Monuments

 by Chris Jones

Some of our most memorable family vacations include our visits to historical sites. One of my favorites is a trip we took to Gettysburg a couple of years ago. I was amazed by the number of monuments there. A tour guide told us there were 1,342 of them, each standing to memorialize a significant person, place or event in battles that forever changed America. They’re stories from which we draw inspiration and lessons we should be careful to never forget.

In the Bible, there are many instances of people stopping to build a monument when something significant occurred in their journey with God. We find one of these stories in Joshua 4. It says:

So Joshua called together the twelve men he had chosen—one from each of the tribes of Israel. He told them, “Go into the middle of the Jordan, in front of the Ark of the Lord your God. Each of you must pick up one stone and carry it out on your shoulder—twelve stones in all, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ Then you can tell them, ‘They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant went across. ‘ These stones will stand as a memorial among the people of Israel forever.

It’s important that we build and share with our family and friends, monuments erected to what God has done in our lives. In moments where our faith might be shaken, they call us to remember the times when God undeniably showed up in the middle of our situation. They give us faith to say, “I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.” (Psalm 16:8)

This July marks the fourth anniversary of my trip to El Salvador, with a team of high-school students from my church. I kept a journal during that trip. Beginning July 14th, I’ll share those nine journal entries as monuments to what God accomplished there.

If you were on that trip, remember what God accomplished through you, and be inspired to look forward to greater things He has to come. Use these monuments to help you see in what ways you’ve grown in your relationship with God since these events. If you find you’ve allowed your relationship with Him to wane, take responsibility to reconnect and pursue the life He has for you today.

Build monuments that testify to your family and friends that God’s Kingdom is advancing, not through force or political might, but through the love of His servants, with power to heal and restore broken lives.