The Conductor<\/b><\/p>\n
Did you hear about the man who tried to run a symphony and did such a bad job they decided to electrocute him? But they couldn\u2019t, he was such a poor conductor.<\/p>\n
The Bell, the Clapper, and the Cord: Wit and Witticism, (Baltimore: National Federation of the Blind, 1994), p. 6<\/p>\n
Would-Be Bank Robber<\/b><\/p>\n
He felt like a failure! Everything he attempted seemed to turn out wrong. He began to fantasize about being rich. He would do the one thing he could do to make the most money in the briefest period of time. He would take up the occupation of bank robbing. <\/p>\n
The would-be bank robber began to plan his strategy. He sat up late at night working on detailed plans, drawing sketches and going over steps he would take in robbing the bank. But he could never seem to get around to robbing the bank. He would plan each night, but when morning came, his anxiety paralyzed him, again.<\/p>\n
One night he determined that his mind was made up. Regardless of his feelings he would force himself to rob the bank the next morning. The next morning an anxiety attack paralyzed him again. Finally he came through it and forced himself to get into his car and go to the bank.<\/p>\n
The reluctant bank robber sat in the car in the parking lot from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. trying to force himself out of the car. Finally, he got out of the car and went into the bank. At the teller\u2019s window he handed the teller his pistol. He stuck his brown paper bag in her face and said, \u201cDon\u2019t stick with me. This is a mess-up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Darrell W. Robinson, People Sharing Jesus, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995), p. xx<\/p>\n
Quotes<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising each time we fall. – Oliver Goldsmith<\/p>\n
\u2022 Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you learn to do it well. – Zig Ziglar<\/p>\n
\u2022 God don\u2019t sponsor no flops. – Ethel Waters<\/p>\n
\u2022 Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom. – Gen. George Patton<\/p>\n
\u2022 The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything. – Theodore Roosevelt<\/p>\n
\u2022 He who never makes a mistake never makes anything. – A. Lincoln(?)<\/p>\n
\u2022 Failure is an event, never a person. (William Brown, Welcome Stress!)<\/p>\n
Sources unknown<\/p>\n
Integral to Christian Ministry<\/b><\/p>\n
After more than twenty years in pastoral activity, I am clearer now that failure is integral to Christian ministry. It was for Jesus in His ministry: He failed with the young ruler; He failed in Nazareth because of the people\u2019s unbelief; He failed with Judas Iscariot; He failed with the bulk of His fellow countrymen; He failed with the religious leadership; He failed with nine of the ten lepers; He failed with Pontius Pilate. In the face of repeated failure, Jesus learned to abide firmly in the love of His Father and to keep His Father\u2019s Word.<\/p>\n
These events in His ministry were not mistakes. He took the risk of being open with people with the love of God: many responded favorably, many did not. If, then, we live in the love of God and listen to the Word of God, we will meet constant failure. It will be tempting, because we live in such a results-dominated society, to see failure as reprehensible and therefore to be avoided. One way to avoid failure is to call it a mistake\u2014and then to try to eliminate any mistakes, to make sure we get things right and that we succeed. Many local churches base their activities on such priorities and virtually reject anything that is at all risky, because \u201cwe cannot afford to make mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n
David Prior, Creating Community, (Colorado Springs: NAVPRESS, 1992), pp. 17-18<\/p>\n
Taxidermist\/Veterinarian<\/b><\/p>\n
Did you hear about the guy who is both a taxidermist and a veterinarian?<\/p>\n
He has a sign on his door: \u201cEither way, you get your dog back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Contributed by Beth L. Mack, Reader\u2019s Digest, May 1996, p. 67.<\/p>\n
Failure to Grow<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the reasons why mature people stop growing and learning,\u201d says John Gardner, \u201cis that they become less and less willing to risk failure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eating Problems for Breakfast by Tim Hansel, Word Publishing, 1988, p. 32<\/p>\n
Resources<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 No Easy Answers, W. L. Craig, Moody, 1990, pp. 59ff.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Holy Sweat, Tim Hansel, Word, 1987, p.117.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Wake Up Calls, Ron Hutchcraft, Moody, 1990, p.18.<\/p>\n
Thomas Edison<\/b><\/p>\n
