29. Soundproof

 BACKGROUND: 

Soundproof a statement piece. J. Jackson and the rest of ApologetiX knows how much the secular world doesn't want to hear their parodies because the lyrics of the spoofs carry the gospel message. Therefore, in Soundproof, ApologetiX gives into the secular world's sinful desires. Soundproof is a live acoustic album. All the songs on the album are performed on quieter acoustic instruments, as opposed to their louder electric counterparts. This is very much a live album, as the album records a whole concert, merely cutting out the talking parts between the songs.

TITLE:

Soundproof is a beautiful wordplay, using a double entendre.  Literally speaking, Merriam-Website defines soundproof as "impervious to sound" or "to insulate so as to obstruct the passage of sound." Figuratively speaking, to soundproof is to make a solid argument, free from criticisms. The ApologetiX seek to do both in this album. They have created a soundproof apologetic for the Word of God with the songs in this album. They also soundproof the music by playing with softer acoustic instruments. When the ApologetiX named this album Soundproof, they truly made a double entendre.

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES:

I will be up front with my bias here. I am not of fan of any live albums, no matter what band releases them. I know the purpose of the live album is to capture the feel of being at a live concert, either because not everybody can afford to make it to a concert (costs too much, too far away, etc.) or because the band wants to preserve the concert feel when they can no longer perform live concerts. Particularly to the ApologetiX, I understand why the chose to do a string of live albums from 2005 to 2010. The ApologetiX started feeling their first financial crunch at this time, and they did live albums as a cost saving measure. With studio albums, there are several takes of each individual instrument (including vocals), plus re-recording, re-mixing and re-mastering, which can all add up on the bill. With live albums, the band has 1 take, and that's it (with some minor tweeking in the studio, which still overall costs less). It renders the the former the more expensive option, and the latter option becomes the cheaper option. Still, this does not change my distaste towards live albums. I willingly suspend belief and acknowledge that studio albums use the best music technology to produce the best quality sound, even if that sound is not "true" to the band. By default, therefore, live albums will always be lesser in quality. Even if the live album is "more true" to the band's sound, I rather listen to that top-notch "fake" quality sound than listen to a lesser "true" sound. If I wanted a concert sound, I would go to a concert. I do not want not hear wild and crazy fans screaming or spikes in the sound due to technical difficulties while I am casually listening to music at home or in my car.

At this point, you might think, "Wow, Graham hates acoustic albums, and Graham hates live albums, so Soundproof should end up at the lowest rank album," yet you can see it is second-to-land, standing solely ahead of Apol-acoustiX. Why? How? Well, there is some things that Soundproof gets right, some of which "fix" what Apol-acoustiX gets wrong.

Recall how I said Apol-acoustiX should have used songs famous for being acoustic. Well, Soundproof does that! "I'm Cured" (parody of "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz) and "Wish You Could Hear" (parody of "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd) are famous for being acoustic songs! I wish that the ApologetiX would have held off "Amos" (parody of "Layla" by Eric Clapton and Derek & the Dominos) for Soundproof, instead of using on The Boys Aren't Backing Down. Remember how I said Apol-acoustiX should have merely made acoustic version of the previous hits? Well, Soundproof does that! "Lions" (parody of "Signs" by Five Man Electric Band), "Ain't That A Miracle" (parody of "Pink Houses" by John Cougar Mellencamp and "That Daughter" (parody of "Black Water" by Doobie Brothers) all appear on Isn't Wasn't Ain't. "Yer Maker" (parody of "D'Yer Maker" by Led Zeppelin") occurs on Radical History Tour. It's the perfect compromise. Re-performing these songs from Isn't Wasn't Ain't and Radical History Tour on Soundproof allows lyricist J. Jackson to updates these parodies from his early years, when he was very new at this. If they fans like the older version with the full band, they can go back to Isn't Wasn't Ain't and Radical History Tour. If the fans prefer the new lyrics and the acoustic instruments, they can gravitate towards these songs' performance on Soundproof. Fans never has to sacrifice one for the other, feeling like they missed out on something.

Furthermore, to be fair, Soundproof differs from Apol-acoustiX in another big factor. As the flavor text under title says, Apol-acoustiX is just pair of acoustic guitars. Soundproof has every instrument expected in a full band, except they are the acoustic (non-electric) versions. Both Toms (Tincha and Milnes) play on acoustic guitars, feeding well off of each other as lead and rhythm guitarists. Bill Hubauer played a grand piano instead of an electric keyboard. Jimmy "Vegas" Tanner played on his usual "acoustic drums" (most bands don't have an electric drum set because they know it sounds fake). The only played his normal instrument was Keith Haynie, and I'm honest surprised that he did not play an acoustic bass guitar, since such a thing exists (a former member of my church's worship team use to play an acoustic bass guitar). All in all, since the songs on Soundproof contain a full acoustic band, instead of a pair of acoustic guitars, listeners of Soundproof don't feel like they are missing out on an instrument's part, as they would with Apol-acoustiX. Soundproof songs don't miss out on the bass line or the beat of the drums, unlike the songs on Apol-acoustiX.

The question remains, however, if the listener misses out on some of these songs because they lack the hard-rocking electric instruments. Sadly, I would say the answer is yes to many of these songs. As the biggest example, "Aquilla" (parody of "Aqualung" by Jethro Tull) lacks without that strong electric guitar intro and outro, as well as the solo. Yes, a majority of that song has the acoustic guitar in the verses, but the most famous chord of the song is the electric guitar's intro and outro, as well as that electric guitar solo. In a close second is "Second Glance" (parody of "Second Chance" by Shinedown) for missing its electric guitar. Yes, I know the acoustic guitar in verses sticks out as prominent, but the chorus misses out on the electric guitar backing it. To list off a few more in rapid fire, "Sin of the World" (parody of "Cinnamon Girl" by Neil Young), "Did You Ever Ask Where Cain Got His Wife?" (parody of "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?" by Lovin' Spoonful), "Gideon (Man of God)" (parody of "Get It On" by T.Rex), "Trust Him" (parody of "Truckin" by Grateful Dead), "Huge Slumber Party" ("Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon) and "It's All In God's Control" (parody "It's Only Rock N Roll" by the Rolling Stones) all were originally composed with full electric bands in mind, as seen in their original secular counterparts. Therefore, these acoustic band parodies, even though it's a full acoustic band, seems incomplete without them. Just like I said with Apol-acoustiX, these song should have been recorded with a full electric band in studio before making this live acoustics album. To this day, I still hope and pray that every one of the songs mentioned in this paragraph land on a studio album, or at least get a single (one came kind of close).

