The Devil Is in the Details!

The phrase, "The Devil is in the details" is an idiom which expresses the reality that details are important. It is a phrase that I find myself using from time to time to communicate to people just how important details can be. In fact, not paying close enough attention to even little details can lead to a big mess. I was reminded of this last week. I often check my online bank and credit card accounts to make sure all is well. When I did so last week, I was stunned to see a very large withdrawal from my checking account. One that I in no way expected. I called the bank as soon as they opened. They informed me that the payment was authorized by a user on the account. "Impossible," I replied, and proceeded to tell the customer service representative that I was the only one who used our online banking. I then asked if our checking account had been compromised. She indicated that she did not know for sure, but did not think so. She immediately issued a stop payment and told me the funds would be returned to our account.

Concerned that perhaps our account had been hacked, I promptly changed the user id and the password. I then called the payee to whom the payment was made. In the course of this conversation I discovered what happened ... a discovery that left me totally embarrassed yet truly relieved. Are you curious? OK ... I will swallow my dignity and let you know what happened.

It seems that the previous week I had made a very small online payment to this particular payee. But in setting up the payment ... the decimal point was in the wrong place. As a result, what should have been a small payment grew 100 fold!

Now I learned a valuable lesson through all this! PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE DETAILS! THEY MATTER! This sounds somewhat similar to what the Apostle Paul urged his young friend Timothy to do (1 Timothy 4:16). So remember ... The Devil's in the details!

Thanks for stopping by . . .
pj