Account and Record So You Can Recount and Repeat

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.” Joshua also set up another pile of twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, at the place where the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant were standing. And they are there to this day. (Joshua 4:4-7, 9 NLT)

Diane Latiker, a woman in the Roseland community of Chicago got tired of kids being killed in Chicago through gang violence and began to erect a stone for each child killed on a small tract of land across her house. She inscribed the name of each child killed on the stone. As the stones piled up, people began to pay attention. It caught the attention of the community, the government and even the world. She was one of the top ten 2011 CNN Heroes of the Year . The memorial she erected penetrated the conscience of people and several organizations and individuals got motivated to partner with her and her organization, Kids Off The Block to do something about violence in the community. She raised a memorial to tell a story that started a movement.

While memorials are useful in highlighting issues of justice and compassion as Diane did,they could also be used to tell stories of God's faithfulness over time. In fact, this is the more common use in the bible. The pictures of a missions trip, a daily journal of your walk with God, a prayer diary, a visual record of the timelines of a vision you are pursuing, a biography, a testimonial video, a souvenir, a memento or an inspiring mural of significant events are all examples of memorials.

A spiritual memorial is any writing, picture or other objects that communicates a message to the observer of something that has taken place for the purpose of drawing from the observer appreciation, reminiscence, action, questions or other responses. Memorials are also used to remember significant people and events.

In our text, Joshua set up piles of stones in the Jordan to serve as a reminder of God's faithfulness to Isreal as they crossed it and also to serve as a story prompt in the future to remind coming generations of the mighty acts of God. Joshua wasn't the only one who practiced this. We see memorials all over the bible from the rainbow of Noah and the altars of Abraham to the Communion Table. They are all to remind us of God's mighty acts of faithfulness.

The use of memorials can add a great deal to your spiritual walk. Your journals of God's faithfulness of today might be your encouragement in future years or the discipleship tool for others in future generations. Just as God's help in killing the bear and the lion in the past became encouragement to David when he faced Goliath, your photographs or videos today might become tools that God will use to strengthen your faith in times of doubts and greater challenges in the future. Apart from these, memorials cause praises to ascend to God as his faithfulness is traced over time.

So, why don't you start setting up your on memorials today. Start journaling your answered prayers, put up something to remind you and others of the manifestations of God's faithfulness in your life. Look out for God moments and keep a record of them. Count your blessings now and record the amount so that in the future as you recount, they become a fount of inspiration to you and others and a mount of praise to God.


Decision of the Day

I will start erecting memorials of God's faithfulness in my life.