Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth…Psalm 98:4

A beautiful summer day…

The only sound … the stirring of the leaves in a light summer breeze..

Quiet.

So Quiet.

So peaceful.

Suddenly the air is filled with…

Shouting…

Yelling…

Laughing…

The noise lasts 20 minutes…

30 Minutes…

An hour…

I walk to the end of our lot and peer through the bushes toward the yelling and shouting…

A trampoline!

Our neighbors have bought a trampoline…

It’s filled with pre-teens jumping and shouting for joy…

Living out loud …

A year has passed since that first day of the trampoline.

The joyful jumpers are older now…

More sophisticated.

Quieter.

Is that what happens to our life as Christians?

Do we start out as joyful children of God…

Only to become more sophisticated?

Quieter?

Embarrassed to be living out loud for God?

 Embarrassed to live our belief in the midst of a world that calls it foolish…

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18

In the midst of a world that sometimes hates our belief and us…

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. John 15:18

We are called to live our belief out loud…

To live it in Joy…

Joy for the trials of this life…

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials… James 1:2

Joy for the rewards of the life that is to come…

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.   John 14:3

And Joy for the God who creates them both…

Shout for joy to God, all the earth!  Psalm 66:1

That’s living out loud for God!

Note: a first version of this post appeared in June, 2016