The wake you leave

Several miles off the shores of Galveston, Texas, tanker ships pass through a deep-water channel as they approach and then leave the port of Houston. These large ships, travelling at around 15 miles per hour, produce wakes, rippling waves that are large and fast enough for surfers to catch and ride for miles.

It's quite the sight to see these daring surfers coasting along the side of cargo ships in the middle of the ocean, propelled by nothing more than the water displaced by the large vessels.

As you go through life, the things you say and do leave their own wake. Sometimes our wake is gentle and barely felt, and sometimes it can seem like a tempest to those around us.

In his letter to the Philippians, Paul recognized - albeit using different language - that he too had a wake.

And he encouraged the believers in Philippi to ride that wake - to take what they had seen and learned from him and let those things propel them to good works for God's cause.

Each one of us has the opportunity to produce a similar ripple effect with what we say and do. Your legacy can be something powerful enough to move others forward a great distance, either toward God or away from Him.