precious to me is a telephone conversation I had with Dad when he was pretty old where he just off-handedly shared with me that his favorite time of the day was lying in bed at night and talking with Jesus. Glad to have found that out before he died--great witnessing, contributes to my peace of mind and trust that, when I die, my dad and mom and family will be there. Great WW again today. ====JACK: "his favorite time of the day lying in bed at night and talking with Jesus." What a great remembrance from your father! Thanks for sharin' it.
FROM TARMART REV: I'm drawn to the Scripture often where it directs us to "pray without ceasing" (I Thess. 5:17). The Message Bible reads (vs. 16-18): "Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live." I call it in constant communication throughout the day . . . it helps keep me out of more trouble then I have when talking only to myself!! 0;-/====JACK: Does "pray all the time" mean "pray all the time?" Or, does it mean, keep the line open...which reminds me of the song: Telephone to glory oh what joy devine I can feel the current moving down the line Made by God the Father for his very own You can talk to Jesus on this Royal Telephone Central's never busy always on the line You can hear from heaven almost anytime It's a royal service built for one and all When you get in trouble give this Royal line a call.
FROM MARILYN OAKS: Reminds me of a quote I read by David Shouldice, "God is within, don't be without." I keep up a running conversation with God, or Father, a lot...and I think He often helps me see the humorous aspect of situations: If you're praying you're not worrying, if you're worrying, you're not praying...? I love the more informal religious writers like Anne LaMott Anne Tyler, Yancy (and so many others...!).Another WW to "like"! Enjoyed the funny quote on your blog, "I know we are the chosen race, but could you choose some one else once in awhile??! I can see feeling like that if I were Jewish!!====JACK: One of my favorite books is a collection of contemporary prayers by Malcolm Boyd.. It has the title, "Are You Running With Me, Jesus?"
It’s morning, Jesus. It’s morning, and here’s that light and sound all over again.
I’ve got to move fast . . . get into the bathroom, wash up, grab a bite to eat and run some more.
I just don’t feel like it, Lord. What I really want to do is get back into bed, pull up the covers, and sleep. All I seem to want today is the big sleep, and here I’ve got to run all over again.
Where am I running? You know these things I can’t understand. It’s not that I need to have you tell me. What counts most is just that somebody knows, and it’s you. That helps a lot.
So I’ll follow along okay? But lead, Lord. Now I’ve got to run. Are you running with me, Jesus?
FROM SBP IN FLORIDA: My friend and close companion throughout 24/7 when I need help, must express appreciation for what the day is offering, sharing in His world and depending so on His unconditional friendship and companionship, understanding and support.====JACK: The hymn, What a Friend, was written by a son to his seriously ill mother. She kept it propped up on a table next to her bed. After her death, someone took the poem and set it to music.
FROM TWINKLE AND SHINE: Nice! I like that! I talk to him every single day...always****====JACK: There's a line in a song...."Just a little talk with Jesus makes it right!"
“Today, why don’t you look up and say: ‘Hi, God!’” (Noodles du Jour) One thing I like about Tevye (the Fiddler) is how he talks to God. It’s like conversing with a good friend. “Am I bothering you too much?” In teaching confirmands about prayer, I would place an empty chair before them and have them talk to “God” in ordinary conversation. Do you have a concern today? “Hi, God! This is what’s on my mind etc.” ;-) Jack
FROM MICHIZONA RAY: I remember as a kid having the common "conversations" with God all the time. I never thought of it as anything but common and ordinary. I thought that's what everyone else did as well. When we learned "prayer", I thought that was something distinct from general conversations...as if it were a better "adult" way to address God. All of my conversations with God are prayer --- just not the stuff someone wrote down for me to memorize!====JACK: Paul wrote: "When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put away childish things." That's not always for the better, is it?
FROM LOUIE: Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. is a 1970 book by Judy Blume, typically categorized as a young adult novel, about a girl in sixth grade who grew up without a religious affiliation. Margaret's mother is Christian and her father is Jewish, and the novel explores her quest for a single religion. Margaret also confronts many other pre-teen female issues, such as buying her first bra, having her first period, coping with belted sanitary napkins (changed to adhesive sanitary pads for recent editions of the book), jealousy towards another girl who has developed a womanly figure earlier than other girls, liking boys, and whether to voice her opinion if it differs from those of her friends.====JACK: God hears all kinds of prayers. I don't see him using a grading system to determine the good from the bad.
FROM PLH IN MINNESOTA: the line i love is when he says, (after learning of another coming pogrom): Lord, i know we are the chosen people but would you please choose someone else once in a while!====JACK: You've indicated another example of letting God your true feelings. Pogrom? While formal prayers can sound stilted, I'm content to let God have his likes and dislikes.
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: My family, when growing up, were fairly private regarding faith. We always went to church but we didn't talk about faith much, except sometimes when us kids speculated about if there was a God at all and how did He do those miracles. But what continues to be most precious to me is a telephone conversation I had with Dad when he was pretty old where he just off-handedly shared with me that his favorite time of the day was lying in bed at night and talking with Jesus. Glad to have found that out before he died--great witnessing, contributes to my peace of mind and trust that, when I die, my dad and mom and family will be there. Great WW again today. ====JACK: "his favorite time of the day lying in bed at night and talking with Jesus." What a great remembrance from your father! Thanks for sharin' it.
FROM TARMART REV: I'm drawn to the Scripture often where it directs us to "pray without ceasing" (I Thess. 5:17). The Message Bible reads (vs. 16-18): "Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live." I call it in constant communication throughout the day . . . it helps keep me out of more trouble then I have when talking only to myself!! 0;-/====JACK: Does "pray all the time" mean "pray all the time?" Or, does it mean, keep the line open...which reminds me of the song: Telephone to glory oh what joy devine I can feel the current moving down the line Made by God the Father for his very own You can talk to Jesus on this Royal Telephone Central's never busy always on the line You can hear from heaven almost anytime It's a royal service built for one and all When you get in trouble give this Royal line a call.
FROM MARILYN OAKS: Reminds me of a quote I read by David Shouldice, "God is within, don't be without." I keep up a running conversation with God, or Father, a lot...and I think He often helps me see the humorous aspect of situations: If you're praying you're not worrying, if you're worrying, you're not praying...? I love the more informal religious writers like Anne LaMott Anne Tyler, Yancy (and so many others...!).Another WW to "like"! Enjoyed the funny quote on your blog, "I know we are the chosen race, but could you choose some one else once in awhile??! I can see feeling like that if I were Jewish!!====JACK: One of my favorite books is a collection of contemporary prayers by Malcolm Boyd.. It has the title, "Are You Running With Me, Jesus?"
It’s morning, Jesus. It’s morning, and here’s that light and sound all over again.
I’ve got to move fast . . . get into the bathroom, wash up, grab a bite to eat and run some more.
I just don’t feel like it, Lord. What I really want to do is get back into bed, pull up the covers, and sleep. All I seem to want today is the big sleep, and here I’ve got to run all over again.
Where am I running? You know these things I can’t understand. It’s not that I need to have you tell me. What counts most is just that somebody knows, and it’s you. That helps a lot.
So I’ll follow along okay? But lead, Lord. Now I’ve got to run. Are you running with me, Jesus?
FROM SBP IN FLORIDA: My friend and close companion throughout 24/7 when I need help, must express appreciation for what the day is offering, sharing in His world and depending so on His unconditional friendship and companionship, understanding and support.====JACK: The hymn, What a Friend, was written by a son to his seriously ill mother. She kept it propped up on a table next to her bed. After her death, someone took the poem and set it to music.
FROM TWINKLE AND SHINE: Nice! I like that! I talk to him every single day...always****====JACK: There's a line in a song...."Just a little talk with Jesus makes it right!"
Friday, August 22, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 8/22/14
“What’s right isn’t always popular. What’s popular isn’t always right.” (Howard Cosell) “He was pompous, arrogant and a showoff.” Cosell agreed. He didn’t always say the popular thing, but that added to Howard’s popularity. Where are those today who are willing to stand up for “right” regardless of the consequences? Henry Clay is famous for the words, “I’d rather be right than be president.” And, he wasn’t elected. ;-) Jack
FROM IKE AT THE MIC: The problem we are incurring with many of our politicians is that they are not good leaders, but great vote getters. A great leader tells what you need to hear; a great vote getter tells you what you want to hear.====JACK: A trend that seems to be increasing ...Follow the money! Something similar...Money talks!====IKE: Money is not the problem.The problem is that the money is in the pockets of too many corrupt & incompetent people that are wearing the pants (and in some purses).====JACK: ...or, as the Bible puts it, "The LOVE of money is the root of all evil."
FROM MICHIZONA RAY: I like those who have integrity..."being your word". Sometimes it's not so much about being "right" as much as being willing to be wrong and admitting it. When I was coaching, I used to tell my little guys, "You can't make a free-throw, if you're not willing to miss it." Make it or miss it....you gotta shoot.====JACK: Wasn't it Wayne Gretzky who said, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take"?
FROM RJP IN NAPLES: I have always said I may not always be popular, but I AM ALWAYS RIGHT..........JACK: MMMMM. I'll have to ask your kids what they remember about their growing up years.
FROM TW IN MICHIGAN: That is certainly the truth!!!====JACK: You sound like Edith Ann. "And, that's the truth!" Have you ever heard of Edith Ann?
FROM TARMART REV: The current season is ripe for a genuine "hero" . . . been awhile since discovery one again.====JACK: The problem is....In this world, while people long for heroes, there are always those who seek to topple them. In this divided nation, I'm afraid that one who tries to be a uniter is going to have "tough sledding", as they say in Willmar.
FROM JD IN THE TWIN CITIES: MARTIN LUTHER WAS RIGHT AND HE WAS EXCOMMUNICATED.====JACK: ...and I don't think he cared. Maybe it was a badge of honor for him. Some people enjoy martyrdom.
“What’s right isn’t always popular. What’s popular isn’t always right.” (Howard Cosell) “He was pompous, arrogant and a showoff.” Cosell agreed. He didn’t always say the popular thing, but that added to Howard’s popularity. Where are those today who are willing to stand up for “right” regardless of the consequences? Henry Clay is famous for the words, “I’d rather be right than be president.” And, he wasn’t elected. ;-) Jack
FROM IKE AT THE MIC: The problem we are incurring with many of our politicians is that they are not good leaders, but great vote getters. A great leader tells what you need to hear; a great vote getter tells you what you want to hear.====JACK: A trend that seems to be increasing ...Follow the money! Something similar...Money talks!====IKE: Money is not the problem.The problem is that the money is in the pockets of too many corrupt & incompetent people that are wearing the pants (and in some purses).====JACK: ...or, as the Bible puts it, "The LOVE of money is the root of all evil."
FROM MICHIZONA RAY: I like those who have integrity..."being your word". Sometimes it's not so much about being "right" as much as being willing to be wrong and admitting it. When I was coaching, I used to tell my little guys, "You can't make a free-throw, if you're not willing to miss it." Make it or miss it....you gotta shoot.====JACK: Wasn't it Wayne Gretzky who said, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take"?
FROM RJP IN NAPLES: I have always said I may not always be popular, but I AM ALWAYS RIGHT..........JACK: MMMMM. I'll have to ask your kids what they remember about their growing up years.
FROM TW IN MICHIGAN: That is certainly the truth!!!====JACK: You sound like Edith Ann. "And, that's the truth!" Have you ever heard of Edith Ann?
FROM TARMART REV: The current season is ripe for a genuine "hero" . . . been awhile since discovery one again.====JACK: The problem is....In this world, while people long for heroes, there are always those who seek to topple them. In this divided nation, I'm afraid that one who tries to be a uniter is going to have "tough sledding", as they say in Willmar.
FROM JD IN THE TWIN CITIES: MARTIN LUTHER WAS RIGHT AND HE WAS EXCOMMUNICATED.====JACK: ...and I don't think he cared. Maybe it was a badge of honor for him. Some people enjoy martyrdom.
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 8/21/14
“We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through.” (Aboriginal Proverb) If you want to hear this quote put to music, go to The Whites on YouTube, singing “This World Is Not My Home.” I might be there in one of the rocking chairs joining in on the chorus. The fact of the matter is…Life is such that we come and we go; we’re just Earth-tourists. What does Faith tell you about the next stop? ;-) Jack
FROM TARMART REV: "The best is yet to come!" while tapping my foot to, "This World Is Not My Home!"====JACK: I'm going to the video to sing along with The Whites.
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: Actually, the reason I can believe I'm a visitor, passing a brief time on earth, is because--from time-to-time--been able to experience some sort of strange "connection", "understanding", "healthier and more mutual relationship where have been able to feel I've 'let go' of myself with the other" with other visitors, this can even be experienced from reading the Bible, ergo understand the present isn't all there is to things and have faith that the future will be much more complete and "related all the time" than it seems to be now.====JACK: Sometimes it's fun to sit back, relax and enjoy the scenery as time passes by. The go-go world tries to make us feel guilty about that pleasure.
FROM PEPPERMINT MARY: deepak chopra believes that we are spiritual beings having occasional human experiences. all i know is that i've been on earth before and i'm here now. as far as what comes next...iris dement and i'll just let the mystery be!====JACK: I'm suspicious of those who have all of the answers.====MARY: life is a mystery. i look forward to my next path. thanks for my song of the day. i love iris!====JACK: There are always "path" choices before us. Our next step puts us on one of them.
FROM MICHIZONA RAY: ....that Faith suggests that there is an eternal, and the temporal state of the body remains from whence it came, and "I" return from whence I came.====JACK: I like the lyrics from the song sung by Iris Dement....
Everybody's wonderin' what and where they all came from.
Everybody's worryin' 'bout where they're gonna go when the whole thing's done.
But no one knows for certain and so it's all the same to me.
I think I'll just let the mystery be.
Some say once you're gone you're gone forever, and some say you're gonna come back.
Some say you rest in the arms of the Saviour if in sinful ways you lack.
Some say that they're comin' back in a garden, bunch of carrots and little sweet peas.
I think I'll just let the mystery be.
Everybody's wonderin' what and where they all came from.
Everybody's worryin' 'bout where they're gonna go when the whole thing's done.
But no one knows for certain and so it's all the same to me.
I think I'll just let the mystery be.
Some say they're goin' to a place called Glory and I ain't saying it ain't a fact.
But I've heard that I'm on the road to purgatory and I don't like the sound of that.
