Jack’s
Winning Words 4/18/18
“That’s the way things
go. We meet people, get to know them,
and they get up and leave me.” (Ikkaku, Hosaka
and Kawabata) It’s part of life, but I
don’t always like it…when a friend says that they’re moving, when a young
person goes off to college…when there’s a death. I don’t like the “Good-byes.” Yesterday I got one of “those calls” about
the death of a very good friend. I
celebrate his life and his faith…a true servant of God. I’m glad for the memories. ;-)
Jack
FROM FACEBOOK LIZ: i am sorry to hear that you lost a friend...so how is the spider bite coming along? what kind of spider bit you?====JACK: I will miss the regular "breakfast" chats with my friend, but I was told that he was ready to "go home," having lived 85 good years. It happens. Re: the spider bite...I surmised that it was a spider. Recuperation is going well, and I'm to doing almost everything as before.
FROM JZ OF MHS: Enjoy your sayings. Regards====JACK: Thanks for your response. I do remember you from Moliner days. I'm trying to remember who told me that you were in the lighting business. Chet?====JZ: Yes Lfillumination.com
FROM LS: Good morning, Jack. I am sorry for your loss. Truly you have comfort in his memory. Just as important he, the essence of who he was, his purpose was fulfilled. Today, you have shared with me and his goodness lives in me. I shall share it with someone through my journey and they through theirs. Shared words and actions .... God has created a perfect harmony between life and death. I am grateful for you each morning. Thank you for the perfect compliment to my thankful prayers for the day ahead.====JACK: When you get to be a certain age, "death calls" aren't the surprise that they once were. When my mother reached 100, she said that the worst thing about growing old was that death gad claimed most of her friends.
FROM SF: So sorry for your loss. It’s so sad to lose a friend.====JACK: I look at it from another angle...It was so good to have had him as a friend.
FROM JANl I'm sorry for your loss. I'm sure you will miss your friend. In the meantime, how are you healing (physically)? (You've been in my prayers.)====JACK: I'm feeling better. Is that how prayer works? ====JAN: Well, I have found it never hurts. ====JACK: Many people (even some pastors) view religion in that way, too.====JAN: Most of my conversations with God are more general, but when I am concerned about someone, that becomes part of the conversation. ====JACK: Yes, sometimes talks with God can become personal. There's an "old" book which contains some of those personal conversations. It's called, "Are You Running With Me, Jesus?" The library might have it, or Amazon might have it as a paperback.
FROM ST PAUL IN ST PAUL: sorry for your loss, Jack. i too lost a good friend last week. Pastor David Wold. seminary classmate and all around great pastor. if at all interested, go to the Star Tribune, and click on obituaries. his funeral is tomorrow. also lost another friend of the Widow Maker heart attack on Palm Sunday. Mark Voelker was just 57 years old and long time member of our church. . too many losses. thank goodness for the true message of Easter.====JACK: When I began my ministry the worship book had a rubric for announcing death..."We are reminded that here we have no abiding place etc/"
FROM EDUCATOR PAUL: Sorry for your loss, Jack====JACK: "That's the way things go."
FROM JB: We are so sorry to hear of the passing of your good friend. May the memories warm your heart. I too, am not good at goodbyes. This past year we have been working diligently on the 50th Anniversary of the founding of WBUMC. Because we were the youngsters of the church so many of the friends and members have gone on to their reward. So it has been a year of memories for me.....it is good to feel the empty spots that those losses have created...it means that I am still in fellowship with them...but it also makes me realize that our church's history rests in so few people now. Somehow our younger members are not so interested in what "was" as much as how the church can serve them in their very busy lives....====JACK: Each generation is busy accumulating its own memories. It has always been that way. When you live long enough you memory bank account grows.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: Blessings as you cope with this latest loss in your life. As my good friend said, when I lost my twin sis, "Those of us blessed with long years, bear the losses." So true, but we are also thankful to have had the precious relationships for many years, with accumulation of wonderful memories! Family and friends who remain are the heartbeat of our lives! Thankful for each day so far...! Shalom!====JACK: Even though my sister is not my twin, we share much in common...laugh at the same remembrances. She was two years behind me in school, but we knew many of each other's friends.