Edison spent more than $100,000 to obtain 6000 different fiber specimens, and only three of them proved satisfactory. Each failure brought him that much closer to the solution to his problem. His friend Henry Ford was right when he said that failure was the \u201copportunity to begin again, more intelligently.\u201d<\/p>\n
Warren W. Wiersbe, Confident Living, September, 1987, p. 22<\/p>\n
Temporary <\/p>\n
You must pay for what you want. Temporary failure may be the price. If it occurs, accept it and move on. The absence of failure suggests a minimum of effort, and the likelihood that little will be achieved. In many cases failure can occur despite genuine effort. In such cases failure may be the next best thing to success.<\/p>\n
Bits and Pieces, January 9, 1992, p. 6.<\/p>\n
Advice from a Football Coach<\/b><\/p>\n
A football coach gave this advice on how to deal with failures. \u201cWhen you\u2019re about to be run out of town, get out in front and make it look like you\u2019re heading a parade.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bits & Pieces, April 30, 1992<\/p>\n
Value in Disaster<\/b><\/p>\n
Thomas Edison\u2019s manufacturing facilities in West Orange, N. J., were heavily damaged by fire one night in December, 1914. Edison lost almost $1 million worth of equipment and the record of much of his work. The next morning, walking about the charred embers of his hopes and dreams, the 67-year-old inventor said: \u201cThere is value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Now we can start anew.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alan Loy McGinnis, The Power of Optimism.<\/p>\n
Taking Risks<\/b><\/p>\n
When Jim Burke became the head of a new products division at Johnson & Johnson, one of his first projects was the development of a children\u2019s chest rub. The product failed miserably, and Burke expected that he would be fired. When he was called in to see the chairman of the board, however, he met a surprising reception. \u201cAre you the one who just cost us all that money?\u201d asked Robert Wood Johnson. \u201cWell I just want to congratulate you. If you are making mistakes, that means you are taking risks, and we won\u2019t grow unless you take risks.\u201d Some years later, when Burke himself became chairman of J & J, he continued to spread that word.<\/p>\n
Reader\u2019s Digest, October, 1991, p. 62.<\/p>\n
A Leaf of White Paper<\/b><\/p>\n
Life is a leaf of paper white Whereon each one of us may write His word or two, and then comes night.<\/p>\n
Greatly begin! though thou have time But for a line, be that sublime\u2014 Not failure, but low aim, is crime.<\/p>\n
James Russell Lowell<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
La Traviata<\/b><\/p>\n
Verdi\u2019s opera \u201cLa Traviata\u201d was a failure when it was first performed. Even though the singers chosen for the leading roles were the best of the day, everything went wrong. The tenor had a cold and sang in a hoarse, almost inaudible voice. The soprano who played the part of the delicate, sickly heroine was one of the stoutest ladies on or off stage, and very healthy and loud.<\/p>\n
At the beginning of the Third Act when the doctor declares that consumption was wasted away the \u201cfrail, young lady\u201d and she cannot live more than a few hours, the audience was thrown into a spasm of laughter, a state very different from that necessary to appreciate the tragic moment!<\/p>\n
Charles Swindoll, Living Above the Level of Mediocrity, p. 182<\/p>\n
Robert E. Lee<\/b><\/p>\n
After the horrible carnage and Confederate retreat at Gettysburg, General Robert E. Lee wrote this to Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy: \u201cWe must expect reverses, even defeats. They are sent to teach us wisdom and prudence, to call forth greater energies, and to prevent our falling into greater disasters.\u201d<\/p>\n
MBI\u2019s Today In The Word, November, 1989, p. 21.<\/p>\n
Will Rogers <\/b><\/p>\n
Will Rogers\u2019 stage specialty used to be rope tricks. One day, on stage, in the middle of his act, he got tangled in is lariat. Instead of getting upset, he drawled, \u201cA rope ain\u2019t so bad to get tangled up in if it ain\u2019t around your neck.\u201d The audience roared. Encouraged by the warm reception, Rogers began adding humorous comments to all his performances. It was the comments, not the rope tricks, that eventually made him famous.<\/p>\n
Chuck Swindoll, Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life, p. 29, cf. pp. 69, 244.<\/p>\n
Inventor<\/b><\/p>\n
Between 1962 and 1977 Arthur Pedrick patented 162 inventions. Sounds impressive until you realize that none of them were taken up commercially. Among his greatest inventions were:<\/p>\n
\u2022 a bicycle with amphibious capability.<\/p>\n
\u2022 an arrangement whereby a car could be driven from the back seat.<\/p>\n
\u2022 several golf inventions, including a golf ball that could be steered in flight.<\/p>\n
