Jack’s Winning Words 7/9/15
“When it’s foggy in the pulpit, it’s cloudy in the pew.”  (Cavett Robert)  C.R. taught in a one-room-school, installed gas lines, was a lawyer, a judge…and was an outstanding speaker.  He wrote books, too…”We Are in the People Business.”  He knew how to communicate.  People in sales learned from him.  I wonder if he ever shared his ideas with preachers, because they’re in the people business, too.  In fact, all of us are.  Communication is a key in this life.    ;-)  Jack

FROM RI IN BOSTON:  Yep, how we communicate with others is vital in our lives.  But how well do we communicate?  I think that's what Shakespeare was getting at when he said, "More matter with less art!"====JACK:  ...or, as one Indian said to another while interpreting a smoke signal message..."Heap big smoke, but no fire."  Some conversations are like that.

FROM TARMART REV:  ... onward, Jack...something new every morning!!====JACK:  The ideas keep coming.  The mind is a wonderful gift from God.

FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  There's a ton of fog in most pulpits this time in our lives.  And, it shows in this world too.====JACK:   Some might be a better word for me than most.  Most is beyond my experience.  The fact remains...communication between pulpit and pew is very important.

FROM TAMPA SHIRL:  Yes, and in this amazing world in which we live, we now have the internet.  When we travel we have instant communication whether it is New Zealand, Peru, the Amazon, etc in most cases.====JACK:  The ubiquitous handheld computers are far more powerful than those that sent the astronauts into space and brought them back.  Do you have an Apple computer watch?

FROM BLAZING OAKS:  WHAT A NEAT TURN OF PHRASE!  SO TRUE!  MADE ME THINK OF ONE TIME WHEN BILL HAD HAD A HORRIFICALLY BUSY WEEK, AND LITTLE TIME FOR SERMON PREPARATION, AND HE WAS  STRUGGLING IN HIS PREACHING, AND AFTER TEN MINUTES, HE ANNOUNCED THAT THE HYMNS HAD MORE OF A MESSAGE FOR THEM THIS WEEK THAN HE DID, SO HAD THEM SING "LIVING FOR JESUS", THEN ALL HELD HANDS ACROSS THE AISLES AND JOINED IN PRAYERS, AND IT TURNED OUT REALLY NEAT, AND TWO NEW FAMILIES CAME FORWARD AND JOINED THE CHURCH THAT  DAY!  GOD WORKS IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS. AND WE ALL GOT HOME EARLY FOR DINNER, TOO!:-)====JACK:  I agree that some hymns are really great sermons.  A pastor told me that he never liked "Pass Me Not O Gentle Savior," because Jesus never passes anyone by.  Personally, I like the hymn, because it was composed by Fanny Crosby, who was blind.  She could relate to the blind man who called out when he heard from the crowd that Jesus was passing by.  "Pass me not, Jesus!"  It takes a blind person to understand a blind person.