Jack’s Winning Words 5/31/16
“Perhaps there are not stars in the sky but rather openings where our loved ones shine down to let us know that they are happy.”  (Eskimo Proverb)  Maybe primitive people aren’t so primitive after all.  Who knows for sure what happens after death?  I’ve read the Bible.  I’ve heard theological explanations.  In the end, it will just be a big surprise.  “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor the mind imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”    ;-)  Jack

FROM SHARIN' SHARON:  What a tantalizing WW this morning!!! A totally different perspective on what's up there beyond our ability to touch and yet it makes me imagine the whole world and our atmosphere being wrapped by a holey blanket and billions of people shining their soul lights all together beyond that. Kind of a cozy image to be inside of.====JACK:  Yesterday I saw a picture of a young widow lying prostrate on a grave in a military cemetery.  The biblical words, "He is not here; he has risen" can refer to Jesus, but they can also give hope of a heavenly reunion.

FROM FACEBOOK LIZ:  👍🏻====JACK:  I wonder what the Eskimos might wish for  when they gaze upward into the starry night?
When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you
If your heart is in your dream
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do
Fate is kind
She brings to those to love
The sweet fulfillment of
Their secret longing
Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true
====LIZ:  geppetto... i only saw pinocchio once, as a child, but this scene i remember perfectly... a lovely sentiment.====LIZ  not unlike other native americans...====JACK: I had to do a double-take reminding myself that the Eskimos in Alaska are native Americans, too.

FROM MAGGIE:  Hello, Jack, your words this morning offer additional comfort. We just laid my dear mother-in-law to rest last week. She was 96 and had suffered multiple strokes. I rejoice in the thought that she now experiences those unspeakable joys.  Grace and great joy!====JACK:  Death can be good and bad.  Good in that we can be released from the chains that bind us..."Free at last, free at last," and bad in that we long to hold on to those we love.  "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

FROM ST PAUL IN ST PAUL:  good words, Jack.   hope you had a meaningful Memorial Day weekend.====JACK: Yesterday I went to the cemetery for our community's Memorial Day observance.  While there, I went over and looked down at my burial place.  It was meaningful. ====SP:  that can be a sobering moment.  i always tell folks to visit cemeteries because they have a way of putting  you in touch with eternity.

FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  It's it a wonderful thought?  Heaven is just a mystery that's too beautiful to imagine.  I'm not drawn to golden streets and gems but just to be blessed to walk and talk (fly with angels wings!?!) With everyone up there.  To see my loved ones, people from the past, prophets, and even Jesus...it's unreal!!!  It actually makes me excited to be there...but in God's time.  Hopefully, I have time here still.====JACK:  In Handel's "Messiah" I like the aria, "Behold, I tell you a mystery," which introduces, "The trumpet shall sound."  It's one of my favorite parts of the oratorio.

FROM TARMART REV:  In the past two weeks four funerals . . .   For some reason, this old song came to mind--
"Don't let the stars get in your eyes
Don't let the moon break your heart
Love blooms at night
In daylight it dies
Don't let the stars get in your eyes
Or keep your heart from me
For some day I'll return
And you know you're the only one I'll ever love
====JACK:  SOMEDAY!  Someday, all of our questioning and wondering will have answers.

FROM BLAZING OAKS:  Death remains the great mystery....I think Jesus would have enlightened us with more details of "eternity" if we had the mortal capacity to understand it. All of these "near death" experiences we now read are interesting, even fascinating, many quite different in content, but all seem to get the message that we need to be about loving our fellow man while on Earth. Anita Moorjani's book is especially memorable to me in that genre.   I think of the time Bill and I spent a month in Democratic Republic of Congo, much of it at mission stations in very primitive situations, and how difficult it would have been to describe to them life in America, or for instance, the decorations of Marshall Field's gigantic store in Chicago at Christmas. They simply had no background to even envision such a thing... and without slides to  accompany our talks on Congo, it would be equally difficult for Americans to envision life in a  dusty village in the Congo! But many we met had a hope of someday visiting in America, even so. Now they have radio, some TV's and movies, so would have at least a skewed vision of life across the ocean!  Faith, and trust in the Love and Sovereignty of God are required of us. "We believe, Lord, help our unbelief!"====JACK:  The Eskimo proverb can be scientifically explained away for me, but for my spiritual self, I like it.

FROM GUSTIE MARLYS:  I hope Clem was looking down and smiling on Sunday—Kirk, Keith and Karna’s son, graduated Cum Laude from Gustavus!  A wonderful day!====JACK:  He would be proud...OR, He is proud?  I like the latter.

FROM ANON:  Thank you for those WW today. I love that Eskimo Proverb. I needed that today. Am still crying and missing my dog who died last week.. (I believe loved ones can be dogs too!) ====JACK:  I once made the mistake of trying to explain theologically to a young girl whose dog had died why heaven is for humans.  I won't do that again.  Perhaps you can follow the Eskimo proverb when you're outside on a starry night and picture your dog looking through one of those holes.

FROM DAIRYLAND DONNA:   I love this and have purchased sympathy cards with this quote. Thank you for sharing it.  Hope you had a nice weekend. I was in WI visiting my Mom and eating brats and cheese.====JACK:  We want to think that our loved ones who have "passed" are in a happy place.  The words of Scripture are an assurance of that to those who believe.

FROM PILOT CK:  I like that one a lot Jack.====JACK:  Where we live, there are so many tall, leafy trees that we don't get a full view of the sky like you do where you're flying.  I imagine that the Northern Lights are spectacular when you are in Alaska.