April 21st Drive On

Our Daily Leadership Message Scripture and Quotes

Leaders Message

Weekly Nuggets

• Opportunity may knock only once, but temptation leans on the doorbell.
• It is not what happens to you but how you respond to what happens to you.
• Life consists not in holding good cards, but in playing those cards you hold well.
• We all at certain times in our lives find ourselves broken. True strength is found in picking up the pieces.
• A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.
• Remind yourself that you don’t have to do what everyone else is doing.
• Happiness doesn’t result from what we get, but from what we give.
• In life you are either a passenger or a pilot, it’s your choice.
• If you want something you’ve never had then you’ve got to do something you’ve never done.
• You’ll be surprised to know how far you can go from the point where you thought it was the end.

If you can’t do great big things, do great little things.

But if you can change your perspective, then even the little thing will become a great thing.

Daily Scripture

Philippians 4:8

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Galatians 5:22-23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Romans 12:2

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect

Daily Quotes

• Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happywould lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better to take things as they come along with patience and equanimity.” Carl Jung
• “He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe.” Marcus Aurelius
• “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” Dalai Lama

Leaders Leading Leaders

Charles Plumb, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, was a jet pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience.

One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, “You’re Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!” “How in the world did you know that?” asked Plumb. “I packed your parachute,” the man replied. Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. The man pumped his hand and said, “I guess it worked!” Plumb assured him, “It sure did. If your chute hadn’t worked, I wouldn’t be here today.”

Plumb couldn’t sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says, “I kept wondering what he might have looked like in a Navy uniform: a white hat, a bib in the back, and bell-bottom trousers. I wonder how many times I might have seen him and not even said ‘Good morning,’ ‘how are you?’ or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor.” Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent on a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn’t know.

Now, Plumb asks his audience, “Who’s packing your parachute?” Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day. Plumb also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy territory he needed his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute, and his spiritual parachute. He called on all these supports before reaching safety.

Sometimes in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is really important. We may fail to say hello, please, or thank you, congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them, give a compliment, or just do something nice for no reason. As you go through this week, this month, this year, recognize people who pack your parachute.