This week I’ve been watching the news reports on the devastating earthquake in Nepal. I was particularly interested in hearing that people are asked not to take any of the stones from the temples that were destroyed, because it is hoped that they could be used to rebuild those structures.

You see, for a long time I’ve been quite fascinated by “standing stones.” A few years ago while touring Turkey, I saw the ruins of some old temples and synagogues, and I have a particular interest in inukshuks, the monuments erected by the Inuit for showing others the right path.

Probably the Stonehenge is about the best known of all “standing stones”, and in many places, especially in Europe, there are other configurations of rocks.

There are multiple theories as to what the stones mean, and why they were placed as they are. Some were probably put there for religious or ceremonial reasons, or perhaps they represent burial grounds, a certain culture or they are just for artistic purposes. Some are barren rock and others have images or writings carved into them.

These stones raise a lot of questions for me: where did they come from, why were they put there, and however were they moved into the proper positions? It must have taken a lot of manpower. Obviously those who moved them into place must also have had a sense of co-operation and solidarity. How do the stones remain standing after so many years, without falling over?

I guess it was these kinds of questions God expected children to ask when He told Joshua and the Israelites to make a monument of “standing stones”, as recorded in Joshua 4:20-24:

And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan.  He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.

My life’s journey has taken me to a number of places, and I’ve experienced many events. I’ve never left a monument of “standing stones”, but I do have a Rock that I tell my descendants about. I learned about this Rock from a song we used to sing when I was growing up. It speaks about putting my hope on nothing less than Jesus Christ, and feeling His presence holding me firm during the trials of life. The last verse and chorus of Edward Mote’s song says:

When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.

On Christ, the solid rock, I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

Something you might want to journal:

Do you have a souvenir, a few stones, or a particular song that means a lot to you? If your children or grandchildren were to ask you about it, how would you explain to them what it means to you and why?