Do
you remember the story of the ugly duckling? He didn’t walk like a
duck, he didn’t quack like a duck, and he didn’t look like a duck,
but he lived among the ducks in the barnyard. Then one fine day, he
heard a call from above. He had never heard it before, but in him
was an instinct that answered that call. In the sky he saw a speck.
The speck became a long trail. The call became louder and more
insistent. The ugly duckling began to flap his wings. He found that
he could fly. Up above the barnyard, higher and higher he flew, to
answer that call and to join that company. He disappeared from the
barnyard. The ducks never saw him again. They said that he died,
but we know better. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their
strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles.”

_______________
J. Michael Shannon is professor of preaching at Cincinnati Bible College in Cincinnati, OH.


View more sermon illustrations for inspiration for your next message.

Share this content with your peers!

About The Author

A third generation preacher, Mike Shannon is Professor of Preaching at Cincinnati Bible Seminary of Cincinnati Christian University. He has served as a preaching minister, church planter, and college professor. His most recent preaching ministry was at the historic First Christian Church of Johnson City, Tennessee. In his nearly two decades at Cincinnati Christian University, Mike has served as both professor and Dean of the Seminary. He has also been an adjunct professor at Milligan College and Northern Kentucky University. Mike is the author or co-author of several books.

Related Posts

Michaelangelo
started forty-four statues, but completed only fourteen. In a museum in Italy,
you can see his thirty unfinished works. There are huge chunks of marble with
only a hand, or a foot, or a leg completed. Are our lives like those unfinished
statues? Is the potential for beauty and purpose still locked up within us as
those figures are locked in the stone?

_______________
J.
Michael Shannon is professor of preaching at Cincinnati Bible College in Cincinnati,
OH.


View more sermon illustrations for inspiration for your next message.

About The Author

A third generation preacher, Mike Shannon is Professor of Preaching at Cincinnati Bible Seminary of Cincinnati Christian University. He has served as a preaching minister, church planter, and college professor. His most recent preaching ministry was at the historic First Christian Church of Johnson City, Tennessee. In his nearly two decades at Cincinnati Christian University, Mike has served as both professor and Dean of the Seminary. He has also been an adjunct professor at Milligan College and Northern Kentucky University. Mike is the author or co-author of several books.

Related Posts

Michelangelo started
forty-four statues, but completed only fourteen. In a museum in Italy, you can
see his thirty unfinished works. There are huge chunks of marble with only a
hand, or a foot, or a leg completed. Are our lives like those unfinished statues?
Is the potential for beauty and purpose still locked up within us as those figures
are locked in the stone?

____________________________

Michael Shannon,
Preaching January/February 2004


View more sermon illustrations for inspiration for your next message.

About The Author

A third generation preacher, Mike Shannon is Professor of Preaching at Cincinnati Bible Seminary of Cincinnati Christian University. He has served as a preaching minister, church planter, and college professor. His most recent preaching ministry was at the historic First Christian Church of Johnson City, Tennessee. In his nearly two decades at Cincinnati Christian University, Mike has served as both professor and Dean of the Seminary. He has also been an adjunct professor at Milligan College and Northern Kentucky University. Mike is the author or co-author of several books.

Related Posts