FROM PEPPERMINT MARY: i was going to reply to yesterday's jim croce quote, but this one is just as pertinent. mark's mom and well my only mom for the past 30 years passed away on monday night. she was 91 and we will miss her so. now i have memories in a bottle...lots of good ones. she was a hoot! it's never easy to say goodbye to someone. our gift was that we were there with her. now she's with the angels and god. they are very lucky to have her!====JACK: I like the hymn, Blest Be the Tie That Binds....especially the line: "We share our mutual woes, our mutual burdens bear, and often for each other flows, the sympathizing tear." Time In A Bottle has great words, too. ====MARY: I like that hymn too. Audrey wants “Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory of the Coming of the Lord “ I hummed it for her during her journey. You know the Lillstroms and our musical language. Sometimes it’s the only way to heal/soothe the sadness 🎶====JACK: You seem to come up with a song for every situation. I remember when we left Grayslake for the suburbs of Detroit, your mother sang...
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky,1
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
And the people in the houses
All went to the university,
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same,
And there's doctors and lawyers,
And business executives,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
And they all play on the golf course
And drink their martinis dry,
And they all have pretty children
And the children go to school,
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university,
Where they are put in boxes
And they come out all the same.
And the boys go into business
And marry and raise a family
In boxes made of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same
====MARY: She was full of spunk and had great sense of humor. We grew up singing that song in three part harmony. I don’t think your family followed the rule of “and they all turned out the same “
====JACK: I don't know if you were aware of this, but at the time we moved your dad was offered a job, also in a Detroit suburb, but it didn't work out...so, you almost most into a ticky tacky little box. ====MARY: Oh I did know. I don’t know how different my life would have been but I do know that it wouldn’t have been “ticky tacky “ and it would have not been “just the same”! Not the Lillstrom way. Blessed to have been born to the people I was.
FROM JB AT LSTC: My sympathy on the death of your good friend, Jack. God bless you. I don’t like the good-byes, either.====JACK: At the Sem there are annual good-byes, but also hellos. Thanks for the good work that you and the staff do.
FROM TAMPA SHIRL: I am reading a great book Katharine Graham a personal history and she is dealing with the deaths of her family!====JACK: She has certainly led an interesting life.
FROM ST PAUL IN ST PAUL: one of my all time favorite hymns sung to the melody of O Day Full of Grace is in the LBW. its a great funeral hymn called I Know Of A Sleep In Jesus Name. just a fab hymn! blessings, plh another chestnut of course is Abide With Me...====JACK: When I began my ministry in Wisconsin, I would go to the local radio station at midnight when they signed off for the day. I would have an evening prayer, they would play Abide With Me, and then the National Anthem. If I were planning my funeral I might choose "the old chestnut."
FROM ME IN NEWPORT BEACH: Nice to celebrate a well lived life.====JACK: It was a peaceful closure under hospice care.
FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: The Good News is, you will see your friend(s) and Family again! In the best of circumstances!====JACK: The interesting thing is that I will be able to "see" with new eyes.
FROM RS IN TEXAS: Yes ....and all the more reason to cherish those relationships with those who are with us today.....and tell them so. Reminds me of Bob Hope......."Thanks for the memories........."
FROM JMB IN WISCONSIN: I remember when you moved on from Bethany/Bethlehem churches. That was a sad time for me. I am thankful we can still be in touch via your Winning Words. God bless.====JACK: I sometimes wonder, "What if....?" But life is such that we make our choices and live with them. I have new friends, but I will always remember fondly, the old ones...like you. Thanks for keeping in touch.====JMB: Perhaps you have used these words sometime in the past, but I just saw this recently and thought it was very good. "Wise men speak because they have something to say: fools because they have to say something." Plato....The other day I asked " Alexa" to play songs by Carol Roberson and heard one I'd never heard before. It is so beautiful - titled Wonderful Life. I think it pretty well sums up how I feel about my life. God has blessed me with such wonderful family and friends.====JACK: Alexa? Wow! You are really with it! I like these words from "the song." Oh, I need a friend To make me happy Not stand here on my own
Look at me standing Here on my own again Up straight in the sunshine
FROM FACEBOOK LIZ: i am sorry to hear that you lost a friend...so how is the spider bite coming along? what kind of spider bit you?====JACK: I will miss the regular "breakfast" chats with my friend, but I was told that he was ready to "go home," having lived 85 good years. It happens. Re: the spider bite...I surmised that it was a spider. Recuperation is going well, and I'm to doing almost everything as before.
