Jack’s Winning Words 1/21/15
“A lie has speed, but truth has endurance.”  (Edgar J. Mohn)  I learned the value of telling the truth as a child.  From parents (Always tell the truth), from playmates (Liar, liar, pants on fire), in church (You shall not bear false witness).  An ordered society needs to be able to take people at their word, without lie detectors and I-Phone videos.  Maybe we’d all be better off with a course (or a refresher) on basic morality.  BTW, where did you learn truth-telling?    ;-)  Jack

FROM MICHIZONA RAY:  Honesty isn't always preferred. Sometimes by the speaker of it, and quite often, the listener doesn't prefer it either. But, in the end, we are ripened by it.====JACK:  I'm sure you've heard of the phrase, "to be brutally honest."  There can be times when honesty is not the best policy.  However, most of the time it is the preferred policy.

FROM CS IN MICHIGAN:  It has become a habit to read your email as soon as I get up in the morning.  Good habits are just as easy to create as bad ones!====JACK:  When I was in the "preaching business," I consciously tried to give the people at least one good thought  to take home with them.  I try to do the same thing with Winning Words. 

FROM ANON:  I think I learned truth-telling most of all from my parents--they seemed to always be able to "catch me" whenever I lied to them to try to get myself out of a mess. And I expect I learned to "expect" truth-telling from my parents first of all too which, for me anyway, is the most important part of the truth-telling equation. Trust and love for each other.

FROM HAWKEYE GEORGE:  I like it.====JACK:  The internet is a great tool, but, as with all tools, it has to be used carefully.  The words we use in day-to-day communication are are tools, too.  In Sunday School, we used to sing...
O be careful little mouth what you say  O be careful little mouth what you say
There's a Father up above  And He's looking down in love
So, be careful little mouth what you say
Do you remember singing that song?====GEORGE:  I do. But it was before I had your class. ====JACK:  I don't know if was your class, or not, but I did enter my Sunday School boys in a YMCA youth basketball league...and they did very well, and had lots of fun.

FROM HUNGRY HOWIE:  Your words today have special meaning for me.====JACK: Did you ever see the Jim Carrey movie, Liar, Liar?  What would life be like if everybody could not help, but tell the truth?

FROM TRIHARDER:  ".  If it's true it will be lasting. If it's not true, it will be lasting.====JACK:  If it’s true, come out and name names and be prepared to back up what you say.  Otherwise, as my Aunt Nell used to say, “Tyst med du!”

FROM BB IN ILLINOIS:  Um hum.  Youth pastor Bill Hybels wrote a book “Who You Are When No One’s Looking”   I recall his sermons that “character” as required in scripture demands that you act privately as you would were God watching you at all times.  So, character becomes “who you are” when no one is looking….I think about this with the new police headcams/bodycams that we are getting in Chicago. It is sad that we cannot expect integrity in conduct from those who serve us in government...at all levels.====JACK:  One of my favorite church camp songs was..."He's got his eye on you, He's got his eye on you.  My Lord, sittin' in the kingdom, He's got his eye on you."  On the back of a dollar bill is a picture of the "eye of God."  Could he be watching how we spend our money?  A friend once told me that when she was growing up, her church had a big eye (representing God) painted on the wall of the church.  At times, it made her feel uneasy.  At other times it could make a person feel comforted, knowing that God sees, knows and cares.

FROM KANSAN DON:  When I got caught!====JACK:  That made me laugh....probably, because that happened to me, too.

FROM TARMART REV:  Parents, Sunday School teachers, Bible verses, consequential experiences from myself lying!!====JACK:  I think I really learned the importance of truth-telling when I came to know that God is omniscient.

FROM RS IN TEXAS:  Learned it at the same places you did - home, school and church.  Maybe that's why I like golf - it's one sport where the players (often) call penalties on themselves.  Doesn't happen too much in other sports.====JACK:  One thing I like about pro-golf compared to pro-othersports...The players are paid for their current performance, not for what they did, or might do.

  FROM GUSTIE MARLYS:  I sure agree with that one!!====JACK:  Nothing breaks a relationship more completely than one lying to/about the other.  "All the king's horses and all the king's men can't put (it) back tether again."

FROM CHESTER THE GOOD:  If you don't lie, you don't have to remember what you said. ====JACK:  Do you remember the song, "It's a Sin to Tell a Lie?"  It was sung by the Ink Spots and can be heard on YouTube.====CHESTER:  My dad Sang that at the Wm. Carr Minstrel Show. I'll never forget it.====JACK:  My parents were in those shows, too.

FROM TAMPA SHIRL:  The same as you did.====JACK:  Of course.  We are Moliners, we're from Moline.