FAVORITE SONG: "Wish You Could Hear" (parody of "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd)

Naturally, all the songs I said missed out without a studio recording of electric instruments would not make my favorite song. Of course, all the redone songs on the album would not make it either because I prefer the original master recording on the older albums. I almost gave it to "No Shepherd Tonight/New Other Nature" (parody of "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature" by The Guess Who) because when the Guess Who performs it live, they play with all acoustic instruments. Listening to original studio recording, however, it sounds like the original song had electric instruments, and I would rather hear that. That pretty much leaves "I'm Cured" (parody of "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz) and "Wish You Could Hear" (parody of "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd) because both songs are famous for their acoustic performances. "I'm Cured" is a nice song about Jesus healing the paralytic man, but it's just another song about a Bible story. "Wish You Could Hear," on the other hand, is a song about Jesus, who healed those physically suffering from blindness, deafness and mutness, also came to heal the sinner, who is spiritually blind, spiritually deaf and spiritually mute. It makes a good altar call song, and I imagine the ApologetiX used this as their altar call song for their altar call. It would not surprise me at all if somebody came to Christ due to this song. But to be honest, I do feel like this is my favorite song by default just because there is so many that did not qualify due to nit-picks (I swear I like this album better than Apol-acoustiX!)

FINAL VERDICT: 29th.

Soundproof improves from Apol-acoustix because it knows what it wants to be and it takes that into consideration for its setlist. Since it wants to be an acoustic album, it parodies songs famous for being acoustic. Since it wants to be a live album, it spoofs songs that already have studio recordings, even if those studio records are from some of the band's oldest albums. Even the brand new songs get the get the full band, not just a pair of dudes and a pair of guitars. Still, the absence of electric instruments from these songs, especially the new songs, reminds the listener that these parodies are glorified covers because they don't sound like the original. The ApologetiX are a Christian rock band, even if that's a Christian parody rock band, so these songs should sound like they rock! Unfortuneatly, they do not. I hope that all these songs on Soundproof, especially the news ones, get the studio treatment.

29. Soundproof
30. Apol-acoustiX

The Parable of Factory-Made Homes (Matthew 7:24-27)

Drew and Scott, 2 co-workers, were both shocked and surprised to see each other at Big Al’s Factory-Made Home Sales. After chatting in the waiting room a bit, the two men realized it made sense for both of them to be there. Both men worked for the same company, under the same job title with job description. Both of them worked the same shift and hours, and both got paid the same wages. Both of them put aside a little of each paycheck in a savings account to put towards a house, and now both of them had saved enough to purchase a house, so they could move out of their small apartments. It only made sense that they both went to Big Al’s Factory-Made Home Sales, the most affordable homes in the area.

After a short while, Big Al invited both men into his office to finish signing and initialing papers, so they could officially become home owners. As both men signed here and initialed there, Big Al spoke up in his southern draw, “Now I’m going to give you boys a tip. I know my houses look so fine that they look like you can move into them day one, but these houses need a foundation. Heed my advice and build a foundation for your home before moving into them.” Drew and Scott paused and looked at each other. They knew they both thought the same thing, but only Scott bravely spoke. “Are you kidding me?! You know how much money I’ve poured into this home! Now you want me to spend even more money by building foundation?! I think not! I suppose I could save some by cutting labor costs and providing my own labor, but I already burned enough of my free time working overtime in order to save up for this home, and I’m not about to waste anymore free time by building a foundation. Please deliver the home to the address I provided in the paperwork and place it on the cinder blocks. It will be good enough for me.” With that, Scott signed his last signature, initialed his last initials, snatched his keys and walked out of the office.

Drew leaned back in the office chair. He thought about what Scott said, and he could definitely relate. He too worked a lot of overtime and spent a lot of money on his home. Big Al, on the other hand, made a good point, too. Al had worked in the business so long, he must knew what he was talking about. After signing his last signature and initialing his last initials, Drew asked Big Al if he could kindly hold on to the home until Drew had a foundation in place on his lot. Big smiled and agreed. Drew then went back to his apartment and called his landlord to see if he could extend the lease a bit longer. The landlord understood and agreed to extend the lease another month. Then Drew began laying his foundation. It might have taken him a few more weeks to move in his new home than Scott, but finally, Drew could move into his new house.

Shortly after Drew moved into his new home, meteorologists buzzed on the news about Hurricane Damion. “Hurricane Damion is on its way! Just because this hurricane has been downgraded from a category 5 hurricane to a category 3 hurricane does not mean it should be taken lightly! Gather up supplies. You may go days without power or water. Board up your houses. When the hurricane comes, remember to stay in the center room of your house on downstairs floor.” Everyone listened the meteorologists. Anyone who attempted to go to a grocery store within a 5-mile radius of their home found all the bottled water and batteries sold out! Both Drew and Scott prepared for the storm, buying extra supplies and boarding up the houses. Both felt confident in their new homes. Drew felt especially assured with his newly laid foundation. Scott did feel confident, but as the hurricane got closer, Scott thought about how his father and mother complained that he never visited enough, so Scott decided now would be a good time to visit his parents out in the Great Plains.

