Our Rest a Stone

"Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep." -Genesis 28:11

Jacob's Dream, by Gustav Dore

Jacob was traveling to a land he'd never been to before and stopped to get a wink of sleep.  What followed was him getting a stone to rest his head on and a terrific encounter with God (in a dream) that changed his life for the next 20 plus years.  (Note: Jacob didn't convert here, he just began a greater faith journey.  Read this post for more on that story).

That stone of course, was a type (or symbol) that prefigured (i.e foreshadowed) the coming Messiah.  (We know this because Christ is referred to as "the Stone" in other prophetic pictures, and Messiah means "Anointed One."  Jacob literally anoints his "sleep stone" after he has the dream; see v. 18).

Anywho, here's the point: As we sojourn through this world, God calls us to rest on that offensive stumbling Stone known as Christ (Isaiah 8:14, 1 Peter 2:8, Romans 9:32).  And He is terribly offensive!  He will create custom-tailored offenses, just for you, in order to offend out of you everything that does not belong to Himself.  The offense is so great that many people often choose to stop following Him after awhile simply because they cannot bear to deal with Him.  Only those who are sober to the reality that there's nowhere else to go stick around (see John 6:66-68).

To rest on Him, therefore, will be most uncomfortable, as it would for anyone sleeping on a rock, and yet, it will be the only rest that is actually life-giving.  Whatever the fitful repose we have on that Stone now, things will be different for us as we learn to cease striving in our own ways, our own comforts and strengths, etc.  Our rest in Christ will eventually be sweeter, truer and better than the kind of sleep we became accustomed to when going our own way.  That kind of sleep actually puts us into a sleep of stupor-of terrible spiritual dullness where we are unaware of Him and what is real, what is moral, what is just and what is Truth.  Pilate was in such a sleep when he looked Christ who is the Truth (John 14:6) in the face and asked Him "What is truth?" (John 18:38).

It has been said that the best night of sleep Jacob ever got was the night that he slept on that Stone.  So rest on the Stone, but just as the old hymn, Nearer My God to Thee says, "My rest a Stone" remember that your rest is a Stone!!!   Do not expect to be comfortable, for He will press you to the breaking point till you no longer rely on yourself but on Him (2 Cor 1:9).  Expect to be alive and have rich encounters with Him that changes not only your own life, but the lives of those all around you for generations to come as a result of your trusting in Him.

The Point of the Journey

Sometimes when we look ahead at what we're called to do, we can look up and down the "mountain" of our calling and say, "I'll never make it, that summit is just too high for me!"

Based off of where you are and your current perspective, chances are that you are accurate.

Right now, you probably don't have the muscles, discipline and dexterity needed to climb the mountain ahead of you.




But that's precisely why you've got to start climbing.  

Once you start moving, you begin to strengthen your lungs, your legs and your resolve.  You stretch and reach further and become more flexible as you go.  Even your grip becomes tenacious as each and every finger gets stronger and tougher.  You learn how to navigate the tricky spots so that you no longer get stuck at places you once consider impasses.  Long reaches that once took you hours to figure out (or things you even had to move around) now become simple exercises that you've done hundreds of times before.  By the time you reach the summit, you'll be as tough and nimble as a mountain goat-completely agreeable to living at the top.

In short, the point of having to take the journey to where you are going is to make you ready to abide in the place where you'll be staying.

So take heart and begin your long journey at the base of the mountain you are meant to conquer.

An Appetite for Reading.

I currently have about 10 books that I’m reading.  This is not an accident; neither is it a rare occurrence.  I almost always have about 10 books that I’m reading.  Each book takes months for me to read because I read a little bit, maybe even a lot, intensely for a short period of time.  Then I get bored with that book and move on to another, leaving the first book unfinished.  I usually continue this process through a cycle of 10 books (whatever the reason, that’s about the average).  Some books stay on my “currently reading” pile for over a year. 

I’m not saying that this practice doesn’t have its disadvantages.  It was about useless while I was going to school because I could hardly ever stomach to read books straightway through for my classes.  But now that I’m free from the bonds of my educational servitude, I’m reading whatever I want, whenever I want, and it’s most delightful and in my opinion, more effective in a lot of ways. 