Well, I believe in love and I live my life accordingly.
But I choose to let the mystery be.
Everybody's wonderin' what and where they all came from.
Everybody's worryin' 'bout where they're gonna go when the whole thing's done.
But no one knows for certain and so it's all the same to me.
I think I'll just let the mystery be.
I think I'll just let the mystery be.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: Faith tells us that Jesus went to prepare a place for us, that where He is, there we will be also. There are a lot of questions about how, what, and where, but that is where faith comes in...As your professor once said, "You can't unscrew the inscrutable!" so yes, "we have to let the mystery be", and continue to try to do unto others....====JACK: I have a number of favorite Bible verses for different occasions. In this instance, one that I like is, "I believe. Help my unbelief."
FROM THE FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR: We are all in transition with earth being an intermediate stop! I have faith that I will see my parents again!!====JACK: Since we do not know the details for sure, God allows us to use our imagination. Streets of gold. Gates of pearl. Angels. Loved ones. Your parents. Mine, too. "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, the things that God has prepared for those who love him."
“We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through.” (Aboriginal Proverb) If you want to hear this quote put to music, go to The Whites on YouTube, singing “This World Is Not My Home.” I might be there in one of the rocking chairs joining in on the chorus. The fact of the matter is…Life is such that we come and we go; we’re just Earth-tourists. What does Faith tell you about the next stop? ;-) Jack
FROM TARMART REV: "The best is yet to come!" while tapping my foot to, "This World Is Not My Home!"====JACK: I'm going to the video to sing along with The Whites.
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: Actually, the reason I can believe I'm a visitor, passing a brief time on earth, is because--from time-to-time--been able to experience some sort of strange "connection", "understanding", "healthier and more mutual relationship where have been able to feel I've 'let go' of myself with the other" with other visitors, this can even be experienced from reading the Bible, ergo understand the present isn't all there is to things and have faith that the future will be much more complete and "related all the time" than it seems to be now.====JACK: Sometimes it's fun to sit back, relax and enjoy the scenery as time passes by. The go-go world tries to make us feel guilty about that pleasure.
FROM PEPPERMINT MARY: deepak chopra believes that we are spiritual beings having occasional human experiences. all i know is that i've been on earth before and i'm here now. as far as what comes next...iris dement and i'll just let the mystery be!====JACK: I'm suspicious of those who have all of the answers.====MARY: life is a mystery. i look forward to my next path. thanks for my song of the day. i love iris!====JACK: There are always "path" choices before us. Our next step puts us on one of them.
FROM MICHIZONA RAY: ....that Faith suggests that there is an eternal, and the temporal state of the body remains from whence it came, and "I" return from whence I came.====JACK: I like the lyrics from the song sung by Iris Dement....
Everybody's wonderin' what and where they all came from.
Everybody's worryin' 'bout where they're gonna go when the whole thing's done.
But no one knows for certain and so it's all the same to me.
I think I'll just let the mystery be.
Some say once you're gone you're gone forever, and some say you're gonna come back.
Some say you rest in the arms of the Saviour if in sinful ways you lack.
Some say that they're comin' back in a garden, bunch of carrots and little sweet peas.
I think I'll just let the mystery be.
Everybody's wonderin' what and where they all came from.
Everybody's worryin' 'bout where they're gonna go when the whole thing's done.
But no one knows for certain and so it's all the same to me.
I think I'll just let the mystery be.
Some say they're goin' to a place called Glory and I ain't saying it ain't a fact.
But I've heard that I'm on the road to purgatory and I don't like the sound of that.
Well, I believe in love and I live my life accordingly.
But I choose to let the mystery be.
Everybody's wonderin' what and where they all came from.
Everybody's worryin' 'bout where they're gonna go when the whole thing's done.
But no one knows for certain and so it's all the same to me.
I think I'll just let the mystery be.
I think I'll just let the mystery be.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: Faith tells us that Jesus went to prepare a place for us, that where He is, there we will be also. There are a lot of questions about how, what, and where, but that is where faith comes in...As your professor once said, "You can't unscrew the inscrutable!" so yes, "we have to let the mystery be", and continue to try to do unto others....====JACK: I have a number of favorite Bible verses for different occasions. In this instance, one that I like is, "I believe. Help my unbelief."
FROM THE FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR: We are all in transition with earth being an intermediate stop! I have faith that I will see my parents again!!====JACK: Since we do not know the details for sure, God allows us to use our imagination. Streets of gold. Gates of pearl. Angels. Loved ones. Your parents. Mine, too. "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, the things that God has prepared for those who love him."
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 8/20/14
“Yesterday you said tomorrow…Just do it!” (Nike) “Just do it!” stares at me from a place next to the computer. Two others are also there…“Hey You!--Get Busy!” and “Get Tough--Get Off Your Duff!” They’re reminders that “tomorrow” if often a convenient excuse for putting off “today.” Nike wants people to start running. The others might have been written by a sales manager. Do you see them fitting into your life? ;-) Jack
FROM TARMART REV: Mine are more in this category lately . . . "Others don't do it the way you used to do it, Paul! -- And that's okay!!"====JACK: Another slogan by the computer are the words of Michelangelo when he was 80-years-old: "Ancora Imparo" (I am still learning). You and I still have much to learn.
FROM HAWKEYE GEORGE: One of my favs has been from Tom Peters: Ready, Fire, Aim. ====JACK: Peters was a modern Diogenes...searching for excellence as Diogenes searched for honesty.
FROM TL IN HOUSTON: This sales manager is lagging in quota for the month, so your words are a wake-up.====JACK: It was once said of a pastor, "His biggest sin is sloth." I remember watching a sloth at the Detroit Zoo as it moved ever so slowly to another branch. Whatever our job, we need reminders from time to time to...step it up! That's why I keep those slogans where I can see them.
FROM JE IN MICHIGAN: Absolutely. I tell myself to “Just do it” a lot. I have to ---- especially when there are a lot of things that have to get done. A Facebook posts from a friend said: “Get up, dress up, show up and never give up!” This has stuck with me too. Some of the “annual” back-to-school events are underway. This morning I hosted the annual PTSA President & Principal breakfast and program. It went beautifully and everyone showed up! Tomorrow and Friday are the administrative retreat days and next week all staff come back on Wednesday!!! Huge events next Wednesday.====JACK: I was just reading that quote (Get up...etc) today in the book, "God Never Blinks" by Regina Brett. The start of the school year is always a very busy time, isn't it?
FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: They should be plastered on my forehead. There are way too many things for me to "do" each day and each day they are still there...sometimes. Each day I have to give myself a goal....even just a little one and each day I have to accomplish that goal. It does work for me. I have to "Just do it" and make sure it gets done.====JACK: As my mother-in-law used to say to her piano students, "One step, and then another, and the longest journey is done."
“Yesterday you said tomorrow…Just do it!” (Nike) “Just do it!” stares at me from a place next to the computer. Two others are also there…“Hey You!--Get Busy!” and “Get Tough--Get Off Your Duff!” They’re reminders that “tomorrow” if often a convenient excuse for putting off “today.” Nike wants people to start running. The others might have been written by a sales manager. Do you see them fitting into your life? ;-) Jack
FROM TARMART REV: Mine are more in this category lately . . . "Others don't do it the way you used to do it, Paul! -- And that's okay!!"====JACK: Another slogan by the computer are the words of Michelangelo when he was 80-years-old: "Ancora Imparo" (I am still learning). You and I still have much to learn.
FROM HAWKEYE GEORGE: One of my favs has been from Tom Peters: Ready, Fire, Aim. ====JACK: Peters was a modern Diogenes...searching for excellence as Diogenes searched for honesty.
FROM TL IN HOUSTON: This sales manager is lagging in quota for the month, so your words are a wake-up.====JACK: It was once said of a pastor, "His biggest sin is sloth." I remember watching a sloth at the Detroit Zoo as it moved ever so slowly to another branch. Whatever our job, we need reminders from time to time to...step it up! That's why I keep those slogans where I can see them.
FROM JE IN MICHIGAN: Absolutely. I tell myself to “Just do it” a lot. I have to ---- especially when there are a lot of things that have to get done. A Facebook posts from a friend said: “Get up, dress up, show up and never give up!” This has stuck with me too. Some of the “annual” back-to-school events are underway. This morning I hosted the annual PTSA President & Principal breakfast and program. It went beautifully and everyone showed up! Tomorrow and Friday are the administrative retreat days and next week all staff come back on Wednesday!!! Huge events next Wednesday.====JACK: I was just reading that quote (Get up...etc) today in the book, "God Never Blinks" by Regina Brett. The start of the school year is always a very busy time, isn't it?
FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: They should be plastered on my forehead. There are way too many things for me to "do" each day and each day they are still there...sometimes. Each day I have to give myself a goal....even just a little one and each day I have to accomplish that goal. It does work for me. I have to "Just do it" and make sure it gets done.====JACK: As my mother-in-law used to say to her piano students, "One step, and then another, and the longest journey is done."
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 8/19/14
“Once you’ve tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward.” (Leonardo da Vinci) Today is Orville Wright’s birthday, but we should really give a nod to da Vinci who first developed the concept of flying. Leonardo was more than the “Mona Lisa.” My first flight was in a DC-3, and my eyes have been skyward ever since. What kind of “taste” for flying do you have? ;-) Jack
FROM INDY GENIE: I have a reoccurring dream that I can fly. I love the soaring and the "swooping". In my dream I'm not a bird, I'm me...flying:)====JACK: There's a place for you in Peter Pan!
FROM TARMART REV: My father loved to fly and had a small single-engine plane for awhile . . . after being up a few times with him, I think I prefer grounded travel.====JACK: Maybe that's why you're a railroad chaplain instead of an air terminal chaplain....or maybe they don't yet have an airport in Willmar.
FROM RS IN TEXAS: I never get tired of the joy of flying - even if it is in seat made for someone 5 feet tall and 100 lbs. Always try to get the exit row for leg room and a window seat to be able to see the clouds and the ground from 33,000 feet. Never got that high in my helicopter!====JACK: I remember how proud your parents were when told me that you were in a program where you would be flying helicopters. Is flying a copter like riding a bicycle...you never forget how to do it? ====RS: I think I could still get one off the ground and back down without any serious damage. Probably wouldn't be ultra smooth, but I think I would pick it up again pretty quickly. Of course at my age there are a lot of things I THINK I could do, but doing them might be another matter.
FROM RJP IN NAPLES: My first flight was at Meigs field in downtown Chicago. I worked as an usher at the Field Museum on Saturday mornings, I was 13 years old. I made $ 3.50 for the day and my buddy and I walked to Meigs and took a sightseeing tour over Chicago which cost $ 5.00. My first flight and my first foray into deficit finance. Thanks for reminding me.====JACK: As the saying goes..."We are what we were." All of the those "growing up" experiences that we've had make us what we are today.
FROM SBP IN FLORIDA: My taste for flying is pretty basic: getting from here to there, being interested in the dynamics of flight, awed at the complexity of the planes, and the amazing revelations of the view beneath us. In addition, there's the tale of Icarus, And I absolutely mentally soar when I read and reread High Flight (An Airman's Ecstacy)."Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth...And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings....The delight and awe expressed in this poem encompass me.====JACK: I'm always impressed by how you can come up with the poetry and the "ancient" history illustrations which relate to the thought for the day. It's something like a child's coloring book...the lines are there to show the picture...you take some crayons and fill it in.
FROM THE FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR: My first flight was in a DC-4 - Capitol Airlines - Detroit to Washington D.C. - from then the rest is history and now I teach flying. My father flew B-25's in WW2. It is wonderful to look down from the air at God's creation. ====JACK: I think that Capital also flew the Lockheed Constellation. That was a beautiful plane because of its unusual design. I likked the looks of the B-25, too. Speaking of looking down on God's creation....The first pictures of earth from the moon were outstanding.
FROM CK IN MICHIGAN: in my opinion there is still no sound to match the rumble of the old radial engines! Cool! ====JACK: I like the startup sound, too, when the motor "catches." Speaking of sounds, how about the Harley-Davidson motorcycle?
FROM DP IN MINNESOTA: I love keeping my feet on solid ground !====JACK: Does that mean you never fly? The worst experience I ever had was when I was in the front seat of a glider when the pilot decided to nose into a dive and then suddenly pulled up. At that time I reached for "the bag" just in case.====DP: Oh no, I have flown many, many times, but now I like staying put. But my grand daughter wil be married next May in Turkey, so if I am still able, I hope to attend ! ? ====JACK: Talk about a destination wedding...
FROM TAMPA SHIRL: I* love flying. My job with Eastern Airlines after being home with the family for20 years wss like a dreamjob. Now we have a grandson and great grandson who live in Kill Devil Hills NC where the Wrights flew their first flight. It is very interesting and very windy there. A granddaughter and I have just returned from Hawaii and that was one long trip. Did you ever see the da Vinci exhibit that has traveled the world? I first saw it in the 40s or 50s at the Arsenal. It was just here in Tampa at MOSI, and it is amazing ====JACK: I always envied those people who had a job with the "perk" of flying anywhere, even if on standby. I've never ridden 1st Class, either....although I'd like to experience it, just once.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: LEONARDO DAVINCI WAS SUCH BRILLIANT MIND! IT IS ASTOUNDING TO SEE SO MANY OF HIS INVENTIONS, AND WORK THAT IMPACTED THE FUTURE!! FLIGHT HAS MADE THE WORLD SO SMALL, AND IS SUCH AN AMAZING "WAY TO GO", EVEN THO IT CAN BE A CHALLENGE AT TIMES!
I RECENTLY READ THAT THE WRIGHT BROTHERS' FATHER DID NOT BELIEVE THAN MAN COULD EVERY FLY....WHOOPS! MY FIRST FLIGHT WAS IN A PIPER CUB PLANE OF A FRIEND, IN MOLINE...NOTHING LIKE THE GIANT PASSENGER PLANES OF TODAY, BUT PRETTY THRILLING AT THE TIME TO LOOK DOWN ON THE ROCK AND MISSISSIPPIE RIVERS, AND FLY OVER MY HOME ON 13TH STREET, ETC. I WONDER THAT I HAD THE COURAGE TO GET INTO THAT PLANE, NOW! ====JACK: A former confirmation student built his own airplane. He took me for a ride and landed in the front yard of his sister's farm home. Now, that was a little bit scary.
