THE ONE YEAR ILLUSTRATIONS CLUB

"When you have had a taste of excellence, you cannot go back to mediocrity" Maximillian Degenerez

Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, arguable the most famous CEO that ever lived; was married 3 times and said, “in life there is a sacrifice for everything; you can have everything, but you can’t have it all at the same time. Be thankful for what you have because there is a price for everything you do and if you don’t pay for it via time and energy, your kids will. Question is, what are you sacrificing for your success?

"We don't want to be out of touch with the way society is going," says NBC's Angela Bromstad. "At the same time, you have to be careful what you put on air." Says Doug Herzog , president of MTV Networks entertainment group: "The line moves every day, so you got to move with it. You can't put the genie back in the bottle."

When you go to a doctor for your annual check-up, he or she will often begin to poke, prod, and press various places, all the while asking, "Does this hurt? How about this?" If you cry out in pain, one of two things has happened. Either the doctor has pushed too hard, without the right sensitivity. Or, more likely, there's something wrong, and the doctor will say, "We'd better do some more tests. It's not supposed to hurt there!" So it is when pastors preach on financial responsibility, and certain members cry out in discomfort, criticizing the message and the messenger. Either the pastor has pushed too hard. Or perhaps there's something wrong. In that case, I say, "My friend, we're in need of the Great Physician because it's not supposed to hurt there." Ben Rogers.

When Robert Louis Stevenson was a boy he once remarked to his mother, "Momma, you can't be good without praying." "How do you know, Robert?" she asked. "Because I've tried!"

LaPLACE , La. - A fight over church leadership and finances spilled out of the pulpit and on to YouTube in LaPlace . The fight at the St. Michael Baptist Church was caught on camera and later uploaded to the Internet. "It's a disgrace. It's uncalled for," parishioner Vanessa Jones said. Members said the fight was the result of a dispute that started with questions about the church's finances. "I think they have a lot of preachers using the church for personal gain," parishioner Albert Robertson said. "We asked questions regarding finances and it was told to us that, 'If you don't like what I'm giving you, go back where you came from,'" parishioner Edna Robertson said. Jones said those that did raise questions were put out of the church. She said the decision affected 49 people. The distraught parishioner said her family helped found the church at its first location in Kenner . "I know they are turned over in their gra...

They say this is the busiest generation that ever lived. Todays's average adult functions at the same pace of a corporate CEO of 20 years ago. We have schedules for schedules, the day is filled with multi-tasking and there is rarely any down time. And work is more stressful, more demanding than ever before. We are producing more productivity at work with less employees. Families are further apart yet we are still maintaining contact through added travel. Road trips are constant, sporting events never ending, games, fund raising and tournaments. Everything work, family and church event seems to be mandatory, pressure to attend the extravengenza, hyped up birthday parties for 5 year olds, never seems to end. Barmitsfas, kindergarden graduation parties, that seem like post graduate school celebrations. The pre-bridal shower to the real bridal shower to the wedding shower to the wedding practice to the wedding ceremony to the baby shower to the welcoming home shower. The staff parties...

An expert is someone widely recognized as a reliable source. An expert, more generally, is a person with extensive knowledge or ability based on research, experience, or occupation; and in a particular area of study. Experts are called in for advice on their respective subject, but they do not always agree on the particulars of a field of study. An expert can be believed, by virtue of credential , training , education , profession , publication or experience , to have special knowledge of a subject beyond that of the average person. Experts have a prolonged or intense experience through practice and education in a particular field. In specific fields, the definition of expert is well established by consensus and therefore it is not always necessary for individuals to have a professional or academic qualification for them to be accepted as an expert, but rather on many accounts, it is more  the development of expert amd more so day it comes through long periods of deliberate ...

One of Wycliffe’s followers, John Hus, actively promoted Wycliffe’s ideas: that people should be permitted to read the Bible in their own language, and they should oppose the tyranny of the Roman church that threatened anyone possessing a non-Latin Bible with execution. Hus was burned at the stake in~1415, with Wycliffe’s manuscript Bibles used as kindling for the fire. The last words of John Hus were that, “ in 100 years, God will raise up a man whose calls for reform cannot be suppressed. ” Almost exactly 100 years later, in~1517, Martin Luther nailed his famous 95 Theses of Contention (a list of 95 issues of heretical theology and crimes of the Roman Catholic Church) into the church door at Wittenberg. The prophecy of Hus had come true! Martin Luther went on to be the first person to translate and publish the Bible in the commonly-spoken dialect of the German people; a translation more appealing than previous German Biblical translations. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs records that in th...