The huge advantage of this is that there’s never a day that goes by that I don’t read.  I’ve learned that I’m always in the mood to read, it’s just a matter of what I read that comes into question.  Therefore, I read strictly according to mood, according to the dictates of the a

ppetite of my brain’s desire.  I sometimes ask, “What am I mentally hungry for today?”

As a result, military history today might turn into a study on the Catholic Popes Past tomorrow.  As much as possible, I try to avoid “disciplining” myself to read stuff that seems like it would be “good” for me to read as I don’t think there’s too much profit in that kind of lifestyle.  I’ll just end up reading less (bad), remember less (very bad) and enjoy it less (also bad) if I try. 

And let us not, I say, underestimate the importance of enjoyment when it comes to reading (or a great many other activites for that matter).  I could be wrong, but I believe that retention is deeply tied to enjoyment.  This theory isn’t exactly rocket science, but I believe that it stands up to common sense.  Think of movies you’ve seen.  You remember the ones you like, but the ones you couldn’t care less for—well they probably don’t come up in the memory that much anymore.  Our memories seem to care for things that our hearts care about too. 

This is why I read 10 books at a time—it’s hugely important to me that when I read, I enjoy it.  Perhaps this is why school learning frustrated the dickens out of me and why I feel like I hardly remember most of what I read for school!  AUGH!   That’s just me though.  I know that, for some people, my reading practices drive them absolutely insane.  However, for those who struggle to read through a book, or to read regularly, I invite you to try this.  It works and it’s actually loads of fun!

True Greatness

Many historians consider Abraham Lincoln the greatest president the American nation has ever known. In rankings of American presidents he consistently ranks as either the first or second best president ever in the United States. Several things make this even more staggering: for one, America has had no shortage of great leaders: Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Reagan, and secondly, America is certainly one of the greatest civilizations that has ever existed. 

If you met Lincoln along various points of his life’s journey, it wouldn’t have been until about a year before he was elected president that you’d have thought much of him.  He was simple, poor and incredibly awkward, but this was actually an improvement on where he used to be in life.  At first he was poor AND uneducated, unable to even read.  His stepmother helped him to get a decent education though, and over the years Lincoln borrowed a lot of good books and read the Bible a lot.  In his teenage years he worked hard on the farm, and read in his spare time, still incredibly poor.  In his 20’s and halfway through his 30’s he was hugely in debt and barely able to keep a roof over his head.  Throughout this time however, he was hardworking, honest (he paid back all his debts instead of skipping town like a lot of people did in those days), and kept learning and growing as a person. 

Lincoln also suffered numerous failures… not just little failures either.  His failures were serious setbacks in life, the kind that take the wind out of most people’s souls.  In 1848, at the age of 40 he ran for reelection to Congress and lost.  (This was at a time when 40 years old was close to the average life expectancy!)  Having lost, Lincoln somewhat disappeared from politics for the next 5 years.  Was he just wasting time?  —Absolutely not! Lincoln intentionally worked on improving his mind, studying Shakespeare, Geometry and even working through his own ideas until he had all of them thoroughly thought through.  All of this hard work eventually paid off as Lincoln entered onto the national scene as president and won the Civil War—possibly the greatest challenge our nation has ever faced. 

There’s quite a few things here to ponder.  For starters, it seems that there was a long season of preparation in Lincoln’s life.  The world wasn’t ready for his internal greatness to be manifested outwardly until the final few chapters of his life.  But I believe it was this inward greatness that enabled him to be part of something that changed the world.  He was among the first of the then revolutionary Republican party.  At the time, they were the only major party willing to stand up to slavery.  (The Democrats wanted to keep slavery going, and the now defunct Whig Party refused to take a stand on the issue).  Likewise, he doggedly slogged his way to victory in the American Civil War, fighting popular opinion, Congressional disagreements, political rivals and incompetent generals. 

And I don’t really think you can say he got the job done (the job in this case, being a life of greatness) with much panache.   It was a little bit sloppy, but he kept improving his whole life through, refused to quit on himself or his beliefs, and remained faithful to what he was called to do. His reward for all his work, of course, was not stored up for him in this life. He only enjoyed a few days of peace after the South had surrendered before he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in the Ford Theatre.  It’s astonishing to think of the price he paid, and to realize that what he did is something a selfish person could never, ever accomplish.