FROM JZ OF MHS: Enjoy your sayings. Regards====JACK: Thanks for your response. I do remember you from Moliner days. I'm trying to remember who told me that you were in the lighting business. Chet?====JZ: Yes Lfillumination.com
FROM LS: Good morning, Jack. I am sorry for your loss. Truly you have comfort in his memory. Just as important he, the essence of who he was, his purpose was fulfilled. Today, you have shared with me and his goodness lives in me. I shall share it with someone through my journey and they through theirs. Shared words and actions .... God has created a perfect harmony between life and death. I am grateful for you each morning. Thank you for the perfect compliment to my thankful prayers for the day ahead.====JACK: When you get to be a certain age, "death calls" aren't the surprise that they once were. When my mother reached 100, she said that the worst thing about growing old was that death gad claimed most of her friends.
FROM SF: So sorry for your loss. It’s so sad to lose a friend.====JACK: I look at it from another angle...It was so good to have had him as a friend.
FROM JANl I'm sorry for your loss. I'm sure you will miss your friend. In the meantime, how are you healing (physically)? (You've been in my prayers.)====JACK: I'm feeling better. Is that how prayer works? ====JAN: Well, I have found it never hurts. ====JACK: Many people (even some pastors) view religion in that way, too.====JAN: Most of my conversations with God are more general, but when I am concerned about someone, that becomes part of the conversation. ====JACK: Yes, sometimes talks with God can become personal. There's an "old" book which contains some of those personal conversations. It's called, "Are You Running With Me, Jesus?" The library might have it, or Amazon might have it as a paperback.
FROM ST PAUL IN ST PAUL: sorry for your loss, Jack. i too lost a good friend last week. Pastor David Wold. seminary classmate and all around great pastor. if at all interested, go to the Star Tribune, and click on obituaries. his funeral is tomorrow. also lost another friend of the Widow Maker heart attack on Palm Sunday. Mark Voelker was just 57 years old and long time member of our church. . too many losses. thank goodness for the true message of Easter.====JACK: When I began my ministry the worship book had a rubric for announcing death..."We are reminded that here we have no abiding place etc/"
FROM EDUCATOR PAUL: Sorry for your loss, Jack====JACK: "That's the way things go."
FROM JB: We are so sorry to hear of the passing of your good friend. May the memories warm your heart. I too, am not good at goodbyes. This past year we have been working diligently on the 50th Anniversary of the founding of WBUMC. Because we were the youngsters of the church so many of the friends and members have gone on to their reward. So it has been a year of memories for me.....it is good to feel the empty spots that those losses have created...it means that I am still in fellowship with them...but it also makes me realize that our church's history rests in so few people now. Somehow our younger members are not so interested in what "was" as much as how the church can serve them in their very busy lives....====JACK: Each generation is busy accumulating its own memories. It has always been that way. When you live long enough you memory bank account grows.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: Blessings as you cope with this latest loss in your life. As my good friend said, when I lost my twin sis, "Those of us blessed with long years, bear the losses." So true, but we are also thankful to have had the precious relationships for many years, with accumulation of wonderful memories! Family and friends who remain are the heartbeat of our lives! Thankful for each day so far...! Shalom!====JACK: Even though my sister is not my twin, we share much in common...laugh at the same remembrances. She was two years behind me in school, but we knew many of each other's friends.
