Here's the secret to changing the world...

Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. -James 4:13-14

The world map hanging on the wall behind me that my roommate (Joshua Erickson) helps drive this point further home. As much as my flesh may try and convince my mind that I am great, rich, powerful, influential...the simple fact is that I am alive in a world with a population of about 6 billion. In a given day, I may interact with maximum, 100 of these people. That is roughly .000000016% of the world's population. If I continue to interact with 100 people per day for the next 50 years, that is 1,825,000 people. Now we are at about .000304% of the world's population.

Now, this is a fairly essential point, and I want to put it into perspective, or at least make a vague attempt to do so. I have a hard time grasping what exactly .000304% means. Just how small is that? Well, if I continue with the theory that I will live to the age of 71, that is:

25,915 days

621,960 hours

37,317,600 minutes

2,239,056,000 seconds

I hope James had a good abacus...

That's how much time lapses between my first breath and last- if I live to be 71.

So let's take that figure of .000304%. If I were to only live that portion of my life, I will live 6309 seconds. That's 105 minutes, 1.75 hours, or almost one sixth of one day..... WOW. .000304% seems like no big deal at all now.

Keep in mind folks- this is on a timetable of 71 years. What about God- who is eternal. If I am so insignificant on my own scale- then what about an ETERNAL timeframe?

Truly, I am nothing.

So what do I do with this knowledge? Do I give up? Become apathetic because in the grand scheme of things I do not matter? Really, what's the point of even trying to do something great, to mass great achievements, or to even try and build a home or family? My estate has no value- it really is all just a vapor in the wind. I should just quit now, because what impact could I have?

Certainly not! I believe that there is a great positive in this statement. I don't think that James meant for us to become downtrodden and bedraggled. I think that there is a great humbling that come with this realization, and who couldn't do with a nice fat slice of humble pie every now and then? Rather- just think- can you think of 1 hour and 45 minutes of your life that were life changing? I know I can! I can think of several!

What if we did it this way? What if I impacted my .000304% to the best of my ability? What if you impacted yours? Together, that's 3,650,000. And- what if each and every one of the 3,650,000 people that we meet and impact go further and impact their own set of 1,825,000? Now you and I together have reached 6,661,250,000,000 people. I'll do the math again for you, friend. That means that you and I have managed to change the world and will continue to have an impact for the next 1,110 years. Over one millennium. That means that if we were alive in the year 900- our impact would have stopped only 13 days ago.

So no- I don't think that James meant for us to get down and out about this...I think that it is empowering! Look at one mist in the wind can do. Of course, the entire chapter before this is about submitting to God. So rather a better assessment would be- look at what one mist submitted to God can do.

I would very much like to hear your thoughts about this.