But Heaven has rewards for those who miss out in this life, and the history books remember him, as so does the grateful nation he left behind.

Reading Confession.

Doesn't this look SO much more inviting
to read with the photo on the front?  

I have a confession to make… (but it’s not really a good confession because I have a defense for this so-called confession after I make it)…  My confession is that I read a lot of books with pictures in them.  In fact, I probably read as many books with pictures as I do books without pictures.  I’ve practically gotten a second education off of so called “coffee table” books. 

The reason this is a confession is because somewhere I got it drilled into my head that real books are ones that are THICK, with tiny print and little to nothing in the way of pictures.  Admittedly, many scholarly books are still like this.  I have therefore felt pings of guilt for using materials from these lovely picture books for quotes in papers for classes (when I had them) and to teach people.  There was often a feeling that my information was somehow invalid whenever it came from books with pictures.

I’m getting over this problem though.  In fact, I think that the argument that real books should not have pictures is now ridiculous.  When printing was more expensive, it made sense that pictures should not be included, but now it seems absurd to not include pictures if applicable because they help bring the topic of study to life!  I cannot imagine studying military history without pictures of battlefield maps, photographs of the events as they took place or their aftermath.  I feel as though I understand things better with pictures and that my efforts to self-educate are not in any way cheapened by the practice of reading coffee table books (so long as it is backed up with supplementary materials… I am not arguing against books with no pictures, I am simply saying that books with pictures should no longer be considered invalid sources of learning). 

So that brings me to the reason why I wrote this article in the first place: I believe that continued life-long learning is incredibly important.  Books with pictures are entertaining, engaging and educational and they are often works of art, beautiful in design and layout, in-and-of-themselves! Pick up a non-fiction book with pictures—they are on sale at Barnes and Noble all the time in the bargain books section.  Start learning about history, science, architecture, the automobile industry, whatever suits you, and your whole world will open up as you do because curiosity begets curiosity.  The more you allow yourself to learn, the more you want to learn! 

Intercession

Some fast food for thought on prayer:

Abraham for Sodom and Gomorrah

"But when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham and sent Lot out, away from the destruction, when he overthrew the cities Lot lived in.  -Genesis 20:29

Abraham meets the Three Angels before they destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah

The only reason that righteous Lot lived through the judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah was because Abraham had prayed for God to spare the righteous in the city before God went to visit it.  Stunningly, not everyone in Lot's family made it out though (his two sons-in-law and his wife perished).  It does make me think that those who are righteous living in an unrighteous place can be overthrown with the wicked-unless we pray.  On a side note, vv. 27-28 tell us that Abraham saw the destruction of these cities but had no idea at the time whether or not his prayers for Lot's safety had been answered.  

Abraham Praying for Abimelech and His Unintentional Sin

"He is a prophet, and he will pray for you, so that you will live." -Genesis 20:7

Though King Abimelech had sinned unintentionally, God still pronounced him as good as dead (see Genesis 20:3.)  Nevertheless, God said that He would have Abraham pray for the king, and because of this action, God would spare his life.

I really felt God was speaking to me when I read this verse.  I came to it quite accidentally after really struggling with offense toward a friend of mine that was intentionally running away from God's commands.  It left me believing that regardless of how I felt, I must love as He loves, and that is to love even those that are the enemies of God.  As a result of that, I'm pushed to pray.  Even IF I feel His righteous hand of judgment approaching this person's life, my prayers can hold it off and give them time to repent.  Crazy as it might sound, I actually believe this is happening.

Isaac Praying for His Wife

"Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was childless.  The LORD heeded his prayer, and Rebekah became pregnant." -Genesis 25:21

Genesis 25:20, 26 inform us that it took Isaac 20 years before he realized he needed to pray for his wife to be fruitful.  Whoa!  I'm just praying that God would make me fully aware of how to pray for my wife so that I wouldn't spend 20 years holding back blessings that I could be praying into her life.

The 20 Year Conversion...

First a little bit of history: In the 1800's, the great evangelist Dwight L. Moody was giving a two week series at the end of which he planned to give an opportunity for salvation.  Problem is, he never got to preach the second week to most people because a huge fire broke out all over Chicago.  As a result, Moody said he would never wait, he would always give people a chance to convert in the moment.  Tons of evangelists and pastors followed his example.  At the time, that probably wasn't a big deal, but now our society has gotten tired of this rush to make converts.  

