On the day Abraham Lincoln was born his older cousin Dennis Hanks went over to see the newborn baby. Later he commented:

“Folks often ask me if Abe was a good-looking baby. Well, he looked just like any other baby — like a red cherry pulp squeezed dry, and he didn’t improve none as he growed older.”[1]

That may be a typical cousin’s reaction, but admittedly, Lincoln never was photogenic and he probably would not have made it in this age of television with all its glitz and style. Nonetheless, it is the considered opinion of our nation’s professional historians every time a poll is taken Lincoln rates as the greatest president of the United States. From these humble and unpromising beginnings, something great happened. Small things do make a difference.

Our biblical passage, Luke 17:5-10…