We continue with our devotional series “A Few of Our Favorite Things” where you’ll hear from some of our pastors and volunteers as they share how God’s Word has impacted them.
The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior;
my God is my rock, in whom I find protection.
He is my shield, the power that saves me,
and my place of safety.
The people crossed the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and camped at Gilgal, east of Jericho. They carried with them the twelve rocks taken from the Jordan, and Joshua set them up at Gilgal. Then he spoke to the Israelites: “In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these rocks mean?’ Tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan River on dry land. The Lord your God caused the water to stop flowing until you finished crossing it, just as the Lord did to the Red Sea. He stopped the water until we crossed it. The Lord did this so all people would know he has great power and so you would always respect the Lord your God.’
Ironic (or not) at the beginning of the pandemic, after days of moving rocks around our yard, we read Joshua chapter 4 together as a family, a chapter titled, “Rocks to Remind the People.”
When our children look back on the pandemic of 2020, I’m fairly certain they’ll remember the amount of rocks that we moved. But more than that I hope they remember how God provided for us in the midst of the pandemic. (We haven’t run out of toilet paper yet!) I hope they remember and tell their children’s children about the memories we made. How all their friends got to be home-schooled just like them. How the communities they’re a part of surrounded them through technology. How family and community continued even in the midst of physically distancing ourselves. How our family bonds became stronger. How in the midst of chaos in the world, the walls of our home were filled with prayer, worship, and laughter.
From that point forward every time God provided or we have seen a prayer answered we have said to each other, “look at that rock,” “mark that rock,” “remember this rock,” because God showed up and there may be a time coming when we need to remember our own “rocks to remind the people.”
Melanie Young
Ministerial Candidate/KidZone Director
