We were passing through Martinsville, Va this past weekend when we saw this sign. Aside from it's general coolness, we were all excited to see that it specifically stated we were 3,988 miles from Madrid.
There are all sorts of mileposts in our lives. Like the one pictured above, they can denote physical distance on our way to another place. Other less literal mileposts, such as graduations or weddings, are signs that we are moving from one era of life to another. Sometimes mileposts are there to tell us that something important happened at that place in the past.
In the Middle East groups of people have been standing up stones as markers of great events between men or significant encounters with God for thousands of years. The Hebrew word for these standing stones is "massebah" and this means "to set up." In Joshua 4 we read about the stones that the Israelites removed from the dried up Jordan River and later set up on the banks. These stones were a milepost to remind both those who had just crossed into the Promised Land and later generations what God had done for them.
I look back on the journey our family has made as we approach our time in Spain. I am amazed at what God has done for us, at how he has guarded us and blessed us and loved us. In the one sense, it is time to erect a standing stone so that others will wonder what happened here. (I suppose this blog is just that.) In another sense, we can see how close Spain is getting as Hannah will be leaving for school there in a little over a week.
Mileposts are important because they remind us of where we have come from and how far we have left to go. It seems like they are clicking by faster and faster.
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