ALTARS OF
REMEMBRANCE
(From
my column “Looking Forward and Glancing Back” in the SGT monthly newsletter, February,
1989)
When I sit down each month to write
this article, I think of the title and ponder and pray. I seek God's leadership
in deciding if this is the time for looking forward or glancing back. With all
of the exciting things that are happening in our new building and with all the
exciting plans for the future, it might seem to be a good time to let you look
forward with us and dream a bit. However, at the moment, my heart is filled
with the blessed memories of God's overwhelming goodness—of the years of
blessing and miracles that have brought us to such a wonderful time. I walk
through our beautiful building and my heart fills to overflowing. It is still
hard for me to believe that it is ours. I pause often to silently praise God
for such a miracle. And I also pray that we will never take God's blessings on
this ministry for granted.
One of the interesting things that has
struck me over the past couple of years as I have read through the Old
Testament is how often God did such MIGHTY MIRACLES for the children of Israel
and how often and quickly they seemed to forget. Perhaps that is why God would
often have the people pile up stones and make an altar or place of
remembrance—so they wouldn't forget. Yet it seems that the people did forget
and soon fell away to worshiping other gods and/or complaining that Jehovah
hadn't done anything for them. How ungrateful! How selfish! You would think
those people would never forget miracles like pillars of fire, the parting of
the Red Sea, the manna, water from rocks, the parting of the Jordan, the walls
of Jericho, a hundred and thirty thousand Midianites destroyed by Gideon and
three hundred men, etc. How could they forget?!
For me, one of the blessings of
reading in the Old Testament is that the pattern of human nature is so easily
discernable. We see how man tends to make the same mistakes over and over. And
even if we learn from our mistakes and make changes, it seems that eventually
we forget and return to our old ways. Yes, it seems that we never learn. But my
prayer for Stained Glass Theatre is that we can beat the odds, that we will not
be just like the children of Israel and soon forget all of the MIGHTY MIRACLES
God has poured out on us—from the time we started until now. God has truly done
some wonderful things in and for this ministry—things we should never forget or
become "blasé" about.
I know that we don't pile stones into
monuments any more, but if we did, we could fill our parking lot with stone
reminders of God's grace upon us. That might not be practical today; however,
we still need to be reminded from time to time of some of the exciting ways God
has blessed us. So remember with me for a moment, and let's praise our Lord for
His lovingkindness. Remember when:
—we
had no building and no money and GOD touched the heart of a restaurant owner to
let us begin our ministry using the basement of his restaurant RENT FREE—a
miracle! We remember. Praise You, Father!
—we
needed $500 to pay bills and open our next show and GOD touched a man and wife
from Fort Leonard Wood to give us FIVE ONE HUNDRED DOLLAR BILLS—a miracle! We
remember. Praise You, Father!
—we
needed $1,000 for a new light board and GOD
provided in JUST TWO WEEKS—a miracle! We remember. Praise You, Father!
There have been so many other needs
met in ways that the hand of God is the only way to explain them. Yes,
miracles—miracles that need to be remembered, never forgotten. And how can we
ever forget our need for $60,000 to purchase our "Promised Land" debt
free? HALLELUJAH! GOD DID IT! And we do remember! In our minds and in our
hearts we pile up stones to remind us of Your goodness—Your miracles! Thank
You, Father. Praise Your Holy Name, Jehovah!
COMING
NEXT: AND THE ARMY OF THE LORD HOLDS FORTH!
Thank you, Larry Sneed, for
your "beautiful prayer of the heart" prayed in 1985. It is still
bearing fruit 32 years later!