The day came when the Hurricane Damion arrived. It only took 1 day to pass through, but it left its mark, from the uprooted trees to the down power lines. When Drew heard the hurricane passed over, he walked out the front door, took a few steps out into the front lawn, and he looked back at his house. The hurricane’s winds had ripped off a few shingles and a strip of siding, but besides that, the home stood intact. Drew smiled, glad he took Big Al’s advice. A few days later, Scott’s flight home touched down in the airport. From there, Scott drove home…or at least he thought he did. When Drew got there, he found an empty lot. He went to go look at the house number on the mailbox, but the mailbox had disappeared, too. He checked the GPS on his phone, and yes, he had the write address. Where was his house? After driving around a bit, in the nearby trailer park, Scott found his home…or what he believed to be his home. In reality, Scott found a pile of wood, drywall and insulation. Scott pulled out his cell phone, dialed up his mother, and said, “Hey mom, you know how you always complain that I never visit enough? Well, guess whose coming back to visit?”

What you have just read is what I call The Parable of the Factory-Made Homes. This is a 21st century version of a parable Jesus told in the 1st century. Back while in seminary, my preaching professor taught us that when teaching a parable of Jesus, a preacher should re-tell the parable in a 21st century context. I agree with his teaching. All the parable Jesus taught Jesus extremely contextualized, so his open-minded audience would understand the message, while the close-minded audience would not understand. Therefore, Jesus used the 1st century culture as his context, a context which would make no sense to the modern-day culture in the 21st century. So preacher should study what Jesus intended the parable to mean, and then teach the parable in a 21st century cultural context that the audience could comprehend. Still, because I am not an omniscient rabbi, my parable fails in comparison to the Lord’s parable, so let’s understand the original parable in light of the 1st century context.

I invite you to turn Matthew 7:24-27. Recall that Matthew is a Jewish man, writing to a Jewish audience, convincing them that Jesus was the long-awaited Jewish Messiah. Matthew does so by stocking his Gospel account full of Old Testament references. Old Testament references does not merely refer to quoting Old Testament Scripture. Matthew constantly paints Jesus in light of the Old Testament heroes of faith, like Abraham, Moses and David, to display HIM as like these men, but better. This parable comes from the Sermon of Mount. Just as Moses taught the Israelites the Law on Mount Sinai, so Matthew paints Jesus, on the Mount, teaching the Law, just like Moses. In accordance with covenants, after listing the laws and stipulations of the covenant, Moses would then pronounce blessings to those who obey and denounce curses on those who disobey. In the same way, Jesus ends his teaching with promises to bless the obedient and curse the disobedient, in the form of a parable. More specifically, this famous parable concluding the Sermon on the Mount. This context gives a stronger meaning to the Sermon on the Mount itself. Jesus just finished teaching believers about kingdom of heaven living. This parable challenges the audience to follow the teaching Jesus just laid before them. Jesus knows the crowd heard his teaching, and now he challenges the crowd to listen to his teaching. The choice does not lie within which teachings to accept and reject, but rather, the crowd can only choose to either follow the teachings presented before them. If the people put the teachings of Jesus into practice, the people have accepted them, but if they don’t put Christ’s words into practice, the people reject them. As commentator R.T. France states, “The teaching of the Sermon of the Mount is not an ideal to be admired, but a law to be obeyed.”

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” ~Matthew 7:24

Following the pattern of Proverbs (see Proverbs 10:8&14), Jesus parallels a wise man and foolish man, only with a slight different, demonstrating that the contrasting decisions result in contrasting consequences. For the first simile, Jesus compares those who listen to his words to a wise man who built his house upon the rock. In the Greek, Jesus emphasizes the word “mine,” demonstrating that his teaching is not another rabbi’s interpretation but the truth from God himself. Up to this point, the Jewish people put their hopes in the traditions and interpretations of the Pharisees, which were like shifting sands. Jesus called the crowd to put their trust in his truth, which came from God, the same God they knew from the Old Testament. In the parable, the wise man builds his house on the rock. Jesus took advantage of his setting, and this statement would have made sense to all the locals. In Galilee, a man building a house on a rock foundation would not have to dig far, and sometimes did not have to dig at all. A Jewish audience would immediately know the rock refers to God. The Old Testament refers to God as the rock numerous times because the metaphor illustrates the strength, security and stability of the Lord (see Deuteronomy 32:4, 1 Samuel 2:2, 2 Samuel 22:3, Psalm 18:2 and Isaiah 17:10).

“And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.” ~Matthew 7:25

What Jesus describes in Matthew 7:25 is your typical Galilean autumn storm. Most often, Galilean autumn storms would cause flash flooding. Galilee can become quite dry in the autumn. The dry ground cannot speedily absorb the torrential downpour, resulting in flash flooding. Not only would the heavy rains themselves cause the land to flood, but the rains would cause nearby rivers to overflow, adding to the floods. Pretty, during these Galilean autumn storms, it would appears as if the waters came from both down and up. Jesus uses 2 action verbs to describe the winds, emphasizing that the winds came from every direction and that suck winds have the power to knock over buildings. Those listening to the story would expect the house to collapse, yet it does not. The Galilean homes built on a rock foundation would survive such storms. In the last independent clause of verse 25, the Greek text emphasizes “stood firm,” but past perfect indicative passive state. This tense emphasizes that the house stood firm because of its rock foundation. Likewise, those who hear the words of Jesus and put them to practice will survive the storms of life, both literally and metaphorically.

