Sermon Illustrations

HOPE BRINGS SURVIVAL

Viktor Frankl, Austrian psychologist, survived death camps of Nazi Germany. Frankl was determined to know why some survived and some did not. He looked at several factors: health, vitality, family, survival skills, intelligence. He concluded that none of these factors was primarily responsible. But the single most significant factor was a sense of future vision--the conviction that they had a mission to perform, some important work left to do. Survivors of POW camps in Vietnam reported similar experiences: a compelling, future-oriented vision was the primary force that kept many of them alive.

(Source: Stephen Covey, First Things First, Contributed by: Joel Smith. From a sermon by Gary Stebbins, "2009: A Year of Purpose" 1/13/2009)

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