DISTRACTION

It's easy to get so bothered about the insignificant, we miss the significant.....to focus on petty stuff with such intensity that we lose sight of the big picture. In Chapter 9 "Some Things Gotta' Go", Chuck Swindoll tells this story. 

"I was reminded of that when I read of the crash of an Eastern Airlines jumbo jet in the Florida Everglades. The plane was flight 401, bound for Miami from New York City, with a heavy load of holiday passengers. 

As the huge aircraft approach the Miami airport for landing, a light that indicates proper deployment of the landing gear failed to come on.The plane flew in a large, looping circle over the swamps of the Everglades while the cockpit crew checked out the light failure.

Their question was this - had the landing gear actually not deployed, or was it just the light bulb that was defective? To begin with, the flight engineer fiddled with the bulb. He tried to remove it, but it wouldn't budge. Another member of the crew became curious and tried to help him out and then another, and if you can believe it, all eyes were on the little white bulb that refused to be dislodged from its socket. No one noticed that the plane was losing altitude. 

Many were killed in that plane crash. While an experience crew of high-priced and seasoned pilots messed around with a $.75 cent light ball, an entire airplane and many of its passengers were lost. The crew momentarily forgot the most basic of all rules in the air. Don't forget to fly the airplane!"