These are quotes which stood out to me, possibly for use in a sermon someday. Their presence here does not mean I agree with them, it merely shows that I might want to reference them later. The default view is five random selections. Use the tag list on the right to view all quotes relevant to that theme.
There was never a genius without a tincture of madness.
When Apple computer fell on difficult times, Apple's chairman (Steven Jobs) traveled from Silicon Valley to New York City. His mission was to convince Pepsico's John Sculley to move west and run the struggling company. As the two men overlooked the Manhanntan skyline from Sculley's office, he started to decline the offer. "Financially," Sculley said, "you'd have to give me a million-dollar salary, a million dollar bonus, and million dolloar severance." Stunned but desperate, Jobs agreed. But Sculley would have to move to California. Sculley would only agree to being a consultant from New York. Exasperated, Jobs challenged Sculley: "Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want to change the world?" In his autobiography Odyssey, Sculley admits the challenge "knocked the wind out of me." He'd been so consumed with his petty dreams and his comfortable surroundings that an opportunity to change the world nearly passed him by. He put his life into perspective and went to work for Apple.
The tough part of a preacher's job is that the congregation don't really know what they want, but they know for certain what they don't want.
During a service at an old synagogue in Eastern Europe, when the Shema prayer was said, half the congregants stood up and half remained sitting. The half that was seated started yelling at those standing to sit down, and the ones standing yelled at the ones sitting to stand up. The rabbi,learned as he was in the Law and commentaries, didn't know what to do. His congregation suggested that he consult a housebound 98 year old man, who was one of the original founders of their temple. The rabbi hoped the elderly man would be able to tell him what the actual temple tradition was, so he went to the nursing home with a representative of each faction of the congregation. The one whose followers stood during Shema said to the old man, "Isn't the tradition to stand during this prayer?" The old man answered, "No, that is not the tradition." The one whose followers sat said, "Then the tradition is to sit during Shema!" The old man answered, "No, that is not the tradition." Then the rabbi said to the old man, "But the congregants fight all the time, yelling at each other about whether they should sit or stand..." The old man interrupted, exclaiming, "THAT is the tradition!"
God gave us dominion over everything except other people.