This is a stone from a field on the homesite where my maternal grandfather’s family lived in Barbour County, AL. I had discovered the significance of “standing stones” ( also called “Ebenezer”- stone of help) during a study 15 years or more ago by Ray Vander Laan – Crossroads of the World (Part of the Faith Lessons from the Holy Land series) that I led for several years at Lynn Haven UMC. When significant events happened among God’s people, they would set up stones or piles of stones as memorials to mark God’s work in the circumstances. In 1997 Bill and I were in the midst of a severe challenge to our marriage, but because of our commitment to Christ, he and I stuck it out and worked through the issues. We both agreed that God’s presence in our lives and His work in the midst of those circumstances saved our marriage. We set this stone in our flowerbed by the front door at our house at Country Club Court. as a testimony to God’s work in our lives. When we moved in Feb. 2005, we moved the stone. It is still near the front door. It appears that some of the stone has washed out over the years and from a distance, it almost appears to have a face….a rather stern face, but a face nonetheless!
We have several stacks of stones around the backyard that came from Barbour County. A friend of Daddy’s brought them down here on a trailer and brought a little bobcat tractor and hauled all of them to the backyard and set them in stacks. They give interest to the landscape. The friend said he, too, is a “rock person” and has trophy rocks from lots of travels! I guess some of us are just off kilter! 5/11/14