May 19th:Joshua 3-4, Isaiah 9 and 1 Thessalonians 5

Throughout the Old Testament, God commanded people to build monuments. Stones stacked on stones to serve as a reminder of what He had done. I wonder how much of this was for them and how much of it was for the people that would come after. Every time they walked by the cairn, they would be reminded of the grace and power of Jehovah.

We don't do this. Instead, we build monuments to our own awesomeness. We build fancy churches and fancy campuses and we name them fancy names. And sure, we dedicate the building to God with a neat hour long service. We say a prayer and ask for God's blessing. But these buildings have a mission; a practical application. They are for our use. But stacking rocks next to the river doesn't serve a purpose other than to serve as a reminder to the Israelites that God stopped the water. Or that God simply showed up. He was at work. Not them. They did nothing. They walked across a dry river bed.

But what about us? What do we do? How do we remind ourselves and those that come after? When God provides for a need what do we do? When God heals some one we love, what do we do? Do making movies and writing books count as our piles of rocks? Are they the stones next to the river? And what does that do for us? Does that remind us? Is it as effective? The next day, the week after, a few years down the road do we have calluses on our hands from doing work for God? Not for ourselves. Not for our own intentions. Not to raise money or "reach the lost," but purely to remind each other that God was in our midst.

I wonder what we can do to establish markers, monuments, simple reminders of the grace and love poured out. Not on other people. But on us.