FROM HCC CHUCK: Back in the late 50's the DC3 carried me for many many miles and one of them carried me home from Seattle when I returned from Korea.====JACK: That was a good old plane, and I wouldn't mind riding in one of them again.
FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER: Da Vinci was a true visionary. I used his inventions in an ad campaign once that was aimed at engineers. It was only a half page but they won readership scores every time they ran. The client was ecstatic. I fly only when I am in a hurry. You miss too much. ====JACK: You'd probably like to go back to horse and buggy days, too.
FROM FACEBOOK LIZ: have not flown since i saw challenger blow up on live tv. i had just returned from phoenix.====JACK: Taking off in a space ship might give me sweaty palms.
“Once you’ve tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward.” (Leonardo da Vinci) Today is Orville Wright’s birthday, but we should really give a nod to da Vinci who first developed the concept of flying. Leonardo was more than the “Mona Lisa.” My first flight was in a DC-3, and my eyes have been skyward ever since. What kind of “taste” for flying do you have? ;-) Jack
FROM INDY GENIE: I have a reoccurring dream that I can fly. I love the soaring and the "swooping". In my dream I'm not a bird, I'm me...flying:)====JACK: There's a place for you in Peter Pan!
FROM TARMART REV: My father loved to fly and had a small single-engine plane for awhile . . . after being up a few times with him, I think I prefer grounded travel.====JACK: Maybe that's why you're a railroad chaplain instead of an air terminal chaplain....or maybe they don't yet have an airport in Willmar.
FROM RS IN TEXAS: I never get tired of the joy of flying - even if it is in seat made for someone 5 feet tall and 100 lbs. Always try to get the exit row for leg room and a window seat to be able to see the clouds and the ground from 33,000 feet. Never got that high in my helicopter!====JACK: I remember how proud your parents were when told me that you were in a program where you would be flying helicopters. Is flying a copter like riding a bicycle...you never forget how to do it? ====RS: I think I could still get one off the ground and back down without any serious damage. Probably wouldn't be ultra smooth, but I think I would pick it up again pretty quickly. Of course at my age there are a lot of things I THINK I could do, but doing them might be another matter.
FROM RJP IN NAPLES: My first flight was at Meigs field in downtown Chicago. I worked as an usher at the Field Museum on Saturday mornings, I was 13 years old. I made $ 3.50 for the day and my buddy and I walked to Meigs and took a sightseeing tour over Chicago which cost $ 5.00. My first flight and my first foray into deficit finance. Thanks for reminding me.====JACK: As the saying goes..."We are what we were." All of the those "growing up" experiences that we've had make us what we are today.
FROM SBP IN FLORIDA: My taste for flying is pretty basic: getting from here to there, being interested in the dynamics of flight, awed at the complexity of the planes, and the amazing revelations of the view beneath us. In addition, there's the tale of Icarus, And I absolutely mentally soar when I read and reread High Flight (An Airman's Ecstacy)."Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth...And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings....The delight and awe expressed in this poem encompass me.====JACK: I'm always impressed by how you can come up with the poetry and the "ancient" history illustrations which relate to the thought for the day. It's something like a child's coloring book...the lines are there to show the picture...you take some crayons and fill it in.
FROM THE FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR: My first flight was in a DC-4 - Capitol Airlines - Detroit to Washington D.C. - from then the rest is history and now I teach flying. My father flew B-25's in WW2. It is wonderful to look down from the air at God's creation. ====JACK: I think that Capital also flew the Lockheed Constellation. That was a beautiful plane because of its unusual design. I likked the looks of the B-25, too. Speaking of looking down on God's creation....The first pictures of earth from the moon were outstanding.
FROM CK IN MICHIGAN: in my opinion there is still no sound to match the rumble of the old radial engines! Cool! ====JACK: I like the startup sound, too, when the motor "catches." Speaking of sounds, how about the Harley-Davidson motorcycle?
FROM DP IN MINNESOTA: I love keeping my feet on solid ground !====JACK: Does that mean you never fly? The worst experience I ever had was when I was in the front seat of a glider when the pilot decided to nose into a dive and then suddenly pulled up. At that time I reached for "the bag" just in case.====DP: Oh no, I have flown many, many times, but now I like staying put. But my grand daughter wil be married next May in Turkey, so if I am still able, I hope to attend ! ? ====JACK: Talk about a destination wedding...
FROM TAMPA SHIRL: I* love flying. My job with Eastern Airlines after being home with the family for20 years wss like a dreamjob. Now we have a grandson and great grandson who live in Kill Devil Hills NC where the Wrights flew their first flight. It is very interesting and very windy there. A granddaughter and I have just returned from Hawaii and that was one long trip. Did you ever see the da Vinci exhibit that has traveled the world? I first saw it in the 40s or 50s at the Arsenal. It was just here in Tampa at MOSI, and it is amazing ====JACK: I always envied those people who had a job with the "perk" of flying anywhere, even if on standby. I've never ridden 1st Class, either....although I'd like to experience it, just once.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: LEONARDO DAVINCI WAS SUCH BRILLIANT MIND! IT IS ASTOUNDING TO SEE SO MANY OF HIS INVENTIONS, AND WORK THAT IMPACTED THE FUTURE!! FLIGHT HAS MADE THE WORLD SO SMALL, AND IS SUCH AN AMAZING "WAY TO GO", EVEN THO IT CAN BE A CHALLENGE AT TIMES!
I RECENTLY READ THAT THE WRIGHT BROTHERS' FATHER DID NOT BELIEVE THAN MAN COULD EVERY FLY....WHOOPS! MY FIRST FLIGHT WAS IN A PIPER CUB PLANE OF A FRIEND, IN MOLINE...NOTHING LIKE THE GIANT PASSENGER PLANES OF TODAY, BUT PRETTY THRILLING AT THE TIME TO LOOK DOWN ON THE ROCK AND MISSISSIPPIE RIVERS, AND FLY OVER MY HOME ON 13TH STREET, ETC. I WONDER THAT I HAD THE COURAGE TO GET INTO THAT PLANE, NOW! ====JACK: A former confirmation student built his own airplane. He took me for a ride and landed in the front yard of his sister's farm home. Now, that was a little bit scary.
FROM HCC CHUCK: Back in the late 50's the DC3 carried me for many many miles and one of them carried me home from Seattle when I returned from Korea.====JACK: That was a good old plane, and I wouldn't mind riding in one of them again.
FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER: Da Vinci was a true visionary. I used his inventions in an ad campaign once that was aimed at engineers. It was only a half page but they won readership scores every time they ran. The client was ecstatic. I fly only when I am in a hurry. You miss too much. ====JACK: You'd probably like to go back to horse and buggy days, too.
FROM FACEBOOK LIZ: have not flown since i saw challenger blow up on live tv. i had just returned from phoenix.====JACK: Taking off in a space ship might give me sweaty palms.
Monday, August 18, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 8/18/14
“Every path may lead you to God, even the weird ones.” (Real Live Preacher) There are some weird ways in which people have been led to God…The Lord speaking out of a burning bush to Moses…Jonah being swallowed by a “whale”…Luther heard God during a thunderstorm…a phone call led me to become a pastor. Do you know of times when God has communicated in some unusual ways to people…even you? ;-) Jack
FROM FACEBOOK LIZ: Interested in your phone call... ?====JACK: A phone call "out of the blue" on a Sunday night, was our minister's wife asking if I'd ever thought of becoming a pastor. I was 19, and I doubt that I would ever have considered that occupation...except for the call. My sister "laughed" at the thought, but God often acts in mysterious and weird ways.====LIZ: you truly have a "calling." cool story!
FROM TARMART REV: Mine was an afternoon movie on the television channel of KAKE, Wichita Kansas and the movie, "I'd Climb the Highest Mountain". In the fall of 1965, after graduating the past spring and not knowing for sure what I wanted to be busy at the rest of my life, I found myself sitting there bawling like a baby and answering what I felt was the call of God upon my life. Forty-four years later, I'm still fulfilling the experience of that afternoon.====JACK: I suppose it might have been like a movie when Isaiah was called by God (Isaiah 6). "He saw God." BTW, do you have copy of that "Mountain" movie so that you can relive that spiritual moment?
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: My elder brother, Tommy, died at 3 months Sudden Infant Death though they didn't know as much about this back in that day, unbaptized. My younger brother and I were christened, along with my father being rebaptized on January 22, 1951. I was baptized as an adult at age 14 on January 22, 1961 (did my parents arrange that specially on that day--I don't know). My daughter was born completely naturally on January 22, 1983. And baptized as a 10 year old child at Trinity Ev. Lutheran Church on July 5, 1992. There is something about that January 22 date being in common for so much of our family history that it really did help me to know there are theological problems in the churches and sort of follow along Someone's Leadership and fall into healthier baptismal theology. It's still all a mystery to me but I believe one's first baptism always "takes" somehow. Peace.====JACK: In my opinion, people often misunderstand the meaning of baptism, thinking that is the "key" to heaven, when, in reality, it is by the grace of God that any of us (including Timmy) pass from this life into the hereafter.
FROM HCC CHUCK: In 1951 on a troopship to Korea, a worship service onboard led by a young Baptist minister and I responded to the altar call.====JACK: Battlefield conversions can happen on the way to the battlefield. To convert means to change the direction of your life, and that troopship experience certainly changed your life.
FROM HAWKEYE GEORGE: amen to that!====JACK: You've had a number of "amen" experience...a sign of the presence of God in your life.
FROM WATERFORD JAN: I think it is very fortunate for the ministry that you answered that phone call. Some of us call that kind of circumstance "Holy Spirit stuff" (Holy Spirit is also a good name for a church).====JACK: Some people will say, "I'm not religious, but I'm spiritual." What I say is this. "I'm spiritual, and that has caused me to be religious.." The Church might not be perfect, but that is why it's the perfect place for me.
FROM QUILTIN' CAROL IN WISCONSIN: Take heed because God speaks to us in many ways! This is awesome! http://www.youtube.com/embed/zf_0jzPQ8lo?rel=0
FROM BLAZING OAKS: Bill had a Bible passage come to him, after we had retired for the night, when we were praying about whether to stay in Moline and go into the insurance business with my Dad, (my choice!) or move to Canton to take over his Dad's construction business....He felt he had to get up (in the night) to read that passage (As I remember it was Galations 4:1-8.) On the basis of the scripture, he felt he should move to Canton, as he was HIS father's heir, but that move quickly led to another move to Northern Seminary in Chicago, under the mentoring of Dr. Willis Reed....it's a long story, but shows the mysterious ways in which God does sometimes move!====JACK: That was an interesting story...going to Canton because he was the heir of his father, and then going into the ministry because he was the heir of his Father.
“Every path may lead you to God, even the weird ones.” (Real Live Preacher) There are some weird ways in which people have been led to God…The Lord speaking out of a burning bush to Moses…Jonah being swallowed by a “whale”…Luther heard God during a thunderstorm…a phone call led me to become a pastor. Do you know of times when God has communicated in some unusual ways to people…even you? ;-) Jack
FROM FACEBOOK LIZ: Interested in your phone call... ?====JACK: A phone call "out of the blue" on a Sunday night, was our minister's wife asking if I'd ever thought of becoming a pastor. I was 19, and I doubt that I would ever have considered that occupation...except for the call. My sister "laughed" at the thought, but God often acts in mysterious and weird ways.====LIZ: you truly have a "calling." cool story!
FROM TARMART REV: Mine was an afternoon movie on the television channel of KAKE, Wichita Kansas and the movie, "I'd Climb the Highest Mountain". In the fall of 1965, after graduating the past spring and not knowing for sure what I wanted to be busy at the rest of my life, I found myself sitting there bawling like a baby and answering what I felt was the call of God upon my life. Forty-four years later, I'm still fulfilling the experience of that afternoon.====JACK: I suppose it might have been like a movie when Isaiah was called by God (Isaiah 6). "He saw God." BTW, do you have copy of that "Mountain" movie so that you can relive that spiritual moment?
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: My elder brother, Tommy, died at 3 months Sudden Infant Death though they didn't know as much about this back in that day, unbaptized. My younger brother and I were christened, along with my father being rebaptized on January 22, 1951. I was baptized as an adult at age 14 on January 22, 1961 (did my parents arrange that specially on that day--I don't know). My daughter was born completely naturally on January 22, 1983. And baptized as a 10 year old child at Trinity Ev. Lutheran Church on July 5, 1992. There is something about that January 22 date being in common for so much of our family history that it really did help me to know there are theological problems in the churches and sort of follow along Someone's Leadership and fall into healthier baptismal theology. It's still all a mystery to me but I believe one's first baptism always "takes" somehow. Peace.====JACK: In my opinion, people often misunderstand the meaning of baptism, thinking that is the "key" to heaven, when, in reality, it is by the grace of God that any of us (including Timmy) pass from this life into the hereafter.
FROM HCC CHUCK: In 1951 on a troopship to Korea, a worship service onboard led by a young Baptist minister and I responded to the altar call.====JACK: Battlefield conversions can happen on the way to the battlefield. To convert means to change the direction of your life, and that troopship experience certainly changed your life.
FROM HAWKEYE GEORGE: amen to that!====JACK: You've had a number of "amen" experience...a sign of the presence of God in your life.
FROM WATERFORD JAN: I think it is very fortunate for the ministry that you answered that phone call. Some of us call that kind of circumstance "Holy Spirit stuff" (Holy Spirit is also a good name for a church).====JACK: Some people will say, "I'm not religious, but I'm spiritual." What I say is this. "I'm spiritual, and that has caused me to be religious.." The Church might not be perfect, but that is why it's the perfect place for me.
FROM QUILTIN' CAROL IN WISCONSIN: Take heed because God speaks to us in many ways! This is awesome! http://www.youtube.com/embed/zf_0jzPQ8lo?rel=0
FROM BLAZING OAKS: Bill had a Bible passage come to him, after we had retired for the night, when we were praying about whether to stay in Moline and go into the insurance business with my Dad, (my choice!) or move to Canton to take over his Dad's construction business....He felt he had to get up (in the night) to read that passage (As I remember it was Galations 4:1-8.) On the basis of the scripture, he felt he should move to Canton, as he was HIS father's heir, but that move quickly led to another move to Northern Seminary in Chicago, under the mentoring of Dr. Willis Reed....it's a long story, but shows the mysterious ways in which God does sometimes move!====JACK: That was an interesting story...going to Canton because he was the heir of his father, and then going into the ministry because he was the heir of his Father.
