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Remembering What God Has Done: 50 Years of Stones
Joshua 4 "When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, 2 “Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man, 3 and command them, saying, ‘Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan… 20 And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal. 21 And he said to the people of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 22 then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’ 23 For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, 24 so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.” (ESV)
The first school year of NBCS began in August of 1973. That means in August, 2022, the doors opened for the fiftieth-first day of school. In the spring of this school year, we will celebrate the 50 years that God has allowed us to teach students with God’s Word as the center of all that we do. As we remember what God has done, we want to put before our students and families “memorial stones” that demonstrate God’s faithfulness, provision, and protection. This is certainly something to celebrate.
Throughout the past 50 years, many students and staff have been part of the school family. As teachers and staff have shared their lives with students, they too have placed before the students “memorial stones.” Moment by moment, life by life, sharing their own stories of what God has done and modeling their relationships with Him, by the grace of God, each “faithful steward” (1 Cor. 4:2) has been privileged to impact lives. There is no way we can recount each story of what God has done for and through NBCS. Young children do not always remember the details of their lives; and many adults who attended NBCS as children may not know where they learned the truths that have followed them through their lives, but countless truth lessons have been taught in our classrooms, hallways, and playground. Part of what we celebrate is the way God uses ordinary people to touch other ordinary people whose lives are then changed for eternity.
As I have thought about this, I have also been reminded of I Peter 2:5 where Peter refers to the believers as “living stones.” The reason that God gave for the memorial stones by the Jordan was “so that all the people of the earth may know the hand of the LORD is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever” (Joshua 4:24, ESV). This is really why we have existed for 50 years-to support parents in instilling these truths in their children’s hearts and to equip them to share them with others. As “living stones” our students go out from NBCS, having been trained in faith, in love, and in service. May God use their lives to spread the knowledge of Him around the world!
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