here by the water

Joshua 4:4-9

4So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, 5and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, 6to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 7tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”

8So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the Lord had told Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down. 9Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day.

my mp3 player has a whole whack of songs on it from musicians who have meant some very deep things to me over the many years. this morning i put the player on shuffle as i biked to work. i was busy thinking and praying about my own weariness and how i didn't "feel" like holding up the people that i normally pray for as i leisurely ride to work. it was a pretty bad funk. i've had deeper funks but still, this was pretty deep.
that was when this song came on. i think it's the only Steve Bell tune on my mp3 but it's such an incredible favourite. i think of milestones when i hear this song. we have a tradition in our community where someone who is celebrating a milestone in the coming week can pick a tune that we all sing together in worship on Sunday morning. i've picked this song more than any other song that Grain of Wheat Church Community does. i think of Joshua and the 12 tribes crossing the Jordan after God having led them through incredible and wearisome times, and they stop by the water and they memorialize, they ritualize, they remember the good that God has done for them. they were weary and they remembered.
one of my favourite lines in this tune is "someone that i know, has walked here before". Christ knew weariness, and he still prayed. he prayed for me and he prayed for you.