Week of May 23, 2025
“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:13, NKJV)
As we head in to Memorial Day weekend, it’s a time to remember. It’s a time set aside in our nation to honor the brave men and women who paid the ultimate price for our freedom. The Scripture is filled with commands to remember, to look back, to reflect from the past.
In Joshua 4, after the Israelites crossed the Jordan River, God instructed them to gather twelve stones from the riverbed and set them us as a memorial. Those stones weren’t just rocks, they were testimonies. They were visual reminders of God’s faithfulness, His provision, and His power.
You and I may not have literal stones stacked in our home, but we have memories, markers of God’s hand in our life. The time God provided when you didn’t know how the bills would be paid. The phone call that came at the just the right moment. The forgiveness that you received when you knew you didn’t deserve it. Each of these moments is a testimony, a marker.
This weekend, I challenge us to set aside a moment to pray for the families of those who have lost loved ones in service to our nation. To remember the One who died for our eternal freedom and to look back at your own life and identify a few “memorial stones” moments where God showed up for you.
Remembering shapes our present; it reminds us that the God who was faithful before will be faithful again. It gives us hope that what lies ahead is held securely in His hands.
God Bless, Pastor Rick