One day, many years ago when New York department stores were high-end stores, a group of lowly paid clerks were standing around talking about baseball. It was raining that day, which meant that business was slow. Then a woman, wet and a bit disheveled, came into the store. As she entered the premises, only one of the clerks was willing to leave the baseball discussion to attend to her.

The young man walked over to the woman and courteously asked her, “What can I show you, madam?” She told him the item she needed, and he quickly located it for her. Then he took the time to expertly explain the item’s merits. The woman made the purchase and left the store, asking for the young man’s card as she left.

Sometime later the woman sent a letter to the head of that store. Actually, the letter was an order for the complete furnishings of an estate in Scotland. In the letter, the woman specifically asked that the young employee who had attended to her that rainy day supervise the furnishing personally.

The store head wrote her in reply, saying, “Madam, this man is one of our youngest and most inexperienced clerks. Hadn’t we better give this assignment to someone else?” But the reply came back, “I want this young man and no other.”

In compliance with the woman’s wishes, the store sent the young clerk across the Atlantic to personally oversee the furnishing of the grand palace in Scotland. The palace was called Skibo Castle, and it had recently been purchased by Andrew Carnegie, one of the world’s richest men. And who was the woman who insisted that the young clerk be granted the prestigious assignment of furnishing the castle? She was none other than Louise Carnegie, Andrew’s wife.

You say, “Oh, c’mon, Russell. Am I supposed to take your word that such a story actually happened?” No, but you don’t have to take my word for it. The person who originally told the story was Charles Schwab, the steel magnet who got his start working for Andrew Carnegie. Schwab began the story by saying, “I know a young fellow in New York who has built himself a big business. He used to be a poorly paid clerk in a department store.”

So, the lesson of this true-life story is: Always do your best because you never know who might be watching. As the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 9:10: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might…” (N.K.J.V.) And if you need a distinctly Christian spin put on the lesson, consider the words of Colossians 3:17 and 3:23, where the apostle Paul says to Christians: “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him…And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men” (N.K.J.V.)