How many STONES can we carry inside our boots and still find room for our feet and still walk forward?
The day was a sun-shiny day, cool enough for a thin sleeve, breezy and calm at times, warm but not hot.   We were walking down her paved driveway, hand-in-hand, across the church parking lot, walking toward the fenced-in playground….HER PLAYGROUND. 

How many STONES….Our first stop on the playground were the swings.  Even though she had graduated to the big-girl swings, today was different; today she wanted me to place her small body inside the toddler swing, the one that held her little body secure on all sides.  She would not fall out; she could not tumble out; she Was SECURE, and because she was…….she swung higher, pumping her legs, and for a longer time than usual.
How many STONES can we carry….After thousands of pushes, after listening to her beautiful chatter, as she often extended her tiny right arm and cried in the wind, “Hey pops; hey pops,” to her grandpa Scott who sat beside her as I pushed her and she swung high.
How many STONES can we carry inside our boots….She waved her slender arm at every passing car, friendly with everyone, not really knowing anyone; protected, secure, a child swinging up toward the blue sky, sensing but not fully understanding how her life was about to change.
How many STONES can we carry inside our boots and still find room for our feet….”I’m done,” she exclaimed…..suddenly, without any warning, but she could not stop swinging herself; she must be lifted out of the toddler swing, the swing that was difficult to enter because of the length of her toddler legs. “You’re finished?” I asked her (just to be sure), and she shook her little head, “Yes.”  So I paused her swing, stopped the back & forward motion of the swing, and felt the coolness on her tiny arms. “Clementine, are you cold?” I asked, but she was not cold. She wanted down; she wanted to explore; she wanted to run and play ON HER PLAYGROUND.
How many STONES can we carry inside our boots and still find room for our feet and still walk forward?

Swings to fly high. 
Slides to slide down.
Steps to climb up.
New places to learn to climb……All while wearing our blue rain boots on the sun-shiny day.

• We can learn so much about God……as we play our way throughout our lives.
• We can understand more about God’s goodness……as we enjoy His “Son.”
• We can refresh our spirits, find joy in each day…….as we swing high, aiming for heaven’s beauty. 
• We can play and play (over and over and over and over), never tiring, but learning His way [God’s] as we explore a new way to climb, precariously stepping, as our tiny toes wiggle inside our blue rain boots.

“Do you have some rocks in your boot?” Pops asked her, when he noticed Clementine gingerly stepping.

Climb up & Slide down.  Climb up & Slide down.  Over & Over & Over & Over…..Enjoying the playground with Aunt Nancy, with Pops, and with Gran…..not realizing that her world was about to change when dad and mom and Car-Car returned home from the hospital with her new baby brother. She was playing, but not knowing to worry…….a child at play…….enjoying the beauty of a spring day only God can provide.
God’s Word speaks much about the STONES we erect within our lives—-Spiritual Markers—-erected to remind us of those moments when we felt God’s presence, when we recognized He was moving within our life, when God was changing us, creating His goodness, making our future even more secure.
STONES.
GOD’S STONES.
We carry them inside our hearts & we carry them inside our pockets as prayers & we carry them inside our houses as we play our way through life on the sun-shiny days, all while wearing our blue rain boots. 

In the Bible, Joshua walked forward toward the Promised Land, leading the Israelites after Moses had died and was buried.  Joshua, saw the truth, God’s Truth, as he walked through life.
“He [Joshua] said to the sons of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’
Then you shall inform your children, saying, ‘Israel crossed this Jordan on dry ground.’
For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed, just as the LORD your God had done to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed;
That all the peoples of  the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, so that you may fear the LORD your God forever”  (Joshua 4: 21-24).
STONES…..we carry as reminders.
STONES…..we cherish as life-markers.
STONES….we remember, as times when the LORD held back the raging waters.
STONES….we feel inside our boots, as we walk upon God’s playground, stones that remind us of times when God took care of us, EVEN BEFORE WE KNEW WE NEEDED GOD TO MOVE.
STONES…..as life-markers, continually reminding us that we serve a mighty God.
STONES….that cause us to pause, to tell our children about when God moved heaven and earth to provide a dry seabed for us to walk through.
STONES….so “all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, so that you may fear the LORD your God forever” (Joshua 4:24).

Our lives, most definitely, are continually changing seas. Thank You, God, for placing Your hand upon our raging seas. Thank You, God, for helping us remain mindfully aware of Your Spiritual Markers.

Today….Let us never forget (because of Jesus) Whose we are—-God’s children.
Truly…..Let us see how we are called to serve a mighty God.
Truly…..Let us never forget that our LORD’S hand is forever, and throughout every day, upon us.
Truly…..Let us remember how Your Spiritual Markers (STONES we carry deep inside our blue rain boots). Remind us, LORD, when You took care of us and when You led us across the raging seas of life, as You made the way DRY as we walked across to the other side.
Truly…..Let us remember & Let us tell our children.