The grandest scheme of Pedrick, who described himself as the \u201cOne-Man-Think-Tank Basic Research Laboratories of Sussex,\u201d was to irrigate deserts of the world by sending a constant supply of snowballs from the polar region through a massive network of giant peashooters.<\/p>\n
Some onlookers thought it was unusual, but few noticed when the pastor wheeled into the church parking lot in a borrowed pickup truck. But everyone\u2019s eyes were upon him when he backed the truck across the lawn to his study door. Refusing comment or assistance, he began to empty his office onto the truck bed. He was impassive and systematic: first the desk drawers, then the files, and last his library of books, which he tossed carelessly into a heap, many of them flopping askew like slain birds. His task done, the pastor left the church and, as was later learned, drove some miles to the city dump where he committed everything to the waiting garbage. It was his way of putting behind him the overwhelming sense of failure and loss that he had experienced in the ministry. This young, gifted pastor was determined never to return to the ministry. Indeed, he never did.<\/p>\n
Liberating Ministry From The Success Syndrome, K Hughes, Tyndale, 1988, p. 9<\/p>\n
Quotes<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 You must have long-range goals to keep you from being frustrated by short-term failures. – Charles Noble<\/p>\n
\u2022 Notice the difference between what happens when a man says to himself, \u201cI have failed three times,\u201d and what happens when he says, \u201cI am a failure.\u201d – S. I. Hayakawa<\/p>\n
Sources unknown<\/p>\n
Bumbling Firefighters<\/b><\/p>\n
During 1978 during the fireman\u2019s strike in England, the British army took over emergency firefighting. On January 14 they were called out by an elderly lady in South London to retrieve her cat. They arrived with impressive haste, very cleverly and carefully rescued the cat, and started to drive away. But the lady was so grateful she invited the squad of heroes in for tea. Driving off later with fond farewells and warm waving of arms, they ran over the cat and killed it.<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
A Plan<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 Review: what I did right, wrong; strengths and weaknesses of opponents.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Renew: I can give up or go on. Recommit life to the Lord.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Redo: Implement your plan, get started.<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
The Agony of Defeat<\/b><\/p>\n
Remember Vinko Bogatej? He was a ski-jumper from Yugoslavia who, while competing in the 1970 World Ski-Flying Championship in Obertsdorf, West Germany, fell off the takeoff ramp and landed on his head. Ever since, the accident has been used to highlight \u201cthe thrill of victory, the agony of defeat\u201d on ABC\u2019s \u201cWide World of Sports.\u201d Bogatej was hospitalized after the spill, but he has recovered and now works in a foundry in Yugoslavia.<\/p>\n
Doug Wilson, a producer for ABC, interviewed him last year for a special anniversary edition of the show. \u201cWhen we told him he\u2019s been on the program ever since 1970,\u201d says Wilson, \u201che couldn\u2019t believe it. He appears on Television 130 times a year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas Rogers in N. Y. Times, quoted in December, 1980, Reader\u2019s Digest<\/p>\n
Founder of SIM<\/b><\/p>\n
Our success in this venture means nothing less than the opening of the country for the gospel; our failure, at most, nothing more than the death of two or three deluded fanatics. Still, even death is not failure. His purposes are accomplished. He uses deaths as well as lives in the furtherance of His cause.<\/p>\n
Walter Gowans, 1883, a founder of SIM. On Dec. 4, 1893, Walter Gowans and Rowland Bingham of Toronto, Canada, and Thomas Kent of Buffalo, N. Y., landed at Lagos, Nigeria. Their aim was to establish a witness among the 60 million people of what was then commonly known as the Soudan, the area south of the Sahara between the Niger River and the Nile. Gowans and Kent died in the first few months. Bingham returned to Canada, formed a council, and went back to Africa in 1900. That attempt, too, was unsuccessful. In 1901 Bingham sent out a party that succeeded in establishing the Mission\u2019s first base, at Patigi, 500 miles up the Niger River. When these first SIM pioneers landed in Nigeria, Gowans was 25 years old, Bingham was two weeks away from his 21st birthday, Kent was 23.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is the impassioned pleading of a quiet little Scottish lady that linked my life with the Soudan,\u201d wrote Rowland Bingham (a founder of SIM). \u201cIn the quietness of her parlor she told how God had called a daughter to China, and her eldest boy (Walter Gowans) to the Soudan.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe spread out before me the vast extent of those thousands of miles and filled in the teeming masses of people. Ere I closed the interview she had place upon me the burden of the Soudan.\u201d<\/p>\n
