30,000 times more awesome!

I may be dividing my massive reading audience with this next statement, but it is true. “I loved the movie Joe Vs. the Volcano” – There. I said it. I have some really close friends who absolutely HATE that movie. Oh well, their loss. Anyway, towards the end of the movie, Joe (who has a very unfortunate life of mediocrity and meaninglessness) is stranded at sea after his boat sunk, with nothing but his impressive luggage and a woman. One night, he is floating on the unusually gentle waves of the middle of nowhere, and while his friend sleeps, after several days with minimal food or water and almost with his last effort, Joe looks up to the skies and sees a myriad of constellations and a massive moon that fill the sky. He reaches up toward the sky and says “My God…I forgot how big you are. Thank you for my life.” This scene reminded me of something similar that I experienced, minus the ocean, girl and luggage.

At the time, I lived in the “Big City” where the only stars I saw were either airplanes or an occasional planet if the sky was clear enough. One night I was in far West Texas hunting feral hogs.  It was about 10 o’clock in the evening and I was headed out to my stand when I looked up and almost had a heart attack…I had NEVER seen so many stars! Honestly, it was even a little frightening to see the enormous blanket of stars that I felt like I could reach out and touch. As I stood there, I had an idea…I had my night scope that I use to hunt. Back then, these scopes were called “starlight scopes” since they could operate with only the light from stars…the units magnified the available light 30,000 times. So, I thought I would sort of reverse the purpose and I lifted my rifle and pointed my scope to the stars. OH MY! I could NOT believe how many MORE stars filled my scope! Just looking up without the scope, the entire sky was filled with hundreds of stars, but then using my scope, only looking at one small section of the sky, I saw 1.000’s of more stars! I thought it was amazing how many stars were up there each and every night but I never saw more than 2-3 on a good night. I felt pretty small in the grand scheme of my revelation. But it made me consider further just how far God went to design all of this for little ol’ me and you! And he did it a LONG time ago, so that when one day, thousands of years later, I would be looking up and see those stars and be awestricken.

Sometimes, it is easy to feel like we are lost somewhere in the shuffle of life. SO many things can change and have a huge effect on us. Job changes, relationship changes, price of food changes, gas prices…don’t get me started. But the reality is, all of these things really serve as a reminder that not only are we a part of a much bigger plan than we realize, but we are each also integral parts to the overall picture. It’s easy to find excuses to not participate in something because “what difference would only my ONE thing matter?” One day this finally hit me after years of choosing to do nothing because my part would be insignificant. The bottom line is: while it is true that alone, we cannot change some massive issue. But what we CAN do is make an effort to at least do what we CAN. I hate the thought of animal abuse and I feel there are a lot of people with pets that probably shouldn’t have one. As just ONE person, I cannot provide an overall change to the global problem. However, one thing I can do is make sure MY pet is not abused. (Actually, he is quite spoiled)

Think about the choirs that are made up of many individual voices, an ocean is full of droplets of water, an army has several soldiers etc etc. While your individual participation may seem insignificant, there could also be a choir full of other people who feel the same way…but imagine if nobody participated. So, remember that your individual “part” is in fact integral in the overall impact of a larger need, issue or group.