“And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” ~Matthew 7:26,27

The Jewish audience, familiar with the Proverbs, expect Jesus to provide a counter example to contrast the fates (see Proverbs 10:25, 12:7 and 14:11). For this counter example, Jesus describes someone who does not apply his words as a foolish man who builds his house on sand. The Greek word used here for foolish is μωρός (moros), from which we get the English word “moron.” Scholars have attempted to locate where the sandy lands might be, but the consensus seem to be that Jesus means the land that’s not the rock foundation. Notice the words Jesus used to describe the storm that hit the house with the sandy foundation matches the words used to describe the house with the rock foundation. The floods caused by the Galilean autumn storms would wash away sands and destabilize any house built on the sand foundation. While a home built on the rock might receive some wear and tear from the story, a house built on the sand would face utter destruction. Likewise, anyone who does not pay attention to the words of Jesus lead themselves down the road of utter destruction.

In both Christ’s parable and my re-telling of Christ’s parable, the reader will see the main characters had many similarities. Both men wanted to build a house. Both men got a house which looked ready to move into and settle. Both men might have even used the same design and the same materials to build the house. The variance, however, was the foundation. That variance resulted in impacting the men differently. When the storms came, the wise man still had a house, but the foolish man had a pile of rubble where the house one stood. To bring the parable up to its meaning, in the same way, multiple will hear the words of Jesus numerous times. The only thing separating those people is whether they apply, or do, those words.

Rabbis during the time of Jesus actually debated if hearing or doing was more importance. Although the consensus seemed to be both hearing and doing, a lot of them actually concluded hearing was more important than doing. They figured that a believer cannot do unless the hear, and thus, hearing had to be more important. Jesus, however, says contrary. If someone hears his teaching, he or she now has a duty to follow them. Perhaps Jesus might have intended to call out the Pharisees nearby, who knew what the Law had to say, but they did not obey it. If I may roughly paraphrase the words of commentator A.T. Robinson, “If a Christian wants to live dangerously, the Christian should listen to sermons with no intention of following them.”

Readers tend to think of the storms representing hardships in life, and rightfully so, but the storms could also represent God’s justice. Think about it. In the parable, those who built their home on the rock find themselves rewarded with a safe and secure home during storms, while those who build their house on the sand find themselves cursed with a destroyed house. In the same way, everybody who hears and does the words of Jesus will find themselves blessed on the day of judgment, while everyone hears the words of Jesus and does not do them will find themselves cursed. In the end, at the final judgment, it will all come down to what God thinks, not what other people think, nor what we think of ourselves. Therefore, the best application of this parable is to prepare ourselves for the final judgment by doing what Jesus has taught us.

While the final judgment will be the last and greatest judgment of all, the Christian should not focus solely the great, final judgment that will come in the future. Judgment can happen in the present, just as much as it will in the future. Judgment will sometimes come from God, but judgment can also come in forms from the world and from life in general. Until the day of the great, final, judgment, the Christian should interpret the storms on the trials and tribulations that will lead up the eschaton. The trials and tribulations, although small in comparison to the great, final judgment, will prepare and test the Christian for the great, final judgment. Those who deny their faith when the trials and tribulations on this earth come will not pass the great, final judgment. Those who will survive the trials and tribulations of life, as well as the great, final judgement, are those who heard the words of Jesus and put them into practice. Just like in the parable, many will hear the words of Jesus, and many will go through trials, tribulation and judgment. Those who put the words of Jesus into practice will survive all trials, tribulations and judgments, but those who did not practice Christ’s words seal their fate. And what’s the number 1 test and trial? Time. False apostles, prophets and teachers stop speaking of the faith in a matter of time, but the true children of God live act out the Word of God until their final breath.

This parable teaches Christians 3 lessons.

First, the parable leaves Christians to ask themselves, “What do we really believe?” Clearly, this parable teaches that true belief doesn’t simply profess. Belief does not simply parrot the words of Jesus, either. True belief leads the believer to act. If believers really believe something, it will cause the believer to act in a certain way. If Christians proclaim the Lord has omnipotent, or all-power, Christians should depend on him when they feel powerless, rather than on their own strength. If Christians proclaim God as omnibenevolent, or all-good, Christians should blame him for when evil happens in their life. If Christians act contrary to their doctrine, or don’t act at all, do they really believe their doctrine?

Second, this parable instructs Christians to work hard on their faith. I took this parable of out Matthew because most Christians recognize the parable from Matthew, but Luke also records Jesus teaching this parable during his Sermon on the Level Plain. While the two variations of the parable have slight differences (some of which probably account to the location), one sticks out in particular. Luke records Jesus mentioning that the wise man dug deep into his foundation on the rock. Foundations take hard work to build. When the bedrock of Galilee sits on or near the surface, to make it function as a sturdy foundation, the builder has to dig deep into it. One of my ancient sources comes from a Greek historian. He records that once he visited an Arab man in Galilee. The Arab man knew of the earthquakes and floods that hit the land, so he dig 10 meters (or 30 feet) deep into the bedroom to make sure the pillars would not move during a natural disaster. The Greek historian looked on in amazement, not at the elegance of the pillars, but rather, at the how deep the Arab man dug just to make sure the pillars stood still. I understand this amazement. I assisted on an archaeological dig when I visited Israel. For this archaeological dig, I had to wake up at 3:00 a.m. to get ready for a dig at 4:00 a.m. Just like a typical work shift, I ended at noon. An archaeological dig need to happen so early in the morning because the sun is brutally unforgiving. Temperatures could easily rise 100 degrees Fahrenheit by noon. I carried around a half gallon jug of water every day, and every day, I finished it by the end of the day. Even with an awning over the dig site, working outside, even washing pottery, becomes unbearable. This is the 21^st century, with digital alarm clocks and light bulbs. Imagine living in Galilee in the 1^st century A.D. Digging requires the sunlight to see, so the digger of a foundation has work in the heat of sun. The builder faces temptation to build in the sand because of ease. The builder has to spend less time in the sun and doesn’t have work as building his home on a sandy foundation. The rock foundation requires the builder to spend all day out in the hot sun and requires extra work. As the parable demonstrates, however, the hard work pays off in the long run because it creates the house that stands firm in the storms.

