Camp Cocoon
Our weekend bereavement camp for kids will be held Aug. 1-3, 2025, in beautiful Tallulah Falls, Ga. Applications are now being accepted for campers and adult volunteers.
Remember the Rocks
Chaplain Maressa Penderman
When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.” So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.” So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the Lord had told Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down. Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day.
– Joshua 4:1-9
There are a lot of scriptural references to faith in the Christian Bible and many definitions offered for what faith is and how you attain it; but the text that speaks most to me about cultivating faith is this story found in the 4tth chapter of the book of Joshua. It is not a specific story about faith, but rather it is a story about the importance of remembering. When I was a child, I was hit by a car and I had very severe injuries. Everyone around me did everything they could to cheer me up and keep me hopeful, but it was my grandmother’s telling of this story that cultivated my childhood faith and taught me a principle that I continue to live by. “Whenever you are doubtful that God is going to show up on your behalf, remember the rocks!”
In the text God instructed Joshua to create a memorial at the place where he led the nation across the Jordan River. The Jordan River represented the boundary between homelessness, landlessness and settled people hood. The memorial consisted of 12 rocks, one for each of the tribes at the place where they camped; and 12 rocks in the middle of the river where the Ark of the Covenant had crossed over before the people, symbolizing God’s presence leading them into the Promised Land. God had Joshua to erect a memorial because He knew that despite His many blessings, despite his faithfulness, time and time again, they needed to be reminded that no matter what the circumstances, no matter what the military intelligence reported, God would make a way out of no way! God would deliver when everything and everyone else failed. They needed a memorial to remind them that when enemies were on their backs and there was a sea of situations in front of them that threatened to drown them, that God would deliver them safely on dry land.
It is significant that God asked Joshua to use rocks as the memorial, because rocks symbolize hard times, rough places, tough stuff, and yet they are durable, they can withstand all the elements! Rocks can survive floods, storms, fire, and cold! In other words, Rocks remind us that sometimes life will sift you like biscuit flour and leave you wondering if there really is a God! Sometimes the pain in your body, the pain in your heart, the pain in your mind is so intense that all you can remember is the pain itself. That’s the time when you are going to need to remember the rocks! The rocks from your own life remind you that you have made it through difficult times before. Want to cultivate your faith, remember the rocks!
1626 Jeurgens Court, Norcross, GA 30093