Friday, August 15, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 8/15/14
“It’s sad when someone you know becomes some you knew.” (Henry Rollins) Buddy Holly would be 56 today, except for “the day the music died,” 2/3/59. Yes, it is a sad day when loved ones become people we “knew.” We all have them in our memories. But such is life. We live. We die. The in-between is what gives meaning. Today, offer a prayer of thanks for those who, by their living, have made a difference to you. ;-) Jack
FRFOM CZB IN COLORADO: Thanks, Jack...Buddy Holly was born in 1936. He would be 76 today. Thanks for trying to make me a little younger or older...not sure which! LOL====JACK: I expected responses to the quote (I think it's a good one) instead of on my commentary. Oops! ====CZB: At least you know I carefully read your wise words every weekday morning :)====JACK: ...and I appreciate it, too. I still can't figure out the "how" of my error. Such is life.
FROM MICHIZONA RAY: Amen.====JACK: At least you didn't comment on my imperfections like the Tigers' fans did with Joe Nathan's latest outing. Boooo!
FROM PLH IN MINNESOTA: Jack, that can't be right. its been 65 years since his death. he would be in his 90s, would he not? or is it a typo??====JACK: No typo. I just can't depend on myself to be a faultless proofreader. But. it's a good quote, don't you think?====PLH: its a great quote. i liked the one about good habits/bad habits even better...====JACK: If you were to have used the quote in reference to someone who became a somone you "knew," who might that be?
FROM EDUCATOR PAUL: Thanks, Jack...Buddy Holly was born in 1936. He would be 76 today. Thanks for trying to make me a little younger or older...not sure which!====JACK: Let's see...You are #3 today in pointing out that I'm not perfect. Did you happen to read the quote?====PAUL: Opps...sorry..yes..I did read the quote and appreciated it!====JACK: I remember the "day the music died." It took the passage of time to appreciate Buddy Holly for what he was. I think the same holds true for Robin Williams. "We never miss the water 'til the well runs dry."
FROM PASTOR JAN: Thank you, Jack! I have a funeral to preach tomorrow for a man who was beloved by his friends, and made sure his daughter was raised in the church, but had no time for "religion". Not only do I not have a lot to say about him, it is even difficult to "preach the resurrection" as my own pastor told me years ago. Your WW for the day gives me a starting point. Where I'll go from there, I do not yet know.====JACK: A good starting point for a funeral message. We can each relate to the thought of someone we "know" becoming someone we "knew."
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: For some reason, for many, many years now have been living in the circumstances of learning that "the in-between gives life meaning." Now it is the number of years my mother-in-law is living in an elderly way first in an independent living apartment and now in an assisted living residence. Now am also a member of our church team worshipping on Saturday afternoons at an assisted living here too. Also volunteering at the nearby nursing home, helping the residents play bingo and win change. What meaning are all these people living "their in-between livings" receiving? It's odd but, in a society which maybe overstresses doing and producing and consuming and planning and organizing itself and always seeking after "more" to fill all the voids we can't seem to escape from still having, all of us people all together, young, older and very old, need a set of these later years in which God "brings us up short and says 'whoa there, take some time to think upon what is the meaning of your "in=between living" while you still have some time left on this earth. I'm learning some good habits from these old people I know and a bigger perspective on things. God has a way of helping us by "taking problems and things out of our hands and into His." ====JACK: In our society, much is made about the birth of a baby and the death of a well-known individual. Thanks for calling attention to the importance of what happens in-between birth and death.
FROM RI IN BOSTON: We can't thank our Creator enough for giving us "memory". We take advantage of it every day to enliven our conversation, when we reflect on activities or events we shared with family and friends who are no longer alive. They will survive in our memories until that day when we become one of those persons others "knew".====JACK: I've been saving this quote for just the right occasion. Then, it occurred to me that if I waited too long, it might be used by someone else describing me as a person they "knew."
FROM JUDGE DENISE: Thank You Pastor John Freed for lifting our spirits with your wonderful winning words! You make each day a meaningful one by allowing our minds to race and our spirits to breathe positive thoughts... Have a Blessed Day and Thank You again for all that you have done, do and will do to make a difference in all of our lives!====JACK: I'm proud to count you as someone I "know." You make a difference in this world in many ways.
FROM CK IN MICHIGAN: I think Buddy Holly would be around 78 though? Great message either way. Enjoy!;-) ====JACK: I suppose you read the details of the plane crash. There are times when it's better to take the bus. If Buddy were singing today, I wonder if he'd be looking like Mick Jagger.
FROM MY LAWYER: Buddy Holly was born on September 7, 1936. He would be 77 years old!!! He probably died 56 years ago. In fact, he died on February 3, 1959 at age 22. My how time flies. ====JACK: You attorneys are paid the BIG bucks to be able discover discrepancies. YouTube allows me to see and hear how good Buddy could sing.
FROM S.B. IN MICHIGAN: Thank you for your “Winning Words” today, so appropriate as we cherish memories of my mother.====JACK: I'm sure that many of us will think about moms, dads, or other loved ones as we read this quote.
FROM FACEBOOK LIZ: Like.====JACK: I like it, too!
FROM BLAZING OAKS: WHAT A SUCCINCT, TRUE, SAYING!! ROBIN ROBERS (ANCHOR TO "GOOD MORNING AMERICA") SAID SHE REMENBERED SOMETHING HER MOM SAID AFTER HER DAD DIED. "YOU HAVE A CHOICE. YOU CAN HAVE SAD SORROW, OR HAPPY SORROW.." ROBIN DECIDED TO FOLLOW HER ADVICE, AND CHOOSE THE LATTER. THAT'S A GOOD THOUGHT , TOO, IF YOU CAN BE UPBEAT IN SORROW! LOVE THE WW WORD TODAY...THINK OF SO MANY, NOW THAT I'M "ELDERLY"... ====JACK: "Knew" will become "know-again" in the Sweet By and By.
“It’s sad when someone you know becomes some you knew.” (Henry Rollins) Buddy Holly would be 56 today, except for “the day the music died,” 2/3/59. Yes, it is a sad day when loved ones become people we “knew.” We all have them in our memories. But such is life. We live. We die. The in-between is what gives meaning. Today, offer a prayer of thanks for those who, by their living, have made a difference to you. ;-) Jack
FRFOM CZB IN COLORADO: Thanks, Jack...Buddy Holly was born in 1936. He would be 76 today. Thanks for trying to make me a little younger or older...not sure which! LOL====JACK: I expected responses to the quote (I think it's a good one) instead of on my commentary. Oops! ====CZB: At least you know I carefully read your wise words every weekday morning :)====JACK: ...and I appreciate it, too. I still can't figure out the "how" of my error. Such is life.
FROM MICHIZONA RAY: Amen.====JACK: At least you didn't comment on my imperfections like the Tigers' fans did with Joe Nathan's latest outing. Boooo!
FROM PLH IN MINNESOTA: Jack, that can't be right. its been 65 years since his death. he would be in his 90s, would he not? or is it a typo??====JACK: No typo. I just can't depend on myself to be a faultless proofreader. But. it's a good quote, don't you think?====PLH: its a great quote. i liked the one about good habits/bad habits even better...====JACK: If you were to have used the quote in reference to someone who became a somone you "knew," who might that be?
FROM EDUCATOR PAUL: Thanks, Jack...Buddy Holly was born in 1936. He would be 76 today. Thanks for trying to make me a little younger or older...not sure which!====JACK: Let's see...You are #3 today in pointing out that I'm not perfect. Did you happen to read the quote?====PAUL: Opps...sorry..yes..I did read the quote and appreciated it!====JACK: I remember the "day the music died." It took the passage of time to appreciate Buddy Holly for what he was. I think the same holds true for Robin Williams. "We never miss the water 'til the well runs dry."
FROM PASTOR JAN: Thank you, Jack! I have a funeral to preach tomorrow for a man who was beloved by his friends, and made sure his daughter was raised in the church, but had no time for "religion". Not only do I not have a lot to say about him, it is even difficult to "preach the resurrection" as my own pastor told me years ago. Your WW for the day gives me a starting point. Where I'll go from there, I do not yet know.====JACK: A good starting point for a funeral message. We can each relate to the thought of someone we "know" becoming someone we "knew."
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: For some reason, for many, many years now have been living in the circumstances of learning that "the in-between gives life meaning." Now it is the number of years my mother-in-law is living in an elderly way first in an independent living apartment and now in an assisted living residence. Now am also a member of our church team worshipping on Saturday afternoons at an assisted living here too. Also volunteering at the nearby nursing home, helping the residents play bingo and win change. What meaning are all these people living "their in-between livings" receiving? It's odd but, in a society which maybe overstresses doing and producing and consuming and planning and organizing itself and always seeking after "more" to fill all the voids we can't seem to escape from still having, all of us people all together, young, older and very old, need a set of these later years in which God "brings us up short and says 'whoa there, take some time to think upon what is the meaning of your "in=between living" while you still have some time left on this earth. I'm learning some good habits from these old people I know and a bigger perspective on things. God has a way of helping us by "taking problems and things out of our hands and into His." ====JACK: In our society, much is made about the birth of a baby and the death of a well-known individual. Thanks for calling attention to the importance of what happens in-between birth and death.
FROM RI IN BOSTON: We can't thank our Creator enough for giving us "memory". We take advantage of it every day to enliven our conversation, when we reflect on activities or events we shared with family and friends who are no longer alive. They will survive in our memories until that day when we become one of those persons others "knew".====JACK: I've been saving this quote for just the right occasion. Then, it occurred to me that if I waited too long, it might be used by someone else describing me as a person they "knew."
FROM JUDGE DENISE: Thank You Pastor John Freed for lifting our spirits with your wonderful winning words! You make each day a meaningful one by allowing our minds to race and our spirits to breathe positive thoughts... Have a Blessed Day and Thank You again for all that you have done, do and will do to make a difference in all of our lives!====JACK: I'm proud to count you as someone I "know." You make a difference in this world in many ways.
FROM CK IN MICHIGAN: I think Buddy Holly would be around 78 though? Great message either way. Enjoy!;-) ====JACK: I suppose you read the details of the plane crash. There are times when it's better to take the bus. If Buddy were singing today, I wonder if he'd be looking like Mick Jagger.
FROM MY LAWYER: Buddy Holly was born on September 7, 1936. He would be 77 years old!!! He probably died 56 years ago. In fact, he died on February 3, 1959 at age 22. My how time flies. ====JACK: You attorneys are paid the BIG bucks to be able discover discrepancies. YouTube allows me to see and hear how good Buddy could sing.
FROM S.B. IN MICHIGAN: Thank you for your “Winning Words” today, so appropriate as we cherish memories of my mother.====JACK: I'm sure that many of us will think about moms, dads, or other loved ones as we read this quote.
FROM FACEBOOK LIZ: Like.====JACK: I like it, too!
FROM BLAZING OAKS: WHAT A SUCCINCT, TRUE, SAYING!! ROBIN ROBERS (ANCHOR TO "GOOD MORNING AMERICA") SAID SHE REMENBERED SOMETHING HER MOM SAID AFTER HER DAD DIED. "YOU HAVE A CHOICE. YOU CAN HAVE SAD SORROW, OR HAPPY SORROW.." ROBIN DECIDED TO FOLLOW HER ADVICE, AND CHOOSE THE LATTER. THAT'S A GOOD THOUGHT , TOO, IF YOU CAN BE UPBEAT IN SORROW! LOVE THE WW WORD TODAY...THINK OF SO MANY, NOW THAT I'M "ELDERLY"... ====JACK: "Knew" will become "know-again" in the Sweet By and By.
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 8/14/14
“Good habits, once established, are just as hard to break as bad habits.” (Robert Fuller) I read of a restaurant that gives a 15% discount for people who pray before their meal. Fair or not, Mary’s Diner chooses to reward those in the habit offering a table prayer. We often hear of how hard it is for people to break bad habits. Are there good habits, learned at home, that are still with you today? ;-) Jack
FROM CS IN WISCONSIN: Life lesson learned at our home…Jesus Loves Me.. Lovely walking this morning, seeing the sun come up and turn the moon pure white! Awesome early morning beauties! Have a super day making someone smile today.====JACK: Thanks for the reminder. I was baptized in the living room of our house, so my religious roots go waaaay back. BTW, I once saw this slogan: Jesus knows me, this I love.
FROM TARMART REV: An exceptional "Winning Word" for today, Jack . . . more habits, both the good and the bad, are established for a lifetime right there in the home and during those formative years of our lives.====JACK: I wonder what our children's responses might be to..."What habits did you learn in your growing-up home?"====REV: Varied I'm sure with a parent or two responding: "Where or who did you get that from?!?!"
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: My Mom and Dad enjoyed staying at home a lot. Except for the couple of times a year when my husband and I take a vacation, must say we both are at home every night. It's kind of a strong habit and fortunately we haven't broken it so far. I attribute that to God's work in our family especially because Jerry's homelife when he was growing up was much the same. Not anything I could have thought up on my own anyway.====JACK: When I have talked with couples before marriage, I often have asked the question, "What things do you enjoy doing together?" I don't think that anyone has answered, "Staying home every night," but maybe, "We just enjoy hanging out together," is a way of saying that.
FROM RS IN TEXAS: I think values, as well as habits, are established early in life and hopefully (if they are good values) are a good foundation and stay with us forever. Guess that's why it's so important to have strong values at home. Values learned at school and elsewhere are nice, but often don't "take" if they are offset by the lack of values at home. I need to establish the "habit" of a consistent golf swing! Where's Rory McIlroy when you need him??====JACK: Rory's golf game has certainly improved since his breakup with Caroline. Of course we don't know the whole story, but often breakups of relationships have reasons beyond playing better golf. A difference in values can be an important reason, too.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: Yes, I read about Mary Haglund's Diner, too. She said "Gratitude opens the heart "chakra"...what is "chakra"?! Have to look that up! My mom often quoted "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all", and "It doesn't cost anything to be kind"...Which when you are growing up with a gang of teenagers is good to remember. Looking back, our childhood and adolescence was pretty innocuous, but we had fun!====JACK: My parents always saw to it that we went to church and Sunday School, but we didn't mind, because church was fun, and our friends were there. Since we didn't have a car, we always walked. BTW, a "chakra" is an energy point. The Hindus believe that the body has several chakra points.
