(Quotient Quizes #18)  Do you remember as a kid playing the game seeing who could count the highest?  You would get to some huge number, then your opponent would add another number to it?  Nobody could win because there was always a higher number.  Is there any limit of numbers when counting? 

That game might have taught me that estimating was easier than counting.  I was always accused of being able to estimate more people at a gathering than the actual number there.  At Frazer, we could have 5,000 people counted in attendance, but I could estimate there were at least 7,000!  Our ushers would always take the headcounts instead of my estimate.  I should have been hired to estimate the recent Presidential Inauguration crowd! 

The Catholic Church in Norway got into trouble recently because of the way it counted people.  In Norway, the government subsidizes religion, so the numbers influence their financial aid.  They were fined $142,000 by the government.  The church was actually taking Polish-sounding names from the phone book and padding the parish lists. 

They recorded 65,500 new members for the Diocese of Oslo from 2010 to 2014, but they discovered that 56,500 were added through questionable methods.  Some U.S. churches also practice that evangelism strategy! 

I have always wondered about how some things are counted.  After I had hip surgery, as a precaution, I had to take some very heavy antibiotics for 6 weeks.  The doctor suggested that I also take some probiotics because antibiotics would deplete a lot of good things out of my system.  The probiotics would replace them.

When I went to the store to inquire about probiotics, they asked me what kind of count I wanted.  I figured one pill per day.  They said, “We have pills that have 5 billion, or 30 billion, or 50 billion, or 80 billion count.”  I chose the 80 billion count because I figured, “the more, the better!”  I was curious and wanted to check out the count on one of the pills, but I can’t even count to 80 billion!  How do they do that counting? 

I also have gained a little weight since my surgery.  I think I have found the reason.  Each good bacteria must weigh something.  If I’m adding 80 billion of those little things each day, that’s where my weight gain has come from!  Maybe I need to cut back to the 5 billion count!

Count the things that really count, and don’t count the things that don’t really count.  Ask God to help show you the difference.  Maybe knowing what to count is more important than how to count.  Read Matthew 6:19-34.

Counting the right things puts us in the right frame of mind to live each day.  If you count the wrong things, you’ll discover you’ve got more burdens, problems and challenges than really exist.  Count your friends, count your blessings, count your opportunities, count your Kingdom endeavors . . . etc.

Through my participation in the Billion Soul Vision events, I met a fascinating man, Bruce Buckingham.  It was his voice that you always heard on television counting down when space shuttles were launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.  I always kidded him because he counted backwards. 

He told me about the different microphones in his ears and computers in front of his eyes.  He would count “T-minus 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 . . .” and then a decision had to be made – “Go / No Go.”  When he said “2, 1,” you would see the blast off to the moon or an orbit around the earth.  The lives of astronauts were dependent upon his precise and accurate countdown.  He could count backwards and never made a mistake!

Copy my friend, Bruce Buckingham.  Countdown – 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 – and blast off to a blessed day that counts!

What is your CQ – Count Quotient?