{"id":1430,"date":"2022-03-01T10:27:16","date_gmt":"2022-03-01T15:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=1430"},"modified":"2022-03-01T10:27:16","modified_gmt":"2022-03-01T15:27:16","slug":"the-little-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/01\/the-little-things\/","title":{"rendered":"The Little Things"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bobby Leach yearned to be the first man ever to survive a plunge over Niagara Falls.
\u00a0
In 1911, the 53-year-old British stuntman, who had once made his living performing with the Barnum and Bailey Circus, created a special \u201cbarrel\u201d \u2013 actually a metal tube with a removable hatch \u2013 that he believed would take him safely over the 167-foot precipice of Horseshoe Falls.
\u00a0
Leach knew that he wouldn\u2019t be the first person<\/em> to pull off such a stunt.\u00a0 That honor had been claimed 10 years earlier by a hardy 63-year-old schoolteacher named Annie Taylor.\u00a0 Ms. Taylor, who hoped a sufficiently spectacular feat might financially secure her retirement, opted for a large oak barrel.\u00a0
\u00a0
On October 22, 1901, she decided it would be wise to find out if the barrel could actually survive such a descent.\u00a0 A cat was recruited to be the test pilot. \u00a0After the cat and the barrel were recovered intact at the base of the falls, she climbed in two days later (which happened to be her birthday) and took the plunge.\u00a0 Taylor emerged bleeding but alive, memorably suggesting, \u201cNo one ought ever do that again.\u201d \u00a0The cat\u2019s impressions were not recorded.\u00a0
\u00a0
Taylor\u2019s success launched a series of dramatic attempts to \u201cconquer the falls.\u201d\u00a0 The mania continues to this day, despite heavy fines being levied on would-be thrill-seekers.\u00a0
\u00a0
Law enforcement officials estimate that since the 1850s at least 5,000 people have been swept over the falls into the Niagara gorge.\u00a0 The vast majority of these incidents have been accidents or suicide attempts.\u00a0 Only 16 people are known to have survived.\u00a0 Five of that number, incredibly, went over the falls with no boat or special protection of any kind.
\u00a0
When Bobby Leach squeezed into his metal cylinder and pushed off into the upper Niagara on July 25, 1911, he figured he would at least survive the fall.\u00a0 He did, although at significant cost.\u00a0 When he was pulled from his contraption downriver, he was bruised and bleeding, with a broken jaw, broken ribs, and a pair of fractured kneecaps.\u00a0
\u00a0
Although he spent almost half a year in the hospital recovering from his injuries, he was exultant.\u00a0 For the next decade and a half Leach traded on his notoriety as a daredevil.\u00a0 That’s Bobby posing with his barrel in the photo above.\u00a0\u00a0
\u00a0
He never anticipated, however, what would happen on a publicity tour in New Zealand in 1926.
\u00a0
Leach was strolling down a public street in Auckland when he slipped on an orange peel.\u00a0 He injured his leg.\u00a0 The open wound became infected.\u00a0 Complications set in.\u00a0 He ended up in a hospital where he succumbed to the infection two months later.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0
\u00a0
The man who had conquered the world\u2019s most famous waterfall was taken down by an orange peel.
\u00a0
Little things can have big consequences.
\u00a0
Little habits, little resentments, and little hurts, if unaddressed, have the potential to derail big plans and big dreams.\u00a0 Like Bobby Leach, we may have so much confidence that we can overcome the greatest threats that we become oblivious to the trivial ones right in front of us.\u00a0
\u00a0
So guard your life.\u00a0 Treat little things as big deals.\u00a0
\u00a0
Watch your words.\u00a0 Tell the truth.\u00a0 Don\u2019t make rash promises.\u00a0
\u00a0
Refuse to fudge your taxes.\u00a0 Clean up your internet browsing habits.\u00a0 Give money to someone in need.\u00a0 Go out of your way to make someone\u2019s day.
\u00a0
Character isn\u2019t forged by dramatic, headline-grabbing moments.\u00a0 It is shaped by a thousand little choices that will happen between now and next Monday.\u00a0
\u00a0
The more we take \u201cbaby steps\u201d with Jesus \u2013 faithfully doing one little thing after another \u2013 the more likely we are to sidestep that orange peel hiding just around the corner.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bobby Leach yearned to be the first man ever to survive a plunge over Niagara Falls.\u00a0In 1911, the 53-year-old British stuntman, who had once made his living performing with the Barnum and Bailey Circus, created a special \u201cbarrel\u201d \u2013 actually a metal tube with a removable hatch \u2013 that he believed would take him safely over the 167-foot precipice of… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1431,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[370],"class_list":["post-1430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-obedience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1430"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1432,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1430\/revisions\/1432"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}