Pastor’s Corner Contribution

Altars in the Desert

As we continue on the faith journey of life it is very easy to become discouraged and disheartened when we realize where we are
and maybe this is not where we think we should be. When we go through hard times in our lives it is usually more difficult to see
God’s hand present in our lives and it precisely when we find ourselves at these cross roads in life that we need the altars and
monuments to God’s blessings.

I know when I find myself in this situation one thing that really helps me get courage to keep moving forward is to take a moment to
stop and look at the altars or monuments I have built in the desert. Now before you start to say the youth minister has lost it,
“deserts” “Altars” “Monuments” let me explain.

When the Israelites wander the desert between Egypt and the Promise Land, whenever they experienced something great, or some
great blessing of God they built an altar or monument of thanksgiving that would remind them of significant things that the Lord had
done in their lives as noted in the following passage

21 22
He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them, ‘Israel crossed the
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Jordan on dry ground.’ For the LORD your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The LORD your God did to the Jordan
[a] 24
what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. 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.” (Joshua 4:21-24 )

Again we see Jacob doing a similar thing after the night he had wrestled with the Lord. It was such a significant moment in his life he
built an altar to remind himself and his children and their children of this amazing encounter with the Lord his God. So early in the18

morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. 19He called the name of that
place Bethel (Genesis 28 18&19)

In my committed walk with God over the past 25 years I have l have learned to build these altars and monuments in my past (my
desert) that remind me of moments in my life when I have seen God do something amazing in my life. I do not physically build an
altar, but I do note it down in my journal, or make a bookmark that I keep in my bible or I make a mental note that I can later recall
that will help me when I might feel as if God is far away.

I am amazed in those moments when I re-member (in the true sense of the word) events where God has touched my life or where I
have encountered him very personally, how this gives me courage to leap forward, not to be afraid to take the next step on my
journey of faith even if that is very hard or seemingly impossible. When we begin to realize how much God is for us and that he is
actually walking with us, we realize we are not alone and that all things are possible when we follow God’s way and plan for our
lives.

For the Jewish people remembering was not just a recalling, or thinking about something that happened in the past, it was a re-
membering, a joining the past with the present moment. It was a reliving of that moment of the past in the present moment.
Making present the past and experiencing it now. When we build these altars in the desert, or our monuments of thanksgiving they
become markers or signs that connect us to the past in order to launch us into the future because as we re-member these moments
in prayer, our hearts become convinced that what God has already done in my life once, he can and will do it again.

So start today, recall the goodness of God in your life and the life of your family. Write it down, make something that will help you
to remember that time of blessing, at the very least make a mental note of it, so that when you hit that moment in your life where
you feel God has left you, go back and recall his goodness in your life. If you feel that you are already hitting the wall, stop and in
prayer remember God’s mercy love and blessings in your life and I promise you by the time you finish your heart will be so filled with
courage that you will not be afraid to go out and take down Goliath, even though you only have a sling shot and 5 smooth stones
because you will know, that you know to the depth of your being that God is with you and you are not alone.

Many blessings and prayers

Mark