Revitalize Your Church

“I watched them tearing a building down, A gang of men in a busy town. With a ho-heave-ho and a lusty yell, They swung a beam, and the side wall fell. I asked the foreman: "Are these skilled-- And the men you'd hire if you had to build?" He gave me a laugh and said: "No, indeed! Just common labor is all I need. I can wreck in a day or two What builders have taken a year to do." And I thought to myself as I went my way, Which of these roles have I tried to play? Am I a builder who works with care Measuring life by a rule and square? Am I shaping my deeds to a well made Plan, Patiently doing the best I can? Or am I a wrecker, who walks the town Content with the labor of tearing down?” -- Edgar Guest

Seth Godin passed along this thought provoking post (Thanks to Jerry for pointing me to it). It's a clock, turned off, not ticking, showing no progress, encased in a beautiful glass sculpture. When you're ready to make the leap, to commit, to make something happen, you break the glass. The sculpture is ruined. All you have are shards of broken glass. And a working clock. It's alive and it's changing and moving forward. Interpretation??

Everybody is tempted to give up sometimes. Even the greatest success stories have the “shadow moments” of futility and hopelessness. It comes with the package of being human. Wouldn’t it be great if we received a dollar for every time we felt like throwing in the towel – but didn’t? We’d be rich! That, ultimately, is the difference between those who rise above the ordinary and others who meander in mediocrity. In order to achieve greatness, you must keep going – even when the way is riddled with difficulty. With your eye on the goal, you must plod forward without wavering. When my children were smaller, they loved it when I read “The Little Engine that Could” to them before bed. “Read it again, Daddy!” my daughter exclaimed, “Read it again!” There’s something about keeping on which inspires all of us: from children to senior citizens. What if Henry Ford would have quit? You’d be walking to work! What if Susan B. Anthony had quit? None of the women would be able to vote! What if Bill Ga...