A year and a half later Bingham returned to Canada, alone. Walter and Thomas Kent lay buried in Nigeria\u2019s interior.<\/p>\n
\u201cI visited Mrs. Gowans to take her the few personal belongings of her son,\u201d he recalled. \u201cShe met me with extended hand. We stood there in silence. \u201cThen she said these words: \u2018Well, Mr. Bingham, I would rather have had Walter go out to the Soudan and die there, all alone, that have him home today, disobeying his Lord.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Rest of the Story, p. 115<\/p>\n
Useless Weapon<\/b><\/p>\n
The prize for the most useless weapon of all times goes to the Russians. They invented the \u201cdog mine.\u201d The plan was to train the dogs to associate food with the undersides of tanks, in the hope that they would run hungrily beneath advancing Panzer divisions. Bombs were then strapped to the dogs\u2019 backs, which endangered the dogs to the point where no insurance company would look at them. Unfortunately, the dogs associated food solely with Russian tanks. The plan was begun the first day of the Russian involvement in World War II…and abandoned on day two. The dogs with bombs on their backs forced an entire Soviet division to retreat.<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
Rejection<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 In 1902, the poetry editor of Atlantic Monthly returned a stack of poems with this note, \u201cOur magazine has no room for your vigorous verse.\u201d The poet was Robert Frost.<\/p>\n
\u2022 In 1905, the University of Bern turned down a doctoral dissertation as \u201cirrelevant and fanciful.\u201d The writer of that paper was Albert Einstein.<\/p>\n
\u2022 In 1894 an English teacher noted on a teenager\u2019s report card, \u201cA conspicuous lack of success.\u201d The student was Winston Churchill.<\/p>\n
Signs of the Times, March 1988, p. 12<\/p>\n
Babe Ruth<\/b><\/p>\n
One ballplayer set the major league record for strikeouts with 1316. The same player set a record for five consecutive strikeouts in a World Series game. The holder of both records was the great slugger Babe Ruth<\/p>\n
Celebrity Trivia, E. Lucaire<\/p>\n
Success<\/b><\/p>\n
The great inventor Charles Kettering suggested that we must learn to fail intelligently. He said, \u201cOnce you\u2019ve failed, analyze the problem and find out why, because each failure is one more step leading up to the cathedral of success. The only time you don\u2019t want to fail is the last time you try.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here are three suggestions for turning failure into success:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Honestly face defeat; never fake success.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Exploit the failure; don\u2019t waste it. Learn all you can from it; every bitter experience can teach us something.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Never use failure as an excuse for not trying again.<\/p>\n
You may not be able to reclaim the loss, undo the damage, or reverse the consequences, but you can make a new start\u2014wiser, more sensitive, renewed by the Holy spirit, and more determined to do right.<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
Famous Graduates<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 General Mark Clark was one of the great heroes of WWII. He led the Salerno invasion that Winston Churchill said was \u201cthe most daring amphibious operation we have launched, or which, I think, has ever been launched on a similar scale in war.\u201d At the time Clark was promoted to Lt. General, he was the youngest man of that rank in the U.S. Army. He graduated from West Point in 1917. At the top of his class? Nope. He was 111th from the top in a class of 139!<\/p>\n
\u2022 Even if you never earned a college degree, don\u2019t worry, you\u2019re in good company. Irving Berlin, for instance, only had two years of formal schooling. He never learned how to read music. When he composed his songs, he would hum the melody and a musical secretary would write down the notes. He became one of the greatest songwriters the country has ever known.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Napoleon Bonaparte graduated 42nd in a class of 58 at military school.<\/p>\n
Bits and Pieces, December 13, 1990<\/p>\n
Thomas Edison 1<\/b><\/p>\n
