Tag: memories

Designate a Landmark

“Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight… These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.” – Joshua 4:2-8


A landmark is defined as a place that is of outstanding historical, aesthetic, or cultural importance, or an object that serves as a guide for people trying to find a place.


In my ministry life, I have seen God do amazing things and bring me repeatedly to a new place of relationship with Him. One thing I have tried to do and encouraged others to do is to build a landmark, a memorial to identify a geographical place which you connect with what God did during that season.


The Israelites did this, at God’s direction, to remind themselves what He had brought them through, out of slavery and through the waters to save them from their enemies.


A few of mine:
– the pier on the Bohicket River outside Charleston, SC where I met with God while at Boy Scout summer camp as a teen. My “walk” with God became more real than ever before as I converted my teen angst into seeking Him for direction for my life.
– the hospital parking lot where I found out about Hodgkin’s for the first time. I have written more about that here.
– Chapel Hill is a collective landmark of memories from my college days, meeting Adena, making new friends, and connecting to the ministry that I am still connected with today.


What about you? Can you identify any landmarks in your journey? Visit them periodically. Take pictures of them. Journal about them.


Designating these places as significant in your life will esteem what God has done and help keep you on the path He has for you.

Moving On, Without Forgetting

Once a year, I make a journey back to the Hospital where I did my cancer treatments 11 years ago. Each year, they do some routine blood work and scans to confirm that I’m still in the clear, which I have been every year since 2001.

It is a break from my normal activities but it is always a walk down memory lane. I drive past the family medicine clinic where I received the initial diagnosis and the parking lot where I sat in my car and cried while telling my parents. I walk past the clinic where I met my first oncologist and got to know the reception staff as I checked in every two weeks for 6 months before going upstairs for chemotherapy. I find my way down to the sub-basement where I received my radiation treatments and think about the tattoos (my wife loves telling people about those.) I think of all the doctors and nurses I met and patients I saw in my combined 15 months of treatments over a 3 year period.

This time, as I drove up for the first time in 12 months, I was surprised that the hospital has built a brand new cancer center. They are known worldwide for this so it’s understandable. But the memory spots are gone. A few of the reception staff are the same but it’s a beautiful new building and most people I used to see have retired or moved on. This has been happening over the last 11 years but today it seems in one fell swoop, change has overtaken my memories.

I know, of course, that I have moved on in many ways also. Married, two children, a degree, and a few job changes since all of this happened. But I don’t ever want to forget the work God did in me during that time. These annual treks used to be a string of reminders, but those are fading. I will have to look for other ways to keep the memories fresh. Maybe I will write that book I started thinking about 11 years ago. Whatever it takes to continue giving God the glory He is due. The hospital may have moved on, but I am committed to never forget.

What about you? Anything you need to move on, but not forget?