And he said to the
people of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in times to come,
‘What do these stones mean?’ then you shall let your
children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’ For
the Lord your God dried
up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red
Sea, which He dried up for us until we passed over, so that all the
peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever. Joshua
4:21-24
How easily we forget.
And I knew it would
happen. The moment we crossed back over the border and reached for our
mind-numbing phones. A fog descended, and all the stories began to muddle.
And I kept making our
team put it into words. For God-sightings. When the waters parted. When we
stepped into promises made ever-so-long-ago.
And there was so much joy
on Silvana’s face when she came back from translating that first day after she
stepped through the fear and aloneness, story after story of God reaching in
through a river of pain so that we could know His healing love. And Ashlyn was
swept off in a happy bus to the prison for a day. Scott just couldn’t get over
the joy on Eric’s face when he leapt over the camp chairs to welcome someone
into the Kingdom. Caitlyn had to ask three people on the street what they
thought about God for one of her classes, and she sat on a curb in the park and
listened to the story of a guy who, “you may think this is weird” kneels for an
hour in a bleak little corner of dirt every day to listen to God. And that day
she got a bright blue t-shirt for serving like Stephen. Esteban with his
beautiful skipping Canadian girls stepping into his gifts with power and
clarity. And Rick. Rick who wanted to see a flat-out over-the-top miracle so we
prayed for healing for the pastor. And the pastor-man really didn’t dance down
the streets with joy afterwards. He just got out of bed the next day. But we
did watch a video of him casting out demons. And we were someone’s answer to
prayer that day, the team who got dropped at the park with no ride home, and
they all prayed and their leader said, “You will see God,” and that afternoon
God looked a lot like our cushy air-conditioned bus with exactly enough empty
seats. And those long talks about Trust and Obey under the full moon swirling
Pretty Good Coffee. Rick made about a jillion beaded bracelets and gave them
out one at a time so he could say Jesus
Loves You to every single smile. I will never forget Isaiah kneeling down
with his arms completely wrapped around a tiny kid who had stood up for prayer.
Almost every one stood up requesting prayer, and my kiddos stood up too, and
laid their hands on shoulders and prayed. Because when we have no words, the
Spirit understands. Someone turned around in the middle of worship with a word
for me, a word of hope And Kayla, dear Kayla, wrote it all down moment after
moment, each conversation, faithful and true. The one who put the activities
together to give us a framework for sitting on the cement and scrawling Jesus me ama with chalk, over and over. Silvana
got a solid glimpse, much like the Surprised
by Joy glimpse, of God’s love for her, His child, through the intense love
she felt for these grubby yet very precious children like Marco.
Mrs. Voelkel, I didn’t know when you said that this
would change my life, that you meant it would really change
my life.
May it be so.
May our lives be living
stones built up as a memorial so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty. And may each
of us fear the LORD forever.
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