an arm full of stones...
"When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, "Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan from right where the priests stood and to carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight."
So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, "Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?' tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever."
So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the LORD had told Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down. Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day.
Now the priests who carried the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything the LORD had commanded Joshua was done by the people, just as Moses had directed Joshua. The people hurried over, and as soon as all of them had crossed, the ark of the LORD and the priests came to the other side while the people watched. The men of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over, armed, in front of the Israelites, as Moses had directed them. About forty thousand armed for battle crossed over before the LORD to the plains of Jericho for war. That day the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they revered him all the days of his life, just as they had revered Moses. Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Command the priests carrying the ark of the Testimony to come up out of the Jordan."
So Joshua commanded the priests, "Come up out of the Jordan." And the priests came up out of the river carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD. No sooner had they set their feet on the dry ground than the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and ran at flood stage as before. On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho. And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan. He said to the Israelites, "In the future when your descendants ask their fathers, 'What do these stones mean?' tell them, 'Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.' For the LORD your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The LORD your God did to the Jordan just what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God." -Joshua 4
I have always loved this passage. Maybe because of the mental picture of all that water being cut off, perhaps because the good guys didn't get wet, or just because it was after all a pretty cool account.
A few years ago we used twelve men to periodically carry stones on their shoulders and place them on the communion table in the center of auditorium throughout the service. It was very moving and powerful. We remembered what God had done for us and through us that morning and looked forward to what He would do for and through us in the future.
Not long after, our staff was asked to bring stones to a gathering at the Crossing for lunch and fellowship between the three local Christian churches. In an attempt to remind us to think as "one" and not "three" we were asked to place our stones outside by the street so we could see them every time we passed by and remember we are the same Body, to work together and not against one another. "...And they are there to this day..."
A couple months ago in a study I was doing there was a whole segment devoted to this passage and as I processed last night's post and the conversation leading up to it, and processed it well into the wee hours, I began to realize I've been hauling a pile of stones around, not only because I haven't been able to lay them down, but because I didn't want everyone else to walk right past them and not know why they were there. If I had them in my arms, maybe someone would ask what they were for.
In this study, Beth Moore encourages that God will cut a path through any obstacle that stands between me and the fulfillment of His covenant promises. But she also says that when He makes the path it's up to me to take it. These stones were from the "middle of the Jordan. The halfway point. The deepest part. The place of sudden doubt and indecision." As Henry Blackaby puts it, a crisis of belief. A place where we decide what we're going to do. She tells us we are wisest to hurry over, that we might want to turn around to what is familiar, even if it isn't in our best interest, we might stand still and go nowhere, or we can move on. We can, I guess in some way, get over it.
The view from the middle of the river is pretty amazing and honestly, I'm proud of myself for trying to cross it to begin with. The shore behind me was a beautiful place once upon a time. It was all I have known and called home. But these waters towering above me have been patiently held in place by a Father who knew I would need some time. And He knew I would need to bring these stones.
Last night was something. Not sure I can describe what was at work in me. While we were busy with last minute details and trying to remember everything we needed to get right, there was this circle of people front and center holding hands and praying. Living stones, standing stones, interceding for God to make a way. Interceding for God to move us into new territory we had never experienced before. Interceding for God's people to be changed because of His presence and through the worship He would receive. There was incense burning. There were people standing in line trying to find a place to sit. I don't know exactly how I felt. I was excited about putting it all together, I was distracted with making sure everything was ready to go, I was...new, but really comfortable. What followed in the next incredible hour or so was nothing short of amazing.
We had prayed about this evening and wanted to be amazed. We wanted to wake our senses and our hearts to how unbelievable our God really is, and how we just have to live all out for Him. The congregation came ready. They came to praise and they came to praise Him all out. It was crazy. There was teaching on the tabernacle and incense in Biblical times. There was a time of complete silence. There was incense being spread over the congregation as they prayed. What followed was perhaps the most significant sense of His presence I have felt in my life. [Oddly enough, the other time I recall that moved me in such an indescribable way also involved smelling a sweet fragrance, however there was no incense being burned...]
