I guess it was the story of the rolled away stone that was supposed to keep Jesus inside the tomb which got stones and rocks on my mind. While I have never been a rock collector, I have kept a few over the years. I saw them in their place in a tray just the other day. I know I picked them up because there was something about the moment I wanted to remember, but, the truth is, I have forgotten. So, now as I see those rocks all I can remember is that somewhere in the past there was something I valued enough that I wanted some reminder of the place and the moment.
My rock story is not the first one that has been told. The Bible tells a few. Jacob laid his head down on a rock one night, had a dream, and turned his hard pillow into a altar the next morning. Joshua had twelve stones taken from the Jordan River for an eternal monument to a crossing. And, of course, there is the story of the boy David taking five stones from a creek bed to take care of a menacing giant. But, no stone and rock story is bigger than the rolled away stone which finds itself a major center stage prop on Resurrection Morning.
One last rock story has to do with Simon Peter. Clarence Jordan who wrote a folksy cotton patch gospel some decades ago gave Peter the name "Rock Johnson." Upon that "man-rock" Jesus declared He would build His church. You have to love the way the Holy Spirit used such ordinary stuff to spill out the good news about how God was at work in the world. Everything is suddenly made holy when God touches it. What is an even greater miracle than God incorporating a rock or a stone into the holy story of His work in this world is the one when He takes hold of one of us.
My rock story is not the first one that has been told. The Bible tells a few. Jacob laid his head down on a rock one night, had a dream, and turned his hard pillow into a altar the next morning. Joshua had twelve stones taken from the Jordan River for an eternal monument to a crossing. And, of course, there is the story of the boy David taking five stones from a creek bed to take care of a menacing giant. But, no stone and rock story is bigger than the rolled away stone which finds itself a major center stage prop on Resurrection Morning.
One last rock story has to do with Simon Peter. Clarence Jordan who wrote a folksy cotton patch gospel some decades ago gave Peter the name "Rock Johnson." Upon that "man-rock" Jesus declared He would build His church. You have to love the way the Holy Spirit used such ordinary stuff to spill out the good news about how God was at work in the world. Everything is suddenly made holy when God touches it. What is an even greater miracle than God incorporating a rock or a stone into the holy story of His work in this world is the one when He takes hold of one of us.
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