Jack’s Winning Words 9/11/15
“When you choose an action, you choose the consequences of that action.”  (Lois Bujold)  Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion states that “To every action, there’s a reaction.”  The world of nature operates that way…and so does the world of human nature.  Think back…how the choices we’ve made have directed our life.  “If we knew then what we know now.”  Maybe it’s best that the future is hidden when we choose.  I’m glad that God created “free will.”    ;-)  Jack

FROM CS IN MICHIGAN:  How about “wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then” Bob Seger “Running Against the Wind”====JACK:  One of my favorite songs.  Too often we listen without paying attention to the words.  There REALLY is a message, isn't there?  The line... "surrounded by strangers I thought were my friends"...is really poignant.
It seems like yesterday
But it was long ago
Janey was lovely she was the queen of my nights
There in the darkness with the radio playing low
And the secrets that we shared
The mountains that we moved
Caught like a wildfire out of control
'Til there was nothing left to burn and nothing left to prove
And I remember what she said to me
How she swore that it never would end
I remember how she held me oh so tight
Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then

Against the wind
We were runnin' against the wind
We were young and strong, we were runnin'
Against the wind

The years rolled slowly past
And I found myself alone
Surrounded by strangers I thought were my friends
I found myself further and further from my home
And I guess I lost my way
There were oh so many roads
I was living to run and running to live
Never worryied about paying or even how much I owed
Moving eight miles a minute for months at a time
Breaking all of the rules that would bend
I began to find myself searching
Searching for shelter again and again

Against the wind
A little something against the wind
I found myself seeking shelter sgainst the wind

Well those drifter's days are past me now
I've got so much more to think about
Deadlines and commitments
What to leave in, what to leave out

Against the wind
I'm still runnin' against the wind
I'm older now but still runnin' against the wind
Well I'm older now and still runnin'
Against the wind
Against the wind
Against the wind

Still runnin'
I'm still runnin' against the wind
I'm still runnin'
I'm still runnin' against the wind
Still runnin'
Runnin' against the wind
Runnin' against the wind
See the young man run
Watch the young man run
Watch the young man runnin'
He'll be runnin' against the wind
Let the cowboys ride
Let the cowboys ride
They'll be ridin' against the wind
Against the wind...

FROM TARMART REV:  I freely choose, "May your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven."====JACK:  As parents, we can identify with "the Father" who lets the children go free, understanding that there are risks.  But the benefit is far greater than the risk.  When I was a child, my grandmother tied me to a stake in the backyard.  I pulled up the stake...and with the stake and rope, I went down the street.  "Free at last, free at last."  They found me later eating lunch with some carpenters who were building a house.

FROM HONEST JOHN:  So, you agree with Erasmus.    Your heresies abound!   BTW, the former pastor at POG thinks we have free will, also.====JACK:  Sometimes "reform" can be done from within and sometimes from without.  Isn't it interesting how, so often, the past re-lives in the present.

FROM A MOM:  This winning words is going up in my kitchen! Love it for the boys...& me.  ====JACK:  Putting it up is good.  Talking about it is even better.  When Michelangelo was in his 80s he wrote, "Ancora Imparo," I am always learning.  I have that posted by my computer so that I can think about it and be open to new ideas.

FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  We all do things we aren't proud of but the past is just that..,past.  Our parents had the actions vs consequences as punishments.  The punishments had to fit the crime.  Most of the time it was sitting in "The Chair" or weeding the have an acre garden we had.====JACK:  Is God's punishment like that described in Dante's Inferno, or is it simply "separation from God?"  That is something to think about.  BTW, did you know that "The Thinker" sculpture is one part of a larger sculpture by Rodin?  The Thinker is a man looking into the pit of Hell and pondering.