Monuments Sample

//Monuments//

Every summer since I was a kid, my dad, brothers, and I have gone fishing. We go to this beautiful lake in the Eastern Sierras, and life just sort of slows down. I have experienced a lot of change and loss in my life, some of it good, some of it bad. I live in a new city, and I love it, but it still doesn’t quite feel like home. I have gone to visit the town I grew up in.   None of my family lives there anymore, so visiting there just feels a bit hollow.

But whenever I get to the old cabin by the lake, I have the most amazing experience - it happens every time. I get out of the car, I take a deep breath of fresh air, and deep inside I know that I’m home.

At best, I spend a week in that place every year, but that week grounds me in my history. It’s a week that reminds me of who I am, a week that helps me to reset, a week to remember good times, and to build new memories. That old cabin by the lake is a monument in my life. It’s unmoving, strong, and filled with memories.

In the times we’re living, a lot of people seem to want to reject the past. They act as though the past is only filled with negativity, when really, it’s filled with heritage. There are moments in history that need to be remembered, they are formative. There are events in your life that serve as guideposts for your future.

As you face new challenges, you’re going to need memories to return to, moments when God showed up in your life in very real ways. These memories are monuments for you, reminding you of who God is and what He has done. Throughout the Bible, we see God do amazing miracles, and many times, the people that were there for the miracle, will set up a stone, or rename the place, or build an altar.

Monuments are there to remind future generations that God still moves in the lives of people.

Summer Camp is more than an experience...it’s a monument in your life. Allow your memories to inform your present, so that you can build the future that God has intended for you. You didn’t just have an experience on a mountain; you built a monument to remind yourself of the goodness of God.

THINK ABOUT IT! Do you have any specific memories of a moment that God moved in your life?

APPLY! How can you build a monument around your memories of what God has done?

PRAY! Father, thank You for the ways that you have moved in my life in the past. Help me to remain faithful in the present. Amen.