A farm boy accidentally overturned his wagon-load of corn in the road. The farmer who lived nearby came to investigate. “Hey, Willis,” he called out, “forget your troubles for a spell and come on in and have dinner with us. Then I'll help you get the wagon up.”
“That's mighty nice of you,” Willis answered, “but I don't think Pa would like me to.”
“Aw, come on, son!” the farmer insisted.
“Well, okay,” the boy finally agreed. “But Pa won't like it.”
John Wesley traveled 250,000 miles on horseback, riding twenty miles daily for forty years, preached forty thousand sermons, produced four hundred books, knew ten languages, and at eighty-three was annoyed when he could not write more than fifteen hours a day without huring his eyes. At eighty-six he was ashamed that he could not preach more than twice a day. He complained, in his diary, that there was an increasing tendency to lie in bed until 5:30 in the morning.
At the height of World War II Dietrich Bonhoeffer was imprisoned for taking a stand against Hitler. Yet he continued to urge fellow believers to resist Nazi tyranny. A group of Christians, believing that Hitler was the Antichrist, asked Bonhoeffer, “Why do you expose yourself to all this danger? Jesus will return any day, and all your work and suffering will be for nothing.” Bonhoeffer replied, “If Jesus returns tomorrow, then tomorrow I’ll rest from my labor. But today I have work to do. I must continue the struggle until it’s finished.”
Adams Towing service got some pretty bad press in August 2009. One of their trucks was pictured in newspapers all across the country. It was damaged and partially submerged in a backyard swimming pool with another vehicle in tow. Law enforcement officials outside of Buffalo, New York said the 25-year-old driver was texting on one cell phone while talking on another when the crash occurred. Nicholas Sparks hit a car, crashed through a residential fence, sideswiped a house, and then came to a stop when his tow-truck rolled into the pool.
A manager and a sales rep stood looking at a map on which colored pins indicated the company representative in each area. “I'm not going to fire you, Wilson,” the manager said, “but I'm loosening your pin a bit just to emphasize the insecurity of your situation.”—Bits and Pieces
During a training exercise in the field, a young recruit naively asked the commanding officer, “Sir, where is the fox hole?” The officer said, “You’re standing on it—just throw out the dirt.”
The National Sleep Foundation says that about 70 million Americans operate on inadequate sleep at any given time. This fatigue results in a tremendous loss of productivity both on the job and at home. The average worker spends more than an hour per day doing nothing for their employer and costing American businesses over $4 billion a day.
Your work is an expression of the image of God in you, and it's worth thinking about how your work reflects His character. Work as simple as cleaning out a closet reflects the God who makes order out of chaos. Holding a stop sign for children to cross the road creates an environment of safety that reflects the God who protects. The person who flips burgers is providing food, which is something that God does. A father or mother who nurtures a child reflects the love, patience, and perseverance of God.
On May, 19th, 1780, in Hartford, Connecticut. The sky went from blue to gray at noon. Shortly thereafter the sky was so dark that men believed the end of the universe had come and fell to their knees begging for a final blessing. The House of Representatives was meeting, and many representatives asked for the meeting to be adjourned immediately. The Speaker of the House, Colonel Davenport, rose to his feet and silenced the men with these words, “The Day of Judgment is either approaching or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for adjournment.
The sign in the store window read: NO HELP WANTED. As two men passed by, one said to the other, “You should apply—you'd be great.” Or maybe you heard about the guy who said, “I never like to drink coffee on the job because then I toss and turn at my desk all day.”
A young man who had been hired by the personnel department of a large supermarket chain reported to work at one of the stores. The manager greeted him with a warm handshake and a smile, handed him a broom and said, “Your first job will be to sweep out the store.”
“But,” the young man said, “I’m a college graduate.”
“I’m sorry,” the manager said, “I didn’t know that. Here, give me the broom and I’ll show you how.”
Stephen Barnes was a proponent of conventional leadership thinking that challenges people to make mistakes as they stretch themselves to improve. Apparently Stephen's boss didn't share his views. The CEO stepped into Stephen's office and bluntly said, “It's all right to be wrong, Barnes, just as long as you don't do it on company time.”
Janice is very proud of her home. She spends hours each day cleaning, vacuuming, and dusting. It makes her feel good when visitors comment what a beautiful home she has. But her children resent her compulsive cleanliness. They never invite their friends to come over because Janice is so paranoid about messing up the carpet. Janice has distorted the home that God has provided as a place of shelter and comfort, and has made it a shrine unto itself. She spends far more time working on her home than she does on Bible study, prayer, etc.
Some Christians are like:
1. Wheelbarrows–must be pushed
2. Canoes–need paddling
3. Kites–must be kept on a string
4. Footballs–can’t tell where they will bounce next
5. Balloons–full of wind
ready to blow up
6. Trailers–must be pulled
7. Lights–go on and off
8. Kittens–content when petted
But some are like the North Star—there when you need them, dependable, and loyal.
In 1973, a horse named Secretariat became a legend in his time. Not only did Secretariat win the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, but he did it with an unprecedented performance. At the Belmont Stakes, he not only won the race by 31 lengths, but he set new records along the way as he went faster with each phase of the run. For one-and-one-half miles, that famous thoroughbred ran faster every second. Secretariat was accelerating at such an incredible pace that his trainer noted if the race had been extended another lap, his heart would have literally exploded.
A young man came to his boss and asked for the day off to attend his grandmother's funeral. His boss said, “Sure.”
The next day the young man was talking to his boss. The boss said, “Do you believe in resurrection from the dead?”
Young man, “Yes.”
“Interesting, because after you left work yesterday, your grandmother came to visit you!”—Source Unknown
A New York Times article on people who are sick of too many hours at work tells the story of Diane Knorr, a former dot—com executive: “The first time I got a call way after hours from a senior manager, I remember being really flattered and thinking, wow! I'm really getting up there now.” But gradually, her work and family life became a blur with hours that were hard to scale back. “If I leave at 5:00 and everyone else leaves at 6:30, I might look like the one who is not pulling his weight,” she said. In college, Mrs.
One man challenged another to an all-day wood chopping contest. The challenger worked very hard, stopping only for a brief lunch break. The other man had a leisurely lunch and took several breaks during the day. At the end of the day, the challenger was surprised and annoyed to find that the other fellow had chopped substantially more wood than he had. “I don't get it,” he said. “Every time I checked, you were taking a rest, yet you chopped more wood than I did.”