Sermon Illustrations

How do you maintain humility? Success can sometimes dazzle you in the achieving, but there’s usually someone around to help you keep perspective. TV anchorman Tom Brokaw has a story about that:

Brokaw was wandering through Bloomingdale’s in New York one day, shortly after he was promoted to co-host on the Today Show. The Today Show was a pinnacle of sorts for Brokaw after years of work, first in Omaha, then for NBC in Los Angeles and Washington, and he was feeling good about himself.

He noticed a man watching him closely. The man kept staring at him and finally, when the man approached him, Brokaw was sure he was about to reap the first fruits of being a New York television celebrity. The man pointed his finger and said, "Tom Brokaw, right?" "Right," said Brokaw. "You used to do the morning news on KMTV in Omaha, right?" "That’s right," said Brokaw, getting set for the accolades to follow.

"I knew it the minute I spotted you," the fellow said. Then he paused and added, "Whatever happened to you?"