Worship is such an extravagant gift. It actually isn't much different than His ark of the covenant parting the waters for the Israelites really. His presence is still parting waters today, cutting a path for us in the midst of a world that just isn't all that easy to live in sometimes, a path made visible in the midst of authentic worship. I didn't want it to end. The heavens really touched our small lot of earth last night and it was a beautiful thing.
I made my way through the hallway; a hallway that is actually feeling a lot less strange and God had one more surprise for me. In this sea of faces, only a few with names, my eyes rested on these four young ladies from the "other side of the river". I sure didn't expect to see them there and I still don't know why they came. I do know this, it moved me. It moved me a lot. It was nice of them to come and it was nice of them to seek us out afterwards. That was big to me.
Anyway, we headed back in to re-record one song and there were lots of hugs and expressions of love. A few of us listened to the raw tracks, which were beyond expectation and it was pretty wonderful to be honest. We all got something to eat and I headed home. That's when Kevin "encouraged" me to stop blogging about everything, to just...get over it. Man, if I ever hear that phrase again it will be too soon.
But like I said, I processed this stuff way into the night and this is what I've come up with: I figure He's only going to hold the waters back for so long. I need to make a move one way or the other or they will engulf me to the point where I won't be much use to Him or to the others in my life. But I'm bringing the stones. I know I'll need to lay them down and I guess I'm ready to do that if last night was a glimpse of what waits on the other shore. But every once in a while I'm going to look at them and remember. I find comfort in knowing there are a few really precious people in my life that will remember with me and we'll all understand if there are days when the stones haunt us and we need to talk it through or work it out, and realize it isn't weakness or unforgiveness, just growth and healing that can't be spoken into being. And I need those few people to know I will never forget and I will always be here and will always understand.
One day I will tell my grandchildren of these stones when they are ready. Because I'd like for them to do it differently, to do it better, to do it more like it was intended to be. The Body of Christ is much more than I ever dreamed and perhaps this is my lesson, this is what He needs me to remember. She is worth this cost. She was certainly worth His & mine pales in comparison. I will remember how He made a way. I will remember what was lost along the way. But I will cross and lay them down, I will move on. For the joy set before me.
Behind me: My heritage. My childhood. My first choir. My second grade Sunday school class. My first alto part. My mom. Smelling her perfume during church. The room where my uncle led class. The boiler room. The back hallway. The bugs in the baptistery waters. The planks we stood on to walk across it or place the living nativity. The yellow dress I wore the night I was baptized. Lining up for VBS in the street. My teen years. All the talent shows. Singing with my little sister and my cousin. All our preachers. All my teachers. The red elder chairs. Playing on the steps to the old building. Seeing Kevin there for the first time. Our college class. Getting married there. Rocking Shawna in the nursery. Lining Shawna up for VBS in the street. Moving to the YMCA. Moving to 4700. Worship in the fellowship hall. My choir. Late nights helping mom and dad decorate for VBS. Cantatas. The first time we used drums. Our band. SHINES. Higher Praise. My kids. Baptizing Shawna. CIY. Staff. WIP. Ministry. Purpose. Amazing moments. People. Friendships. Worship. Laughter. Mistakes. Questions. Tears. Choices. Goodbyes. Me. His presence.
Before me: Healing. Discovery. Worship. New friendships. New purpose. New amazing moments. New ministries. Dates with Kevin. A Christmas season free of commitment. A trip to Israel. My baby girl's wedding. Bible studies. Lining my grandchildren up for VBS. Watching Shawna and John mature in their faith and serving together. Watching my friends experience the desires of their hearts. The baptisms of my niece and nephews and hopefully my father. Me. And the rest of my life defining who that is. His presence.
The stones grow heavy and the waters wait for me to make a move.
Move Loretta. Move.
So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, "Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?' tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever."
So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the LORD had told Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down. Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day.
