Illustrations

A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no children appeared. Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag's side door! He slammed on the brakes and backed the Jag back to the spot where the brick had been thrown. The angry driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up against a parked car shouting, “What was that all about and who are you?

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.

Source: The Speaker's Quote Book, Roy B. Zuck

1. Redefine your roles regularly
2. Refocus on high priority tasks
3. Request heavenly wisdom
4. Replenish your personal strength (physical, emotional, spiritual)
5. Remember what's important
6. Refine your strengths and weaknesses

One ingenious teenager who was tired of reading bedtime stories to his little sister decided to record several of her favorite stories on tape. He told her, “Now you can hear your stories anytime you want. Isn't that great?” She looked at the machine for a moment and then replied, “No. It hasn't got a lap.”

Source: Unknown

“We'll have all eternity to celebrate our victories, but only one short hour before sunset to win them.”—Robert Moffat

“If a man's business requires so much of his time that he cannot attend the services of his church, then that man has more business than God intended him to have.”—J. C. Penney

“There is more joy in Jesus in 24 hours than there is in the world in 365 days. I have tried them both.”—R. A. Torrey

“Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.”—Dale Carnegie

The black horse spoken of in Revelation 6:5-6 forebodes death, and the pair of balances bespeaks a careful rationing of food. Normally, a “penny” (a Roman denarius, a day’s wages in Palestine in Jesus’ day, Mt. 20:2) would buy eight measures of wheat or twenty-four of barley. Under these famine conditions the same wage will buy only one measure of wheat or three of barley.

Source: Wilmington's Guide to the Bible, quoting Charles Ryrie

A man was bragging that he had cut off the tail of a man-eating lion with his pocket knife. When asked why he had not cut off the lion's head, the man replied: “Someone had already done that.”

Source: Unknown

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.”