God seems to do nothing of Himself which He can possibly delegate to His creatures. He commands us to do slowly and blunderingly what He could do perfectly and in the twinkling of an eye.  C.S. Lewis, Studies in Theology

It was the first Sunday for the new preacher that had recently arrived at the eagerly awaiting church. The members greatly anticipated to hear the Preacher’s first sermon. After the service many of the parishioners came to the Preacher and commended him, “well done Pastor”, “excellent sermon”,  “wonderful message from the Lord Reverend”, said another. The following Sunday the new Preacher preached the same sermon and the congregation just smiled gracefully, “wonderful sermon Pastor, “wonderful Word of the Lord”. The third Sunday, the young Preacher preached the same sermon, but this time he received no comments. Being concerned and knowing the young preacher was young and inexperienced; a few concerned people in the church got together and gathered a few sermons together from some books and the internet. Embarrassed for the young and inexperienced Pastor they gently told him that they understood he probably did not have more than one sermon so they graciously presented him with a ...

After 13 hours of site visits and meetings in four different states, you think Thomas G. Stemberg would be peaked, indeed, the 54 year old founder of the Staples Office Supply Chain lets out a quiet grunt as he carries his suitcase up a flight of stairs to a Gaithersburg , MD. Hotel Suite, but tuckered out? Stemberg, his shirt half tucked in, is just getting started. He apologizes for his tardiness to two executives from “Olly Shoes”, a children’s shoe store chain Stemberg co-founded in 2001. Still Chairman of Staples, Stemberg cut his workweek there in half, to 50 hours, after finally anointing a Chief Executive in February 2002. But he’s still making good on his vow to visit every story around the world (1,200 down, 300 to go).  We can look at this man’s life and criticize him for giving his life and soul for Business and money, but one thing we cannot criticize Thomas Stemberg for is giving any less than 110% to what he believes in. Question is, what do you believe in and how ...

On March 30, 1981, John Hinckley Jr. set out to win actress Jodie Foster's heart. As "the greatest love offering in the history of the world," the 25-year-old attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan outside the Washington Hilton hotel. The bullet malfunctioned and failed to explode on impact, seriously wounding but not killing Reagan. The youngest of three children, Hinckley was born in Ardmore, Oklahoma, on May 29, 1955. The family moved several times, first to Texas, then to Colorado. Like Reagan's mother, Hinckley's mother also belonged to the Disciples of Christ; his father became a born-again Christian in 1977. A well-adjusted, privileged child, as a teenager Hinckley became withdrawn and obsessed with public figures, including John Lennon. In 1976 Hinckley left home for Hollywood, hoping to become a famous songwriter. In Hollywood, Hinckley saw Martin Scorsese's film "Taxi Driver" at least 15 times. A confirmed loner, he apparently identified ...

When you go to a doctor for your annual check-up, he or she will often begin to poke, prod, and press various places, all the while asking, "Does this hurt? How about this?" If you cry out in pain, one of two things has happened. Either the doctor has pushed too hard, without the right sensitivity. Or, more likely, there's something wrong, and the doctor will say, "We'd better do some more tests. It's not supposed to hurt there!" So it is when pastors preach on financial responsibility, and certain members cry out in discomfort, criticizing the message and the messenger. Either the pastor has pushed too hard. Or perhaps there's something wrong. In that case, I say, "My friend, we're in need of the Great Physician because it's not supposed to hurt there." Ben Rogers.

     A young woman asked for an appointment with her pastor to talk with him about a besetting sin about which she was worried. When she saw him, she said, "Pastor, I have become aware of a sin in my life which I cannot control. Every time I am at church I begin to look around at the other women, and I realize that I am the prettiest one in the whole congregation. None of the others can compare with my beauty. What can I do about this sin?"      The pastor laughed out loud and said, "Mary, that's not a sin, why that's just a mistake, you're far from the prettiest woman, not even close, don't worry about it!"      Mary responded, "Pastor I have just become aware of a 2nd besetting sin which I cannot control." the Pastor asked, " oh yeah and what is that?" The young lady responded, "hatred, hatred for you" and stormed out of his office"

W.A. Criswell tells of an ambitious young man who told his pastor he'd promised God a tithe of his income. They prayed for God to bless his career. At that time he was making $40.00 per week and tithing $4.00. In a few years his income increased and he was tithing $500.00 per week. He called on the pastor to see if he could be released from his tithing promise, it was too costly now. The pastor replied, "I don't see how you can be released from your promise, but we can ask God to reduce your income to $40.00 a week, then you'd have no problem tithing $4.00."