Now the priests who carried the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything the LORD had commanded Joshua was done by the people, just as Moses had directed Joshua. The people hurried over, and as soon as all of them had crossed, the ark of the LORD and the priests came to the other side while the people watched. The men of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over, armed, in front of the Israelites, as Moses had directed them. About forty thousand armed for battle crossed over before the LORD to the plains of Jericho for war. That day the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they revered him all the days of his life, just as they had revered Moses. Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Command the priests carrying the ark of the Testimony to come up out of the Jordan."
So Joshua commanded the priests, "Come up out of the Jordan." And the priests came up out of the river carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD. No sooner had they set their feet on the dry ground than the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and ran at flood stage as before. On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho. And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan. He said to the Israelites, "In the future when your descendants ask their fathers, 'What do these stones mean?' tell them, 'Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.' For the LORD your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The LORD your God did to the Jordan just what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God." -Joshua 4
I have always loved this passage. Maybe because of the mental picture of all that water being cut off, perhaps because the good guys didn't get wet, or just because it was after all a pretty cool account.
A few years ago we used twelve men to periodically carry stones on their shoulders and place them on the communion table in the center of auditorium throughout the service. It was very moving and powerful. We remembered what God had done for us and through us that morning and looked forward to what He would do for and through us in the future.
Not long after, our staff was asked to bring stones to a gathering at the Crossing for lunch and fellowship between the three local Christian churches. In an attempt to remind us to think as "one" and not "three" we were asked to place our stones outside by the street so we could see them every time we passed by and remember we are the same Body, to work together and not against one another. "...And they are there to this day..."
A couple months ago in a study I was doing there was a whole segment devoted to this passage and as I processed last night's post and the conversation leading up to it, and processed it well into the wee hours, I began to realize I've been hauling a pile of stones around, not only because I haven't been able to lay them down, but because I didn't want everyone else to walk right past them and not know why they were there. If I had them in my arms, maybe someone would ask what they were for.
In this study, Beth Moore encourages that God will cut a path through any obstacle that stands between me and the fulfillment of His covenant promises. But she also says that when He makes the path it's up to me to take it. These stones were from the "middle of the Jordan. The halfway point. The deepest part. The place of sudden doubt and indecision." As Henry Blackaby puts it, a crisis of belief. A place where we decide what we're going to do. She tells us we are wisest to hurry over, that we might want to turn around to what is familiar, even if it isn't in our best interest, we might stand still and go nowhere, or we can move on. We can, I guess in some way, get over it.
The view from the middle of the river is pretty amazing and honestly, I'm proud of myself for trying to cross it to begin with. The shore behind me was a beautiful place once upon a time. It was all I have known and called home. But these waters towering above me have been patiently held in place by a Father who knew I would need some time. And He knew I would need to bring these stones.
Last night was something. Not sure I can describe what was at work in me. While we were busy with last minute details and trying to remember everything we needed to get right, there was this circle of people front and center holding hands and praying. Living stones, standing stones, interceding for God to make a way. Interceding for God to move us into new territory we had never experienced before. Interceding for God's people to be changed because of His presence and through the worship He would receive. There was incense burning. There were people standing in line trying to find a place to sit. I don't know exactly how I felt. I was excited about putting it all together, I was distracted with making sure everything was ready to go, I was...new, but really comfortable. What followed in the next incredible hour or so was nothing short of amazing.
We had prayed about this evening and wanted to be amazed. We wanted to wake our senses and our hearts to how unbelievable our God really is, and how we just have to live all out for Him. The congregation came ready. They came to praise and they came to praise Him all out. It was crazy. There was teaching on the tabernacle and incense in Biblical times. There was a time of complete silence. There was incense being spread over the congregation as they prayed. What followed was perhaps the most significant sense of His presence I have felt in my life. [Oddly enough, the other time I recall that moved me in such an indescribable way also involved smelling a sweet fragrance, however there was no incense being burned...]
Worship is such an extravagant gift. It actually isn't much different than His ark of the covenant parting the waters for the Israelites really. His presence is still parting waters today, cutting a path for us in the midst of a world that just isn't all that easy to live in sometimes, a path made visible in the midst of authentic worship. I didn't want it to end. The heavens really touched our small lot of earth last night and it was a beautiful thing.
