Mile Markers
As I was traveling down the interstate today, I watched these little green signs zip by my window. Every mile these little markers proclaim the amount of distance you’ve either covered on the interstate or the mileage you have remaining. Either way, these signs relay to you where you’re located.
Today, I remember seeing mile marker 209. This 209 told me a lot. Having entered the hustle and bustle of the interstate at mile marker 186, I could deduce that I had covered 23 miles to this point. Getting off at exit 218, I knew that I had nine miles left. The journey was a little over 3/4 of the way finished. The destination was soon to come over the horizon. Exit 218 was close by.
For the people of Israel, markers were of great importance. In Joshua 4, after the people of Israel crossed the Jordan Joshua ordered that twelve stones, one taken by a representative of each of the twelve tribes of Israel, be taken from where the priests stood in the Jordan as they crossed with the Ark of the Covenant. The power of this story is that the flow of the Jordan ceased as the Ark crossed. These stones were to be piled up as a remembrance of God’s faithfulness in their journey across the river. Generations would pass by this altar and recall the story.
Think of the significance of the altar. The very rocks that formed it where rocks that laid on the bottom of the river. These rocks were not nuggets of gold or beautiful diamonds. Instead, they were relics from the journey. The rocks were testaments to a time, a place and a people. They weren’t just rocks. They were sacred because of the story they told about a holy God and His chosen people. The sacredness was not in that they were set apart but that they were baptized by a wonderfully powerful story!
The early church was very fond of markers that they called relics. To have something that once belonged to an apostle or to set up shop over a holy site was supreme. Many of these early journeyers of “the Way” were not about worshiping an idol. They were about remembering. These artifacts, these relics, tied the early church back to a rich story. These relics tied people back to the cast and plot of the greatest story ever told and still being told.
These relics were mile markers of their day. They showed people where they had come from and propelled them ever more to their destination and hope. These relics were not about a “what” but about a “who”. Who is God? Who are the people of God?
Driving down I-71 today, I could not help but ask myself the question, what are the mile markers of my life? What are the sacred spaces that remind me of the journey? How am I carving out time to gather with fellow journeyers and remember the journey and look to the future? Why is my life many times so absent of altars, mile markers and relics?
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