Wrapping Your Mind Around Something Enormous

Imagine a guy—let's call him John. John's a lucky guy. He's a very lucky guy. Imagine that John won $1 million in a lottery. Got it in your mind? John won $1 million in the lottery.

But wait, let's imagine that John is even luckier. John wins $1 million in the lottery every day. That's right. No day goes by in which John doesn't win $1 million in the lottery. Can you imagine?! John's really lucky, and John's really wealthy.

Let's further imagine that John has absolutely no expenses. His housing is provided. His food is provided. His clothing is provided. Everything is provided for John. He spends no money on anything. So, John's NET income is $1 million every day.

Because he doesn't have to spend his winnings, John puts his $1 million in an enormous vault in his home. Each and every day, John puts another $1 million into his vault.

Now, imagine that John was born in the year 0 BC. Although Jesus very well may not have actually been born that year, let's pretend that our imaginary John actually was born that year and has lived all of that time—through the glory and fall of Rome, the barbarians, the Moslem invasions, Charlemagne, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Reformation, the discovery of the New World, the American Revolution, the World Wars, all of it—and he's depositing into his vault $1 million every day.

Finally, imagine that we called upon John in 2008 to fund the recently passed economic stimulus plan.

Guess what? John doesn't have enough money.