Recently, I've been rethinking the whole way we see people convert to Christianity, and it has a lot to do with these two passages: 

"Then Jacob made a vow saying, "If God will be with me and will guard me on this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I return to my father's house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God.'" -Genesis 28:20-22.

"So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, 'Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and put on fresh clothes.  Then let us get up and go to Beth-el, so that  I can build there an altar to God who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I went.'" -Genesis 35:2-3.

Jacob Prays for Protection (Dore Bible Illustrations)

Here we basically see the conversion of Jacob, a.k.a Israel.  This is a big deal for the whole Bible.  For one thing, Jacob is a patriarch of the Jewish faith; secondly, he was the grandson of Abraham, and the progenitor of the nation of Israel (not to mention its namesake).  His conversion was before the Law (not introduced till Exodus 20) and therefore his covenant with God was based on faith just as was Abraham's covenant.  

Furthermore, he was converted to the faith because God Himself guided him and brought him to belief; Jacob was a skeptic that learned to trust a God he initially did not have close relationship with.  It's noteworthy that this wasn't about a preacher or evangelist giving an invitation or having Jacob pray "the sinner's prayer."  Nevertheless, it was still a very real decision on Jacob's part to follow God, and as a result, he had his family put away their foreign gods (this basically meant that the whole family converted too!).  

But here's the kicker for me: between these two passages (Genesis 28 and 35), twenty WHOLE YEARS go by in Jacob's life.  God was in no hurry to convert this man, regardless of how important he was for God's plan for the redemption of the world.  

So here's the application I get from this: 

1. We do not have to be in a hurry to see conversions.
2. God pursues people and sees them through to conversion.
3. Just because someone doesn't go to church or fit our agenda for coming to Christ, doesn't mean that God isn't working on them or pursuing them.  
4. Our responsibility is to (A.) love them, (B.) go the distance with them, (C.) entrust them to God, (D.) point them back to God.  

I think that if we learned to practice such things, we would see a greater transformation in society than we are from our current efforts that are (to be quite honest) irritating to most of the population.  

Diets, TV, Social Networking, Yo Yo's and More!

I know that what I’m about to say is controversial and that people on both sides of this argument will likely exaggerate and/or take my words out of context.  Nevertheless, I feel as though I have to talk about this topic. 

Growing up, I remember when the no-fat diets went into vogue. Scientists backed it up.  Doctors would get on TV and tell people how healthy it was to cut fat from their diets, and there were loads of magazine articles telling everyone they had to avoid fat if they were to ever become thin.  Tons of people were coming forward giving personal testimonies to how effective this diet craze was.  All this stuff made such great sense that no one could really question it, save for butter-loving Julia Child who denounced such ideas as bad cooking.

The YoYo: Fun toy for kids and grown-ups
alike!  But it makes for crappy dieting!

Fast forward a few years into the late 1990’s.  The Atkins, a.k.a. “high protein” or “low carb” diet gained national notoriety.  Now the buzz was that you could eat fats—in fact, your body needed them for things like brain health and vitamin absorbtion!  What was causing people to become fat was eating carbs—evil carbs!  Again, the scientists backed it up, doctors got on TV, articles were written and even more testimony-sharing zealots spread their story of how fun it was to eat fatty steak and broccoli while still losing weight!

Now we have a new diet, albeit, this one is slightly different (I feel) in how it’s coming about.  The new diet is a conglomeration of vegan, no GMO’s and organic foods.  Now the “science” is saying that you can’t eat meat, genetically altered foods or anything that uses pesticides because it’s unhealthy.  Scientists are backing this up, doctors are on TV (and web videos), and there are tons of testimonials; only this time the people testifying are able to spread their ideas quickly on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and the like.

What is happening is that social media and the web have come alongside the traditional media outlets to either confirm or deny “truths” to our society, and this includes the “truth” about what we eat.  Anyone in marketing worth their salt knows this, and many documentary filmmakers know this too. 