Someone has calculated how a typical lifespan of 70 years is spent. Here is the estimate: Sleep................23 years...........32.9% Work.................16 years...........22.8% TV....................8 years...........11.4% Eating................6 years............8.6% Travel................6 years............8.6% Leisure.............4.5 years............6.5% Illness...............4 years............5.7% Dressing..............2 years............2.8% Religion............0.5 years............0.7% Total................70 years............100%   Eternity will be for a quadrillion years times a quadrillion years and somehow, the average American expects to make Heaven their eternal abode with a .7% investment while they were on earth. We are expecting to spend a quadrillion years in eternity for .5 years of our life invested in God's Kingdom on earth. Somehow, the math does not seem right. We spend more time dressing than in the things of G...

An interesting map is on display in the British Museum in London . It's an old mariner's chart, drawn in 1525 , outlining the North American coastline and adjacent waters. The cartographer made some intriguing notations on areas of the map that represented regions not yet explored ( Mayflower landed in 1620 ) . He wrote: "Here be giants," "Here be fiery scorpions," and "Here be dragons." Eventually, the map came into the possession of Sir John Franklin, a British explorer in the early 1800s. Scratching out the fearful inscriptions, he wrote these words across the map: "Here is God."

In order to uncover the processes that destroys marriages & relationships, marital researchers studied couples, over the course of years, and even decades, and retrace the star-crossed steps of those who have split up back to their wedding day. What they are discovering is unsettling. None of the factors one would guess might predict a couple's durability actually does: • It has nothing to do with how in love a newlywed couple say they are. • Has nothing to do with how much affection they exchange; • or how much they fight or what they fight about. When psychologists Cliff Notarius and Howard Markman of the University of Denver studied newlyweds over the first decade of marriage, they found a very subtle but telling difference at the beginning of the relationships. Among couples who would ultimately stay together, only 5 out of every 100 comments made about each other were putdowns. Among couples who would later split, 10 of every 100 comments were insu...

There's a story about a kindergarten teacher who asked little Jonnie what he was going to draw for his art project, he said, “I hate drawing, I’m not at drawing, why can’t I do something else?” The kindergarten teacher quickly responded and let the boy know who was in charge. She said, “listen here young man, you are going to pick a subject, you are going to write about your subject and then you are going to draw a picture to go along with your subject and you are not leaving until you do this assignment, you understand me!? “Yes", little Jonnie replied. Johnnie wrote briefly, put his pencil down and began to look around as if he was done. The teacher noticing Johnnie was still not writing while the other students where still drawing, asked him, " Jonnie, what did I tell you?" Jonnie replied, “I know, I did , I’m done already." “Really”, replied his teacher, let me see, what you have. She picked up the paper. “My subject that I want ...

PARIS , France -- An elderly man who was declared dead only to be found to be alive after his body had been sent to the mortuary, has died -- again. The unnamed 68-year-old Frenchman was mistakenly declared dead last week at a rest home near the southwest city of Bordeaux . A doctor called to the home issued a death certificate and the 'body' was then sent to a funeral parlour in nearby Macau , where it was refrigerated for five hours. An employee at the funeral parlor was preparing the body for burial when he discovered signs of life. "When I ... opened the cover, I saw that his stomach was moving," said Laurent Besson on France-2 television. "I don't deny that I jumped." The elderly man was transferred to the Bordeaux University Hospital and placed in intensive care.   This elderly man is not the only to be buried by people and pronounced dead, when in fact He is "alive and well".   Many want to declare that G...