Do Christians work that hard at their faith? Human nature tends to lean to easy route, but the Bible calls Christians to move than the easy route. Jesus did not take the easy route, but instead, he took the route to cross. As Christians, the Bible calls Christians to follow the path of Jesus. Christians must not succumb to the easy route. As the parable shows, the easy route leads to shaky foundations in the faith. On the flip side, the Christians who work hard on their faith will find themselves on the firm foundation of Jesus. The new nature the Holy Spirit provides all Christians the strength to endure these hardships. May Christians embrace this gift the Holy Spirit has given them to build up their faith.

For the 3^rd application, if someone asks for a one-word summary this meaning of this parable, the answer is “Choose.” If someone asks for a two-word summary this meaning of this parable, the answer is, “Actively choose.” I believe this parable teaches that if you’re not on the foundation of the rock, that automatically places you on the sand. Unless you actively choose to listen and follow the words of Jesus, then by default, you face utter destruction. If you have not actively chosen Jesus, I urge you to do so, confessing your sins and believing in Jesus. If you have actively chosen, trust in Jesus to help you stand firm during hardships and judgments.

Cairn (Joshua 4:1-7)

I posted a few pictures above, and you can see there’s one commonality among all of them. In each one, you can see that the trophy is the center of attention. Now, hold on. No, this is not me treating to toot my own horn. I’m going somewhere with this. This trophy is not just about a win, a victory or a championship. This trophy reminds me of an important spiritual discipline that the Bible commands all Christians to follow.

I invite you to open your Bibles to the book of Joshua. The book of Joshua is the sixth book of the Bible, right after the book of Deuteronomy. In fact, the story in the book of Joshua picks off right after the story in Deuteronomy. The book of Deuteronomy closes with the death of Moses, and the book of Joshua opens with Joshua taking the reigns as leader. Joshua’s leadership role, however, differs from the leadership role Moses has. Whereas Moses was the lawgiver, Joshua is a general, although the book of Joshua will constantly remind its reader that God is ultimately the commander-in-chief. You might be familiar with the military strategy of “divide and conquer,” utilized by Philip II of Macedonia (Alexander the Great’s father), Julius Caesar and Napoleon Bonaparte. Joshua’s military strategy was the complete opposite. Joshua conquered, then he divided. The reader can clearly see Joshua’s military strategy by the arrangement of the book. The first half of the book, chapters 1-12, focus on the conquest part, and the second half, chapters 13-24, focus on the dividing part. Since this passage comes from Joshua chapter 4, this passage comes the “conquering” half and will deal with that aspect.

Before we dive into chapter 4, let me quickly summarize the previous chapter, chapter 3, to set the context for chapter 4. At the start of chapter 3, we find Joshua and the Israelites camped at the Jordan River, near Shittim (pronounced “Sheetim”). This specific location of Jordan is key. Just like any major river, at some points you talk about its width in terms of feet, at other points, you talk about its width in terms of yards, and still yet at other points you talk about its width in terms of miles. This is one of the points you talk about it in terms of miles. Furthermore, Joshua chapter 3 informs the reader the setting takes place in the middle of the Jordan River’s flood season. Tack on another mile or two to the Jordan River’s width. If the distance alone wasn’t already a factor, the depth of the water would be. In non-flood stages, the Jordan River’s depth at this certain location is at least 3 feet deep, but now that Jordan River is in its peak flood stage, we’re talking closer to 12 feet. Joshua and Israelites truly have a problem on their hands. Here the Israelites stand at the door of the land that God has promised them, but they cannot enter, for the flood waters stand in the way.

Knowing the dire problem of the situation, Joshua commands the Israelites to consecrate themselves, or make themselves both physically and spiritually clean, so the people may petition the Lord. After the people of Israel consecrate themselves, the Lord instructs Joshua (my paraphrase), “Have the priests take up the ark of the covenant. Next, have the priests, bearing the ark of the covenant, march toward the Jordan. Then I will perform a miracle that will make it clear that I am the true living God on all the earth.” The priests take up the ark, they march towards the Jordan, and sure enough, once the first priest puts his foot in the Jordan – WHOOSH! – the waters of the Jordan River split and they heap up into a wall of water. One wall of water stands by the town of Adam, and the other wall of water stands at the mouth of the Jordan River, where the Jordan dumps its water in to the Dead Sea. Furthermore, Joshua 3 emphasizes that the Israelites crossed over a dry ground. Not a molecule of H₂0 remained on the Jordan’s riverbed. Once again, God has provided a solution to Israel’s problems.

Now if you’re just here looking for a good story, this is where the story ends. We’ve hit the climax, the exciting part of the story, with the Lord using his supernatural power to perform a miracle. We have a solution to our problem. The problem was the Israelites could not enter the Promised Land, and the solution was God parting the Jordan, allowing Israel to cross over into the Promised Land. But I believe that Joshua 4 serves an epilogue that gives us that timeless truth than everyone can apply to their lives, no matter where you live on this earth. So without further ado, let’s look at Joshua 4:1-7.

¹When 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, from the very place where the priests’ feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.” ⁴ Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel, whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe. ⁵ And Joshua said to them, “Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, ⁶ that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ ⁷ then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.”

I’m going to stop at verse 7, for time’s sake. The rest of the chapter goes on to say that the Israelites did as Joshua commanded, and then it finishes by summarizing chapters 3 and 4. But don’t let my summarization of the rest of the chapter undermine what’s going on in the rest of chapter. A continuous theme that runs throughout the whole book of Joshua is that when Israel obeys, God blesses Israel with victory. When Israel doesn’t obey, whether that means doing the complete opposite or slightly veering off of their instruction, then they find themselves cursed and defeated. The repetition demonstrates that Israel is obedient, which will bring about much needed blessing for the first battle in chapter 6, the famous battle against Jericho.

