Landmarks

 

The summer after I turned thirteen years old, I worked off and on for a farmer near Churchville, Maryland.  Mr. Briney was a fair man and got his money’s worth when I worked for him.  It wasn’t that I worked that hard for him; it was that he worked me that hard.  He had a two-hundred-acre farm and grew clover hay on his front field.  His brother Crawford lived on the adjacent farm, and often, Mr. Briney and I would help Crawford with his work.  Crawford also had clover planted in his field, so I didn’t know where Mr. Briney’s field ended and where Crawford’s field began.  When I asked Mr. Briney about it, he said, “Do you see that pile of stones beside the road?”  I saw three baseball-sized stones stacked up near Glennville Rd.  Mr. Briney went on, “Well that pile of stones is the line.  Don’t ever move those stones.”  So I didn’t.  Not a very permanent property line marker, I thought, but it worked.  Solomon said in Proverbs 22:28, “Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.”  Solomon was thinking of a memorial stone set in a field to remind each generation of some important event in the distant past.  And like Mr. Briney’s field marker, the ancient landmark should not be removed.  Hey, it’s good to remember important events in the past.  Remember the place where you were born.  Remember where you were married.  Remember when you accepted the Lord Jesus as your Lord and Savior.  What?!  You haven’t trusted Jesus Christ yet?!  Well, now would be a good time to make that decision.  And after you do, write today’s date in your Bible.  That would be a good ancient landmark for you to remember.  Right?!