The Living Stone and a Chosen People
You, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house. I Peter 2: 5
We live on a quiet country road about 11 miles from the bustling city of Lexington, KY. In 1775, Joseph Drake (a descendent of Sir Francis Drake) built a home, tavern and stagecoach stop where our home now rests. Eventually, nature claimed the inn and all surrounding buildings; but we still find old broken trinkets when planting. Our road is called Drake LN; at one time, a long continuous rock wall flanked this tiny one-lane road. But a rock wall is hard to maintain; and most of our neighbors have taken down their stonewalls. We have a corner lot that still has most of the original wall; and even though it is often a lot of work to maintain, the beauty of this original landmark is priceless to us.
In 1995 a powerful tornado hit our area. One of the large, old trees at the corner of our land was uprooted and fell on our rock wall destroying part of it. It was amazing to watch a rock mason tediously rebuild our wall.
The wall is formed from flat limestone rocks taken from surrounding rocky fields. A rock wall is not a single layer of stones but a couple rows of stones stacked neatly on top of each other. The foundation forms a strong structure for the other stones and is made up of the largest, heaviest stones. Smaller flat stones are piled perpendicularly on the top of the finished walls. No concrete is used in the wall.
I studied I Peter 2:4-17 this morning in my Bible study and learned about the living stone—cornerstone and capstone of a construction project; and I felt this lesson was applicable to my life. God has given us Jesus “the Living Stone;” and we are “also like living stones being built into a spiritual house…” (v. 4 & 5)
As Christians, we need to continually study the Bible to keep strong in the Word. Daily life often proves very trying and difficult, but “God arms me with strength and keeps my way secure.” (Psalm 18:32) Similarly, our rockwall continues to be strong only if we take care of it. We check our walls every summer to make sure they are not damaged. It is a constant battle to weed around our walls to prevent bushes or trees from disturbing the foundation.
Once we build a strong capstone with our faith, we need to reach out to others in need and build them up (Thessalonians 5:11) giving them support, compassion and strength.
Everyday when I pull into our driveway, I glance at the rock wall surrounding our home site. The view changes as the seasons change, but the strength of our wall will not diminish as long as we take care of it.
An ancient limestone wall flanks the roadside perimeter of our home.
