\"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 albumis filled with snapshots of then that are growing in the now—and will continueto blossom in the future. All of these moments rest on the firm foundation ofJesus Christ, the cornerstone of life itself. In scripture, Jesus is referredto as living stone, stonemason, cornerstone, capstone—solid, strong, reliable.
The metaphor isapt. Biblical history was written in a dry, dusty land where stones abounded.There are numerous instances where encounters with the Lord were memorializedby building an altar. Rather than our modern image of a stately platform in agrand cathedral, these were simple affairs. Starting with the most substantial rock,a pile of mismatched stones would be stacked together, using what wasavailable.
Today, in thesame part of the world, people continue to erect piles of stone as memorials. Duringa visit to Israel several years ago, after climbing Mt. Sinai at 2:00 AM andwatching the landscape glow bright red at dawn, I descended the backside of themountain. Here and there along the way, stones had been stacked in small, crudepiles. I had no way to know what these present-day altars meant to those whohad erected them. But I knew what I had to do. I gathered stones of many sizesand stacked them, one at a time, with the strongest stone holding up theothers. And prayed that I would never forget the import of standing on holyground at that very moment.
Joshua’sdirection to the people of Israel became real to me at that moment. He toldtwelve men from each tribe to take stones from the Jordan, so their childrenwould remember God’s protection as they passed through the Jordan River. Itwould be a memorial to the people of Israel forever. The Bible furtherrecords this: Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle ofthe Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenanthad stood. And they are there to this day. (Joshua 4:9 NIV).
As we celebrateand remember, friends from across the globe and across thirty years arerecalling 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 memorialto God for his grace, mercy, and provision. They all are built on thecornerstone of Jesus. The resulting altar will glorify our God, who has donegreat things in both large and small ways through so many of his people. Fromplowing, to sowing, to watering, to harvest, lives have been claimed for theLord.
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!