Now let’s break down the Joshua 4:1-7. The paragraph opens, “When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan…” As I explained, this repetition reminds the reader that Israel obeyed completely, therefore God blessed them with safe voyage into the Promised Land. It also reminds us that the events of chapter 4 will pick up right after chapter 3 left off. After every person crosses over the Lord instructs Joshua to call together the twelve men, one from each tribe, who were specially consecrated in chapter 3. Since the twelve men were one from each tribe, you can tell these men were meant to be representatives of their respective tribe. Once Joshua calls these 12 representatives over, the Lord tells Joshua to pass on the message to them that they are to go back in the Jordan River, to the middle part where the priests stood with the ark of the covenant, each one is to bring back a stone, and they together are to bring those stones back to their new campground on the other bank of the Jordan River.

Now let’s pause here. Let’s put ourselves in the Israel’s shoes. How do you think they crossed the Jordan River? You don’t have to imagine too hard, for if we would have read on, Joshua 4:10b tells us the people crossed over “in haste.” They hurried over as fast as possible. While researching this passage, it didn’t take me long to find some modern-day skeptics, who had their doubts that something supernatural happened, who explain it away as natural science (I’m not saying God couldn’t use science. He could have very well used science. It’s doubting it was a miracle that I’m not OK with). I don’t think only modern-day skeptics struggle with what they hear about in Joshua 4. I bet right then and there, some of the people witnessing might have been skeptics, having doubts. How do we know this is from God? How do we know this isn’t some freak act of nature? Do we even know how long it’s going to last? For if you believed it was of God, you’d expect God to make sure everyone would get across, but if you don’t believe it’s from God, you don’t know how long it will last. Not knowing how long it will last, but at the same time, wanting to take advantage of it, you dart over to the other side. Now that everyone is safely to the other side, Joshua calls these 12 representatives of the tribes, and he tells them to go back! All the thoughts that must have gone through their mind. I even wonder if one of them really wanted object out loud. Yet, all these men go back. They lay down all their fears, and instead, they pick up faith. What great faith these men had! This faith allowed those men to put their fears aside and march back into the dried up Jordan River to pick up a stone, just as the Lord commanded. (The humorous side of me imagines one of representatives looking over the stones in the middle of the Jordan River, thinking to himself, “I could pick that one… no, that one will break my back even trying to pick it up. I could pick that one, but if I do, Joshua just going to send me right back in for another…”) If the men’s faith or God’s power wasn’t enough to encourage the men to go back in the Jordan River, the importance of the stone should be.

When the men come back with the stone representing their tribe, Joshua’s commands in Joshua 4:3 say “lay them down.” The Hebrew is הִנַּחְתֶּ֣ם (hinnahtem). The root of the word simply means “rest,” but in the case of this specific verb tense in Joshua 4:3, it means “cause them to rest.” This has a lot of significance. For starters, these stones would represent the Israelites. No longer would the Israelites wander from land to land; rather, God would cause the Israelites to rest in the Promised Land. More importantly, the verse explains that these stones the 12 representatives gathered were not simply thrown together in a heap. They were placed by design for a purpose

What was this purpose? It was not to be worshipped. That’s why God kept it simply to a heap of rocks, not some artistic form, like a statue. It was not to build an altar on which the people of Israelites sacrificed animals to God. Rather, these stones formed a memorial. The memorial was to remind the Israelites how good the Lord was them. When they were in a tough bind, the Lord provided a way. The memorial was intended to attest to a specific event. It wasn’t just “The Lord provided,” but moreso “When the Israelites were unable to enter the promised land because of the flooded Jordan River, God outstretched his almighty hand to defy the powers of nature and he divided the waters of the Jordan ensuring Israel had safe voyage into the promise land.” It was supposed to create a good story! The memorial was supposed to also spark up conversation about the Lord. In verse 6, the ESV reads the question the children might ask as, “What do these stones mean to you?” but a more literal translation of the Hebrew says, “What is it to you?” When the younger generations would ask such a question in the future, the old generation should take the responsibility to emphasize the importance of the memorial, almost to the point of stopping everything they were doing to do so.

Once again, I invite you think back to the Old Testament times, but not during the times of the events in Joshua. Think back to years, decades or even centuries after the events happened. An Israelite farmer now owns the land on which this memorial sits. One day, the farmer tells his son, “Son, I’ve been prayer extra hard during the past winter that God would give us a bountiful harvest this upcoming year. I believe that the Lord will answer that prayer, but we got to do our part as well. So on this first day of spring, first thing is first. We have to clear the land of all the debris the winter storms brought in over the winter. So you start at one end, I’ll start at the other, and we’ll meet each other in the middle.” The son sighs, for one can only get so excited about doing lawn work, but he listens to his father’s instructs and begins doing his work, picking up sticks, stones and leaves, and moving them off the land. Going from one end to another, the farmer’s son eventually comes across this memorial, but to him, it’s just a heap of rocks. The farmer’s son lets out a loud groan, thinking to himself, “Great! Now I got to pick up large rocks! They look so heavy!” So he begins. He picks up the first rock, and with much struggling - SPLOOSH! – the first rock goes back into the Jordan River. While trying to get a grip on the second rock, the son all of a sudden hears a loud yell. It’s from his father, running toward him, franticly waving his arms. The boy rolls his eyes his and groans again, thinking to himself, “Great, what I have done wrong this time? Am I using the wrong lifting technique?” When the farmer finally gets there, he yells to his son, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” The son replies, “I’m clearing the land, just like you asked me to do.” All the father can franticly say is, “Not those!” “Why Dad?” the son asks. “What are these rocks to you, that they are so important, that you run down and freak out when you see one move?” The father replies with his own question, “Son, have I ever told you about the time Lord helped our people here?” The son shakes his head no. “Well, son,” the father says, “have a seat. Let me tell you about what the Lord did here.”

