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 are three key components of leadership:
who a leader is (character)
how a leader thinks (vision)
what a leader does (influence)
Bob Hill and his new wife Betty were vacationing in Europe, as it happens,
near Transylvania. They were driving in a rental car along a rather deserted
highway. It was late and raining very hard. Bob could barely see 20 feet in
front of the car.
Suddenly the car skids out of control! Bob attempts to control the car, but
to no avail! The car swerves and smashes into a tree.
Moments later, Bob shakes his head to clear the fog. Dazed, he looks over at
the passenger seat and sees his wife unconscious, with her head bleeding!
Despite the rain and unfamiliar countryside, Bob knows he has to carry her
to the nearest phone.
Bob carefully picks his wife up and begins trudging down the road. After a
short while, he sees a light. He heads towards the light, which is coming
from an old, large house. He approaches the door and knocks.
A minute passes. A small, hunched man opens the door. Bob immediately
blurts, "Hello, my name is Bob Hill, and this is my wife Betty. We've been
in a terrible accident, and my wife has been seriously hurt. Can I please
use your phone??"
"I'm sorry," replied the hunchback, "but we don't have a phone. My master is
a doctor; come in and I will get him!"
Bob brings his wife in. An elegant man comes down the stairs. "I'm afraid my
assistant may have misled you. I am not a medical doctor; I am a scientist.
However, it is many miles to the nearest clinic, and I have had a basic
medical training. I will see what I can do. Igor, bring them down to the
laboratory."
With that, Igor picks up Betty and carries her downstairs, with Bob
following closely. Igor places Betty on a table in the lab. Bob collapses
from exhaustion and his own injuries, so Igor places Bob on an adjoining
table.
After a brief examination, Igor's master looks worried. "Things are serious,
Igor. Prepare a transfusion." Igor and his master work feverishly, but to no
avail. Bob and Betty Hill are no more.
The Hills' deaths upset Igor's master greatly. Wearily, he climbs the steps
to his conservatory, which houses his grand piano. For it is here that he
has always found solace. He begins to play, and a stirring, almost haunting,
melody fills the house.
Meanwhile, Igor is still in the lab tidying up. His eyes catch movement, and
he notices the fingers on Betty's hand twitch, keeping time to the haunting
piano music. Stunned, he watches as Bob's arm begins to rise, marking the
beat! He is further amazed as Betty sits straight up!
Unable to contain himself, he dashes up the stairs to the conservatory. He
bursts in and shouts to his master: "Master, Master! ... The Hills are
alive with the sound of music!
The road to wisdom? Well, it's plain
and simple to express:
Err
and err
and err again
but less
and less
and less.
Paul the Apostle goes into a synagogue in the diaspora. He's asked to speak to the congregation. He steps up onto the bimah and says:
"I have some good news, and I have some bad news. Which would you like to hear first?"
The head rabbi replies, "Good news and bad news? Tell us the bad news first. The good news will console us."
Paul says, "Okay, here's the bad news. The messiah has come, but he's been killed."
"What!" exclaims the rabbi. "That's terrible news! What could possibly be good news?"
Replies Paul, "The good news is -- that's good news!"
Last but not least, higher education is not especially damaging to religious faith. Given the wealth of religious options available on campus, it should not be surprising to learn that college students are less likely than other young adults to lose their religion. Though religious participation tends to decrease in the young adult years, a University of Texas study found that going to college decreased the risk of religious decline.46 Such findings suggest the need for a new evangelical advice book: How to Stay Christian Outside of College. In the final analysis, the student union may be one of the most religious places in American society.
Footnote 46 reads: Jeremy E. Uecker, Mark D. Regnerus, Margaret L. Vaaler, “Losing My Religion: The Social Sources of Religious Decline in Early Adulthood.†Unpublished paper, Department of Sociology and Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, 7 March 2006. In a related study, the University of Notre Dame sociology graduate student Jonathan Hill found that college graduates were more likely to attend church than those with less education, arguing that there is “little support to the notion that college secularizes individuals.†See Hill, “Higher Education and Change in Religious Belief and Practice: A Longitudinal Analysis.†Paper delivered at the annual meeting of Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, November 2006.