I referenced Alan Turning several years ago in a blog about how he led the team that broke the code to the Germany Enigma machine that changed the outcome of World War II. I have thought a lot about this over the last week and wanted to add some thoughts to the subject.
When Alan Turing was recruiting a lady to serve on his team, she asked why me? His response was one of the greatest answers in history. He said, “Sometimes it is the very people no one can imagine anything of that do the very things no one can imagine.”
You see, during World War II, the idea of a woman serving in the intelligence field was unheard of. It was all men. Alan Turing however didn’t care what race, what sex or what skin color. He knew that the future of the civilized word hung in the balance and he hired whoever he believed could help the cause. She was very instrumental in breaking the German code that changed the course of history. It might be a stretch on my part, but very possibly, if he had not hired this lady, the world as we know it today, most likely would look very different.
If you really took the time to look at history from the disciples to modern day success stories, what you will find is that in many cases the very people that have all the capabilities, looks, brains, dress, education, and personality are not the ones who do great things. It is usually the ones no one expects anything from that go on to change the world. I think of the unpopular kids, and in many cases the ones that barely made it through high school, that went on to invent Microsoft, Apple, Chick-fil-A, Coke, IBM etc. I even think about Charles Henry Dow who invented the Dow Jones Industrial average and the Wall Street Journal who had no formal education and left home when he was 16 years old.
It’s usually the very people no one imagines anything of that do the very things no one can imagine. Just because you may not have all the opportunities or abilities others may have, don’t think God cannot do a great work through you. KT