That’s exactly what the heap of rocks was supposed to do. It was supposed to remind people when they saw it. In a time when writing was scarce, people needed images to remind them of significant events that happened in history. It was supposed spur on a good story, making the event even harder to forget. It was supposed to have importance. This wasn’t something the father would say to the son, “Long story. I’ll tell you at dinner after work.” It was so important, the people would stop whatever they were doing, sit down and discuss it

This heap of rocks has a proper term. It’s cairn, coming from the Scottish language. Cairns can found in many cultural throughout several different time periods. The debate rages on it origins. Some claim Yahweh founded this idea, and as other cultures encountered God-fearing cultures they adopted this practice, even if they didn’t worship the one true God. Others claim that God saw his creation practicing this idea of cairns, and wanting to relate his creation and speak their language, he joined in on creating cairns. No matter what its origins or what cultured practiced it, the meaning still stayed the same. Cairn were stone landmarks, meant to serve as memorial to remind people of something special that happened. They were to invite people remember, share stories and celebrate. And I might I add one more thing to that list. Cairns, in the Biblical sense, were to encourage Yahweh worshippers to put their faith in Yahweh and have hope that he would act the same way again when his people needed him.

So how do we, living in 21^st century America, practice what we learned in Joshua 4:1-7? I guess we could set up a heap of stones either inside or outside our homes, but that would be very much so against popular trends of interior decorating or landscaping alike. Rather, I propose 3 more realistic ways to practice this spiritual discipline.

First, while I would not suggest building a heap of rocks inside or outside your home, I would suggest decorating your home with keepsakes that will remind you of what the Lord has done for you. If you were to walk upstairs into my wife and my apartment (we have a 2^nd story apartment), the first thing you would see is a photo canvas of one of our wedding pictures. In fact, we have 2 of them (and I will admit, my laziness has not allowed me to hang the second one up). We also have many other photos hanging up from our engagement and our first anniversary. When I see these photos, it reminds me to praise God for how he has helped our marriage nurture. They also remind me the commitment I made to be faithful to my wife. This goes beyond just not committing adultery. When my boss calls me at home, asking me either to fill in for a co-worker who has called off on Sunday, or to go paintballing with my co-workers on a Saturday, I look upon those pictures, remember my vows, and say back, “At the wedding, I made a commitment: my wife comes first. Last weekend, I made a commitment that the upcoming weekend would be all for her. So I’m going to have to say no.” In the same way, I invite you hang up things that will remind you about how God has worked in your life. You’ll find out that not only will it remind you of how God faithfully acted in the past, but you’ll find yourselves looking for God in the same way in the future.

Second, celebrate holidays! God merely did not use cairns to help the people remember significant event. God also used holidays. In Leviticus 23, God commanded the Israelites to celebrate 6 holidays (I’m not including the Sabbath on that list, just annual holidays). Let me emphasize the word again: commanded. Celebrating the 6 holidays in Leviticus 23 were not optional; they were mandatory. Now let me be clear that some things did change with the New Covenant. In Colossians 2:16, Paul says that no one should judge you in regards to which festival you celebrate, so Christians are not required to celebrate those 6 festivals in Leviticus 23 (although I think the churches that do celebrate them are cool). But I don’t believe that means that the command to celebrate is null and void. Quaker pastor and writer Richard J. Foster has well convinced me in his book, The Celebration of Discipline, that celebration is a spiritual discipline all Christians need to celebrate. So we need to celebrate Christian holidays. Yeah, I know it can be difficult to celebrate the religious holidays with the commercialism that surrounds them. Besides, shouldn’t we be living out the meaning of the holiday every day? For example, when it comes to Easter, shouldn’t we be living out the hope of the resurrection every day? True, but I believe that holidays serve as a reminder (there’s that word again) to get us back on track. Going back to our example, when Easter rolls around every year, it should make us think, “Have I been living out the hope of the resurrection recently?” If the answer is no, Easter should be the day that you will start thinking about the resurrection and putting your hope in it.

And the spiritual disciple of celebration does not need to be confined to holidays established on the calendar. You can make up your own holidays. A few years ago, if you were to ask me what significance October 4 had, I would say none because it really didn’t have significance. Now it does have a lot of significance, for October 4 is my wife and my anniversary, and we do something to commemorate it. Of course, that’s an anniversary, it’s a big event in life, you should commemorate it. But it can be smaller things, too. On a day that the Lord did something for you in the past, commemorate that day. Do something to celebrate what happened, even if it just means lifting up a prayer of thanks. By celebrating days as special, we keep alive the memories of what the Lord has done for us.

Third, share a testimony. As I said earlier, seeing cairns should lead to telling stories. I consider myself a Mennonite, and I attend a Mennonite church. The Mennonites have a rich history of sharing testimonies. Previously in Mennonite history, most Mennonite church pastors were not seminary trained and ordained. A lot of Mennonite pastors were selected merely by prayer and lots. The few Mennonite pastors who were seminary trained and ordained were traveling pastors, traveling from town to town, church to church, spreading the gospel message. In either case, the question would arise, “How do we know what the pastor preaches is Biblical truth?” How do we know that the pastor selected from prayer and lots is speaking Biblical truth? He has not received seminary training, nor has anyone made sure he’s doing his daily devotions. How do we know the traveling pastor is speaking Biblical truth? We do not know him. For all we know he’s a conman, and this is elaborate hoax to collect the offering plate money. So the Mennonite denomination formulated a plan of testimony sharing. After the pastor would preach, the church service would have a time for the elders to get up a share a testimony of how the sermon applied to something that happened to them in the past or how they could use the sermon in the present or future. If an elder did not get up and share a testimony, it meant the pastor’s sermon did not speak Biblical truth. If an elder did get up and share a testimony, it validated the spiritual truth behind the sermon. And of course, the more elders that got up the better. I can imagine that this time following the sermon was a nerve-racking one for the pastor!

