SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF

The guy who said, "don't sweat the small stuff" was wrong. All the big stuff in life is made of small stuff all piled up. It's the small stuff in life that makes something great. It's the little things you do in marriage that make the big difference. It's the little things you do to send a note, to call a friend, to help a neighbor, to ensure a customer is satisfied... it's the little stuff in life that makes the biggest difference. Here's the proof from my viewpoint:

A RESPONSE: Last week a lady said she wanted to serve in High School at Journey because I responded to her e-mail in a timely manner. She had waited for very long periods or never even heard from other places she tried to volunteer at. What she noticed most was a small thing that made a Big impact in her world. Wish I was that "on it" more often. But I often let the small stuff slip.

A CHIP: My computer got stupid slow. I was annoyed and thought I had a bug or something. I let it sit for weeks- making me more and more annoyed- even avoiding opening certain applications that made my computer too slow to stand it. I did all kinds of research and then I ran a self test on the computer and found out that I had a memory problem. I was running on max capacity on a 256k memory chip. I decided to go whole hog and put a 1GB chip in the empty slot. I found out when I put the new memory chip in that the real problem with my computer was it was trying to access memory off a dead 256k chip. The stupid thing is smaller than a stick of gum and it's causing havoc in my world. Now it runs like a Ferrari. It's the small stuff that makes the biggest difference.

A SKILL: I joined a coed indoor soccer team. We lose a lot. Why? Small stuff. Someone doesn't run hard. Someone makes a bad pass. Someone misses a shot cuz they lean back when they shoot. A bunch of small stuff really. Sometimes the someone is me. It just all adds up.

A TOOL: I went to go fix my mustang cuz the brakes are out and I can't stand the stupid price of Diesel for my truck now being well over 3 bucks a gallon. So I go to fix the car and I have the part I need, I have the brake fluid, I have a manual, I have everything I need- except the correct wrench.... It's only like 4" long... but without it... the brake line will likely be useless when I go to put the thing back together. It's a small thing, I had to postpone the project till I had it... cuz it's so small that it just makes a big difference.

A FUSE: It was 101 degrees at church on Sunday. I think it was 105 in youth group during our 10:30 service. The AC blew a fuse. The AC unit is the size of a refrigerator on the roof. It won't work cuz of a fuse the size of a AAA battery. It's the small stuff that makes or breaks it in my life. I often refer to our second service as Purgatory cuz the crowd is tough to teach to. this week I sweat like a pig and purgatory was officially upgraded to hell on earth.

YOGURT: I took TJ to soccer practice last week. Afterward we stopped to eat Yogurt- just he and I on our way home. We talked for 20 minutes and then went back to go to bed. On the grander scale of life, Yogurt after soccer practice is about as small as it gets. Try convincing TJ of that.

A VERSE: Jesus put it like this in Matthew 17- "You didn'’t have enough faith," Jesus told them. "“I assure you, even if you had faith as small as a mustard seed you could say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,'’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible."

Sweat the small stuff- it's what makes all the difference in the world- at least in my world.