Here is a great article about Churchill’s speech given during the Battle of Britain.

I come back to this speech pretty often, and in fact was listening to it last week.  When you are committed to doing hard things, and breaking new ground in the inner city, it is good to listen to the voices from the past that attempted difficult things and succeeded.  Greatness is contagious.  I think that’s why spending time in the scripture, meditating on the lives and words of the greatest men and women of world history is critical.  You are raised up to a new level of faith and expectation.

Last week I attended my godson’s high school graduation.  There were no prayers, although the program called the opening words “Invocation” and the closing words “Benediction.”  There was no reference to anything higher than current TV shows and popular culture.  The only charge given to the students was be careful how much time you spend on Facebook.  These are incredibly trying times for the world and our nation.  This school and probably many others, encouraged these students to be “consumers” and to set their aim “across.”  Besides being rainy, it was a downer.  You will only soar as high as your vision.

Sadly, we have leaders today who have no where to look but around.  They have no higher vision than survival, self-promotion, and self actualization.  Two weeks ago I was at a conference where one of the presenters said that modern society is about “Looking good and feeling good rather than being good and doing good.”  I am afraid that we have discovered this tendency in our current president.  He is no Churchill, and he knows it, and that’s why he got rid of the bust.  Mediocrity (or worse, ineptitude) cannot bear being reminded of greatness.

Here is a clip of Churchill’s speech: