OFF THE MAP The following was written in 1981 by Rev. Ken Miller, then Presbytery Executive for Seattle Presbytery (now retired): Recently I was captured by a picture vividly presented in a few pages of…
Sermon Illustrations
LOST OPPORTUNITIES The following is from a sermon by Mark Trotter, pastor of the First United Methodist Church San Diego: Some time ago in The New York Times Book Review, Edward Dahlberg wrote an article…
AGAINST ALL ODDS -- JAMES MICHENER "Behold the turtle: he makes progress only when he sticks his neck out." (James Bryant Conant) These lively words have special meaning for me. In 1944, I was stuck…
THE RISK OF REACHING FOR BEAUTY It was an afternoon in the early summer; there was a strange quiet on the battlefield. In the bright sunshine, the air was balmy and had a breath of…
FABLE OF THE MOUSE Mice are very busy creatures. They gather seeds and grain and collect little bits of straw or sticks for their nests. Always keeping their noses to the ground, they scurry here…
OVERPACKING Prudence, thoroughness and farsightedness may be virtues under most circumstances, but playing it safe may not be. Avoiding risk at all costs may be the riskiest and least fulfilling plan of action to take.…
MARCH IN THE PARADE Walt Disney once wrote: When I was about twenty-one, I went broke for the first time. I slept on chair cushions in my "studio" in Kansas City and ate cold beans…
A GOOD RESOURCE FROM OG MANDINO A good resource on the practical aspects of succeeding in life by fifty different writers. It is edited by Og Mandino and is called University of Success (Bantam, New…
HOW IMPORTANT IS IT? There are two sorts of risk in every opportunity: uncertainty about feasibility and uncertainty about the benefits. Edward de Bono
HELEN KELLER Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright…
UNACCEPTABLE ODDS Isidor Isaac Rabi is an American physicist who was born in Austria and has taught at Columbia University. He won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1944. Clifton Fadiman tells the story that…
WHEN TO TAKE A RISK An excellent resource for pastors in the area of risk taking is Terry Muck's When To Take A Risk. It is Volume 9 in the Leadership Library Series published by…
ADD ONE MORE "Tell me the weight of a snowflake," a coal mouse asked a wild dove. "Nothing more than nothing," was the answer. "In that case I must tell you a marvelous story," the…
THE NECESSARY That which is necessary is never a risk. Cardinal de Ritz
OPPORTUNITY An ancient fable tells of three merchants crossing the Arabian Desert. Traveling in darkness to avoid the intense heat one starless night, they were passing over a dry creek bed when a voice from…
RISK IT I hold it true, whate'er befall, I feel it, when I sorrow most; 'Tis better to have loved and lost, Than never to have loved at all. Alfred L. Tennyson
BEGIN! "What you can do or dream you can, begin it! Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it." Goethe
TAKING CHANCES Taking chances is a fact of economic life. Business must risk to grow. Fear of what may or may not happen is no excuse for avoiding challenges. Edward Telling
FAITH AND RISK It is only by risking our persons from one hour to another that we live at all. And often enough our faith beforehand in an uncertified result is the only thing that…
BREAKFAST FROM GOD Things looked bleak for the children in George Mueller's orphanage at Ashley Downs in England. It was time for breakfast, and there was no food. A small girl whose father was a…
