Milestones

Long ago, ancient Romans placed stone pillars called "obelisks" along the sides of roadways. Typically, the stones were placed a mile apart. Each “milestone" was given a unique number, serving as a mile marker. Today most people are familiar with the word “milestone," but we use it in a slightly different way. A milestone is a significant event in your life. Often a milestone marks the start of a new chapter. For example, the day you graduated from high school was a milestone in your life. These days, the word is more often used figuratively to refer to significant events in life, such as getting married. It acts sort of like the road sign: it's often a moment when you reflect on where you stand in life. A milestone can also be a non-personal event which results in a big change, such as a milestone victory or a company's sales milestone.

Today we are celebrating a great milestone in the lives of our high school graduates. It has been the practice of Hawthorne Assembly to present a quilt to each of the graduates. This handmade quilt is assembled by many loving hands of this fellowship. It is a very personal gift and a great remembrance of this day in their life – a great milestone marker. I still remember when I graduated from high school back when schools still had a baccalaureate service. The baccalaureate service was not required but most of the students still participated where we remembered how God was present in every area our life. A guest speaker shared from a Christian worldview about this great milestone. When, Tim, our youngest son recently graduated from college obviously his graduation service was in a sense a baccalaureate service at the same time. North Central University made sure this day would serve as a spiritual milestone. In most high schools today the option of a baccalaureate service is not offered, so I’m thankful our fellowship will be honoring our graduates and Pastor Ben will be sharing from the word of God.

Milestones really need to be moments in our life where we meet with God. Moses on Mount Sinai came down in a sense with major milestone markers. When the nation of Israel crossed over the Jordan River they piled up 12 milestones as a remembrance. Each of us should have notable events in our life where we look back and say that was a milestone moment. I don’t want to be disingenuous and say something like, “I’m sorry I’m not there with you all today” because I am glad to be with my family and my son and sharing in his milestone moment! Thankfully there will be photos to view and a sermon to hear when I return home. It will be a milestone moment just in a slightly different way. Take lots of photos and celebrate the achievement of our high school graduates. By the way, a little green in the card goes a long way. Congratulations graduates on this great milestone moment!