quotes of the week #28

On this 28th version of "Quotes of the Week", i think our #1 quote of the week points to the importance of these posts...

"The people you listen to are the preview of the future you." - Jeff Henderson, Campus Director @ Buckhead Church (And a crazier reader than me)

***We ALL need to be listening to awesome people! i try to listen to TONS of them. that's why i jot down awesome things they say here and there... as i go through my week... then i share the best ones with all of you guys. i would like to take the best from a lot of people and maybe that will eventually be the future me? i think Jeff's quote could be like the "motto" for "Quotes of the Week" here on renown.

"Whether you prevail or fail, endure or die, depends more on what you do to yourself than on what the world does to you." - Jim Collins, author

"What you are shouts so loudly in my ears I cannot hear what you say." – Ralph Waldo Emerson, late author

“You have permission to mess up. If you’re not messing up you’re probably not risking enough.” – Chris Brown, pastor [it's very liberating having a leader telling you these kind of things! he followed up with = “I want us to make mistakes, I just don’t want us to make the same ones every time.”]

"Some people are so invested in their fear and hatred that peace is the most threatening thing they can imagine." - Dalia Hassan, from the final season of 24

“Why are we going to save for potential future need when we are surrounded by present need?” – David Platt, pastor & author 

[this is an absolutely GREAT question! and in a moment of transparency with you... i can't come up with a good answer. other than "Dave and the generation before me tell me i should." i wonder if that answer will fly?]

“Kids don't understand that other kids starve. They learn it's true as teens & learn not to care as adults. The world numbs us to hurt.” – John Acuff, a usually humorous author... but a serious one on this day

"The best thing a leader can bring to their team is their energy." - Bill Hybels, pastor and author [that's why i can't have meetings on Monday mornings & why i have to go to bed early like a little kid on Saturday nights.]

"I would try desperately to think about my childhood, but I couldn't. The war memories had formed a barrier." - Ishmael Beah, former child soldier and author of A Long Way Gone 

[many haunting memories from reading this book. i literally woke up in the mornings feeling scared and afraid and depressed. i can't imagine how these "former children" must feel.]

"When you hear that a house is in foreclosure, don’t think “deadbeat”; say a prayer instead." – Matt Rich, a smart guy and a friend

[why are we so quick to judge people and not just love? when was the last time we prayed for someone in a tight financial spot instead of think about what they could/should have done. we're so arrogant we don't even care to know their circumstances!]

"the narrower the vision the fewer decisions you have to make." - Andy Stanley, author, pastor, and strategic genius

"I learned I needed to trust God more than my theology about God." - Brian McLaren, former pastor and author

[many of us need to let that sink in for a few days]

Which quote do you love and which do you hate?

THOUGHTS?