Jack’s Winning Words 7/15/16
“There are victories of the soul and spirit.  Sometimes, even if you lose, you win.”  (Elie Wiesel)  I recently read of a female softball player who was about to score the winning run in a championship game when she turned her ankle, fell to the ground, and couldn’t get up.  The 3rd baseman and the shortstop on the opposing team picked her up and carried her to homeplate for the score.  That’s an example of winning by losing.  How do you define a champion?    ;-)  Jack

FROM TARMART REV:  "... have fought the good fight, finished the race and remained faithful" (II Timothy 4:7)====JACK:  I can imagine that if Timothy had had a TV, he would often be tuned into the sports channel, especially the track meets.====PAUL:  I could see that...BTW, summer olympics should be coming our way again soon...always enjoyable to watch.====JACK:  If there are TVs in heaven, Timothy will probably be watching the action Rio.

FROM RS IN TEXAS:  For me, one of the best traits a "champion" can have is how they carry themselves and the examples they set for others - especially children.  When Stan Musial passed not long ago, Willie Mays said - "I never heard anyone say anything bad about Stan the Man - ever."  That got me to thinking about how many people I know, or have heard of, that could be said about.  Not many.  And champions don't have to be athletes - they can be every day people who you respect for their values and behavior.  Especially with all the killings, racial hatred, and other negative stuff we hear about daily, we need more "champions".====JACK:  One of my favorite breakfast foods is Wheaties, the Breakfast of Champions.  When I was growing up some of the players from the Moline Plows of the Three-Eye League would sit in the display window of a local department store and eat Wheaties.  Watching them, and also listening on radio to Jack Armstrong, the All-American boy, etched in my mind that winners would eat Wheaties.  I even remember the Wheaties' jingle.
Have you tried Wheaties?  They're whole wheat with all of the bran.
Won't you try Wheaties?  For wheat is the best food of man.
They're crispy and crunchy  The whole year through,
The kiddies never tire of them  and neither will you.
So just try Wheaties,  The best breakfast food in the land.
====RS:  Amazing how we can remember things like the Wheatie's jingle from years ago and can't remember what we had for lunch last Friday.  I don't think it's Alzheimer's but may I have the beginning of "sometimers"====JACK:  Yesterday I heard of someone in their early 50s who has the onset of early Alzheimer's.  In my daily prayers I continue to thank God for my mind. ====RS:  Yes - all too often I find myself taking blessings for granted.  In a way I think challenges and hurts are God's way of reminding us how good we have it.

FROM BLAZING OAKS:  A Champion is certainly one who excels...in WHAT, and BY WHOSE MEASURE, do they surpass the ordinary, is the question.  We all have our personal standard of greatness, but I believe Elie Wiesel would be one in most of our books. I like the late Saul Bellows  quote: "A man is only as good as what he loves." When we love, we "champion" our causes.  Years ago my husband and I "lost" a pretty comfortable life style, to enter a life of ministry;(from a Cadillac to a Ford.) :-)  and when a golfing buddy asked Bill how that felt, his reply immediately was, "It feels like going from Death to Life." I never forgot it.====JACK:  What a great Bill-quote!  BYW, I looked up the etymology of champion and found out that a champion is one who competes...not necessarily one who wins, as we so often think.  I like the motto of Special Olympics..."Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt."

FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  Someone who wins fairly.====JACK:  Who do you consider to be that kind of person/team?====JUDY:  Steve Yzerman.====JACK:  Great choice.