The Living Stones Story
Rewind the clocks with me, back to 2020. It’s not too difficult to remember where you were when the world shut down, how you felt, and what fears and anxieties were stirring in you, right? Same here. For me, though, these memories are filled with both existential, external fears (regarding the Pandemic), as well as internal fears that had been mounting over the preceding years. My outside world was on fire, but if I’m really behind honest, so was my internal one.
This internal fear I speak of, had to do with how pessimistic, grumpy, agitated, and distracted I had become…all despite being a follower of Jesus since I can remember. Sometime in late 2020/early 2021 my internal battle came to a head, at the same time I watched the world around me grow darker, more full of despair, disconnection, and distress. In what I can only describe as a “lightning bolt moment”, the Holy Spirit provided me with two things - a phrase, and an insight. The insight was that both for me, personally, and for the many despairing Christians around me, the primary reason for this distress and distraction was that we had simply taken our eyes off of how Jesus was alive and moving in our world. The 24 our news cycles, non-stop screens and social media, and busy life (all amid a global pandemic), had effectively rendered us deaf to the ever present voice of our Creator. The phrase was two words, and for a long time I wasn’t sure what it meant, or how they were linked: Living Stones.
…the primary reason for this distress and distraction was that we had simply taken our eyes off of how Jesus was alive and moving in our world.
The Old Testament Pattern
Armed with this revelation, I dove into Scripture. What did the Bible have to say about “putting the Lord ever before you”…well, it turns out the Bible has a lot to say about this:
“I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.”
“For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness.”
“Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable... think about these things... and the God of peace will be with you.”
As helpful as these verses were, these were not what totally changed my life forever. It was actually the Old Testament images of the earlier followers of Yaweh, constructing “Ebenezers” (“Stones of Help”) in the wilderness to commemorate a place where God intervened to help/care for His people. One of the most famous examples of this was when the Israelite people crossed the Jordan River, after God parted the waters:
“When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, “Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man, 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.’” Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel, whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe. 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, that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ 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 could not stop thinking about this beautiful practice: Creating physical memorials, intended to last generations, where God meets his people. It was with this inspiration that I began a 4+ year journey of building Living Stones - an app designed to allow modern day Christians to construct digital Ebenezers throughout their world, building a landscape of hope, gratitude and joy for generations of believers to come, with the goal of making the world a more Christ-filled place. Before I got to the app, however, I started with something a whole lot simpler. Applesauce jars and index cards.
It was with this inspiration that I began a 4+ year journey of building Living Stones - an app designed to allow modern day Christians to construct digital Ebenezers throughout their world, building a landscape of hope, gratitude and joy for generations of believers to come, with the goal of making the world a more Christ-filled place.
The First Stones
As I was designing the app, my family started practicing a simple Ebenezer-inspired habit as a family. Throughout the week we would capture, on index cards, moment where we encountered God in our life. This could be an answered prayer, a healing, a vision, word, etc. Then we would place these cards in a small jar, and every few weeks once the jar was sufficiently filled, on a Sabbath we would take the cards out over dinner and discuss our “Stones” (what we call these written memorials) as a family. THEN, at the end of the year on New Years we take every “Stone” out of the BIG jar, and review as a family all the many ways we encountered God throughout the year.
This practice has completely transformed our family. My faith has grown tremendously, my “spiritual eyes” have been opened (we see God moving so much more now that we are looking for Him), not to mention how amazing this was been for my children! My oldest daughter (7 at the time I write this), prays all the time, for everything, because she knows God hears her, loves her, and answers prayers. How does she know this? We’ve got a jar on the dining table filled to the brim with her answered prayers!
As transformative as this practice has been…we are talking about index cards. They cannot be easily shared, reflected on throughout the day, modified, filled with images, videos, etc. An app on the other hand…
From Applesauce to App
<- The Living Stones app, as it exists during the Beta rollout
It has come a long way!
At the time of writing this post, the app is about to enter Beta, which is hard to believe. This has been the culmination of years of diligent, persistent prayer and a lot of work, but I could not be more excited to get this into your hands. If you, or anyone you know, could benefit from living life with just a bit more of an awareness of Jesus’ active work, then I would challenge you to download the app and try forming this habit. It’s free to download and get started!