So take the time to share your testimonies. It doesn’t have to be constrained to just church, small group, prayer group or Bible study. Share testimonies at school and work. Share testimonies at the dinner table. Share testimonies when you visit someone. Share testimonies when you’re just hanging out. Tell everyone what the Lord has done for you. Not only will you give God the glory for doing so, but if someone else was in a situation you were in, it will encourage that person to seek the Lord for the answer, knowing that the Lord helped you.

In closing, let me practice what I preach. Let me explain to you why that ACC Tournament Championship trophy is my cairn. Going into that ACC Tournament, this Spring City team had just finished the 8-week season in 6^th place in League. While that might sound good, our final point average was 82, two quiz outs and a little more. So with that unimpressive point average, we were, well, to parody a Judy Blume book title, a “tale of a sixth place nobody.” Going into that tournament, our 7-quizzer quiz team had 2 quizzers out of state, and out of the 5 quizzers remaining, 1 quizzer only got 4 questions right all year and 1 quizzer just got back from baseball camp, so one could only guess how much studying he had. It looked like we were right in line to continue our average of 82 points, which would get a few wins in the round robin portion of the tournament, but that would be about it.

Our first match of the tournament was against Neffsville 1. We had a lot of errors, but since Neffsville 1 was, nicely put, a below average team, we easily won 120-45. Our second match was against Reading 1. In that match, we got over 5 errors, causing us to lose points. Somehow, it was still close, but Reading 1 beat us by a matter of 5 points. The close loss left us devastated. It really knocked off our game. Our next match, we got a bunch of errors, and yet we somehow won. Then came our next match, and once again, we got a lot of errors, but somehow, we won.

Then it came down to the last round in the round robin. In our round robin ground, only 3 teams had a winning record: 1^st place Petra 2, who was 4-0, 2^nd place Reading 1, who was 3-1, and 3^rd place Spring City, who was 3-1 (Reading 1 had the tiebreaker due to head-to-head results). The last 2 matches were Spring City vs. Petra 2, and Reading 1 vs. Neffsville 1, who was the below average season team who was still winless at the time. The only way we could make the playoffs is if Spring City won against undefeated Petra 2, and Reading 1 loss to winless Neffsville 1. It was not looking good.

That match against Petra 2 didn’t look good either. Our top quizzer of the year errored out during it. Somehow, we managed to stay afloat. It came down to the last question, question 15. We were down by 10. The quizmaster asked the question, and Petra 2’s top quizzer buzzed in. I thought it was over at that point. She answers, “Eljiah…No! Elisha!” The quizmaster responds, “No, I’m sorry, I have to take your first answer.” Who does the bonus go to? Of course it’s that quizzer who only got 4 questions right the whole year! But after thinking about it, she realized what the Petra 2 quizzer did wrong. She quietly answered, “Elisha?” She was right, sending the match into overtime, where we won with a team bonus.

After our win, the whole team rushed toward the standings board to see the results of the match between Reading 1 and Neffsville 1. They were still in the match. All we could do was pace and pray. I even remember vowing to my teammates, “If Neffsville 1 wins this match, I will hug them all.” Then the record keeper out. He walked to our group’s board. He drew the tally mark. I was the first one to see. When I saw the results, I yelled them out loud. I yelled...."NEFFSVILLE WON!!" The boys (including me) went wild. We jumped up and down, we high-fived, we fist bumped, we chest bumped, we screamed, we yelled, "WE'RE NUMBER ONE! WE’RE NUMBER ONE!” Our friends from other teams joined in our madness. Meanwhile, our coaches still walking their way back to the standings boards kept bumping into other coaches congratulating them. They kept wondering why they were getting congratulated. They figured it out once they saw the commotion their quiz team was causing.

But it doesn’t end there. Due to tiebreakers, we actually went from 3^rd to 1^st in our group. Because we finished 1^st in our group, our first playoff match was against a team that finished 2^nd in their group, and from what I heard, they barely finished 2^nd. In that match, we got 5 errors, but we got 5 errors, but we won with team bonus. Since the playoffs are a simple single elimination playoff tree, you know your next match ins against 1 of 2 teams. During the whole playoffs, it seemed like every time the underdog won, meaning we were playing the underdog next, giving us the advantage, all the way to the final match against Goods 1. Now rumor had it that this team had the perfect match during the season: 5 quiz outs and a team bonus. We had the best match we had all night. We got the first 6 questions right, limited ourselves to 2 errors (the least amount of errors we had all day), got team bonuses and 2 quiz out, giving us the win, and earning us that championship trophy.

But this is where it becomes more than just a win, a victory or a championship. See, our coaches, the Deitricks would always do more than just coach us how to win matches. They mentored us so we could spiritually grow. This year, Dave would always talk about favor, as in “seeking God’s favor.” I didn’t fully grasp what it meant, so I didn’t fully know what to do with it. So I could do is I took it to heart and began putting my quizzing fate in God’s hands. Whatever happened was God’s will, so I prayed hard that the Lord would help me do my best. Now, after this tournament, I understood. There was no way with so many errors (36, to be exact) we should have won so many matches. There is no way that we should have beaten the undefeated and always formidable Petra 2. There is no way a winless Neffsville 1 should have won over Reading 1. There is no way we should have gotten such an easy path to the final match. But there is a way. It’s called God’s favor. On that I learned, just like the Israelites would learn in the book of Joshua, that God favors the one who surrenders their will to God’s will and who obeys what God has commanded them. So every time I look upon that trophy I remember how God has shown me favor in the past, and it encourages me to seek God’s favor in the future.

We didn’t just take home a trophy that night. We were allowed to take home the giant playoff bracket. Just like the trophy, that is at the Spring City church, but it is wrapped in the corner of the youth Sunday school room. There’s some good theology there. Just like the trophy, it is made of earthly materials and will go to the big bonfire in the end when Jesus returns. But this trophy reminds that I don’t have to wait until Jesus returns to see him in action. This trophy reminds me Jesus is active in the present, and I can expect him to continually act all the way to his return.