“Milestones”

“Milestones” By Pastor Joe

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.

Many families are celebrating a great milestone in the lives of their high school or college 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. 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 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. I’m thankful our fellowship will be honoring Ethan Caya at his graduation party this weekend. Thank you Brandi and Scott Tintes for being great spiritual leaders for our graduates. From elementary age until high school graduation our staff is making a difference in the lives of our youth.

Let’s celebrate one other graduate…Congratulations to Rebekah Joy who received her AA degree in Gerentology. Congratulations graduates on these great milestone moments!

Milestones events really need to be moments in our life where we meet with God. Moses on Mount Sinai came down in a sense with major milestones 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.