Let’s start with a quiz. Ready? Don’t worry; this won’t go on your permanent record. See how well you can remember a few details related to some people of significance from the past.

   1. Who taught Martin Luther his theology and inspired his translation of the Scriptures from Latin to German?
   2. Who spoke to Dwight L. Moody in the shoe store that day—a conversation that ultimately led Moody to Christ, which in turn led to a magnificent life of evangelism.
   3. Who served on Harry Ironside’s pastoral staff during his meaningful years of ministry at Moody Memorial Church in Chicago?
   4. Who was the elderly lady who prayed for Billy Graham every day of her adult life, especially as his ministry reached the zenith of worldwide significance?
   5. Who succeeded Hudson Taylor at China Inland Mission, providing remarkable direction and vision for many years?
   6. Who was the wife of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, England’s “prince of the pulpit” and perhaps that country’s most influential Christian voice in the last two hundred years?
   7. Who gave Charles Wesley his start as a composer, leaving the church with more than five thousand hymns in its repertoire?

Well, how well did you do? Amazing, isn’t it? Just think how much poorer the family of God would be without the richness these significant saints added, yet few today can recall the name of any of these seven people. (I’ll admit to you I had to do a fair amount of digging myself.)
Let me turn this around for another perspective. Suppose you have faithfully taught third-grade Sunday school class at your church for a number of years. Or you work in the parking lot wearing a brightly colored vest helping people who are often less than courteous find a place to park. In season and out of season, hot or cold, wet or windy or blazing bright, you’re there.
Let’s say you’re a part of a ministry’s staff. The ministry has a few out-in-front people known to the public, but you work behind the scenes. You deal solely with the staff members or people who have complaints and concerns. You copy and distribute information. You greet callers on the phone; you welcome the public. Everybody knows the out-in-front people, but very few would even know your name.
Let’s make you the receptionist. You would think everyone would know the receptionist’s name! After all, the receptionist probably speaks to more people on a daily basis than anyone in the ministry, but people don’t call to talk to you. In fact, they call to speak to someone else and hear your voice instead, which brings its share of mistreatment. Yet, despite how thankless the job, you’re there.
Maybe you’re responsible for putting together the music for the choir, or helping the children rehearse for their performance in big church. Or you’re in charge of the sound system of a well-known singer or musical group—setting mikes, running and taping wires, testing speakers and amps—capturing a flawless recording of this famous individual.
Let me turn this once again for yet another perspective. What about the nurse who assists a famous cardiovascular surgeon while your chest is open and your heart rests in the doctor’s hand? What’s the name of the trained professional who has the sterile instruments ready at just the right moment? Do you know the person who does the lab work or the x-ray analysis? Don’t you hope the blood work is right and the analysis is correct?
How about the airline mechanic who prepares the plane you’re going to fly in two hours? Or the person in charge of scanning the luggage at Heathrow International Airport for your El Al flight to Tel Aviv? Don’t you hope he’s paying attention?
And how about the uniformed soldier who stands watch from midnight to 3:00 a.m. so that his comrades can sleep soundly near the hot zone? Don’t you hope he stays awake?
It’s amazing, isn’t it? Many people would be tempted to call these people of astonishing significance “nobodies.” We don’t mean to think of them as insignificant, yet it’s easy to stay more focused on what we’re doing, where we’re going, and what we need. And before long, we quite naturally take them and dozens of others like them for granted—we even look right past them as though they were a lamppost or, worse, a tool to be used.

Charles R. Swindoll, Fascinating Stories of Forgotten Lives: Rediscovering Some Old Testament Characters (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2011), 1–3.