Rocks in the Jordan

From Jenny:
(Warning.. I didn’t really follow my dad’s instruction to try to keep it light today. Perhaps, Dad, this post will serve as a challenge for you to get well enough to take back your blog before we get REALLY sappy on you!)

You should see my notes from church this week. The pastor was preaching a great sermon on heaven, but my scribblings say things like “Rocks in the Jordan!!!” and “Need picture of Dad’s bald head!!!”

What in the world, right?

Two summers ago, I did a Bible study called “Believing God” by Beth Moore. And in it, we studied the story of the Israelite people crossing the Jordan River in the book of Joshua.

It's another miracle like the parting of the Red Sea. The Jordan River stops in it's tracks while the Israelites walk across it's dry river bed safely to the other shore. And before they move on with their journey, God gives them very clear instructions.

Joshua is to choose twelve men to walk back to where the priests are still standing on dry ground and gather stones from the floor of the middle of the river.

And this is the part that gets me every time. Seriously, I cannot read this passage out loud without getting choked up.

Joshua tells them each to take a stone, “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.” (Joshua 4:6-7)

These people didn’t have diaries or scrapbooking albums, digital cameras or blogs
to record the amazing things God was doing in their lives. But they sure had something compelling. Rocks from the middle of a river that dried up right in front of them so they could cross safely! Evidence that God had been there and once again delivered His people through an otherwise insurmountable obstacle. Stones their children and grandchildren and generations beyond could look at, touch, and ask about so they, too, could hear the stories of God’s faithfulness to His people.

I think the imagery is so powerful and emotional to me because I all too often forget some of the amazing and miraculous things God has done in my life. I need to document His faithfulness so my kids will know what He has done for me!

So, with each post on the blog, each picture that documents a stage of this fight, each verse of Scripture, we are scooping up stones from the river bed.

The most recent picture of my dad feels (to me) like a rock from the smack dab middle of the river.



Looking behind him, he’s made it a long way. Looking ahead, there’s a long way to go.

And, at the conclusion of this “story”, I know his heart will be to pick up these figurative stones and show them to his children and grandchildren.

“This is when we started out.”



“This is when it got really hard.”

“These are the people who became our ‘bridge’ of support.”

“This is how God saw us through.”

When they ask what we believe about our God, this will be a part of our family’s story of faith.

Beth Moore puts it this way in “Believing God” :

“You and I are living stones. We are living reminders to the world that Jesus was here.”


So, Andrew… Austin… Avery… Megan – let these thoughts and pictures and comments be a reminder to you that Jesus was here. He has been our source of comfort and hope throughout your Grandpa’s hardest moments.

And since He never ever changes, He will always be that God for you, too.