Laus Deo!

For those of you who have visited our nation’s capital you have noticed that the skyline of the capital is low and squatty. There is a reason for the buildings being so low. While visiting there are few years ago l learned from a local pastor that there is a law in Washington DC that no building can be of greater height than the Washington Monument.

That’s interesting, isn’t it?

What is more interesting than that is what is on top of the highest structure in the city. Enscribed on the aluminum cap of the Washington Monument are two Latin words: Laus Deo.

Now you may be thinking, what do those two words mean and why are they 555 feet high where no one can see them? That is a great question. Beyond that, the words are written facing the open sky and are unnoticed by the thousands of visitors to the monument each day.

Laus Deo! Two seemingly insignificant, un-noticed words. Out of sight and, to some, out of mind, but very meaningfully placed at the highest point over what is the most powerful city in the most successful nation in the world.

These words were intentionally placed there by the fathers of the city in the 1800's.

So, what do those two words, in Latin, composed of just four syllables and only seven letters, mean?

Very simply, they say... "Praise be to God!"

Thinking about the new buildings of our Phase II project, I contemplated how cool it would be to place Laus Deo on the top of one of them. Just like the Washingtom Monument, we would be declaring to the heavens, “Praise be to God!” Yes, these new buildings are being built to reach JUST ONE MORE. However, the higher objective for every building we build or ministry we begin or vision we make reality is, ultimately, for praise to God alone.