“Good habits, once established, are just as hard to break as bad habits.” (Robert Fuller) I read of a restaurant that gives a 15% discount for people who pray before their meal. Fair or not, Mary’s Diner chooses to reward those in the habit offering a table prayer. We often hear of how hard it is for people to break bad habits. Are there good habits, learned at home, that are still with you today? ;-) Jack
FROM CS IN WISCONSIN: Life lesson learned at our home…Jesus Loves Me.. Lovely walking this morning, seeing the sun come up and turn the moon pure white! Awesome early morning beauties! Have a super day making someone smile today.====JACK: Thanks for the reminder. I was baptized in the living room of our house, so my religious roots go waaaay back. BTW, I once saw this slogan: Jesus knows me, this I love.
FROM TARMART REV: An exceptional "Winning Word" for today, Jack . . . more habits, both the good and the bad, are established for a lifetime right there in the home and during those formative years of our lives.====JACK: I wonder what our children's responses might be to..."What habits did you learn in your growing-up home?"====REV: Varied I'm sure with a parent or two responding: "Where or who did you get that from?!?!"
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: My Mom and Dad enjoyed staying at home a lot. Except for the couple of times a year when my husband and I take a vacation, must say we both are at home every night. It's kind of a strong habit and fortunately we haven't broken it so far. I attribute that to God's work in our family especially because Jerry's homelife when he was growing up was much the same. Not anything I could have thought up on my own anyway.====JACK: When I have talked with couples before marriage, I often have asked the question, "What things do you enjoy doing together?" I don't think that anyone has answered, "Staying home every night," but maybe, "We just enjoy hanging out together," is a way of saying that.
FROM RS IN TEXAS: I think values, as well as habits, are established early in life and hopefully (if they are good values) are a good foundation and stay with us forever. Guess that's why it's so important to have strong values at home. Values learned at school and elsewhere are nice, but often don't "take" if they are offset by the lack of values at home. I need to establish the "habit" of a consistent golf swing! Where's Rory McIlroy when you need him??====JACK: Rory's golf game has certainly improved since his breakup with Caroline. Of course we don't know the whole story, but often breakups of relationships have reasons beyond playing better golf. A difference in values can be an important reason, too.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: Yes, I read about Mary Haglund's Diner, too. She said "Gratitude opens the heart "chakra"...what is "chakra"?! Have to look that up! My mom often quoted "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all", and "It doesn't cost anything to be kind"...Which when you are growing up with a gang of teenagers is good to remember. Looking back, our childhood and adolescence was pretty innocuous, but we had fun!====JACK: My parents always saw to it that we went to church and Sunday School, but we didn't mind, because church was fun, and our friends were there. Since we didn't have a car, we always walked. BTW, a "chakra" is an energy point. The Hindus believe that the body has several chakra points.
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 8/13/14
“When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion.” (A. Lincoln) Probably the most revered of the U.S. Presidents has been “Honest Abe.” He often quoted the Bible, and religious beliefs affected his views on slavery and the Civil War. The “church” of his day was not like my church experience. What shapes your religious beliefs…positive or negative? How has “religion” affected you? ;-) Jack
FROM TARMART REV: . . . a journey of a lifetime!! 0;-) PS- Someone posted on FB yesterday: "Ever notice there are no Democrats found faced on Mt. Rushmore!" Question: Were there D & R during those earlier years? 0;-/====JACK: At first I was going to respond..."In the good old days people didn't care about political parties"...but, remembering history...political fights might even have been worse in those days. Lincoln was not "beloved" by the Douglas crowd.
FROM MICHIZONA RAY: My "religion" took shape when I understood it as a means to serve my "theology". Lincoln describes a useful conscience; but I think there is much to say about the idea that "good" doesn't come from my activity or my conscience --- maybe through it; but not from it. I merely get to touch it.====JACK: Our theology usually comes from a religious root. At least, in my case, my theology traces back to my first church experience and has evolved to what it is today because of experiences I've had and people I've met. Even people who have a negative view of religion can probably trace it back to a particular experience.
FROM SHARI' SHARON: Actually, Lincoln's words sort of touch what I feel too. I don't stew and fret over whether or not everyone, or even many, people are going to heaven or hell but that part in the scriptures where it says the Word is very near to us and even written on our hearts, to me means absolutely everyone--retroactive and going forward. Something happened with God becoming incarnate and, even if I somehow don't see it in my actions or in someone else's, I believe Lincoln's words express the truth of the matter. The internal is actually more reality than the external and hope reigns always for that reality to play out--for me anyway.====JACK: I don't think that the songs the slaves sang came out of theological discussions.
FROM HCC CHUCK: These words express my life as I see it but maybe this is more true " I'm laughing on the outside but crying on the inside"====JACK: "If you're happy and you know it," it should be on the inside, too. It's sometimes easier said than done.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: Lincoln's conscience was shaped by his constant Bible reading. Just finished the book THE LINCOLNS IN THE WHITE HOUSE, and how anyone coped with life in the White House in those days is a wonder! To be President in such an absolutely terrible time in our history, and to handle day to day challenges of dealing with politicians, the public who wandered in at will all day, his wife & family, grief, living conditions in Washington, etc. etc. No wonder he aged quickly into an "old man"....He did his best, and it was pretty darn good!!====JACK: It so easy to pass judgment....In fact, a lot of that is being done today. How many of us would choose to walk in Abe's moccasins?
“When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion.” (A. Lincoln) Probably the most revered of the U.S. Presidents has been “Honest Abe.” He often quoted the Bible, and religious beliefs affected his views on slavery and the Civil War. The “church” of his day was not like my church experience. What shapes your religious beliefs…positive or negative? How has “religion” affected you? ;-) Jack
FROM TARMART REV: . . . a journey of a lifetime!! 0;-) PS- Someone posted on FB yesterday: "Ever notice there are no Democrats found faced on Mt. Rushmore!" Question: Were there D & R during those earlier years? 0;-/====JACK: At first I was going to respond..."In the good old days people didn't care about political parties"...but, remembering history...political fights might even have been worse in those days. Lincoln was not "beloved" by the Douglas crowd.
FROM MICHIZONA RAY: My "religion" took shape when I understood it as a means to serve my "theology". Lincoln describes a useful conscience; but I think there is much to say about the idea that "good" doesn't come from my activity or my conscience --- maybe through it; but not from it. I merely get to touch it.====JACK: Our theology usually comes from a religious root. At least, in my case, my theology traces back to my first church experience and has evolved to what it is today because of experiences I've had and people I've met. Even people who have a negative view of religion can probably trace it back to a particular experience.
FROM SHARI' SHARON: Actually, Lincoln's words sort of touch what I feel too. I don't stew and fret over whether or not everyone, or even many, people are going to heaven or hell but that part in the scriptures where it says the Word is very near to us and even written on our hearts, to me means absolutely everyone--retroactive and going forward. Something happened with God becoming incarnate and, even if I somehow don't see it in my actions or in someone else's, I believe Lincoln's words express the truth of the matter. The internal is actually more reality than the external and hope reigns always for that reality to play out--for me anyway.====JACK: I don't think that the songs the slaves sang came out of theological discussions.
FROM HCC CHUCK: These words express my life as I see it but maybe this is more true " I'm laughing on the outside but crying on the inside"====JACK: "If you're happy and you know it," it should be on the inside, too. It's sometimes easier said than done.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: Lincoln's conscience was shaped by his constant Bible reading. Just finished the book THE LINCOLNS IN THE WHITE HOUSE, and how anyone coped with life in the White House in those days is a wonder! To be President in such an absolutely terrible time in our history, and to handle day to day challenges of dealing with politicians, the public who wandered in at will all day, his wife & family, grief, living conditions in Washington, etc. etc. No wonder he aged quickly into an "old man"....He did his best, and it was pretty darn good!!====JACK: It so easy to pass judgment....In fact, a lot of that is being done today. How many of us would choose to walk in Abe's moccasins?
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 8/12/14
“In America they
really do know how to mythologize people when they die.” (Robin Williams) The death of Robin Williams captured the
attention of many people who loved his comedy and his acting. There’s a line from a song in Jesus Christ,
Superstar which comes to mind when I think of R.W.--“He’s a man. He’s just a man.” He grew up in Michigan as a shy child. He was a father. His wife said, “I lost my best friend.” Even though he was famous, deep down, Robin
was like many of us. ;-) Jack He was asked, "What do you hope G-d will say to you when you go to heaven?" by James Lipton.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wCUcepbflA
====JACK: I'll have to check out that YouTube. I'm more interested in what G-d will say to me. "Welcome, my friend!" That's what grace is all about!
FROM CHUCKIE CHEESE: Amen====JACK: Yes, humanity with its limitations is sometimes hard to accept.
FROM BATTMAN: Nicely said Jack. Nanu Nanu….====JACK: I seem to remember that Robin once went to visit a man who was ill and was very sour on life. During Robin'e visit the man laughed in a way that he he hadn't done for a long, long time.
FROM PEPPERMINT MARY: Mork has gone back to Ork...whatever or wherever that is. Funny and brilliant man.====JACK: "Laughing on the outside, crying on the inside!"
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: Just went to Sam's Club to buy groceries and, on the way home, the radio was playing a Robin Williams interview. It occurred to me that the only extraordinary man/woman at the funeral is the person who has died, the rather ordinary and expected thing seems almost always to be the mourners giving each other grief. I actually don't believe this is particular to just Americans but is something in every culture. Hope Robin Williams is sitting on a cloud, dangling his legs and writing a witty and clever funeral movie that someone will get communicated back to earth. RIP Robin Williams.====JACK: It sounds as though you're mythologizing. I guess my Winning Words about Robin is a kind of mythologizing, too.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: IN THIS DAY AND AGE, YOU'D THINK THAT EVEN SEVERE DEPRESSION COULD BE TREATED SUCCESSFULLY; AT LEAST ENOUGH TO SAVE HIS (& OTHER) LIVES. SO SAD. SUCH A WASTE; WE NEVER KNOW THE BATTLES OTHERS ARE FIGHTING, REALLY. =====JACK: "In this day and age" we should be able to know how to live in peace, protect the environment, end hunger and poverty, cure all diseases. What's the problem?
Monday, August 11, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 8/11/14
“Eat the frog first.” (Dustin Wax) In an article, “50 Tips For Getting Things Done,” Wax suggests doing the most unpleasant job first. Another list of tips recommends doing the easy things first. C.L. Allen’s tip: “Visualize, prayerize, actionize.” I translate it to mean, have a goal, pray about it, and then work at it. Do you have a good tip for getting things done…besides eating a frog? ;-) Jack
FROM PLH IN MINNESOTA: Good morning, Jack...====JACK: Good morning, good morning, good morning to you Good morning, good morning, good morning to you Our day is beginning, there's so much to do So, good morning, good morning, good morning to you ====PLH: awesome poetry!! here is another one. good morning, good morning, its grand to be on hand, good morning, good morning to you! its a song really...
FROM IKE AT THE MIC: Give yourself a treat or reward after you've accomplished a difficult challenge. (It works with dogs as well..Isn't it interesting that a dog is regarded as man's best friend & dog backwards spells god?mmm)====JACK: The best reward is a sense of satisfaction that the job is done...over...completed...ahhhh!
FROM JIMBO IN HONG KONG: Pray first ... receive the task ... pray again for help ... perform the task. Any other way is not from God. We don't "have goals" .... we are given them. God bless! ====JACK: Allen suggests that we first see the problem, and them pray about it. As the old hymn puts it..."Take your burden to the Lord, and leave it there." Of course, you don't necessarily have to see/have a problem in order to pray. Sometimes it's just like saying "HI" to an old friend. ====JIMBO: Jesus suggests that the only goal worth having is "to do the will of his Father". I agree with that. If Allen is cognizant that what he "sees through a mirror dimly" is a problem the Spirit has opened his eyes to, then he is right in praying about it immediately. As Elwood Blues knows, the LORD works in mysterious ways. (We interrupt your current task with a special "task in need" situation!) Not sure why you changed the topic from goals to problems, Jack. We don't have to have a goal in order to pray ... except the main goal. It can be easily argued that it's better if we don't have a goal other than the main one. It can also be argued that if you have a burden it's because you had a goal that was unworthy. Therefore pray first ... see clearer later. Our sight is so limited, isn't it? Yes, saying HI can and should be part of the conversation, especially when asking for help to perform the task.====JACK: Usually a "goal" is related to a problem or a need. The goal is to get it taken care of. Sometimes it needs the help of prayer. Sometimes we can handle it on our own.
FROM HAWKEYE GEORGE: Sometimes in writing my weekly CBS, I set a time to start and just DO IT regardless how I feel. I usually feel uplifted after starting - but I usually start with the easier work first.====JACK: Yesterday, as I went write today's Winning Words, I discovered that the computer had wiped out my thought starters. Do you suppose "God" did that....on purpose?
FROM TARMART REV: I remind myself often, "Just getter done!!"====JACK: Early in my ministry, when we lived next to the church, I remember struggling with the ending of a sermon and hearing the church bell ringing, announcing the "call to worship." That caused me to "getter done!"
FROM LBP IN PLYMOUTH: Wow. That was just what I needed today. Guess it's time to down a frog.====JACK: The strangest thing I've eaten is escargot. I wonder if a frog tastes like that? ====LBP: Probably chicken. I'm guessing it's the notion of eating a frog that is worse than doing it. Much like this darned paper...====JACK: Last night, composing Winning Words was difficult. The "words" just didn't come. This morning was a different story. Sometimes when there's a problem, we just have to "give time, time."
FROM FACEBOOK LIZ: just eat the frog. order isn't important. altho a shrink friend says, "it is easier to face a difficult task than to avoid it."====JACK: I've heard of eating frog legs, but not the whole frog. Is it possible, to take a hard problem and be successful by just solving part of it?
FROM HUNGRY HOWIE: My tip....... Start====JACK: Charles Kettering is credited with inventing the first automatic starter for automobiles. When it comes to solving problems, most of us have to rely on "cranking it up" to get the engine of thought started.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: When it comes to cleaning out my garages, and cupboards, etc. etc. I probably need to read the whole book! I am slowly getting ready to make a move from my big lake house to a one level home "somewhere" as yet undecided, and motivation to get rid of "stuff" is hard to come by...but it must be done, so today's the day to start!! Good to have my computer up and running correctly again!====JACK: It's not as bad as "Hoarders," but when I look around and see the "stuff" decisions that would have to be made before a move...it lends itself to procrastination.
