Butterfly Effect

According to Answers.com, “In 1961, Edward Lorenz was using a numerical computer model to rerun a weather prediction, when, as a shortcut on a number in the sequence, he entered the decimal .506 instead of entering the full .506127. The result was a completely different weather scenario. Lorenz published his findings in a 1963 paper for the New York Academy of Sciences noting that "One meteorologist remarked that if the theory were correct, one flap of a seagull's wings could change the course of weather forever." Later speeches and papers by Lorenz used the more poetic butterfly. According to Lorenz, upon failing to provide a title for a talk he was to present at the 139th meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1972, Philip Merilees concocted Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas? as a title” (http://www.answers.com/topic/butterfly-effect-2).

The Butterfly Effect postulates that an insignificant event on one side of the world can produce significant change in the outcome of events on the other side of the world. Can this be possible?

What about the bit players in the Bible? We study the great men and women, but what about the supporting cast? What about those who played seemingly insignificant roles?

The apostle Andrew is recorded in John with bringing his brother Peter to Christ. Peter became a great leader in the early church. A boy gave his lunch away that led to over 5,000 being fed when Christ blessed it.

Prior to teaching full-time for Indiana Wesleyan University, I was a faculty recruiter. Since IWU wants to hire faculty that can support its Christ-centered mission, I would ask prospective faculty to tell me about their walk with Christ. Roughly half of those who could articulate a personal relationship with Christ said that they were raised in church all of their lives and one day accepted Christ as Savior. The other half would tell me about a journey they experienced with different people in their lives pointing them toward Jesus until one day they came face to face with their need of a Savior and accepted Christ.

I loved listening to these stories. One in particular went like this. This young man (let’s call him George) and his wife met another couple who were much like themselves. George and his wife were invited to attend a Sunday School class social event. There they met other couples like themselves and really enjoyed the evening. When George and his wife were invited to attend the Sunday School class, they accepted and then they attended church as well on a regular basis. A short time later, George and his wife moved away and quit going to church. Years later, George was handed a New Testament by a Gideon. George tossed the book in his book bag and forgot about it. Several weeks later George was called to visit his dad’s bedside who was dying in another state. George was leaving to return home and began thinking about his dad dying and his mother and sister fending for themselves. It saddened him to think that he and his dad had not resolved the issues between them. George started rummaging through his book bag and found the New Testament. He flipped through it and eventually started reading 1Corinthians 13, the love chapter. The Word spoke to him. He saw the answers to many of life’s problems. When his plane landed he excitedly told his wife that he had figured out the answer to his problems. The answer he said was love. His wife who had not shared in this epiphany replied, “No kidding”.

George did not know that his wife had been attending a Bible study at a neighbor’s house. God had been speaking to his wife, but she wasn’t ready to discuss what God had been doing in her life. Over the next several weeks, the masks came off and George and his wife realized that God had been speaking to each of them and it was time to get back to church and make a commitment to God.

I share all of this, the butterfly effect and George’s story to encourage each of us to make that effort to point someone to Christ. Each little nudge makes an impact. We never know the impact of our actions.

Mathew 10:41-42, “Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward."

1 Corinthians 3:7-9 “Neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.