Devotional Thoughts and Teaching Illustrations About Imagination/Dream
Devotional Thoughts
Tom was only four years old when his father died. His mother couldn't support Tom and his brother Jim, so she put them in a foster home. Tom grew up believing that everybody needs to find a dream that they can be excited about and that you may have to try lots of different things to find that dream. He worked, trying to sell newspapers and magazines. He set up pins in a bowling alley. He joined the Marines. He went to seminary and he would study to become an architect. But finally, he would decide that he wanted to own a restaurant. It was in 1960 that Tom and his brother Jim borrowed $900.00 and bought a pizzeria named Dominick's. It was a year later that Tom bought out his brothers, half of his business, by trading him, his Volkswagen Beetle. Tom worked hard, really hard. In 1965, he renamed his store Domino's Pizza when Tom Monaghan retired at the age of 61, he had 6100 stores around the world. And when you talk to Tom, he will clearly tell you that he's had three priorities. God, his family and Domino's Pizza. And what makes him happy is working in a restaurant and helping others. Everybody needs to have a dream in life. And when you find it, don't be afraid to give yourself to it. You think about that..
Fear
When you fear that the worst will happen, your own thoughts may help to bring it about. “Fear,” a writer once said, “Is the wrong use of imagination. It is anticipating the worst, not the best that can happen.”
A salesman, driving on a lonely country road one dark and rainy night had a flat. He opened the trunk—no lug wrench. The light from a farmhouse could be seen dimly up the road. He set out on foot through the driving rain. Surely the farmer would have a lug wrench he could borrow, he thought. Of course, it was late at night—the farmer would be asleep in his warm, dry bed. Maybe he wouldn’t answer the door. and even if he did, he’d be angry at being awakened in the middle of the night. The salesman, picking his way blindly in the dark, stumbled on. By now his shoes and clothing were soaked. Even if the farmer did answer his knock, he would probably shout something like, “What’s the big idea waking me up at this hour!” This thought make the salesman angry. What right did that farmer have to refuse him the loan of a lug wrench? After all, here he was stranded in the middle of nowhere, soaked to the skin. The farmer was a selfish clod—no doubt about that!
The salesman finally reached the house, and banged loudly on the door. A light went on inside, and a window opened above. “Who is it?” a voice called out. “You know darn well who it is,” yelled the salesman, his face white with anger. “It’s me! You can keep your blasted lug wrench. I wouldn’t borrow it now if you had the last one on earth!”
--Bits and Pieces, May, 1991, p. 23
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