FROM GIL IN MICHIGAN: God knows, God loves and God cares........God gives the very best to those who leave the choice to him... We all have to work and pray about it, but it still is God's choice.......God choose to keep me around for awhile after I passed out and I fell down the basement stairs on Dec.10th 2013. Arachnoid Hemorrhage and busted bones... Just went through a Cervical fusion ====JACK: As the Scandinavians say, "Uff Da," translated...Overload...Overwhelmed!
FROM BS IN ENGLAND: I always start a new day with this prayer. Lord help me to remember that nothing is going to happen to me today that you and I together can't handle.====JACK: Your response reminds me of this song...
My God and I go in the fields together,
We walk and talk as good friends should and do;
We clasp our hands, our voices ring with laughter,
My God and I walk through the meadows hue;
We clasp our hands, our voices ring with laughter;
My God and I walk through the meadows hue.
He tells me of the years that went before me,
When heavenly plans were made for me to be,
When all was but a dream of dim conception
To come to life, earth’s radiant glory see;
When all was but a dream of dim conception
To come to life, earth’s radiant glory see.
My God and I will go for aye together,
We’ll walk and talk as good friends should and do;
This earth will pass, and with it common trifles,
But God and I will go unendingly;
This earth will pass, and with it common trifles,
But God and I will go unendingly.
FROM SBP IN FLORIDA: There are, for me, two sides to this lily pad. There's a reality these days that the tadpoles come steadily and frequently. So, unless the frog is an emergency, I tend to swallow the tadpoles as they come by, and they do so steadily and frequently. And the "frog"...well, sometimes I suggest he/she go "jump in the lake" and sit on a lily pad for a awhile .Of course, I haven't used this analogy 'til today, but it makes me smile, so...Thank you.====JACK: Now, that is a witty and funny response...and good advice, too..."Swallow the tadpoles!" "Jump in the lake," recalls one of my first writing experiences.
“Eat the frog first.” (Dustin Wax) In an article, “50 Tips For Getting Things Done,” Wax suggests doing the most unpleasant job first. Another list of tips recommends doing the easy things first. C.L. Allen’s tip: “Visualize, prayerize, actionize.” I translate it to mean, have a goal, pray about it, and then work at it. Do you have a good tip for getting things done…besides eating a frog? ;-) Jack
FROM PLH IN MINNESOTA: Good morning, Jack...====JACK: Good morning, good morning, good morning to you Good morning, good morning, good morning to you Our day is beginning, there's so much to do So, good morning, good morning, good morning to you ====PLH: awesome poetry!! here is another one. good morning, good morning, its grand to be on hand, good morning, good morning to you! its a song really...
FROM IKE AT THE MIC: Give yourself a treat or reward after you've accomplished a difficult challenge. (It works with dogs as well..Isn't it interesting that a dog is regarded as man's best friend & dog backwards spells god?mmm)====JACK: The best reward is a sense of satisfaction that the job is done...over...completed...ahhhh!
FROM JIMBO IN HONG KONG: Pray first ... receive the task ... pray again for help ... perform the task. Any other way is not from God. We don't "have goals" .... we are given them. God bless! ====JACK: Allen suggests that we first see the problem, and them pray about it. As the old hymn puts it..."Take your burden to the Lord, and leave it there." Of course, you don't necessarily have to see/have a problem in order to pray. Sometimes it's just like saying "HI" to an old friend. ====JIMBO: Jesus suggests that the only goal worth having is "to do the will of his Father". I agree with that. If Allen is cognizant that what he "sees through a mirror dimly" is a problem the Spirit has opened his eyes to, then he is right in praying about it immediately. As Elwood Blues knows, the LORD works in mysterious ways. (We interrupt your current task with a special "task in need" situation!) Not sure why you changed the topic from goals to problems, Jack. We don't have to have a goal in order to pray ... except the main goal. It can be easily argued that it's better if we don't have a goal other than the main one. It can also be argued that if you have a burden it's because you had a goal that was unworthy. Therefore pray first ... see clearer later. Our sight is so limited, isn't it? Yes, saying HI can and should be part of the conversation, especially when asking for help to perform the task.====JACK: Usually a "goal" is related to a problem or a need. The goal is to get it taken care of. Sometimes it needs the help of prayer. Sometimes we can handle it on our own.
FROM HAWKEYE GEORGE: Sometimes in writing my weekly CBS, I set a time to start and just DO IT regardless how I feel. I usually feel uplifted after starting - but I usually start with the easier work first.====JACK: Yesterday, as I went write today's Winning Words, I discovered that the computer had wiped out my thought starters. Do you suppose "God" did that....on purpose?
FROM TARMART REV: I remind myself often, "Just getter done!!"====JACK: Early in my ministry, when we lived next to the church, I remember struggling with the ending of a sermon and hearing the church bell ringing, announcing the "call to worship." That caused me to "getter done!"
FROM LBP IN PLYMOUTH: Wow. That was just what I needed today. Guess it's time to down a frog.====JACK: The strangest thing I've eaten is escargot. I wonder if a frog tastes like that? ====LBP: Probably chicken. I'm guessing it's the notion of eating a frog that is worse than doing it. Much like this darned paper...====JACK: Last night, composing Winning Words was difficult. The "words" just didn't come. This morning was a different story. Sometimes when there's a problem, we just have to "give time, time."
FROM FACEBOOK LIZ: just eat the frog. order isn't important. altho a shrink friend says, "it is easier to face a difficult task than to avoid it."====JACK: I've heard of eating frog legs, but not the whole frog. Is it possible, to take a hard problem and be successful by just solving part of it?
FROM HUNGRY HOWIE: My tip....... Start====JACK: Charles Kettering is credited with inventing the first automatic starter for automobiles. When it comes to solving problems, most of us have to rely on "cranking it up" to get the engine of thought started.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: When it comes to cleaning out my garages, and cupboards, etc. etc. I probably need to read the whole book! I am slowly getting ready to make a move from my big lake house to a one level home "somewhere" as yet undecided, and motivation to get rid of "stuff" is hard to come by...but it must be done, so today's the day to start!! Good to have my computer up and running correctly again!====JACK: It's not as bad as "Hoarders," but when I look around and see the "stuff" decisions that would have to be made before a move...it lends itself to procrastination.
FROM GIL IN MICHIGAN: God knows, God loves and God cares........God gives the very best to those who leave the choice to him... We all have to work and pray about it, but it still is God's choice.......God choose to keep me around for awhile after I passed out and I fell down the basement stairs on Dec.10th 2013. Arachnoid Hemorrhage and busted bones... Just went through a Cervical fusion ====JACK: As the Scandinavians say, "Uff Da," translated...Overload...Overwhelmed!
FROM BS IN ENGLAND: I always start a new day with this prayer. Lord help me to remember that nothing is going to happen to me today that you and I together can't handle.====JACK: Your response reminds me of this song...
My God and I go in the fields together,
We walk and talk as good friends should and do;
We clasp our hands, our voices ring with laughter,
My God and I walk through the meadows hue;
We clasp our hands, our voices ring with laughter;
My God and I walk through the meadows hue.
He tells me of the years that went before me,
When heavenly plans were made for me to be,
When all was but a dream of dim conception
To come to life, earth’s radiant glory see;
When all was but a dream of dim conception
To come to life, earth’s radiant glory see.
My God and I will go for aye together,
We’ll walk and talk as good friends should and do;
This earth will pass, and with it common trifles,
But God and I will go unendingly;
This earth will pass, and with it common trifles,
But God and I will go unendingly.
FROM SBP IN FLORIDA: There are, for me, two sides to this lily pad. There's a reality these days that the tadpoles come steadily and frequently. So, unless the frog is an emergency, I tend to swallow the tadpoles as they come by, and they do so steadily and frequently. And the "frog"...well, sometimes I suggest he/she go "jump in the lake" and sit on a lily pad for a awhile .Of course, I haven't used this analogy 'til today, but it makes me smile, so...Thank you.====JACK: Now, that is a witty and funny response...and good advice, too..."Swallow the tadpoles!" "Jump in the lake," recalls one of my first writing experiences.
Friday, August 08, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 8/8/14
“Fear can keep us up all night, but faith makes one fine pillow.” (Philip Gulley) Through the centuries diseases have caused great fear…the plagues, smallpox, cholera, and in our time, polio, HIV/AIDS. Now it’s Ebola. Experience has shown that this, too, will be overcome. But our fears have a way of hanging on. I’ve read in the Bible that God neither slumbers nor sleeps, so I go to sleep knowing that “the hopes and fears of all the years” have a way of working themselves out, by God’s grace. ;) Jack
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: Wonderful WW to start us off on a pleasant summer weekend. Looked up Phillip Gulley on Google. He sounds like a homey preacher man. Thanks.====JACK: Genesis 28 tells of how Jacob used a stone as a pillow and had a dream in which the Lord spoken to him. The stone became special to him, a sign of God's presence. Pillows of faith can connect us with God.
FROM RI IN bOSTON: There has been a continuum of dreadful diseases through past history, and there will be more in the future, which when they arrive may seem worse than all the others. There are many who proclaim it's God who is behind all of it, punishing us for our transgressions. But why just a select group that suffers...haven't we all transgressed? How about Man taking the blame, for the sort of lives we lead, and generally an unwillingness to correct course? There are many fears about human survival on this earth, but who knows what will be the source of destruction that eliminates us?====JACK: It's the pebble in our shoe that gets the most attention.
FROM TARMART REV: No sense the both of us staying up all night worrying about something that 90% of the time does not come to pass . . . especially when He knows the outcome already!! ====JACK: I agree with your response up until the 3 dots (. . .) It's not that I disagree with what comes after them, but are our actions of no effect? In other words, is predestination a part of your (AG) theology?====REV: A/G follows Armenian (sp!) in theology . . . I personally believe God knows my life and outcome as He knows the time and seasons . . . It is I who works out my salvation in due respect for Him, placing my complete trust in Him in theory (actually miss that aspect my share of the time trying to help Him out).====JACK: The Socratic paradox often applies when we try to explain God, who is beyond explanation. "I know that I know nothing."
FROM DR JUDY: All in all, every sentence, every phrase, every word. This is by far, my favorite post! I'm considering taking the whole paragraph and putting it in my favorite quotes in my newsletter. First, do I have your permission. And if so, are you Pastor or Rev Jack Freed? ====JACK: I write my Winning Words each day, hoping that they might be of help to someone, so you are welcome to use them anytime, with, or without, credit. In my blog comment to SHARON I made reference to Jacob using a stone as a pillow. Whether the pillow be hard or soft, through faith it can, at times, be a place for meeting G-d.
FROM EEC: What song is that line from? This is my Father's World? No…I give up.====JACK: O Little Town of Bethlehem..."The hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight."
FROM FACEBOOK LIZ: yep. they all were scary until vaccines/cures were found. & a lot of people died & suffered from all of them. my good friend has been w/CARE since he graduated from law school. he is a farm boy who started teaching farmers in el salvador to grow coffee more productively. he suffered malaria twice. he later lived in sierra leone. he is not afraid of much. he is terrified of ebola... not to be taken lightly.====JACK: A puzzle's not a puzzle if you have access to the answers. I was just reading this morning about the building of the Panama Canal and the many lives that were lost because of yellow fever and malaria. The problem was beginning to be solved when a doctor discovered that mosquitoes were the cause.
“Fear can keep us up all night, but faith makes one fine pillow.” (Philip Gulley) Through the centuries diseases have caused great fear…the plagues, smallpox, cholera, and in our time, polio, HIV/AIDS. Now it’s Ebola. Experience has shown that this, too, will be overcome. But our fears have a way of hanging on. I’ve read in the Bible that God neither slumbers nor sleeps, so I go to sleep knowing that “the hopes and fears of all the years” have a way of working themselves out, by God’s grace. ;) Jack
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: Wonderful WW to start us off on a pleasant summer weekend. Looked up Phillip Gulley on Google. He sounds like a homey preacher man. Thanks.====JACK: Genesis 28 tells of how Jacob used a stone as a pillow and had a dream in which the Lord spoken to him. The stone became special to him, a sign of God's presence. Pillows of faith can connect us with God.
FROM RI IN bOSTON: There has been a continuum of dreadful diseases through past history, and there will be more in the future, which when they arrive may seem worse than all the others. There are many who proclaim it's God who is behind all of it, punishing us for our transgressions. But why just a select group that suffers...haven't we all transgressed? How about Man taking the blame, for the sort of lives we lead, and generally an unwillingness to correct course? There are many fears about human survival on this earth, but who knows what will be the source of destruction that eliminates us?====JACK: It's the pebble in our shoe that gets the most attention.
FROM TARMART REV: No sense the both of us staying up all night worrying about something that 90% of the time does not come to pass . . . especially when He knows the outcome already!! ====JACK: I agree with your response up until the 3 dots (. . .) It's not that I disagree with what comes after them, but are our actions of no effect? In other words, is predestination a part of your (AG) theology?====REV: A/G follows Armenian (sp!) in theology . . . I personally believe God knows my life and outcome as He knows the time and seasons . . . It is I who works out my salvation in due respect for Him, placing my complete trust in Him in theory (actually miss that aspect my share of the time trying to help Him out).====JACK: The Socratic paradox often applies when we try to explain God, who is beyond explanation. "I know that I know nothing."
FROM DR JUDY: All in all, every sentence, every phrase, every word. This is by far, my favorite post! I'm considering taking the whole paragraph and putting it in my favorite quotes in my newsletter. First, do I have your permission. And if so, are you Pastor or Rev Jack Freed? ====JACK: I write my Winning Words each day, hoping that they might be of help to someone, so you are welcome to use them anytime, with, or without, credit. In my blog comment to SHARON I made reference to Jacob using a stone as a pillow. Whether the pillow be hard or soft, through faith it can, at times, be a place for meeting G-d.
FROM EEC: What song is that line from? This is my Father's World? No…I give up.====JACK: O Little Town of Bethlehem..."The hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight."
