Last Sunday my Pastor talked about what insurance companies consider an act of God versus what Christians consider an act of God. Insurance companies see hurricanes, floods, and lightning strikes as acts of God. They use these natural occurrences to explain why they are not going to pay a claim, even though they probably should. Those that believe in God consider a baby being born to a woman who was told she was barren, becoming cancer free after being told you have six months to live, and graduating with a PhD after being told you have a learning disability as acts of God. “It is interesting to me” my Pastor said, “that the insurance companies see acts of God in the negative but those who believe only see acts of God in the positive.”
This sermon started me to thinking about how many outside of our Toastmasters organization view acts of Toastmasters versus how those who are members consider acts of Toastmasters. Non-members see fear of public speaking, making mistakes and looking foolish in front of people as acts of Toastmasters. They use these excuses to decide why they are not going to join a club even though they probably should. Those of us who are members of Toastmasters see speaking with confidence, becoming better leaders, better listeners, better writers and networking as acts of Toastmasters. It is interesting to me that those outside the organization see acts of Toastmasters in the negative but those who are members only see the positive.
Now, I am in no way comparing acts of God to acts of Toastmasters but you have to admit that people are people everywhere you go and those things we don’t know much about we instantly categorize them as negative.
How do we get those non-members to become members you may ask? By continuing to perform our acts of Toastmasters.