What do these stones mean?

Across from the building where the Mt. Dora congregation meets is a funeral home. The owner and manager are members at the congregation. When I first arrived I told them both that if they ever had a family that didn't have someone to do a funeral for them to please feel free to call on me. In Northern New Jersey I became friendly with a funeral director near our building and he asked one day if I would do a funeral for a family. Of course I said yes and from then on the director would call on occasion. Within two months of arriving here in Mt. Dora they called for me to do a funeral.

His name is Kirby. His late wife is Anita. She had a Ph. D. in some education field. She has written a couple of books in her field. She was 20 years older than Kirby. They had been married for 23 years. I met with Kirby for about 10 minutes before the funeral. I did the service there at the funeral. Then we went to the cemetery which is just about across the street (it's actually right next door to our building). After the services I invited Kirby to come to our worship services. He promised.

About a month later Kirby showed up one Sunday. He had been visiting his wife's grave and met one of our members whose wife was also buried in the same cemetery. Ed is in his late 70s or early 80s. He's one of our more active members. He and Kirby talked for a while and Ed also invited him to our services. With two invites Kirby decided to come.

Kirby has been coming on and off since that time. I've given him a DVD from World Video Bible School to view in order to learn more about us. He doesn't have much of a church background (maybe none at all) so I haven't pushed much. He's come to several of our activities. He's getting to know some of the folks here in the congregation. He's making progress but slowly. That's okay.

A couple of months ago he made an unusual request. The headstone for his wife's grave would be done soon, would I come to the cemetery and bless it when it was finished. I of course said yes. This past week he called late in the week to say it would be up on Friday, would I come on Saturday to bless it. I had a wedding at 2 PM on Saturday and he said no problem he thought 12:30 PM would be okay.

So his wife's sister, his wife's daughter, and two friends gathered to see the headstone. I used the text from Joshua 4. God told Joshua that the stones would cause their children to ask why are they here and what do they mean. Then they could explain the history of Israel. I told Kirby and those gathered that this headstone was there to mark the history of Anita. Not many people would ask about why it was there, they already knew. But they could come and remember the life of their friend, mother, and wife. Of course my talk and blessing lasted longer this this short paragraph. Then I said a prayer and ask God's blessing on this gathering and this headstone.

I don't know if Kirby will stay on this spiritual journey with us. He's still coming. But the more I live and the more I do ministry, the more interesting the journey has become.