When
all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua,
2 “Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man, 3 and
command them, saying, ‘Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the
Jordan, from the very place where the priests' feet stood firmly, and bring
them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.’”
4 Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel, whom he had
appointed, a man from each tribe. 5 And Joshua said to them, “Pass on
before the Ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up
each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of
the people of Israel, 6 that this may be a sign among you. When your children
ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ 7 then you shall
tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the Ark of the
Covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan
were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial
forever.”
8 And
the people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded and took up twelve stones out
of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the people
of Israel, just as the Lord told Joshua. And they carried them over with them
to the place where they lodged and laid them down there. 9 And Joshua set
up twelve stones in the midst of the
Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the Ark of the
Covenant had stood; and they are there to this day. (Joshua Chapter 4)
My former co-counselor, Sherri N., once sent me a greeting
card unlike any greeting card I’d ever received. The front bore a painting of
an Indian maiden and a wolf.
As I opened it up, I read the following caption.
“Your dreams are my dreams, my friend.
And I will carry them with me.
Believing in you for all of my days,
And to the ends of the earth.”
Well, needless to say after I read these words once, twice
and thrice, I just sat there in awe.
Among all the praises, congratulations, thanks and
encouragement I have ever received as a counselor, professor and mentor, this
has to be among my favorites of all time.
The Written Word
There’s just so much ‘there there’ in it; for it has the
wherewithal to keep on giving long after the writer has passed from the earth.
Speaking of the written word, I once committed to paper the
words one of my interns, Rita S., shared with me.
“Dr. Bill, I don’t want to disappoint you. I’ll go for you
when you can no longer go. I’ll speak for you when you can no longer speak.
I’ll reach, teach and keep people in your name; long after you have passed from
the earth.”
(Just another example of ‘my favorite words of all time’).
As I write these words (re. words) I happen to
be listening to my favorite radio program, “Night Sounds” and the host, the
late Bill Pearce, just alluded to the name of tonight’s program.
“I Didn’t Do It”
Well, much like the title of this radio segment, …I didn’t do
it; since anything good I’ve ever done, I have done in the power of the Holy
Spirit. While I realize Sherri and Rita have, in the context of their words,
bestowed wonderful implicative compliments upon me for the time and efforts I
had lavished upon them in years gone by, it has been such an opportunity and
privilege and blessing to do so.
Speaking of a self-congratulatory mindset, my wife once
suggested I put all the greeting cards and notes I’d collected through the
years into an album. Initially it seemed to me to be an altogether vain idea,
and one which the humble Jesus would have Himself nay-sayed during His tenure
on this planet.
However, it occurred to me that it was not for nothing that
these dozens upon dozens of my clients and interns and friends have written
such loving expressions. Every reminiscence represents a ‘life that was
changed’ and will to my descendants be very much like those twelve stones which
God commanded the Jews to place in the Jordan River. A memorial recounted in
His everlasting Word. A remembrance of what great things the Almighty had done
for them.
What amazing
things God has wrought in my own life. What a wondrous opportunity He has given
me; to not only impact my own generation, but generations, yet unborn, who will
glean from the words I have entrusted to them.
And Joshua set up twelve
stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests
bearing the Ark of the Covenant had stood; and they are there to this day.
by William McDonald, PhD. Copyright Pending
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