Thomas Edison invented the microphone, the phonograph, the incandescent light, the storage battery, talking movies, and more than 1000 other things. December 1914 he had worked for 10 years on a storage battery. This had greatly strained his finances. This particular evening spontaneous combustion had broken out in the film room. Within minutes all the packing compounds, celluloid for records and film, and other flammable goods were in flames. Fire companies from eight surrounding towns arrived, but the heat was so intense and the water pressure so low that the attempt to douse the flames was futile. Everything was destroyed. Edison was 67.<\/p>\n
With all his assets going up in a whoosh (although the damage exceeded two million dollars, the buildings were only insured for $238,000 because they were made of concrete and thought to be fireproof), would his spirit be broken?<\/p>\n
The inventor\u2019s 24-year old son, Charles, searched frantically for his father. He finally found him, calmly watching the fire, his face glowing in the reflection, his white hair blowing in the wind. \u201cMy heart ached for him,\u201d said Charles. \u201cHe was 67\u2014no longer a young man\u2014and everything was going up in flames. When he saw me, he shouted, \u2018Charles, where\u2019s your mother?\u2019 When I told him I didn\u2019t know, he said, \u2018Find her. Bring her here. She will never see anything like this as long as she lives.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The next morning, Edison looked at the ruins and said, \u201cThere is great value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Thank God we can start anew.\u201d Three weeks after the fire, Edison managed to deliver the first phonograph.<\/p>\n
Swindoll, Hand Me Another Brick, Thomas Nelson, 1978, pp. 82-3, and Bits and Pieces, November, 1989, p. 12<\/p>\n
Thomas Edison 2<\/b><\/p>\n
It is said that Thomas Edison performed 50,000 experiments before he succeeded in producing a storage battery. We might assume the famous inventor would have had some serious doubts along the way. But when asked if he ever became discouraged working so long without results, Edison replied, \u201cResults? Why, I know 50,000 things that won\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today in the Word, August, 1990<\/p>\n
1929 Rose Bowl<\/b><\/p>\n
On New Year\u2019s Day, 1929, Georgia Tech played University of California in the Rose Bowl. In that game a man named Roy Riegels recovered a fumble for California. Somehow, he became confused and started running 65 yards in the wrong direction. One of his teammates, Benny Lom, outdistanced him and downed him just before he scored for the opposing team. When California attempted to punt, Tech blocked the kick and scored a safety which was the ultimate margin of victory.<\/p>\n
That strange play came in the first half, and everyone who was watching the game was asking the same question: \u201cWhat will Coach Nibbs Price do with Roy Riegels in the second half?\u201d The men filed off the field and went into the dressing room. They sat down on the benches and on the floor, all but Riegels. He put his blanket around his shoulders, sat down in a corner, put his face in his hands, and cried like a baby.<\/p>\n
If you have played football, you know that a coach usually has a great deal to say to his team during half time. That day Coach Price was quiet. No doubt he was trying to decide what to do with Riegels. Then the timekeeper came in and announced that there were three minutes before playing time. Coach Price looked at the team and said simply, \u201cMen the same team that played the first half will start the second.\u201d The players got up and started out, all but Riegels. He did not budge. the coach looked back and called to him again; still he didn\u2019t move. Coach Price went over to where Riegels sat and said, \u201cRoy, didn\u2019t you hear me? The same team that played the first half will start the second.\u201d Then Roy Riegels looked up and his cheeks were wet with a strong man\u2019s tears.<\/p>\n
\u201cCoach,\u201d he said, \u201cI can\u2019t do it to save my life. I\u2019ve ruined you, I\u2019ve ruined the University of California, I\u2019ve ruined myself. I couldn\u2019t face that crowd in the stadium to save my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then Coach Price reached out and put his hand on Riegel\u2019s shoulder and said to him: \u201cRoy, get up and go on back; the game is only half over.\u201d And Roy Riegels went back, and those Tech men will tell you that they have never seen a man play football as Roy Riegels played that second half.<\/p>\n
Haddon W. Robinson, Christian Medical Society Journal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Conductor Did you hear about the man who tried to run a symphony and did such a bad job they decided to electrocute him? But they couldn\u2019t, he was such a poor conductor. The Bell, the Clapper, and the Cord: Wit and Witticism, (Baltimore: National Federation of the Blind, 1994), p. 6 Would-Be Bank … Continue reading “Failure”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}