I made my way through the hallway; a hallway that is actually feeling a lot less strange and God had one more surprise for me. In this sea of faces, only a few with names, my eyes rested on these four young ladies from the "other side of the river". I sure didn't expect to see them there and I still don't know why they came. I do know this, it moved me. It moved me a lot. It was nice of them to come and it was nice of them to seek us out afterwards. That was big to me.
Anyway, we headed back in to re-record one song and there were lots of hugs and expressions of love. A few of us listened to the raw tracks, which were beyond expectation and it was pretty wonderful to be honest. We all got something to eat and I headed home. That's when Kevin "encouraged" me to stop blogging about everything, to just...get over it. Man, if I ever hear that phrase again it will be too soon.
But like I said, I processed this stuff way into the night and this is what I've come up with: I figure He's only going to hold the waters back for so long. I need to make a move one way or the other or they will engulf me to the point where I won't be much use to Him or to the others in my life. But I'm bringing the stones. I know I'll need to lay them down and I guess I'm ready to do that if last night was a glimpse of what waits on the other shore. But every once in a while I'm going to look at them and remember. I find comfort in knowing there are a few really precious people in my life that will remember with me and we'll all understand if there are days when the stones haunt us and we need to talk it through or work it out, and realize it isn't weakness or unforgiveness, just growth and healing that can't be spoken into being. And I need those few people to know I will never forget and I will always be here and will always understand.
One day I will tell my grandchildren of these stones when they are ready. Because I'd like for them to do it differently, to do it better, to do it more like it was intended to be. The Body of Christ is much more than I ever dreamed and perhaps this is my lesson, this is what He needs me to remember. She is worth this cost. She was certainly worth His & mine pales in comparison. I will remember how He made a way. I will remember what was lost along the way. But I will cross and lay them down, I will move on. For the joy set before me.
Behind me: My heritage. My childhood. My first choir. My second grade Sunday school class. My first alto part. My mom. Smelling her perfume during church. The room where my uncle led class. The boiler room. The back hallway. The bugs in the baptistery waters. The planks we stood on to walk across it or place the living nativity. The yellow dress I wore the night I was baptized. Lining up for VBS in the street. My teen years. All the talent shows. Singing with my little sister and my cousin. All our preachers. All my teachers. The red elder chairs. Playing on the steps to the old building. Seeing Kevin there for the first time. Our college class. Getting married there. Rocking Shawna in the nursery. Lining Shawna up for VBS in the street. Moving to the YMCA. Moving to 4700. Worship in the fellowship hall. My choir. Late nights helping mom and dad decorate for VBS. Cantatas. The first time we used drums. Our band. SHINES. Higher Praise. My kids. Baptizing Shawna. CIY. Staff. WIP. Ministry. Purpose. Amazing moments. People. Friendships. Worship. Laughter. Mistakes. Questions. Tears. Choices. Goodbyes. Me. His presence.
Before me: Healing. Discovery. Worship. New friendships. New purpose. New amazing moments. New ministries. Dates with Kevin. A Christmas season free of commitment. A trip to Israel. My baby girl's wedding. Bible studies. Lining my grandchildren up for VBS. Watching Shawna and John mature in their faith and serving together. Watching my friends experience the desires of their hearts. The baptisms of my niece and nephews and hopefully my father. Me. And the rest of my life defining who that is. His presence.
The stones grow heavy and the waters wait for me to make a move.
Move Loretta. Move.
posted by ret at 11:38 AM
5 Comments:
Best.
post.
ever.
I declare it.
Seriously. I was moved. Amazingly well done.
And we're all moving together.
Together has a nice ring to it...peace...
Wow.
Powerful. Very powerful. And very well said.
I love to see the ways He is growing you...all of us...together.
To me, those stones will forever represent a time in my life when adversity carved people & relationships into my heart and solidified my faith in a way I may never be able to adequately express.
Count me in as one who will always remember the meaning of that pile of stones. And I am there for you guys...always.
Ya know? They were pretty heavy...and I found the perfect spot...
Well, what do you know...several of us laid our stones there too!
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