Monday Morning Devotion- May 4, 2015
Typos
Truth stands the test of time; lies are soon exposed. Proverbs 12:19
I was looking back through some of the "Golden Oldies' today (what I call some of the older devotions I have written) trying to get some ideas for a devotion that would relevant and meaningful for this week. And I found one from 10 years ago from May 23, 2005. Do you remember where you were and what you were doing on that day? Just kidding. Not sure that day has any significance to me except that I was inspired to write a devotion about 'typos" on that date.
So as I reread it I found that a lot of it was still applicable to our lives in 2015. But, some of it needed a little updating and plishing up. So here is the updated and polished ready-for-2015-version of " Typos." Yep, 10 years later I am still making typos. So, here goes:
An interesting little exercise I like to perform on occasion is to simply type my
name into an Internet search and see what comes up. So, when I was writing this devotion in 2005, I typed in the words "Jim Crosby" and looked with interest at what happened.
I found Jim Crosby was a plumber. There's a Jim Crosby who was a prison warden. One who built corrals and sold rodeo stuff. And there was a guy who I'm sure I must be kin to, although he's from a different region, who started a business with a $200,000 dollar loan and built, Crosby's Markets into a $50 million dollar business.
All this and a whole lot more came up when I typed my name into the search engine I was using at the time.. Then, I decided to type it into Google and see what happened. Guess what came up first? It said, "CC Jim Crosby" and proceeded to talk about the devotions I was doing each Monday at Clear Channel Worldwide where I was employed at the time. Those, by the way, were the forerunners to these devotions I write each week. I take pride in the fact that I have published a devotion,, on-line, every week now for 10 years. That and $1.50 will buy me a cup-of-coffee (old joke) since this is a non-profit undertaking. .
I was pleased that it was pointed out how the on-line devotions had their roots in those at work in Tallahassee dating back to 1998. Needless to say that was my favorite internet reference, along with another one that said my books were available at Barnes and Noble and on EBAY.
There was another odd occurrence in that internet experience which is the reason that I am writing this. It seems my name kept coming up under all these music options. That raised my curiosity because I'm a guy who can throw an entire auditorium off-key if they hear me singing. I'm working on that…not the singing, but learning to play the piano, so I can now claim a little bit of a music connection.
It seems that my name came up under a lot of music listings and here's why. Somebody made a tiny mistake. Just a little typo that lead to numerous other typists making the same error. Apparently a lot of music stores, music services, etc, list their songs and or singing artists alphabetically by the singer's name. Consequently in many places you will see Jim Croce followed by Crosby, Stills and Nash. Well, one of the songs listed right after Croce's name is his classic; "You Don't Mess Around with Jim."
It seems that somewhere along the line a typist neglected to put a semi-colon between the "Jim" on the end of that song and the beginning of the listing for Crosby, Stills and Nash. So, it actually read, Jim Croce, "You Don't Mess Around with Jim Crosby." Hence, anytime my name is typed in you'll find it cropping up under that song that Croce wrote about not messing around with me. Is that a hoot or what?
But, when you think about it how many times can a small mistake have big consequences? This one isn't huge because it will eventually was corrected with no harm done. But, frequently a typo can really change the meaning of a word and hence an entire document. It could even present legal ramifications.
Typing an NW instead of an SW could be disastrous in explaining how to get somewhere for a person unfamiliar with the area. Not just a letter, but a whole word can be erroneously used that changes the meaning of something. I'm currently writing a book about a football coach who was a master of mis-statement. (that one came out in 2008). In describing a relationship once he (Coach Bill Peterson) said, "It's like two ships that crash in the night."
Kind of changes the picture we get of "two ships that pass in the night" and really don't take note of each other. Errors of omission also change things. He once said, "You can't become a football overnight." Glad he forgot to put in the word "player" 'cause that would have changed the entire title of my book.
In Paul's letter to the Corinthians (2 Cor. 6:4-The Message) he said, Our work as God's servants gets validated- or not-in the details. My wife, the Lovely Susette, is an interior designer. Once, while struggling with some of the fine points on a design project she took comfort from what Frank Lloyd Wright had once said that "God is in the details." Then, one morning while we were doing our devotions she was surprised to find that Wright's statement was based on a Bible scripture. How many times does that happen? We've heard things expressed a certain way many times only to discover the roots of the saying are in the Bible.
Anyway, the message here is that it is important to pay attention to the details, the small things that can undermine an entire statement, saying, project, direction, construction or whatever. If you measure something in your house to accommodate building, renovation, or redecorating and you write down an incorrect measurement what will happen? Writing down one-quarter inch what you measured to be three-quarters of an inch could cause problems. Oh well, you didn't want those drapes to go all the way to the floor anyway did you?
Zechariah 4:10 says: Does anyone dare despise the day of small beginnings? They'll change their tune when they see Zerubbabel setting the last stone in place.
Zechariah is referring to some of the older people who were critical because the new temple that was being built by Zerubbabel wasn't going to be as big as the one that had been built by Solomon, but was later destroyed.
Here's what the NLT commentary says: "But, bigger and more beautiful is not always better. What you do for God may seem small and insignificant at the time, but God rejoices in opportunities. Begin where you are and do what you can and leave the results to God."
We can only start where we are. That means there is going to be a lot of small stuff to do before we get to the big stuff. The key is, doing a good job with the small stuff or we won't make it to the big things. God has given us care over small things. If we are found faithful in those He will entrust us with more. God's hand is in the details. His eye is on us. He has wonderful things in store for those who are faithful in big and small things.
So, we have to watch those typos. Just omitting one small thing could lead to bigger problems. Like omitting a punctuation mark could mean someone would think you are a musician and ask you to sing. For me that would be disastrous.
Have a great day!
Monday Prayer: Lord thank you for being present in the details. We know that when we pay attention to getting the small things right, that big things will follow because you are with us every step of the way. Amen.