Legacy Youth Ministry Resources

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Misery on a Million Dollars a Week,

A great illustration to show how tons of money, without fulfilling relationships, doesn't bring happiness... Christina Onassis was born into the lap of luxury. Her dad was Aristotle Onassis, the richest man on earth at the time. She grew up on the largest yacht in the world, which was named after her: the "Christina." They would see the great sites of the world from this luxury ship, which had a large heated pool and a crew of 60 to cater to their every whim. She wintered in Paris and later lived luxuriously on an island they owned in Greece. When she got out on her own, she had a tax-free income of a million dollars a week! If she wanted it, she could get it. For example, she liked Diet Coke, but it wasn't available locally. Also, she felt that even though it was canned, it lost some of its freshness if stored too long. Her solution? She paid a private jet to fly ten cases of Diet Coke from America to her European home every month, to the tune of $3,000.00 per case! Sounds like a fun life. Right? Think again. In the middle of all this luxury, her relationships made her life miserable. While she was growing up, her mom had an open affair on the yacht. Her dad retaliated by having his own open affair and divorcing his wife. She'd never get over these strained relationships. She'd get so mad that she'd throw her dad's clothes out of portals into the ocean. She couldn't get along with her parents or the new stepparents, often getting even by bringing them trouble. Neither could she get along with her own string of husbands. Eventually a miserable Christina attempted suicide. Her sister Tina succeeded. Those who knew Christina weren't surprised to hear that she died at the age of 37. She relied on drugs to get her through each day and probably died of an overdose. (Written by Steve Miller. Source: article by Jeff Woloson at The Divas Site.)

Stephen King Takes Criticism

Stephen was a 10th grader when he took a job as a sports reporter for his hometown newspaper. His first assignment was to write a story about his school's basketball team. A player had broken a scoring record, making it big news in a small town. So he wrote the story and turned it into the editor, who proceeded to put lines through everything that he thought unnecessary. Stephen could have gotten mad at the editor for tearing apart his hard work. He could have ignored his comments, thinking that he knew quite well how to write. Instead, he loved it, taking everything to heart. Looking back, Stephen says that this editor's ten minutes of criticism taught him more than any of his English Literature, composition courses, fiction courses, or poetry courses in high school and college! He kept on writing and became one of the most successful authors today, Stephen King. (Written by Steve Miller, information from Stephen King, On Writing, Pocket Books, 2000, pp. 56-58) Although I don't know what Stephen King thinks about the Bible, I can tell you that he greatly benefited by following one of its principles. And the same can be said of many successful business leaders, who claim that one of the great keys to their success is getting input and criticism from their customers and those who work for them. ?Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.? (Proverbs 12:1) ?Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.? (Proverbs 15:22) ?Listen to advise and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise.? (Proverbs 19:20)

How Many "F's" Can You Find?

Here's a fascinating test. Quickly count the "F's" in the following text: FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE- SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIF- IC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS Now, how many did you come up with? Three? If you did, you're like most people. Try again. The total is six! Look at it more carefully. For some reason the brain has difficulty processing the "F's" in the word "of." The point? Some things that should be obvious are difficult to see. Just like most people are blind to three of the "F's" above, all of us tend to have blind spots in our personalities and people skills that hurt us in our relationships. They are easy to spot in other people -- friendship busters like moose breath, saying dumb or embarrassing stuff, body odor, and I could go on and on. The cure for blind spots? Get input from other people who'll be honest with you about your shortcomings. As Solomon said, ?Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.? (Proverbs 15:22) ?Listen to advise and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise.? (Proverbs 19:20) (Written by Steve Miller. From Legacy Devotions.)

Charles Schwab Pays More

"I?ll pay more for a man?s ability to express himself than for any other quality he may possess." Charles Schwab

On Dogs and Fleas

?If you lay down with dogs, you?ll pick up fleas.?

IBM on People Management

You can foul up on almost anything, and you?ll get another chance. But if you screw up, even a little bit, on people management, you?re gone. That?s it, top performer or not. IBM Executive

Skills Aren?t Everything

A Carnegie Foundation study once showed that only 15 percent of a business person?s success could be attributed to job knowledge and technical skills. An essential element but a small overall contribution. It showed that 85 percent of one?s success would be determined by what they call ?ability to deal with people? and ?attitude.? (Joe Griffith, Speaker's Library of Business Quotes)

MacArthur Cared About People

Douglas MacArthur is well known, but few know that he was not only a great general but was also very adept at human relations. He had an aide wire a report of every visiting dignitary?s background and interest. The next time the dignitary returned, MacArthur was able to make the visitor feel important and flattered by all that he remembered about him. (Joe Griffith, Speaker's Library of Business Quotes)

Politeness is a Key

Politeness is the hallmark of the gentleman and the gentle-woman. No characteristic will so help one to advance, whether in business or society, as politeness. Competition is so keen today, there is so much standardized merchandise, there are so many places where one?s wants can be supplied, that the success or failure of a business can depend on the ability to please customers or clients. Courtesy ? another name for politeness ? costs nothing, but can gain much both for an individual and for an organization. B.C. Forbes

Carnegie on a Man?s Name

Remember that a man?s name is, to him, the sweetest and most important sound in any language. Dale Carnegie

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