500 kiloton impact for good

image from the New Yorker magazine

mall things can make a big impact. True story. Just ask the residents of Chelyabinsk, Russia, who witnessed the most incredible explosion in response to a meteor around 55 ft. in diameter. According to NASA, the explosion released nearly 500 kilotons of energy, more than 30 times the blast of the Hiroshima atomic bomb.

Likewise, decisions we make and things that we do can have repercussions beyond the limits of our imagination. Sometimes the fallout is good; sometimes not so much.

IT’S THE LITTLE THINGS: I was thinking about all this while writing my newest contribution to the AllProDad.com website. All-Pro-Dad is an web-based initiative designed to provide fathers with the resources and the encouragement necessary to help them be the best and most passionate-for-the-family dads possible. All-Pro-Dad is a program of Family First, and is closely aligned with SuperBowl winning coach Tony Dungy’s ongoing mission to be an advocate for fatherhood.

You won’t find my name anywhere on the site, but I write a huge amount of content for All-Pro-Dad. Today, for example, I’m working on the 154th in a series of articles built around “Top-Ten” and “Top-Five” lists.

Interestingly, if you scanned those lists, pretty-much every single point that I make is small. However, absolutely anything we chose to do in terms of deliberate and good-hearted change, has the potential to make a 500 kiloton impact for good.

Let me repeat that:

absolutely anything we chose to do in terms of deliberate and good-hearted change, has the potential to make a 500 kiloton impact for good.

What this world needs is not so much perfect solutions, but people who continually and resolutely do small things for good with big hearts. I think we waste too much time and effort looking for the 90-yard play, the bases-loaded walk-off home run, the three-pointer at the buzzer… when what we really need is a long series of three-yard efforts, 9-innings of walks and base-hits, and consistent scoring as an alternative to turning the ball over.

HUGE IMPACT FOR GOOD! While some people are waiting around for the spectacular, the rest of us could be making a much bigger impact on our families, our communities and our world via day after day of simple, small, 500-kiloton decisions. Acts of kindness, encouragement, grace, mercy, love, goodness, and faith.

You want to change the world? Be an encourager. You want to change your family? Be kind. You want to change your community? Serve others. You want to change your church? Follow Jesus.

He has told you, human one, what is good, and what the Lord requires from you: to do justice, embrace faithful love, and walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8 – CEV)

Nothing spectacular. Nothing to draw attention to ourselves. Nothing big enough to be tracked by NASA’s Near Earth Object program. Just 500 kilotons of love - DEREK