Clay in the Hands

Yesterday’s post began the conversation about the importance of relationships in leaving a legacy.  Today, I want to expand on that idea.  If we truly believe that relationships are the best way to impact the world, then how do we make the most of our efforts?  I want to make a suggestion that on the surface does not sound logical, but the numbers don’t lie.

Wednesday, on the plane, I had time to finish a book I have been working through by Dwight Robertson entitled, You Are God’s Plan A (and there is no plan b).  It is a challenging but extremely practical offering that causes us to think about many of the same things Lucado pushes in his book.  Robertson talks about this idea of legacy in terms of investing in or pouring ourselves into others.

He makes a case for the idea of multiplication.  It is counter-cultural to think of a legacy in this way.  We tend to think of great leaders or speakers who have left a legacy.  We think about people like Billy Graham or Rick Warren or Bill Hybels when we think about those who have impacted lives – and it is true.  But if we look at Jesus’ life, we see that he poured himself into a few, who then did the same.

I have heard this before but I don’t know that I have every seen it in the form of a chart.  Here is the scenario.  If you were to have the opportunity to speak to 100,000 people per year; over twenty years you would have potentially impacted 2 million people.  That is nothing to sneeze at but what if you were to invest yourself for a year into just two people and then instill in them the desire to do the same?  So the first year you would impact 2 people.  Year two you would impact two new people, but the people you impacted in year one are now impacting the lives of two other people each.  Suppose this were the pattern for twenty years.  The chart shows you the results.

I am no mathematician, but even I can see that almost 3.5 billion people is more than 2 million.  Isn’t that amazing?  And all from a simple effort of impacting two lives at a time.

That is plausible.  I can do that!  You can do that!  I realize that there will be attrition and those who do not carry out their commitments, but just think about the possibilities!

Don’t let Satan lull you into doing nothing with a sense of being overwhelmed.  Just start with two.

Who will you invest in this year?