Chuck Swindoll
has a close friend who spent a day at San Diego’s SeaWorld. “While he and
his wife were near the main mall, they saw something unusual in the distance:
a bunch of ducks coming toward them … on roller skates! They could do it,
my friend said, but as they got closer, he could tell that they didn’t have
their hearts in it.

“Some folks
are ducks on roller skates; they can do what they do, but they don’t have their
hearts in it.”

 – Dallas Seminary Daily Devotional, 9/15/03


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“No one keeps up his enthusiasm automatically. Enthusiasm must be nourished with new actions, new aspirations, new efforts, new vision. It is one’s own fault if his enthusiasm is gone. He has failed to feed it.”

-Anonymous


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Enthusiasm is so important for pastors and Christian workers. I think it was Spurgeon who was asked,
“How come so many people come and hear you preach?”
He said, “I guess because I’m enthusiastic.”
“How do you get enthusiastic?”
“Well, I’ll tell you how to do it. Get a can of kerosene, pour it all over you, light yourself on fire, and they’ll come watch you burn.”


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Alan Loy McGinnis, in Bringing Out the Best in People, writes:

A proven motivator will make it to the top before a proven genius. When Andrew Carnegie hired Charles Schwab to administer his far-flung steel empire, Schwab became the first man in history to earn a million dollars a year while in someone else’s employ. Schwab was once asked what equipped him to earn $3000 a day. Was it his knowledge of steel manufacturing? “Nonsense,” snorted Schwab. “I have lots of men working for me who know more about steel than I do.” Schwab was paid such a handsome amount largely because of his ability to inspire other people. “I consider my ability to arouse enthusiasm among the men the greatest asset I possess,” he said, and any leader who can do that can go almost anywhere and name almost any price.


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