The following are some terrible decisions made by a few famous people.
“The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon.” — Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary to Queen Victoria 1873.
“The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a ‘C,’ the idea must be feasible.” — A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith’s paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)
“I’m just glad it’ll be Clark Gable who’s falling on his face and not Gary Cooper.” — Gary Cooper on his decision to reject the leading role in ‘Gone With The Wind’.
“So we went to Atari and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we’ll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we’ll come work for you.’ And they said, ‘No.’ So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, ‘Hey, we don’t need you. You haven’t got through college yet.'” — Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and H-P interested in his and Steve Wozniak’s personal computer.
And last but not least:
“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” — Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977
Bad decisions have bad consequences. And nowhere is this more true than when we make bad spiritual decisions. When a man or woman fails to make the right spiritual decision, a life of consequences follows that affects them and all those whom they love.
One man in the Bible is an example of someone who made right decisions. He was not a preacher, not pastor. Not a “professional Christian” not clergy at all. In fact he was a government official. His name was Daniel. He was a Hebrew who served in the government of Babylon from
605-536 BC. He was miles ahead of most people. Instead of his youth being wasted in sowing wild oats, or “finding” himself…. He was committed to His God. Daniel believed that living for God was the best life there could be! Because he believed that, he made right decisions. When brought to Babylon and presented with the decision to not uphold the Law of Moses he had been taught, he chose living for God.
Daniel 1:8-9 (NASB)
But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s choice food or with the wine which he drank; so he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself. Now God granted Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the commander of the officials……
He was only a young teenager when he made this decision. What courage!
You and I need to believe that serving God is the best lifestyle there is. Eventually, when we do, this God gives us favor with people.
I have heard people say, “If I really serve the Lord and do right, I can never be successful..” That is false. The Bible says:
Proverbs 16:7 (NIV)
When a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him.
It may seem at first that you sacrifice for living a godly life, and you will, but later on the favor of God begins to show up in your life. God begins to bring you into favorable situations, because He can trust you.
Seahawks head coach Mike Holmgren looks back at a heartbreaking moment when he was cut from the New York Jets as backup quarterback to Joe Namath. But that disappointment directed him to a bigger plan.
“I had committed my life to Jesus Christ when I was 11, but in my pursuit to make a name for myself in football, I left God next to my dust-covered Bible. After getting cut from the Jets, I pulled out my Bible and found comfort in a verse I had memorized in Sunday school: ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths’ (Proverbs 3:5-6). I asked Jesus Christ to take control again. My priorities in life are faith, family, and football–in that order.”
In 2005, he joined an elite group of coaches, becoming the fifth coach in NFL history to take two different teams to the Super Bowl (1996 & 1997 Green Bay, 2005 Seattle). In that group are Bill Parcells, Dan Reeves, Don Shula and Dick Vermeil.
As Coach Holmgren found out, serving God is the best!