When a canon fires, it is given direction based on the radius of a circle. A circle is understood by most to have 360 degrees, however, in the Army Field Artillery the circle has 6400 Mil-radians or “Mils.”
This does not seem to be a big deal until you look at the details. When a canon fires a shot the direction that it fires is so precise that those measurements are measured by Mils and not degrees. 6400 versus 360. The significance of this measurement is seen a thousand meters away from the target. If a canon fires are one mil off of the target when shot, then the round impacts one thousand meters away from the intended target. It is a math problem.
This math problem came up in a discussion during Sunday School yesterday. We were discussing 2 Samuel 13, the story of David and Bathsheba. During the discussion, we addressed how little slips along the way turn into big sins later on down the road. This is very similar to the Artillery formula here. If you adjust ever so slightly in the short term, will be far off-target in the future. The interesting idea is that the Field Artillery uses the Mil-Radius which is more precise, because it matters so much toward precision. Shouldn’t the same principle apply to our lives? Too many times we act in degrees away from obedience when we should really think and act in Mils.
Because it is that important.