By Martha Chambers, 2010 CPWM President
What do these stones mean? This is a question with as many answers as there are people in the room. Each of us, though answering differently, will answer correctly, for we each have a personal story to tell. Some of us may answer the question in only a few sentences while others may need a book to tell their story. I can’t answer the question for you; I can only tell you about the stones in my life. Mine is a story of faith and growing up as a preacher’s daughter in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
I have a couple of stones with me that represent a part of my story. The small one represents the first three years of my life, where my spiritual journey and assurance that God had a purpose for me began. My earliest memories are from living at Caulksville, AR, where my dad was pastor. It was there that I was baptized by Rev. Helen Coleburn. It was there that I learned to walk and talk. I also learned that if you play in the street you’ll get run over by a pickup truck. My other stone is a petrified rock from the sand hill where I grew up, married and raised my family. Experiences gained as a preacher’s daughter and the stories my parents told taught me to have faith and trust in the Lord and assured me that no matter what, God is always there!
I love the hymn, Blessed Assurance. “This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long.” Wait a minute, though! We’re talking about life…things happen. Can we really sing praises all the day long? It’s easy to praise God when things are going well, but what about the bad days? What about the days when we just don’t feel an attitude of praise? We hear of so much sickness and sadness. We grieve when friends and family members die. We see tragedy such as the flood in Arkansas that claimed the lives of people who were out just trying to enjoy life with their families. Conflicts arise in our churches and families. Our prayer lists grow longer and longer. We spend more time bringing God our requests than our praises. These things bring us so much sadness. How can we praise God with hurt feelings and damaged relationships and sorrow for families that are drowned in the night? We allow such things to come between God and us when we stop praising God.
My husband was self-employed for thirty years until his job shut down last year. We would like to blame the economy, but looking back a year later, we can see that God had a plan for us that did not involve that job. When the job shut down we did some real heavy praying, and it took a little time before we felt like praising. How does one praise God when one’s world falls apart? God began showing us that God was in control. We saw God at work in little things in our lives.
A couple of months ago, a truck driver from Emmett, AR, came in the office where I work. I knew he would be back again the next day so I took a friendship quilt that I inherited from my parents to show him. The quilt was given to my parents during their early years of ministry at the Emmett Cumberland Presbyterian Church, which no longer exists. The truck driver was amazed at finding the names of people he knew about on the quilt. The ladies of the church embroidered their names on the blocks they contributed as well as the date—December 25, 1951. The names didn’t mean anything to me because I didn’t know any of them, but the quilt was a reminder to me of my parent’s life in ministry and their stories.
Last week, two ladies and their husbands came to my office wanting to see the quilt. They turned out to be the granddaughters of a lady whose name was on the quilt. They found the names of aunts, cousins, and a teacher that they had known and loved. I quickly saw that they would cherish owning the quilt. Yes, you guessed it! I sold them the quilt. Memories, new relationships, letting go of something we have to help someone else—might these impart meaning to my stones? What were the chances of our meeting had God not had a part in it? I believe that until we learn to look for God in the little things we won’t see God in the big things.
God shows us that as long as God’s Son shines in our lives, it doesn’t matter if things look cloudy around us! It becomes easier each day to praise God when we remember all that God has done. Trials will continue in our lives, but when we belong to God, we have the Blessed Assurance that God will carry us through.
Studying the text from Joshua 4:1-9, we find that the stones were to be a memorial. God knows that we are a forgetful people. God wanted to make sure that God’s people remembered all that God did for them. All through the bible we are reminded of how God cares for God’s people. God told the Israelites to take up stones to remember. Have we continued to carry the stones and teach our children about God?
We’ve studied this past year how we are “Gifted to Serve.” But how does God gift us to serve? Sometimes it is through our circumstances that we learn and grow the most. The Israelites faced many trials along their journey, but God was faithful with God’s covenant to them.
Let’s look at the last verse of Blessed Assurance. “Perfect submission, all is at rest, I in my Savior am happy and blest; Watching and waiting, looking above, filled with His goodness, lost in His love.” These lines may hold the answer to a lot of our problems. Perfect submission is hard. We aren’t perfect people and we don’t live in a perfect world. The Israelites failed, and so do we, but God promises in Hebrews 8:12 that God will forgive our wickedness and will remember our sins no more. God wants us to remember how much God loves us.
As we celebrate the 200th birthday of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church this year we can ponder the question, “What Do These Stones Mean?” This is a time to remember the stories from the past and build our own stories for the future. Scripture tells us in Luke 19:40 that if we don’t serve as we’ve been gifted to serve—if we don’t praise our Lord, then the very stones will cry out. I don’t want the stones having to cry out my praises. As long as God’s Son is shining in me, I will praise the Lord!