It is important to note that documentary makers are not reporters and they are not the “new media” that can be trusted more than others (it’s no secret that lots of people are looking for alternative yet viable news sources in this day and age).  Documentary filmmakers are still filmmakers, and the good ones have got an angle to make their film appealing.  Shock value still sells, and people purporting any kind of exposé on the food industry are not going to try to present a balanced argument, they are going to present a biased view so as to sell more of their documentary.  The news does the same thing.

TV shows that put the “pop scientists” on their shows, are likewise still after viewers.  I’m not calling these people evil, I’m not saying that they all, or even most of them, have an agenda.  I am saying that my experience in TV, film production, radio and sales have led me to conclude that when something is hip it’s going to get air time and the people showing it aren’t going to ask too many deep questions about the validity of what they are airing, nor are they necessarily going to present balanced arguments because it makes for boring content.  

The kicker for all this is that I’ve lived long enough to have seen too many of these fad diets not work in the lives of real people: long term, that is… the weight comes off, then goes back on, comes off then goes back on again.  “Yo-yo dieting” I believe it is called.  Yes, there are a lot of success stories, but that's usually because someone started down the road with one of these diets, learned healthy habits and then balanced themselves out as they went.  

Disclaimers: I’m not calling this a big conspiracy made up by the organic food people, and I’m not even saying that there is no truth to what is said in documentaries such as Food, Inc. or Forks Over Knives.  I am NOT saying I am a nutrition expert, know more than scientists or doctors, etc.  I’m just stating my hesitance to buy into all of what they are saying; I think there's a lot of exaggeration going on.

I’m also not saying it’s bad to be vegan or vegetarian.  You can still be strong, get enough protein and beat up people that eat meat.  Except for AHNOWLD.  No one beats up AHNOWLD!

The reason I've felt compelled, maybe even pushed to write this article is that some people are getting dogmatic, even religious and sometimes, unfortunately, self-righteous over this vegan thing, organic, no GMO thing.  So let me say it here: believe it or not, it’s a proven, self-evident fact that there are other ways to lose weight and be genuinely healthy OTHER than going vegan/organic/no GMO, or as I will say from now on, "VOGMO." 

I would like to point out that typically, whenever people start to think about what they eat on a regular basis, they take in less unhealthy food and often exercise more too!  This always helps people lose weight, regardless of what diet they are on, and this is a good thing.  Bravo!  I am honestly happy for them.  I recently heard from someone on the VOGMO diet/lifestyle who lost 40 pounds and is in way better health than he previously was—I’m delighted for him.  I also spoke with a relative just the other day who had lost 3 inches to the waistline: on a low-carb diet eating soy (GMO’s!), non-organic veggies and meats with all sorts of added hormones! 

When I was over 300 pounds, I lost about 80 pounds of fat just by eating less food overall, but making healthier choices for what I did eat and exercising more.  15 years later, the weight is still off.  But I eat meat all but probably 3 or 4 days a year.  Plus I love cheese.  Eggs I could live without, but not the cheese.  So vegan is a lifestyle that I could not embrace.  

So on the one hand, I applaud any diet if it helps people lose weight andkeep it off by helping them transform their lifestyle.  Sometimes, just getting started and learning some things about taking care of one’s body is a beginning for people that are losing weight, but their education should continue. 

On the other hand, I denounce making any one diet dogma, especially when any diet is presented as a fix-all to one’s health and obesity issues. No diet can replace other healthy habits nor self-control when it comes to eating and exercising.  

To all who have lost weight or are continuing to lose weight through whatever means, I wish you the very best in getting to your target weight and in learning all the habits of heart and mind that keep that weight off of you.  It’s not easy, but it is worth it. 

To my VOGMO friends, I respect your decisions, understand why you are making those decisions and bless you to be in good health.  I believe there is much to be learned from you, and hopefully the points you bring up will improve the food industry and care of animals.  I am genuinely glad you have shared with me why you eat the way you do.  Now I feel I have said my peace as to why I eat the way I do.  Let us then live in peace.  :)

Studying Philosophy.

I have been reading/studying some philosophy lately.  I figured it would be good for the ol' brain development.  Not that I'm seeking to become a philosopher.  Generally, I think that philosophers come to some zany conclusions, but that isn't to say that I don't respect their minds or their willingness to ask some really GREAT questions.  Their great questions are both natural and valuable for everyone to consider.

