here i raise my ebenezer

this week i had bible studies with my counselors at the wetland on the observation deck with the frogs, blue heron, dragonflies, fish, bats, and birds. we read from joshua:

When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, "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 stood and to carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight."
So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, "Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?' tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever."

So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them...And they are there to this day. (Joshua 4:1-9)

before we started, i had the girls choose rocks from the creek, and we brought them with us to the observation deck. our rocks were for making an "ebenezer," a memorial to what God has done in our midst this summer. (ebenezer, which appears in the hymn "come thou fount," is found in scripture in 1 samuel 7. it means "stone of help.") we sat for a bit, reflecting in the not-quite-silent wetland and got up to pick a place for our ebenezer. each girl shared something she learned or how she saw God working in her life, and placed her stone on the ground. it was encouraging to hear all the ways in which they were challenged and changed by their ministry and service here. amidst all the frustrations of the past few weeks, i was blessed to be reminded of the bigger picture.

i'm trying so hard to keep that bigger picture in mind tonight, as dylan is upstairs, awake again and crying. last night was another late night of vomiting and much of tonight, our "night off" between camp sessions, has been spent singing and rocking and pleading with her to sleep. there is only one week left. one week!