"Life's Gilgals"

 

“Life’s Gilgals”

 

On September 18 our grandson Nate graduated from Marine Corps Boot Camp at Parris Island, SC. (Due to COVID-19 there was no public ceremony but we were able to see it on line.) Our family is bursting with pride at his achievement and will continue to support him and Noel as they embark on their military journey, wherever it may lead them.

During my 77 years I’ve had six graduations: grade school, junior high (now middle school), high school, college, seminary and Clinical Pastoral Education, which prepared me for health care chaplaincy. Three of these (high school, college and seminary) were called “Commencements”, which carries the idea of the beginning of a different period in one’s life. Each new phase carries with it certain privileges, responsibilities and challenges for which God’s promised His help (“He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.”—Psalm 25:9).

Over the summer Karen and I began having a time of reading a Scripture passage and discussing how it spoke to us individually. We’ve covered Acts and Colossians and are currently in Joshua.

Recently we talked about Gilgal, Israel’s first encampment in the Promised Land (Chapters 4-5). (According to the first century Jewish historian Josephus it was ten miles west of the Jordan River and a couple of miles from Jericho.) As I pondered the events described I saw Gilgal as a Graduation/Commencement for God’s people. It was a place of remembrance of God’s deliverance (4:19-24), renewal of the rite of circumcision (5:1-8), reinstituting the Passover (5:10), reaping the produce of Canaan (5:11) and removal of the provision of manna after forty years (5:12). So while Gilgal is largely unknown it’s one of the most significant places in Israel’s history and represents a new beginning in her national life.

September 18 was a “Gilgal” for Nate. Let’s think of the “Gilgals” in our lives—our salvation, marriage, arrival of children, job changes, relocations—and see how God’s been with us through each one. In Psalm 32:8 He’s promised, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.” And even when (not if) we fail we have His promise, “If we are faithless, he will remain faithful.” (2 Timothy 2:13, emphasis added). WOW!! So let’s welcome our “Gilgals”, allow God to teach us through them and use them to shape us for His glory.

 

Grace and Blessings!

Jim McMillan