PLANS During World War II, General MacArthur called in one of his Army engineers and asked: How long will it take to throw a bridge across this river?” The man immediately responded “Three days.” MacArthur snapped back, “Good. Have your draftsmen make drawings right away.” Three days later the General sent for the engineer and …
REJECTION In a bit of whimsy, Neil Postman quotes a letter written by a high school senior who had received a letter of rejection from the college he wanted to attend. “Dear Admissions Officer,” the student wrote, “I am in receipt of your rejection of my application. As much as I would like to accommodate …
INVOLVED VERSUS COMMITTED Football coach Lou Holtz of Arkansas pointed out the difference between being merely involved and being truly committed to a cause. “The Kamikaze pilot that was able to fly 50 missions was involved –but not committed.” Committed.
ENTHUSIASM To give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Samuel Ullman
DEEP DESIRE He was the first professional athlete I had ever known personally. And in his prime as a football player he was an all-pro pass defender, the best in his business. Like many other people, I was drawn to him, to the force within him that made him a winner, a man with the …
THE SPIRIT OF CALEB — THE REAL MC COY I recently read the new Word biography Bob Pierce: This One Thing I Do by Franklin Graham with Jeanette Lockerbie. Pierce, you may recall, was the founder of both World Vision and The Samaritan’s Purse. Among other things, this fascinating biography is loaded with inspiring stories …
Aging | Death | Heaven | Reward | Risk | Service | Success | Zeal Read More »
HOW COMMITTED ARE YOU? There is a silly story about two New York men who had never been out of the city who decided that they had just about “had it” with city living. So they bought a ranch down in Texas. They decided they were going to live off the land like their ancestors. …
FIGHTING ABOLITION John Chavis was just 15 years old when he joined the ranks of the Continental Army to help fight on the side of the colonies in the battles of the American Revolution. He was later to speak with warmth and enthusiasm about the part he played as a young man. He knew he …
Conviction | Freedom | Hypocrisy | Perspective | Zeal Read More »
ALL OR NOTHING AT ALL Richard Helper submitted a familiar old story that I’ve told many times over the years. It’s about the young seminary student who was asked to minister in a church in rural New Hampshire while the pastor was recuperating from an illness. After traveling many miles on a muddy, treacherous back …
Communication | Humor | Preaching | Youth | Zeal Read More »
PUT YOUR BODY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS A Nova Scotia insurance salesman had been told by his boss that he and the other agents were not assertive enough. They were not as outgoing as they needed to be. The salesman wanted to prove his boss wrong, and he didn’t have long to wait for an …
YOUR HIDDEN POTENTIAL An American Indian tells about a brave who found an eagle’s egg and put it into the nest of a prairie chicken. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them. All his life, the changeling eagle, thinking he was a prairie chicken, did what the prairie chickens …
Apathy | Desire | Failure | Risk | Success | Zeal Read More »
MORE IMPORTANT KNOWLEDGE A young man was being interviewed to be a pilot for a steamboat on the Mississippi River. The interviewer, doubtful that the young man could know the dangers of the river, asked if he knew where all the rocks were. To this he replied, “No sir, I do not know where all …
HARD BALL COMPETITION, ACADEMIC STYLE In Clearwater, Florida, twins Robin and Cathy Donovan, have filed suit to prevent a fellow Seminole High School senior from joining them at the top of the class. The 17-year-old twins and their father, George Donovan, charged the Pinellas County school board with breach of contract for denying the girls …
SUCCESS The ladder of success works like any other ladder. Very few have climbed it with their hands in their pockets.
PARTING SHOT A Frenchman, a Japanese and an American faced a firing squad. Offered a last wish, the Frenchman asked to hear the Marseillaise. The Japanese asked to give one more lecture on Japanese management. The American asked to be shot first. He explained, “I can’t stand another lecture on Japanese management.” Herm Albright, Perry …
GET A BUSY MAN God never goes to the lazy or the idle when He needs men (or women, Ed.) for His service. He goes to those who are already at work — the busy person. Moses was busy with his flock at Horeb. Gideon was busy threshing wheat by the winepress. Saul was busy …
CLEAR MOTIVATION People go to college for a variety of reasons, but Bob Kuechenberg, formerly of the Miami Dolphins, may have given the best reason yet in an interview with Newsweek: My father and uncle were human cannonballs in carnivals. My father told me, “Go to college or be a cannonball.” Then one day my …
SAD BUT TRUE I liked the cartoon I saw in Partnership magazine for spouses of pastors. It showed the television news commentator delivering the following message: “Fire completely destroyed the parsonage of the Maple Avenue Church early this morning, doing an estimated $37 worth of damage.” “In a famous experiment with nursery- school children, psychologist …
THE LIVING OF LIFE Life can only be understood backwards, but it can only be lived forwards. Kierkegaard . . . To most of us the real life is the life we do not lead. Oscar Wilde
THE ATTITUDE OF YOUTH Youth is not a time of life, it is a state of mind, a product of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions, a predominance of courage over timidity — an appetite for adventure. Nobody grows old by living a number of years. People grow old when they desert their ideals. …
Desire | Doubt | Fear | Opportunity | Worry | Youth | Zeal Read More »