Putting 14,308 people in perspective

I tried thinking about what 14,308 people* means in this way: 

- Assume it takes 3 seconds to read the three words in each person's name aloud

- Assume you start reading each one of 14,308 names right now

- Assume my arithmetic is correct: it'd take almost 4 hours to pronounce each person's name, with no pause in-between

Wow.  It might seem easy to dismiss souls as "just numbers" ... at least until each number has a name. 

With a personal, individual eternity to face one day, too.

* 14,308 people attended services this weekend at New Spring Church.