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Attend to Detail
by Terry Dashner
Attention to Detail
Terry Dashner
In 1066 one of the most decisive battles in the history of the world was fought. William, Duke or Normandy, ventured an invasion of England in the face of a formidable opponent. But one of the reasons that gave him the confidence to try such a risky undertaking was that he had a recently invented technological edge that the English did not. That edge was the stirrup. While the English rode to the battlefield, they fought on foot; conventional wisdom being that the horse was too unstable a platform from which to fight. But the Norman cavalry, standing secure in their stirrups, were able to ride down the English, letting the weight of their charging horses punch their lances home. This technological edge led to the conquest of Britain. Without it, William might never have attempted such a perilous war. Lockheed advertisement, U.S. News and World Report, Dec. 11, 1989.
Never underestimate the importance of the small and insignificant.
The first electric light was so dim that a candle was needed to see its socket. One of the first steamboats took 32 hours to chug its way from New York to Albany, a distance of 150 miles. Wilbur and Orville Wright's first airplane flight lasted only 12 seconds. And the first automobiles traveled 2 to 4 miles per hour and broke down often. Carriages would pass them with their passengers shouting, "Get a horse!" (Source unknown)
Power is attending to detail.
Experience proves that most time is wasted, not in hours, but in minutes. A bucket with a small hole in the bottom gets just as empty as a bucket that is deliberately kicked over. Paul J. Meyer, in Bits & Pieces.
I recently read about an old man, walking the beach at dawn, who noticed a young man ahead of him picking up starfish and flinging them into the sea. Catching up with the youth, he asked what he was doing. The answer was that the stranded starfish would die if left in the morning sun. "But the beach goes on for miles and miles, and there are millions of starfish," countered the man. "How can your effort make any difference?" The young man looked at the starfish in his hand and then threw it to safety in the waves. "It makes a difference to this one," he said. Hugh Duncan, Leadership.
The title of my message today is, "Attention to Detail." The greatest inventions in life, the greatest feats of humanity, the greatest acts of bravery were not accomplished by the rich and famous, by the moguls of Wall Street, by the philosophical pundits of centuries past, but by the small and insignificant. This is God's way. He passes over the big shots and empowers the teachable, the humble, the ones who will serve others and not themselves. If you are small and insignificant, you are a good candidate for empowerment and glorious service for the Lord.
Pastors a small church in Broken Arrow, OK.
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