\”Together we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself.\”
Ephesians 2:20 (NLT)
Thirty years is a long time. Looking back, there are major events to remember. In Cambodia, the civil war ended. Aung San Suu Kyi, from then-Burma (Myanmar), won the Nobel Peace Prize as a human rights advocate. The World Wide Web debuted as a public service on the internet. And South East Asia Prayer Center began.
Everything starts somewhere. To borrow from a farming image, the ground must first be plowed. Until the soil is made soft and pliable, nothing will grow in it. Next, seeds must be sown. They won’t sprout unless they are watered. And finally comes the glorious harvest. The same model is one that SEAPC uses to come alongside friends in the nations in the work of the Lord. Plow in prayer. Sow in the Word. Water in love. Reap a harvest of new believers.
The SEAPC album is filled with snapshots of then that are growing in the now—and will continue to blossom in the future. All of these moments rest on the firm foundation of Jesus Christ, the cornerstone of life itself. In scripture, Jesus is referred to as living stone, stonemason, cornerstone, capstone—solid, strong, reliable.
The metaphor is apt. Biblical history was written in a dry, dusty land where stones abounded. There are numerous instances where encounters with the Lord were memorialized by building an altar. Rather than our modern image of a stately platform in a grand cathedral, these were simple affairs. Starting with the most substantial rock, a pile of mismatched stones would be stacked together, using what was available.
Today, in the same part of the world, people continue to erect piles of stone as memorials. During a visit to Israel several years ago, after climbing Mt. Sinai at 2:00 AM and watching the landscape glow bright red at dawn, I descended the backside of the mountain. Here and there along the way, stones had been stacked in small, crude piles. I had no way to know what these present-day altars meant to those who had erected them. But I knew what I had to do. I gathered stones of many sizes and stacked them, one at a time, with the strongest stone holding up the others. And prayed that I would never forget the import of standing on holy ground at that very moment.
Joshua’s direction to the people of Israel became real to me at that moment. He told twelve men from each tribe to take stones from the Jordan, so their children would remember God’s protection as they passed through the Jordan River. It would be a memorial to the people of Israel forever. The Bible further records this: Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day. (Joshua 4:9 NIV).
As we celebrate and remember, friends from across the globe and across thirty years are recalling special moments working hand in hand with SEAPC. Over the next year, they will be sharing their personal stories. Each story is a stone, a memorial to God for his grace, mercy, and provision. They all are built on the cornerstone of Jesus. The resulting altar will glorify our God, who has done great things in both large and small ways through so many of his people. From plowing, to sowing, to watering, to harvest, lives have been claimed for the Lord.
Everyone has a story. Those built on the firm foundation of Jesus Christ will withstand anything. And be an ongoing memorial—one layer at a time—to the wonders and miracles God has performed as he has called hearts to service through South East Asia Prayer Center.
Join us on the SEAPC Blog in the coming year as we remember these stories of God\’s goodness each week!
