“…So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.”
Joshua 4:7
It’s that time again, when we look back on 2018 and evaluate what we’ve accomplished, what we’ve come through, and what was most meaningful and/or challenging in our lives.
In the spring my husband and I went to the Holy Land with Educational Opportunities (travel agency), and a small group of pilgrims with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Virginia. I wouldn’t call it a vacation as much as a pilgrimage. Vacations are fun, but pilgrimages are life-changing.
Starting at the north end of Israel we made our way through towns made known to us in our sacred stories. Those tales came alive as our “faith became sight,” and we were able to refine the pictures in our hearts, minds, and souls.
As William Parker wrote, “Tell me the stories of Jesus…” We saw the town where Christ was born, where h grew up, where he called the fishermen to become fisher’s of men, where he walked, taught, healed, and was baptized. And finally, where he was crucified, buried, and raised!
Of course, I brought some souvenirs home…jewelry, t-shirts, olive wood carvings, the usual stuff. But what I hold most sacred is a bowl containing four rocks.
One rock is from the ancient fortress of Masada, where the Jewish people committed mass suicide rather than succumb to being taken captive by the Romans. Another is from outside the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. There are no words sufficient enough or sacred enough for that place. The third rock was from Christ’s Via Dolorosa, “The Way of Sorrow,” the path that Jesus took as he carried his cross to Golgotha. And the final stone was from that place…Golgotha…”The Place of the Skull,” where Jesus was crucified.
I brought home the stones of remembrance, like the Israelites who took the 12 stones from the Jordan River as they passed through to the other side – because God went before them.
These are my sacred stones – stones of remembrance of what God has done for me, for us, through Jesus Christ. What sacred stones have you collected from your journey this year?
