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Barbara Dutton of Des Moines, Iowa has been dubbed by Chuck Shepherd to be the "least competent person." It seems that Ms. Dutton had appealed a lower courts denial for unemployment benefits from the company that fired her.
According to records, the owners of the 12-person company had fired her from her job as supply clerk, stating that during an 18-month period she had ordered supplies totaling nearly $230,000 including 16,000 Bic pens and $15,000 worth of cellophane tape. Since there was no evidence that she was being dishonest, the company concluded that she was "overmatched" for her job. In other words, the court agreed that she was just...well, "incompetent."
How sad it would be to be given the title, "Least Competent Person!" In a world such as ours that applauds only those who "win," "achieve greatness," or are "rich", "famous," or "beautiful," most of us would lose out as well. The truth is that the majority of us are of "normal" intelligence, have "average" looks and have never won a beauty contest or had our names engraved on a building. No, we probably would not make a purchase of $230,000 for office supplies, but if the truth were told, all of us are incompetent in some things. Can all of us cook a soufflé? Fly a plane? Replace a transmission on a car? Install an air conditioner?
When it comes to moral competence, however, the Bible says that we are all in the same shape, spiritually; "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"-Romans 3:23.
The good news is that even for those who are incompetent; the spiritually inept, God makes competent! The apostle Paul writes:
"Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves,
but our competence comes from God."-2 Corinthians 3:5.
That's just the way God is. He takes the Barbara Dutton's of the world and creates something marvelous. It's called the New Birth, or New Creation! He makes the incompetent to be competent! That's something for which we can ALL be thankful!
Tom Nuckels |