Make it Count

"Make it Count" is the slogan of the Nike+ Fuel Band that aimed to encourage people (specifically the Gen Y) to live life to the fullest. Another popularly used term is Carpe diem or seize the day. Nike hired this guy to film an ad for the campaign but instead of following the original plan, him and the film editor spent the entire budget travelling around the world. It took them 10 days to use up the money, travelling 34,000 miles, visiting 16 cities in 13 countries on three continents. The result was a four-and-a-half-minute film. It wasn't quite what Nike had expected, but it still featured Nike's "Make It Count" branding and there were quotes from famous people such as:

• Helen Keller ~ Life is either daring adventure or nothing at all
• Franklin Roosevelt ~ Above all try something 
• Albert Einstein ~ I never worry about the future it comes soon enough 
• Giacomo Casanova ~ One who makes no mistakes makes nothing at all 
• Abraham Lincoln ~ In the end it's not the years in your life that counts it's the life in your years

In the video, the guy was running through the cities, doing handstands at renown landmarks or backflips and jumping off high places. Singapore was also one of the visited countries! The Marina Bay Sands infinity pool was featured in the video at around 4:09. Although I noticed that other than the scene where he runs off from his apartment and him coming back, he was not wearing the band in most of the other scenes. I am guessing the battery died during the trip and it was pointless to wear it. Nevertheless, he did make a point with his video, which was to live life to the fullest.

It's a very positive notion to live life to the fullest, except it places too much emphasis on the now and now. If life is just about this life then that will be fine. But the truth is, there is life after this life. My church pastor has a favourite illustration in his preaching. He uses a short piece of rope that's red and maybe about 30cm long, and one end of that red rope is tied to another rope green in colour and is many many times longer. The shorter red rope represents our life here on earth which is very short compared to the much longer green rope which represents eternity. Our life, from the day we are born will end after 30,000 days (assuming an average lifespan of approximately 82 years) and then comes eternity which lasts... forever.

Although there isn't much details in the bible about what happens in eternity or in heaven when we die, we do know a few things for sure. Firstly, if we believe in Jesus, we will have eternal life even after the physical death (John 11:25-26). Secondly, when we go to heaven, we receive an eternal inheritance (1 Peter 1:3-5) and would also be awarded a crown if we fought the good fight and finished the race (2 Timothy 4:7-8). The good fight of faith is to live a life holy and pleasing to God and also to be mindful of God's 'business'. This world can be full of temptations to lure us away from fighting the good fight of faith, but we need to press on to make our life count for eternity.

So this is my goal for the new year.

"But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses."

1 Timothy 6:11-12