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<\/a><\/p>\nOn campouts like those, we get to abandon the social norms and expectations of neighborly camping and run a little wild. Playing UNO around the campfire at top volume, no noise curfew so the radio plays all night long, and the occasional round of squatching.<\/p>\n
You know squatching, right? Bellowing out your best yeti yell, or bigfoot bark and then waiting for it to echo back off the valley walls, or ripple across the lake. It\u2019s a hoot… unless someone answers.<\/p>\n
Thank you Jesus that has never happened yet.<\/p>\n
I was reminded of those moments as I read in 1 Thessalonians today. Paul was greeting the church at Thessolanica and expressing gratitude for them when he said:<\/p>\n
1 Thessalonians 1:8 For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
What a great thing to say about someone, a family, or a church. The word in the original Greek for \u201csounded forth\u201d is \u1f10\u03be\u03ae\u03c7\u03b7\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9<\/em> whose root is the source of the English word \u2018echo\u2019.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the kind of life each of us should strive to live. That\u2019s the kind of church we should pray for and serve in to create. That\u2019s the kind of legacy we should dream that we could leave.<\/p>\n
Without a word spoken, without a plaque hung on the wall, or without an article written for the history book, the word of your life, deeds and faith “sounds forth” to everyone, echoing into eternity.<\/p>\n
What are you doing today to live that way?<\/p>\n
Just remember, everything you do in life will echo for years, but as you hear it bounce back off the canyon walls of your life, will you like the way it sounds? Sound off!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of our favorite off-season camping experiences is being alone in big places. There\u2019s something a little amazing (and sometimes a little creepy) about camping in a place where hundreds of recreational enthusiasts often cram in, but you\u2019re the only one there. With our odd ministry schedule, the Addi cram in family time whenever we … <\/p>\n