Picture this scene:  The Israelites are getting ready to cross the Jordan River and enter the promised land.  Forty years earlier the Israelites had been faced with the same situation and they chose to not enter the land out of fear.  After wondering the wilderness (desert) for 40 years, time had come to cross the river and take the land.  Moses was dead and Joshua was not in charge. 

I can only imagine the excitement and anticipation that the people must have felt the night before crossing the Jordan and taking the possession of the land that had been promised for hundreds of years.  The day finally arrives and the people cross the Jordan.  The water of the Jordan part and the Israelites cross on dry land.  Once those who are carrying the ark of the covenant hit the opposite side of the Jordan, the waters begin to flow again.

After the Israelites had crossed, the 12 men who had been selected to carry a stone each across the Jordan and represented the 12 tribes set up a monument of stones just s God had instructed Joshua to do and Joshua instructed the tribes to do.  The stones were to be a visual reminder of the goodness of God; a reminder of what God had done for His people.  Joshua said that when the children asked what the stones meant, the families were to tell the children what God had done for them.

God is continuing to work in lives today.  He is always at work in people’s lives.  As Christians, it is our job to help direct people to where God is at work. We should be a light that shines brightly for God.  When our children ask what God is doing in our lives, we should be able to tell them all the great things that God has done, what God is doing, and what God will do.  To know where God is at work, we must be focused on Him.  When we are focused on God’s activity in the world, His heartbeat becomes our heartbeat; His will our will; His desires, our desires.  What do the stones mean? They mean that God is an active God who cares about and loves people!