John Edwards found an enthusiastic following for his 2008 presidential bid, espousing a populist call for economic justice and the restoration of “ America ’s moral leadership.” To loyalists, it was more than political angle; Edwards campaigned at great personal sacrifice, traveling the country while his wife battled cancer. But scoops by a supermarket tabloid contrasted his high-mind rhetoric with base private behavior, the National Enquirer reported Edwards was having an affair with Rielle Hunter, (while his wife was struggling with cancer). Rielle Hunter was a former campaign worker, who was then pregnant. Sources told us Edwards was the father of the baby. Confronted with the report, Edwards lied, emphatically. He called the story “lies” and “tabloid trash.” He then engineered a cover-up, convincing an aide to publicly claim paternity of the baby. Six months later, the~Enquirer~caught Edwards in a Los Angeles area hotel visiting Hunter and the baby. Up to that point, political ins...

The year was 1920. The scene was the examining board for selecting missionaries. Standing before the board was a young man named Oswald Smith. One dream dominated his heart. He wanted to be a missionary. Over and over again, he prayed, "Lord, I want to go as a missionary for you. Open a door of service for me." Now, at last, his prayer would be answered. When the examination was over, the board turned Oswald Smith down. He did not meet their qualifications. He failed the test. Oswald Smith had set his direction, but now life gave him a detour. What would he do? As Oswald Smith prayed, God planted another idea in his heart. If he could not go as a missionary, he would build a church which could send out missionaries. And that is what he did. Oswald Smith pastored The People's Church in Toronto , Canada , which sent out more missionaries than any other church at that time. Oswald Smith brought God into the situation, and God transformed his detour into a main thoroughfar...

David McCullough in his book Mornings on Horseback tells this story about young Teddy Roosevelt: "Mittie (his mother) had found he was so afraid of the Madison Square Church that he refused to set foot inside if alone. He was terrified, she discovered, of something called the 'zeal.' It was crouched in the dark corners of the church ready to jump at him, he said. When she asked what a zeal might be, he said he was not sure, but thought it was probably a large animal like an alligator or a dragon. He had heard the minister read about if from the Bible. Using a concordance, she read him every passage she could find containing the word ZEAL, until suddenly, very excited, Teddy Roosevelt said, wait, stop, that’s the one, that’s the one! It was a verse from the Book of John, 2:17: 'And his disciples remembered that it was written, 'The ZEAL of thine house has eaten me up"'

JACKS’ MOTTO “Why do today, what I can do tomorrow,” That’s right Jack said, “why do today, what you can do tomorrow” But a thought came to Jack that never occurred to him before, “Unless there’s no tomorrow…then that would be disastrous!” Troubled by this thought, Jack decided to pray, “Lord is tomorrow coming?” It’s not for you to know the future, the Lord responded, why do you want to know? Jack answered, “Because if I know tomorrow is coming then I will wait” And what if tomorrow is not coming? Then I will have to do it today, Jack said. Lord Responded, “Let me see your list of all that you would have to do today, if there’s no tomorrow, then I will let you know. Jack thought for a moment and began his list: Well first I would have to call my dad and tell him I forgive him because I know that whole scripture, you know, if I don’t forgive others you won’t forgive me, yadiyada…So I’d better do that! Then I would have to pay a visit to our church treasurer, ...

Watch your thoughts; they become words Watch your words; they become actions Watch your actions; they become habits Watch your habits; they become character Watch your character; it becomes your destiny. Frank Outlaw

James Brown, PASTOR of Evangeline Church , Wildsville , LA Decided to take flying lessons. On one particular lesson, he remembers the day, the instructor asked him to do an odd thing, he writes: My instructor told me to put the plane into a steep and extended dive. I was totally unprepared for what was about to happen. After a brief time the engine stalled, and the plane began to plunge out-of-control. It soon became evident that the instructor was not going to help me at all. After a few seconds, which seemed like eternity, my mind began to function again. I quickly corrected the situation. Immediately I turned to the instructor and began to vent my fearful frustrations on him. He very calmly said to me, "There is no position you can get this airplane into that I cannot get you out of. If you want to learn to fly, go up there and do it again." At that moment God seemed to be saying to me, "Remember this. As you serve Me, there is no situation you can get...

Ever sinning, Ever judging Ever cursing Ever slandering, If I could count, My feet, my eyes and my hands combined, Cannot amount to the sin of my lips. If ever in life you ask me for a tip, The savvy and wise, Would quickly advise, To get the scissors and clip and clip, clip, clip ‘till there’s nothing left, Of my Red Shiny Lips!