FROM PEPPERMINT MARY: i was going to reply to yesterday's jim croce quote, but this one is just as pertinent. mark's mom and well my only mom for the past 30 years passed away on monday night. she was 91 and we will miss her so. now i have memories in a bottle...lots of good ones. she was a hoot! it's never easy to say goodbye to someone. our gift was that we were there with her. now she's with the angels and god. they are very lucky to have her!====JACK: I like the hymn, Blest Be the Tie That Binds....especially the line: "We share our mutual woes, our mutual burdens bear, and often for each other flows, the sympathizing tear." Time In A Bottle has great words, too. ====MARY: I like that hymn too. Audrey wants “Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory of the Coming of the Lord “ I hummed it for her during her journey. You know the Lillstroms and our musical language. Sometimes it’s the only way to heal/soothe the sadness 🎶====JACK: You seem to come up with a song for every situation. I remember when we left Grayslake for the suburbs of Detroit, your mother sang...
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky,1
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
And the people in the houses
All went to the university,
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same,
And there's doctors and lawyers,
And business executives,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
And they all play on the golf course
And drink their martinis dry,
And they all have pretty children
And the children go to school,
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university,
Where they are put in boxes
And they come out all the same.
And the boys go into business
And marry and raise a family
In boxes made of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same
====MARY: She was full of spunk and had great sense of humor. We grew up singing that song in three part harmony. I don’t think your family followed the rule of “and they all turned out the same “
====JACK: I don't know if you were aware of this, but at the time we moved your dad was offered a job, also in a Detroit suburb, but it didn't work out...so, you almost most into a ticky tacky little box. ====MARY: Oh I did know. I don’t know how different my life would have been but I do know that it wouldn’t have been “ticky tacky “ and it would have not been “just the same”! Not the Lillstrom way. Blessed to have been born to the people I was.
FROM JB AT LSTC: My sympathy on the death of your good friend, Jack. God bless you. I don’t like the good-byes, either.====JACK: At the Sem there are annual good-byes, but also hellos. Thanks for the good work that you and the staff do.
FROM TAMPA SHIRL: I am reading a great book Katharine Graham a personal history and she is dealing with the deaths of her family!====JACK: She has certainly led an interesting life.
FROM ST PAUL IN ST PAUL: one of my all time favorite hymns sung to the melody of O Day Full of Grace is in the LBW. its a great funeral hymn called I Know Of A Sleep In Jesus Name. just a fab hymn! blessings, plh another chestnut of course is Abide With Me...====JACK: When I began my ministry in Wisconsin, I would go to the local radio station at midnight when they signed off for the day. I would have an evening prayer, they would play Abide With Me, and then the National Anthem. If I were planning my funeral I might choose "the old chestnut."
FROM ME IN NEWPORT BEACH: Nice to celebrate a well lived life.====JACK: It was a peaceful closure under hospice care.
FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: The Good News is, you will see your friend(s) and Family again! In the best of circumstances!====JACK: The interesting thing is that I will be able to "see" with new eyes.
FROM RS IN TEXAS: Yes ....and all the more reason to cherish those relationships with those who are with us today.....and tell them so. Reminds me of Bob Hope......."Thanks for the memories........."
FROM JMB IN WISCONSIN: I remember when you moved on from Bethany/Bethlehem churches. That was a sad time for me. I am thankful we can still be in touch via your Winning Words. God bless.====JACK: I sometimes wonder, "What if....?" But life is such that we make our choices and live with them. I have new friends, but I will always remember fondly, the old ones...like you. Thanks for keeping in touch.====JMB: Perhaps you have used these words sometime in the past, but I just saw this recently and thought it was very good. "Wise men speak because they have something to say: fools because they have to say something." Plato....The other day I asked " Alexa" to play songs by Carol Roberson and heard one I'd never heard before. It is so beautiful - titled Wonderful Life. I think it pretty well sums up how I feel about my life. God has blessed me with such wonderful family and friends.====JACK: Alexa? Wow! You are really with it! I like these words from "the song." Oh, I need a friend To make me happy Not stand here on my own
Look at me standing Here on my own again Up straight in the sunshine
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