ALTARS OF REMEMBRANCE #24

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!