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He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. Eccl. 3:11 NIV Have you ever thrown a stone into a calm pool of water? If you were to do so, you might notice that there would be an initial big splash followed by successive ripples spreading out from the point of impact. These ripples continue to disperse for quite some time after the primary disturbance. In the movie Gladiator, Maximus quotes the emperor Marcus Aurelius to his troops right before a pivotal battle with the fearsome Germanic hordes. From the back of his noble war horse Maximus looks his men in the eye and shouts, “What we do in life echoes in eternity.” Although this maxim, (pun intend) is not scriptural, it resonates with the words of the author of Ecclesiastes some 1000 years earlier. The Lord has set eternity in the hearts of men, and as the Apostle Paul goes on to explain in Acts 17, he set them in their times and places that they might seek him and know Him. Outdoor ministry is often like that splash in a pond. The facilitator’s job is to bring about a disturbance, a catalytic encounter with creation and Creator that leaves ripples long after the fact. Participants are frequently impacted in powerful, life-changing ways that have eternal echoes, which reverberate with surprising and unexpected tones. Wherever you find yourself today, may you recognize that even the simplest act can have eternal consequences. What you do now ripples in eternity.