Have you ever wondered what percentage of ink covers a page?

That would be a lot easier if all the ink was squished together in a square. Then you could measure the page (5.5x11) and divide it by the square inch size of the black block and voila, you would know.

Of course the text doesn't move around so much on a page, so to make it easier I shook the bulletin today and made all the scriptures on the front cover crash over into the corner. Wasn't that nice of me? Now you could potentially know how much of the opportunity I used. Just remember it is HALF of a page, I only shook the front cover, OK?

Folks who sell us toner make claims like "a full cartridge will print 30 thousand pages!" but they measure just the "textual area", not the actual area, and ONLY of non-bold text, no pictures or extra stuff. Their standard page is 5% coverage. For example, the text from above to this point in the bulletin at an 11 point size is MORE than 5 percent! And remember that counts as a "full" page! Seems a little fishy to me.

But before you feel like I cheated you, consider the quantity as a quantity. I might have had just the scripture that would have edified you on the front today in a way you really needed it. We'll never know, because we squeezed them down to a block. The words are still there, just so jammed together you'll never get sense from them. If I doubled the text, all I really do is double the block. You get no additional edification, thus it is not "effective." But it is much more "efficient" - at least as far as putting ink on a page. I can really pack it in there.

Well, I sort of compare human reasoning and God's reasoning like that. It is most efficient to print the gospel on cards and mail it to everyone. But it is more effective to "waste" time, by patiently talking to folks and spreading the gospel person to person. It is more efficient to create an orphan home institution and pay for baby sitters, but is more effective to adopt them into loving families. Don't get me wrong, God's way is often the most effective AND efficient, but we sure waste a lot of time discovering the truth in that...

And if God were to show you a page of your book of life, would you want the good works done to barely cover the minimum, whatever that is? Wouldn't you prefer to have done so much good that God had to scribble in the margins to list it all?

We ought to be busy right now, before the toner runs out.

Randy