FROM FACEBOOK LIZ: yep. they all were scary until vaccines/cures were found. & a lot of people died & suffered from all of them. my good friend has been w/CARE since he graduated from law school. he is a farm boy who started teaching farmers in el salvador to grow coffee more productively. he suffered malaria twice. he later lived in sierra leone. he is not afraid of much. he is terrified of ebola... not to be taken lightly.====JACK: A puzzle's not a puzzle if you have access to the answers. I was just reading this morning about the building of the Panama Canal and the many lives that were lost because of yellow fever and malaria. The problem was beginning to be solved when a doctor discovered that mosquitoes were the cause.
Thursday, August 07, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 8/7/14
“It’s not all bad if you get mad at God. It at least shows that you really believe in Him.” (Wally Armbruster) In the ICU a father had to restrain his young son from moving while a life-saving i-v solution was being administered. The boy begged his father to stop the procedure and to release his hold. The father knew that it was best not to let go. The boy looked at him and said, “You’re the meanest dad in the whole world.” Have you ever been angry with God because he hasn’t done as you wanted? ;-) Jack
FROM FACEBOOK LIZ: I LOVE THIS... it does prove one believes! shared this w/my fb friends, many of whom are atheists or agnostic... a few evangelicals thrown in there, too.====JACK: I guess there are times when many of us are agnositics. In the old TV cartoon series, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Bullwinkle would sometimes pose as Mr. Know-It-All, an authority on everything. The episode would usually end in disaster...as it happens with all who think they know it all.====LIZ: cracked fairy tales (on rocky & bullwinkle show) was the best cartoon on tv.
FROM PEPPERMINT MARY: many a time...but i keep on hangin on! the alternative is too lonely and a bit egocentric.====JACK: I like the man in the Bible who says to Jesus, "I believe; help my unbelief."
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: The thing that has made me most angry at God (so far) is that He let the Holocaust happen. And I guess that anger is also attached to my fear that I will follow false leaders, false theology. For a couple of weeks I believe the daily lectionary that the ELCA offices send out have been coming from a "newer (and to my hearing conversational translation) and, as I'm reading, I'm thinking "Is this translation actually as accurate as the older one?" Sometimes it's hard to keep uppermost in my mind that God is taking care of us and protecting us from evil and harm. ====JACK: Translations are meant to try to interpret the Scriptures, using language forms that relate to a particular day and age. The King James translation of 1610, related to that day. We need to continue to retranslate in order to better understand. BTW, a Jewish friend and I were discussing the Holocaust in which relatives of his perished. We pursued the thought...Without the Holocaust, perhaps Israel would not have been formed as a homeland for Jews.====SHARON: Enjoyed your comment, Pastor Freed. Maybe the Holocaust has led to the Jewish people being able to have their own homeland now. To me that seems sort of necessary because of the persecutions they face and it really is too bad having your own homeland comes from that reason. I believe Jews, Christians and Moslems are reading the same Inspired Word but, for some reason, come away with different interpretations and that is always hard for me. For some reason, I haven't (so far) gotten angry with God for that but do from time-to-time when confronted with the fact of the differences, get angry at us people and particularly that we can translate so limitedly. The Hamas people translating and acting on their interpretations is very painful right now and I actually don't know what is keeping them from recognizing the State of Israel, except it might be their reading of the Word the way they do. Do you think when we get the next Bible translation in the next 100 years, it will reflect more accurately what Jews, Moslems and Christians are going through right now? Just wondering.
FROM TARMART REV: Overly angry with God or any man of contrariety? Few times, if any at all . . . very frustrated, you bet!!====JACK: It's hard to say that you get "mad" at God, isn't it? But sometimes "frustration" might be too soft a word.
“It’s not all bad if you get mad at God. It at least shows that you really believe in Him.” (Wally Armbruster) In the ICU a father had to restrain his young son from moving while a life-saving i-v solution was being administered. The boy begged his father to stop the procedure and to release his hold. The father knew that it was best not to let go. The boy looked at him and said, “You’re the meanest dad in the whole world.” Have you ever been angry with God because he hasn’t done as you wanted? ;-) Jack
FROM FACEBOOK LIZ: I LOVE THIS... it does prove one believes! shared this w/my fb friends, many of whom are atheists or agnostic... a few evangelicals thrown in there, too.====JACK: I guess there are times when many of us are agnositics. In the old TV cartoon series, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Bullwinkle would sometimes pose as Mr. Know-It-All, an authority on everything. The episode would usually end in disaster...as it happens with all who think they know it all.====LIZ: cracked fairy tales (on rocky & bullwinkle show) was the best cartoon on tv.
FROM PEPPERMINT MARY: many a time...but i keep on hangin on! the alternative is too lonely and a bit egocentric.====JACK: I like the man in the Bible who says to Jesus, "I believe; help my unbelief."
FROM SHARIN' SHARON: The thing that has made me most angry at God (so far) is that He let the Holocaust happen. And I guess that anger is also attached to my fear that I will follow false leaders, false theology. For a couple of weeks I believe the daily lectionary that the ELCA offices send out have been coming from a "newer (and to my hearing conversational translation) and, as I'm reading, I'm thinking "Is this translation actually as accurate as the older one?" Sometimes it's hard to keep uppermost in my mind that God is taking care of us and protecting us from evil and harm. ====JACK: Translations are meant to try to interpret the Scriptures, using language forms that relate to a particular day and age. The King James translation of 1610, related to that day. We need to continue to retranslate in order to better understand. BTW, a Jewish friend and I were discussing the Holocaust in which relatives of his perished. We pursued the thought...Without the Holocaust, perhaps Israel would not have been formed as a homeland for Jews.====SHARON: Enjoyed your comment, Pastor Freed. Maybe the Holocaust has led to the Jewish people being able to have their own homeland now. To me that seems sort of necessary because of the persecutions they face and it really is too bad having your own homeland comes from that reason. I believe Jews, Christians and Moslems are reading the same Inspired Word but, for some reason, come away with different interpretations and that is always hard for me. For some reason, I haven't (so far) gotten angry with God for that but do from time-to-time when confronted with the fact of the differences, get angry at us people and particularly that we can translate so limitedly. The Hamas people translating and acting on their interpretations is very painful right now and I actually don't know what is keeping them from recognizing the State of Israel, except it might be their reading of the Word the way they do. Do you think when we get the next Bible translation in the next 100 years, it will reflect more accurately what Jews, Moslems and Christians are going through right now? Just wondering.
FROM TARMART REV: Overly angry with God or any man of contrariety? Few times, if any at all . . . very frustrated, you bet!!====JACK: It's hard to say that you get "mad" at God, isn't it? But sometimes "frustration" might be too soft a word.
Wednesday, August 06, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 8/6/14
“There’s a great power in words, if you don’t put too many of them together.” (Josh Billings) I once saw a cartoon, showing a minister preaching, with Jesus sitting in the front pew…sleeping. Whether it be in a sermon, a business presentation, or in general conversation, it’s best to get to the point and move on. Once, while preaching, I saw a woman poke her dozing husband. I hid a smile as he jerked to attention. ;-) Jack
FROM MICHIZONA RAY: I'll be brief.====JACK: There was a minister in our area preached for over a day trying to break the record for the longest sermon preached. More impressive was the minister who preached the shortest sermon, going into the pulpit and simply saying, "Love!"
FROM HONEST JOHN: We are up in Stratford at the Festival. Just saw Man of La Mancha....we are missing that kind of idealism today....to reach the unreachable stars. The Tea Party preaches what I call "Downerism"....they seem to be reaching up their own derrières.====JACK: I remember hearing Robert Schuller preach, using the Man of La Mancha as an illustration..."To Dream the Impossible Dream." The Man of La Mancha is one of my favorite stories.
FROM GUSTIE MARLYS: Clem always sat in the back row of the choir loft where he could "rest his eyes" and I would not see him and kick him! Ha! I think he absorbed more of the sermon than most tho.====JACK: Now that I'm on the other side of the pulpit, I'm able to identify with what it means to sit in the pew (or in the back row).
FROM TARMART REV: I wish I could find it and know that I have it filed somewhere . . . it was a take off of Peter answering Christ's question of "Who do people say that I am?" Peter's response was with a long sentence full of descriptive theological terms to which Jesus replied: "Who?" ====JACK: How would you or I feel if someone shouted from the pew..."Get to the point!"?
FROM RJP IN NAPLES: That absolutely was not me and Chris did not poke, just nudged. ====JACK: I usually noticed that you were "engaged" while I was preaching. But, as a salesman, you had probably practiced that expression while listening to your customers.
FROM DR. PHIL: Jack, I was sitting in church the other week next to my wife. I fell asleep and she nudged me. It is really great to be able to fall asleep in church once in a while. I am relaxed with the Lord.====JACK: That's funny, because Mary has done the same thing to me. My response..."I'm just resting my eyes."
FROM RS IN TEXAS: I heard once that the key to a good sermon was a good beginning, a good ending and not too much between the two. Quality not quantity?====JACK: It's true. A sermon should have an beginning that captures the attention...and an ending, good enough, so that the summary of the content will go out the door with the listener. I once knew a pastor who kept an alarm clock in the pulpit, set to the length he wanted the sermon to be. When the clock went off, he stopped...even if he was in mid-sentence.
FROM SBP IN FLORIDA: When I watch Joel Osteen. I note that he has a message , develops it, directs it to YOU....and winds up in thirty minutes, All of which encourages further contemplation on my part. "Less is more." "Short and sweet." "Brevity is the soul.....====JACK: One of the good things about TV preaching is that it's governed by a set time frame.
“There’s a great power in words, if you don’t put too many of them together.” (Josh Billings) I once saw a cartoon, showing a minister preaching, with Jesus sitting in the front pew…sleeping. Whether it be in a sermon, a business presentation, or in general conversation, it’s best to get to the point and move on. Once, while preaching, I saw a woman poke her dozing husband. I hid a smile as he jerked to attention. ;-) Jack
FROM MICHIZONA RAY: I'll be brief.====JACK: There was a minister in our area preached for over a day trying to break the record for the longest sermon preached. More impressive was the minister who preached the shortest sermon, going into the pulpit and simply saying, "Love!"
FROM HONEST JOHN: We are up in Stratford at the Festival. Just saw Man of La Mancha....we are missing that kind of idealism today....to reach the unreachable stars. The Tea Party preaches what I call "Downerism"....they seem to be reaching up their own derrières.====JACK: I remember hearing Robert Schuller preach, using the Man of La Mancha as an illustration..."To Dream the Impossible Dream." The Man of La Mancha is one of my favorite stories.
FROM GUSTIE MARLYS: Clem always sat in the back row of the choir loft where he could "rest his eyes" and I would not see him and kick him! Ha! I think he absorbed more of the sermon than most tho.====JACK: Now that I'm on the other side of the pulpit, I'm able to identify with what it means to sit in the pew (or in the back row).
FROM TARMART REV: I wish I could find it and know that I have it filed somewhere . . . it was a take off of Peter answering Christ's question of "Who do people say that I am?" Peter's response was with a long sentence full of descriptive theological terms to which Jesus replied: "Who?" ====JACK: How would you or I feel if someone shouted from the pew..."Get to the point!"?
FROM RJP IN NAPLES: That absolutely was not me and Chris did not poke, just nudged. ====JACK: I usually noticed that you were "engaged" while I was preaching. But, as a salesman, you had probably practiced that expression while listening to your customers.
FROM DR. PHIL: Jack, I was sitting in church the other week next to my wife. I fell asleep and she nudged me. It is really great to be able to fall asleep in church once in a while. I am relaxed with the Lord.====JACK: That's funny, because Mary has done the same thing to me. My response..."I'm just resting my eyes."
FROM RS IN TEXAS: I heard once that the key to a good sermon was a good beginning, a good ending and not too much between the two. Quality not quantity?====JACK: It's true. A sermon should have an beginning that captures the attention...and an ending, good enough, so that the summary of the content will go out the door with the listener. I once knew a pastor who kept an alarm clock in the pulpit, set to the length he wanted the sermon to be. When the clock went off, he stopped...even if he was in mid-sentence.
FROM SBP IN FLORIDA: When I watch Joel Osteen. I note that he has a message , develops it, directs it to YOU....and winds up in thirty minutes, All of which encourages further contemplation on my part. "Less is more." "Short and sweet." "Brevity is the soul.....====JACK: One of the good things about TV preaching is that it's governed by a set time frame.
Tuesday, August 05, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 8/5/14
“It’s easier to put on slippers than to carpet the whole world.” (Al Franken) It’s interesting to note that there’s an actual comedian in Congress. In this instance, Al’s humor makes sense. We can’t solve all the world’s problems, but we can do something about some of them. Foster-parenting is one. Collecting school clothing for needy kids is another. Are there people you know who are wearing slippers today? ;-) Jack
FROM TARMART REV: My world is full of them . . . couldn't live without them . . . hopefully my are found a little worn themselves!! ====JACK: Sometimes those "slippered" people do their good works so silently that we don't give them the "thanks" that they deserve...but usually don't want.
FROM PLH IN MINNESOTA: we think Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar are two of the best senators in congress. we are proud and very pleased with both of them. Amy has been thought of as presidential material. i shook hands with Al at a home coffee meeting when he was running for the Senate. notice, he has not told one joke publically since getting elected as he wants to change his "image". i really think he is a solid politician.====JACK: Minnesota is a mixed bag when it comes to their politicians. But, on the whole, they've had some good ones, HHH, for example.
FROM MICHIZONA RAY: This quote actually comes from his Stuart Smalley character in the movie, "Stuart Smalley Saves His Family". There are several very useful parts of the movie that depict an intimate knowledge of Stuart's suffering. His quote in its context comes at the end of the movie as he indicates our impotence with regard to "changing" people and the world. It's better to wear slippers on one's own feet whilst walking on the rough surfaces of life, rather than the impossibility of carpeting every part of it. In the Christian perspective it is like the directive to "first remove the beam from thine own eye" rather than carpet over it.====JACK: Thanks for the clarification about the origin of the quote. Sometimes, when problems seem overwhelming, it is best to break them into smaller manageable parts. It is better to do something, rather than nothing, using the excuse, "It's just too big for me to do anything about it."
FROM BB IN ILLINOIS: Thanks for the smile; so true. The sermon Sunday started with a recitation of UNICEF statistics about hunger and poverty. My son and my girlfriend who came along thought it was much too long and overwhelming. I kind of agreed with them but thought it was an interesting springboard from the loaves and fishes story. We have so much in this land of plenty and so very much waste….Told them it made me decide to clean my fridge and endeavor to be much less wasteful with the food I bring into my home.====JACK: It's usually a good sermon when a pastor takes a text from the Bible and relates it to what's going on in the world today.
