Jack’s Winning Words 4/24/15
“You can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old.”  (George Burns)  J Lo has said that she’s beginning to notice aging in herself.  Is that when it happens…in your 40s?  I read somewhere that it’s the face.  “My face is getting older.”  I think that it’s in the mind.    Watch George Burns (on YouTube) sing, “I Wish I Was 18 Again.”  His body was 100 when he died, but I think his mind was still stuck at 18.  How old are you feeling these days?    ;-)  Jack

FROM TARMART REV:  I ponder that some days...I like the spiritual rendition of comparing myself to eternity..."Just a spring chicken!"====JACK:  ...or, maybe an egg

FROM ST. PAUL IN ST. PAUL:  or as someone has said,  "we don't grow old, but we do get old when we stop growing."  some grain of truth in that comment.    a friend of mine used to look in the mirror each morning (in his youth) and say "stud!"   now he looks in the mirror and says "prune!" ====JACK:  As the hymns goes..."Change and decay in all around, I see."  .====ST. PAUL:  o Thou who changest not, abide with me!  went to a funeral yesterday for a good friend who died of ALS, age 58. very sad.====JACK:  ALS, what a terrible disease!  Death can be a release.  Sad, but released to be rid of the "bonds" of life on earth.  As MLK Jr said, "Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.”

FROM TRIHARDER:  I don't know if you've noticed, Jack, but I've lost some friends lately. One to an accident and another to cancer. Despite that, I'm feeling immortal. My hairline, however, defies and betrays me====JACK:  We know that all humans are mortal, but we usually set aside that idea for ourselves until the death of someone close to us (or a doctor's diagnosis) gives it reality.

 FROM MY LAWYER:  At the moment, 73.  At tomorrow's baseball practice with Jenner's team that I'm helping to coach, I'll be 35 again!!!====JACK:  I think back to age 35.  That was a good time, when I was teaching my son to play baseball.  Age 73 wasn't so bad, either...when I was watching him play baseball in the Roy Hobbs' World Series in Florida.

FROM COPPER COUNTRY BOB:  I am 16 going on 17.........even at 82.====JACK:  Some of that Finnish sisu must have rubbed off on you.

FROM MICHIZONA RAY:  This is true. The body gets old and dies; but the Spirit is eternal, and it has no age. A good reason to live by the Spirit, and in the Light, is that it never grow old. I think it was Peter who talked about "wearing his body" as if it were a type of clothing. I liked that. Like old clothes we discard them; yet we remain.====JACK:  I tend to agree with you, but I seem to recall discussions in philosophy/theology classes as to whether of not the body can be separated from the soul.====RAY:  I would contend that Peter's reference of the body as a type of clothing wasn't by accident (given the possibility that the interpretation was). I think that the "veil" that separates the physical from the spiritual is very thin. The world is of time and space; and spirit is of eternity and infinity. The soul was created long before the body; for in the realm of the eternal we (soul) were created. But the soul can't be seen through mortal eyes (of the world) unless also covered by the mortal flesh (the "clothes" of the body to which Peter may be referencing). So, maybe both camps are partially accurate. Like the "invisible man", he could only be recognized when he wore his clothes (body). We, our souls, are covered by the dust of the earth. The dust is of the earth, and it belongs to the earth. Our souls are of God and belong to God. Both will return to where they belong. We will leave our clothes here, and walk by the invisible (to the physical eye) soul's body in the realm of God's eternal and infinite home.====JACK:  You remind me of being back in seminary days.

FROM PEPPERMINT MARY:  last week i was down for the count with a virus.  i felt old.  this week i'm back to being peter pan:)  i prefer neverland!====JACK:  There's an old Gospel song..."In The Land Where We'll Never Grow Old"...I like the YouTube version by The Carter Family, because it shows the words, and you can sing along.  I know that you'd like to do that...and remember those in your family who are living in that land.

FROM PRESBY PAUL:  One of the first pastoral colleagues I met following seminary always used to say "You only grow old when you think you're too old to grow." How true!!====JACK:  I like to meet new people, new ideas, new challenges.  They have a way of rejuvenating the mind.

FROM TAMPA SHIRL:  Ten years ago the Wii fit said I was 37, so today I guess it would be 47.====JACK:  I guess you'll have to cancel your reservation for this year's class reunion.

FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  My body feels old but my mind is 25!====JACK:  Be careful that you don't start acting like a 25-yr-old.