In fact, I think we would all do a little better if we both studied philosophy and became willing to think about some tough thought-problems of our own.  It takes some real courage to do so, as well as endurance.  This is because if you start asking tough questions, your whole world may be shaken up-and you might no longer know what you believe, or why you believe what you believe, or if what you believe is indeed reliable and a sundry of other such difficult mental conundrums that may arise.  Staying in that place of tension (at least in some areas of our minds) on a regular basis is scary and difficult and requires tremendous emotional stability to continue doing over a long period of time.

Bust of Aristotle

Unfortunately, the painfulness of this path is precisely the reason why loads of people cease to think for themselves whenever they get the chance-they come to certain trivial conclusions about who they are, what their life is supposed to be, etc.  They cease really thinking and continue in their limited viewpoints until some sort of "crisis of faith" (for whatever it is they've put their faith in) comes along and derails them.

I wish I could say that I was free from all this, but I have been all too guilty both of loathing having to think through things thoroughly and of remaining immature in my thinking.  Were it not for lots of crises in my life, I don't think I would seek out the answers that I should either.

Nevertheless, I am grateful for the shake-ups because when we get through these kinds of questions and get them answered, we eventually develop a new platform of thinking, a foundation upon which to build our thoughts and minds.  When we become sure of the things that we know to be true, then new doubts and questions that come along the way cease to be really all that scary; instead they become revelations of weak points in our armor that are mendable and ultimately, strengthening.

Assuredly, if we work through these mind-bending problems, we'll (A.) become unshakable and emboldened in living life powerfully everyday because of the confidence we have in our position and (B.) able to help others who are asking the same questions (yet sometimes they didn't even know they were asking these questions!).  Finally, (C.) we should arrive at such points with humility and grace because these roads aren't fun, but always develop good character (provided we're really getting things answered.)

So to conclude and bring this little article full circle by making the point I was trying to make: the process of learning how to think is of critical importance (obviously) and a good study of philosophy is helpful toward that end.

Change the World Much?

So here's a cool little story from antiquity that's packed with lessons.  

The Death of Socrates

Socrates mentors this guy named Plato in philosophy and really, if we're being honest, teaches him how to think and live.  (Socrates, if you'll recall, had such a strong tie between his thought and his actions that he was willing to die for them).  This had a profound effect on his disciple Plato.

The School of Athens (detail) with the elder Plato on the left and his brilliant disciple Aristotle on the right.

 Plato in turn started a school in Athens for philosophers.  One of his disciples was this brilliant man named Aristotle.  Aristotle was, of course, a great thinker in his own right-even taking issue with some of what his mentor taught him and launching into an entirely new "school of thought" if you will.  

Between the three of these guys, you have the foundations of much of Western thought, and there are many assumptions that all of us hold today simply because of their influence.  

The reason their thought patterns spread so far and wide was because Alexander the Great conquered much of the known Western (and a lot of the Eastern) world at the time.  Throughout his empire, he spread the Greek-thought of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle (helped in part by the fact that he established a common "Koine" Greek language to facilitate trade and learning, and because he founded learning centers like the city of Alexandria, famous for its Great Library).  More than a general, Alexander the Great was a phenomenal statesman who understood how to transform the cultures of the societies he conquered.  

The product of over a century of thought-development taking action-Alexander the Great.

One of the reasons why Alexander was able to accomplish so much was because his mind was so well developed.  He simply outsmarted other generals in battle, and knew what factors most influenced a whole society.  History records how Alexander knew so much by telling us who his mentor was-none other than Aristotle himself!  

So there you have it... an unbroken line of mentors from Socrates to Plato to Aristotle to Alexander the Great.  Socrates died in 399 B.C., long before Alexander was born.  Plato too, was dead before Alexander turned 6.  But Aristotle lived to see his ideas, and the ideas of his forbears, spread further than he could have ever possibly dreamed through the actions of Alexander.  

There are tons of lessons in here (too many for a short post) but I at least want to mention how valuable even one life is... each of these men, by mentoring just one person, ensured that the entire world for thousands of years to come would be changed.  I think it goes to say that we should each live as if countless millions are depending on us to do the best with what we've been given.  It's not a guarantee that we'll have such influence, but without ever knowing (as Socrates and Plato never could have), I'd rather err on the side of going after great influence and change as opposed to passively living and dying without thought of who is to come after me.