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As exhausting as it can be I love to travel. Especially internationally.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s everything to gain and nothing to lose. Well, except your credit card information (which unfortunately did happen), but that\u2019s why God invented fraud protection.<\/p>\n
If you have the chance to travel, do it. Whether it\u2019s across the state, across the country, or across the planet it will forever change the way you look and act in the world.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s a very good thing.<\/p>\n
Especially if you\u2019re a person of faith.<\/p>\n
The world is much bigger and more diverse than we can even begin to comprehend. That\u2019s why it\u2019s so important to get out there and see it, experience it, taste it, and suck the marrow out of every moment that is given to you.<\/p>\n
In finding the courage to journey to new lands you encounter people who look, talk, think, eat, speak, and worship in ways that are often radically different and yet curiously\u00a0similar\u00a0to your own. And in doing so you begin to realize that that diversity is not only something you need not fear; it is something to celebrate.<\/p>\n
There is no beauty in the Christian faith if we allow the monolith of American evangelicalism to be the normative paradigm for Christianity, repeated in every corner of creation, adjusted only to the extent that the congregation can sing along with our latest worship songs.<\/p>\n
The beauty of Christianity is found when people of every language, tongue, and tribe are allowed to bring their traditions to the table of faith and worship freely. When we try to force our cultural context onto the rest of the world we create nothing more than a\u00a0cacophony\u00a0of noise.<\/p>\n
But if we can find the courage to allow the many members of the one body of faith to sing freely with their own voices we will discover a symphony more grand and beautiful than anything we could ever imagine.<\/p>\n
So, this in this new year don\u2019t fear that which is different from yourself. Seek it out. Emrace it. Love it. And then your world will never be the same again.<\/p>\n
Grace and peace,<\/p>\n
Zack Hunt<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0 \u00a0 Yesterday was our first day back from vacation. As you probably already know Wes spent the break with his family and I went with my wife to Italy. It was sort of our late\u00a0anniversary\u00a0gift\/early graduation from med school (her) present\/last vacation until she finishes residency. It was amazing, inspiring, and exhausting. So, for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3437,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
How I Spent My Christmas Vacation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\" Yesterday was our first day back from vacation. As you probably already know Wes spent the break with his family and I went with my wife to\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/01\/how-i-spent-my-christmas-vacation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How I Spent My Christmas Vacation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\" Yesterday was our first day back from vacation. 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