FROM DC IN KANSAS: Our guest pastor Sunday -- the KU Campus Pastor -- used the feeding of 5000 Sunday in a way I hadn't entertained before. We face many imposing problems -- decline in membership, money, etc. The disciples faced 5000 men (plus -- making 20,000? More than Allen Field House.) But Jesus said, "Feed them." I thought that was pretty good (and it came from a camps pastor, not me.)====JACK: You and I probably wouldn't wear a WWJD bracelet, but it doesn't hurt to think, in certain situations...What Would Jesus Do?
FROM BLAZING OAKS: If you are busy doing what matters to you, it is easier to wear "slippers", and to see things to do that will "carpet" your little corner of the world. Our children seem to appreciate the loving and stable home they were reared in, but out son in Christ, Roy, REALLY appreciated coming into a "normal" home with loving "parents" after enduring a chaotic home life for his first 14 yrs! He was one of our church youth who had potential and "get up and go" in spite of his home situation. He is a mature, and responsible adult, father of three, working his whole career in the State Higher Education Dep't! Franken's word's ring true in the world situation today; We can no longer be the whole world's guardian and "fixer"...so put on the slippers!====JACK: I suppose it doesn't relate (but maybe it does), but here's your song for today. SING IT, SISTER!!!!
Oh, my golden slippers am laid away
'Cause I don't spect to wear 'em til my wedding day
And my long tailed coat, that I love so well
I will wear up in the chariot in the morn.
And my long white robe that I bought last June
I'm goin' to get changed 'cause it fits too soon
And the old grey hoss that I used to drive
I will hitch him to the chariot in the morn.
Oh, dem golden slippers
Oh, dem golden slippers
Golden slippers I'se goin' to wear
Because they look so neat.
Oh, dem golden slippers
Oh, dem golden slippers
Golden slippers I'se goin' to wear
To walk the golden street.
Oh, my old banjo hangs on the wall
'Cause it ain't been tuned since way last fall
But the darks all say we'll have a good time
When we ride up in the chariot in the morn.
There's ol' brother Ben and his sister, Luce
They will telegraph the news to uncle Bacco Juice
What a great camp meetin' there will be that day
When we ride up in the chariot in the morn.
So, it's good-bye, children I will have to go
Where the rain don't fall and the wind don't blow
And yer ulster coats, why, you will not need
When you ride up in the chariot in the morn.
But yer golden slippers must be nice and clean
And yer age must be just sweet sixteen
And yer white kid gloves you will have to wear
When you ride up in the chariot in the morn.
FROM JT IN MINNESOTA: I'm proud to have Al Franken my congressman. He does do what may seem like not world problems but are important to some of us. I vote for him and Amy Klosbershaw.
Thanks for the ww's====JACK: You're the second Minnesotan who's had good things to say about Al and Amy. Congress ain't all bad.
“It’s easier to put on slippers than to carpet the whole world.” (Al Franken) It’s interesting to note that there’s an actual comedian in Congress. In this instance, Al’s humor makes sense. We can’t solve all the world’s problems, but we can do something about some of them. Foster-parenting is one. Collecting school clothing for needy kids is another. Are there people you know who are wearing slippers today? ;-) Jack
FROM TARMART REV: My world is full of them . . . couldn't live without them . . . hopefully my are found a little worn themselves!! ====JACK: Sometimes those "slippered" people do their good works so silently that we don't give them the "thanks" that they deserve...but usually don't want.
FROM PLH IN MINNESOTA: we think Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar are two of the best senators in congress. we are proud and very pleased with both of them. Amy has been thought of as presidential material. i shook hands with Al at a home coffee meeting when he was running for the Senate. notice, he has not told one joke publically since getting elected as he wants to change his "image". i really think he is a solid politician.====JACK: Minnesota is a mixed bag when it comes to their politicians. But, on the whole, they've had some good ones, HHH, for example.
FROM MICHIZONA RAY: This quote actually comes from his Stuart Smalley character in the movie, "Stuart Smalley Saves His Family". There are several very useful parts of the movie that depict an intimate knowledge of Stuart's suffering. His quote in its context comes at the end of the movie as he indicates our impotence with regard to "changing" people and the world. It's better to wear slippers on one's own feet whilst walking on the rough surfaces of life, rather than the impossibility of carpeting every part of it. In the Christian perspective it is like the directive to "first remove the beam from thine own eye" rather than carpet over it.====JACK: Thanks for the clarification about the origin of the quote. Sometimes, when problems seem overwhelming, it is best to break them into smaller manageable parts. It is better to do something, rather than nothing, using the excuse, "It's just too big for me to do anything about it."
FROM BB IN ILLINOIS: Thanks for the smile; so true. The sermon Sunday started with a recitation of UNICEF statistics about hunger and poverty. My son and my girlfriend who came along thought it was much too long and overwhelming. I kind of agreed with them but thought it was an interesting springboard from the loaves and fishes story. We have so much in this land of plenty and so very much waste….Told them it made me decide to clean my fridge and endeavor to be much less wasteful with the food I bring into my home.====JACK: It's usually a good sermon when a pastor takes a text from the Bible and relates it to what's going on in the world today.
FROM DC IN KANSAS: Our guest pastor Sunday -- the KU Campus Pastor -- used the feeding of 5000 Sunday in a way I hadn't entertained before. We face many imposing problems -- decline in membership, money, etc. The disciples faced 5000 men (plus -- making 20,000? More than Allen Field House.) But Jesus said, "Feed them." I thought that was pretty good (and it came from a camps pastor, not me.)====JACK: You and I probably wouldn't wear a WWJD bracelet, but it doesn't hurt to think, in certain situations...What Would Jesus Do?
FROM BLAZING OAKS: If you are busy doing what matters to you, it is easier to wear "slippers", and to see things to do that will "carpet" your little corner of the world. Our children seem to appreciate the loving and stable home they were reared in, but out son in Christ, Roy, REALLY appreciated coming into a "normal" home with loving "parents" after enduring a chaotic home life for his first 14 yrs! He was one of our church youth who had potential and "get up and go" in spite of his home situation. He is a mature, and responsible adult, father of three, working his whole career in the State Higher Education Dep't! Franken's word's ring true in the world situation today; We can no longer be the whole world's guardian and "fixer"...so put on the slippers!====JACK: I suppose it doesn't relate (but maybe it does), but here's your song for today. SING IT, SISTER!!!!
Oh, my golden slippers am laid away
'Cause I don't spect to wear 'em til my wedding day
And my long tailed coat, that I love so well
I will wear up in the chariot in the morn.
And my long white robe that I bought last June
I'm goin' to get changed 'cause it fits too soon
And the old grey hoss that I used to drive
I will hitch him to the chariot in the morn.
Oh, dem golden slippers
Oh, dem golden slippers
Golden slippers I'se goin' to wear
Because they look so neat.
Oh, dem golden slippers
Oh, dem golden slippers
Golden slippers I'se goin' to wear
To walk the golden street.
Oh, my old banjo hangs on the wall
'Cause it ain't been tuned since way last fall
But the darks all say we'll have a good time
When we ride up in the chariot in the morn.
There's ol' brother Ben and his sister, Luce
They will telegraph the news to uncle Bacco Juice
What a great camp meetin' there will be that day
When we ride up in the chariot in the morn.
So, it's good-bye, children I will have to go
Where the rain don't fall and the wind don't blow
And yer ulster coats, why, you will not need
When you ride up in the chariot in the morn.
But yer golden slippers must be nice and clean
And yer age must be just sweet sixteen
And yer white kid gloves you will have to wear
When you ride up in the chariot in the morn.
FROM JT IN MINNESOTA: I'm proud to have Al Franken my congressman. He does do what may seem like not world problems but are important to some of us. I vote for him and Amy Klosbershaw.
Thanks for the ww's====JACK: You're the second Minnesotan who's had good things to say about Al and Amy. Congress ain't all bad.
Monday, August 04, 2014
Jack’s Winning Words 8/4/14
“Nothing we can do can change the past, but everything we do changes the future.” (Ashleigh Brilliant) These “Brilliant” words seem to echo Isaac Newton’s law…”Every action results in a reaction.” Some people today call it, Karma. Everything is the result of something else. What we choose to do today will alter our tomorrow. Opportunity is before us to make a difference. The past is past. It’s time to move on! ;-) Jack
FROM FACEBOOK LIZ: Like====JACK: Karma seems to be a concept that would interest you.
FROM PLH IN MINNESOTA: good words today, Jack, as usual.====JACK: Thanks for your reaction. I always wonder what (if any) response I will get when I send out WWs in the early AM.
FROM EMT SINGS IN TRAVERSE CITY: He is being his usual Brilliant self!====JACK: I could find a good Ashleigh quote for every day...he has so many of them. But, I read that he once sued somebody for using his stuff without authorization. I don't want to push my luck.
FROM JE IN MICHIGAN: This is perfect for today, a Monday with a lot to do.====JACK: Just think! What you are doing today is going to change the rest of the week for you. Isn't Newton's 3rd Law and an amazing concept?
FROM BLAZING OAKS: As Jane Goodall once said, "You can't get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make." Enuff said...we are on the mission field every single day!====JACK: Is it possible that when Jane talks with the chimps, it's a mission field work? It's possible, isn't it? BTW, you can probably sing this song....right NOW!
If I could talk to the animals, just imagine it,
Chattin' with a chimp in chimpanzee,
Imagine talking to a tiger, chatting with a cheetah,
What a neat achievement it would be!
If we could talk to the animals, learn their languages,
Maybe Take an animal degree,
I'd study elephant and eagle, buffalo and beagle,
Alligator, guinea pig, and flea!
I would converse in polar bear and python,
And I would curse in fluent kangaroo,
If people ask me "can you speak rhinoceros?"
I'd say "of courserous! Can't you?"
If I conferred with our furry friends, man to animal,
Think of the amazing repartee
If I could walk with the animals, talk with the animals,
Grunt and squeak and squawk with the animals,
And they could squeak and skwawk and speak and talk to us!
If I consult with the quadrupeds
Think what fun we’d have,
asking for the crocodiles for tea!
Or maybe lunch with three lions, walruses and sea lions
What a lovely place the world would be!
If I spoke slang to orangutans
The advantages any fool on earth could plainly see!
Discussing Eastern art and dramas
With intellectual llamas
That’s a big step forward you’ll agree!
I’d learn to speak in antelope and turtle
And my Pekinese would be extremely good
If I were asked to sing in hippopotamus
I’d say “whynotamous?” and I would!
If I could parlay with pachyderms
It’s a fairy tale worthy of Hans Anderson and Grimm
A man who walks with the animals and talks with the animals
Grunts and squeaks and squawks with the animals
and they could talk to *me*!
I’d study every *living* creature’s language
So I could speak to all of them on site
If friends said “can he talk in crab or pelican?”
You’d say “*like hell he can” and you'll be right!
And if you just stop to think of it
there's no doubt of it
I would win a place in history
If I could walk with the animals
Talk with the animals
Grunt no word here squeak and squawk with the animals
And they could squeak and squawk and speak and talk to me!
“Nothing we can do can change the past, but everything we do changes the future.” (Ashleigh Brilliant) These “Brilliant” words seem to echo Isaac Newton’s law…”Every action results in a reaction.” Some people today call it, Karma. Everything is the result of something else. What we choose to do today will alter our tomorrow. Opportunity is before us to make a difference. The past is past. It’s time to move on! ;-) Jack
FROM FACEBOOK LIZ: Like====JACK: Karma seems to be a concept that would interest you.
FROM PLH IN MINNESOTA: good words today, Jack, as usual.====JACK: Thanks for your reaction. I always wonder what (if any) response I will get when I send out WWs in the early AM.
FROM EMT SINGS IN TRAVERSE CITY: He is being his usual Brilliant self!====JACK: I could find a good Ashleigh quote for every day...he has so many of them. But, I read that he once sued somebody for using his stuff without authorization. I don't want to push my luck.
FROM JE IN MICHIGAN: This is perfect for today, a Monday with a lot to do.====JACK: Just think! What you are doing today is going to change the rest of the week for you. Isn't Newton's 3rd Law and an amazing concept?
FROM BLAZING OAKS: As Jane Goodall once said, "You can't get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make." Enuff said...we are on the mission field every single day!====JACK: Is it possible that when Jane talks with the chimps, it's a mission field work? It's possible, isn't it? BTW, you can probably sing this song....right NOW!
If I could talk to the animals, just imagine it,
Chattin' with a chimp in chimpanzee,
Imagine talking to a tiger, chatting with a cheetah,
What a neat achievement it would be!
If we could talk to the animals, learn their languages,
Maybe Take an animal degree,
I'd study elephant and eagle, buffalo and beagle,
Alligator, guinea pig, and flea!
I would converse in polar bear and python,
And I would curse in fluent kangaroo,
If people ask me "can you speak rhinoceros?"
I'd say "of courserous! Can't you?"
If I conferred with our furry friends, man to animal,
Think of the amazing repartee
If I could walk with the animals, talk with the animals,
Grunt and squeak and squawk with the animals,
And they could squeak and skwawk and speak and talk to us!
If I consult with the quadrupeds
Think what fun we’d have,
asking for the crocodiles for tea!
Or maybe lunch with three lions, walruses and sea lions
What a lovely place the world would be!
If I spoke slang to orangutans
The advantages any fool on earth could plainly see!
Discussing Eastern art and dramas
With intellectual llamas
That’s a big step forward you’ll agree!
I’d learn to speak in antelope and turtle
And my Pekinese would be extremely good
If I were asked to sing in hippopotamus
I’d say “whynotamous?” and I would!
If I could parlay with pachyderms
It’s a fairy tale worthy of Hans Anderson and Grimm
A man who walks with the animals and talks with the animals
Grunts and squeaks and squawks with the animals
and they could talk to *me*!
I’d study every *living* creature’s language
So I could speak to all of them on site
If friends said “can he talk in crab or pelican?”
You’d say “*like hell he can” and you'll be right!
And if you just stop to think of it
there's no doubt of it
I would win a place in history
If I could walk with the animals
Talk with the animals
Grunt no word here squeak and squawk with the animals
And they could squeak and squawk and speak and talk to me!
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