《Sermon Illustrations (D~F)》(a compilation) table of contents
Download 1.31 Mb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- DETERMINATION
DETAILSSuccess is often reached through the little stuff. When Pat Riley coached the Los Angeles Lakers from 1982 to 1990, the team won four NBA championships. In taking over the New York Knicks in 1991, Riley inherited a team with a losing record. But the Knicks seemed able to play above their abilities and even gave the eventual champions, the Chicago Bulls, their hardest competition in the play-offs last May. How does Riley do it? He says his talent lies in attention to detail. For example, every NBA team studies videotapes and compiles statistics to evaluate players' game performances. But Riley's use of these tools is more comprehensive than that of his rivals. "We measure areas of performance that are often ignored: jumping in pursuit of every rebound even if you don't get it, swatting at every pass, diving for loose balls, letting someone smash into you in order to draw a foul." After each game, these "effort" statistics are punched into a computer. "Effort," Riley explains, "is what ultimately separates journeyman players from impact players. Knowing how well a player executes all these little things is the key to unlocking career-best performances." Robert McGarvey, "Little Things Do Mean a Lot", Reader's Digest. 
Russian composer, pianist, and conductor Sergei Rachmaninoff was once honored at a dinner hosted by fellow pianist Arthur Rubinstein. During the course of the evening, Rachmaninoff said he thought the Grieg piano concerto the greatest ever written. When Rubinstein said he had just recorded it, Rachmaninoff insisted on hearing it then and there. During coffee, Rubinstein put on the proofs of the record and Rachmaninoff, closing his eyes, settled down to listen. He listened right through without saying a word. At the end of the concerto he opened his eyes and said, "Piano out of tune." Today in the Word, December 15, 1992.
In the operating room of a large hospital, a young nurse was completing her first full day of responsibilities. "You've only removed 11 sponges, doctor," she said to the surgeon. "We used 12." "I removed them all," the doctor declared. "We'll close the incision now." "No," the nurse objected. "We used 12 sponges." "I'll take full responsibility," the surgeon said grimly. "Suture!" "You can't do that!" blazed the nurse. "Think of the patient." The surgeon smiled, lifted his foot, and showed the nurse the 12th sponge. "You'll do," he said. Today in the Word, April 7, 1992.
As Vice President, Richard Nixon came upon President Eisenhower one day signing an immense stack of mail in his office. Mr. Nixon watched quietly for a moment and then asked the General how, with all that mail, he ever found time to think about the big problems of the country. Ike replied: "Dick, I really haven't spent that much time on these letters. In fact, in some instances they probably don't even say exactly what I want them to. But you've got to learn that, if you get bogged down in all the fine print and little detail you'll never get anything accomplished as President. Bits & Pieces, April 30, 1992. DETERMINATIONSomeone once asked Paul Harvey, the journalist and radio commentator, to reveal the secret of his success. "I get up when I fall down," said Harvey. Bits & Pieces, March 3, 1994, p. 16.
The 1992 Summer Olympics featured two tremendously poignant moments. American sprinter Gail Devers, the clear leader in the 100 meter hurdles, tripped over the last barrier. She agonizingly pulled herself to her knees and crawled the last five meters, finishing fifth--but finishing. Even more heart-rending was the 400 meter semifinal in which British runner Derek Redmond tore a hamstring and fell to the track. He struggled to his feet and began to hobble, determined to complete the race. His father ran from the stands to help him off the track, but the athlete refused to quit. He leaned on his father, and the two limped to the finish line together, to deafening applause. John E. Anderson, "What Makes Olympic Champions?", Reader's Digest, February 1994, p. 120.
Everybody recognizes that Ludwig van Beethoven was a musical genius. But few realize the adversity he had to overcome to achieve greatness. In his twenties, Beethoven began to lose his hearing. Because he couldn't feel the music as he once had, on one occasion he said his fingers became "thick." His hearing problems haunted him into the middle years of his life, but he kept it a guarded secret. By the time he reached his fifties, Beethoven was completely deaf. But he refused to give up. He was once overheard shouting at the top of his voice, "I will take life by the throat!" Many of his biographers believe the only reason Beethoven remained productive for so long was this determination. Today in the Word, September 5, 1993.
As a young man, film director Robert Flaherty spent many months in the far north looking for iron ore and cod. He found neither, but he did shoot 70,000 feet of film in his travels. Someone encouraged him to edit the film and make a documentary, which Flaherty spent weeks doing. But just as he finished, a match from his cigarette dropped among the celluloid, consuming the entire film and burning Flaherty badly. His response to the disaster was a determination to return to the far north and make a film of Eskimo life "that people will never forget." He did just that, and the result was the classic 1922 documentary, Nanook of the North. Today in the Word, July 19, 1993.
D.L. Moody had a keen memory for names and faces. If one of his children was missing from Sunday school, he knew it, and he would do everything possible to find out why. One day he saw an absentee coming down the street, so he took off after her. She ran down the sidewalk, across the street, and through an alley into a saloon, up the stairs to a back apartment, into the bedroom, and then dived under the bed. Moody went after her, and just as he was claiming his prize, the mother showed up. Panting from the exertion, Moody simply explained, "I'm Moody," He said that he had missed the girl and would be happy if all the family could come to the services. Within a few weeks he had every child in the family in his school. W. Wiersbe, The Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching & Preachers, p. 203.
As Abraham Lincoln prepared to sign the Emancipation Proclamation, he took his pen, moved it to the signature line, paused for a moment, and then dropped the pen. When asked why, the president replied, "If my name goes into history, it will be for this act, and if my hand trembles when I sign it, there will be some who will say, 'he hesitated.'" Lincoln then turned to the table, took up the pen, and boldly signed his name. Today in the Word, July, 1990, p. 8.
A young fellow wanted to be a star journalist but lived in a small town (not much possibility). One day the dam upstream broke and the town was flooded. He got in a rowboat and headed out to look for a story. Found a lady sitting on her rooftop. He tied up the boat and told her what he was after. (They both watched as various items floated by). She says, "Now there's a story." "No, that's not a story." Finally a hat floats by and then does a 180 degree turn, goes upstream a ways and does another 180 degree turn, etc. The fellow says, "There's a story." "Oh no, that's not a story. "That's my husband Hayford. He said that he was going to mow the lawn come hell or high water!" Source Unknown.
Directory: Topics Topics -> ES18 topics intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (ipcc) Working Group I Topics -> Non-Governmental Organizations And Their Relation to Transboundary Water Resources Topics -> United Nations Peacekeeping Operations and Mandatory hiv testing August 1996 Topics -> Policy Options for Connecting and Enabling the Next Billion Download 1.31 Mb. Share with your friends:
|