Remembering the faithfulness of God

“When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, ‘Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.’ He was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.’ Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.” (Genesis 28:16-19)

This past week, I spent 48 hours up at my seminary, Gordon-Conwell, participating in something called the Timothy Project. Basically, it was an opportunity to gather with eight other recent Gordon-Conwell grads, along with three professors, in order to talk about how the first years in ministry have been and to gain some wisdom from each other.

One of the most meaningful moments of the trip for me was stopping in a small chapel on campus where my wife, Michele, and I had prayed in 2002 about possibly moving up to Massachusetts so that I could attend Gordon-Conwell. It was very emotional for me to stand there, thirteen years later, with the song lyrics “never once did we ever walk alone, never once did you leave us on our own, you are faithful God, you are faithful” playing in my head, looking back at all that has transpired since that time of prayer. The altar in that chapel was covered with prayer cards people had written, and I took a blank one and filled it out with praises to God for His faithfulness to me through so many trials over the past thirteen years.

In the Old Testament, there are a few examples of men and women who experience God in real ways, and consequently erect piles of rocks or monuments in order to commemorate what God did. The old word “Ebenezer” means “stone of remembrance,” and signifies that kind of memorial. As the second verse of “Come thou Fount of every blessing” goes: “Here I raise my Ebenezer, hither by thy help I’ve come, and I hope by thy good pleasure safely to arrive at home.” I am sure that many a person walked by those piles of rocks and saw nothing but rocks. But to the man who experienced the reality of God in that place, that monument was a testimony to God’s love and faithfulness.

When I look back over my life, there are a few places that carry that kind of emotional significance. There is the small church in South Windsor where I first began to consider the possibility of knowing God. There is the dorm room at UConn where I gave my life to Christ. There is the third floor office at South United Methodist in Manchester, where I pleaded regularly with God for the salvation of the teens in that youth group. There is the green and purple house in Manchester where I was able to live and serve as youth pastor for so many years. Each place is a testimony to God’s humility and love, that He would seek after me, a sinful man, and give me the great privilege of serving Him and loving others. And every time I drive by those places, or have the opportunity to stop and reflect on those grounds, I am overcome by the faithfulness of my great God.

What about you? Where in your life have you erected literal or figurative piles of rocks to commemorate the reality and faithfulness of your God? Where do you need to do that today? Should you have the opportunity to go back and revisit one of your significant places in the near future, I encourage you to do that, and to spend time considering the love and faithfulness of our great God.