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Record Live is a conversation about life, spirituality and following Jesus in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
101 Marking milestones_ memorials in the journey of faith
Intro: [00:00:00] Hi there everyone. I'm Jared. And I'm Sunita. We are your hosts of Record Live, a podcast where we talk about church faith and living well. We believe as followers of Jesus faith is more than just a set of beliefs. It's a way of life, something we'd put into practice. Let's go live.
Jarrod Stackelroth: We are back Zita. It has been a little while since we were both together. We had some episodes with you about stress, which were really good. I listened back to some of those. , Very helpful, very practical. We are all carrying stress in our lives, I would say absolutely. At the moment. , You've done some travel, which is exciting for you.
I was also traveling in October, so we've been a bit all over the place, [00:01:00] but it's really nice to be back together and to have a chat together. Today, just the two of us. So I'm excited about that.
Zanita Fletcher: I'm excited. And it's, it's a bit of a special occasion. , This isn't our 100th episode. Last week was our hundredth episode.
That's true. We wanted to do something to kind of celebrate that. So I guess we're celebrating today. Maybe when I come to Sydney in a few weeks, we can celebrate in person, but today we are celebrating with our audience. So everyone, thank you for joining on, on all our episodes for listening and engaging.
, It's exciting to hit a hundred 'cause I think most people who started a podcast don't get past four.
Jarrod Stackelroth: It's true. And I will clarify. It's our hundred, well, our hundred and first today podcast episode record Live has actually been going for. I think it must be like six or seven years at least it was before COVID, which is hard to think about pre COVID and after COVID, but, so record live must have.
A couple of hundred episodes at least. But the [00:02:00] podcast has now hit a hundred episodes, which as you said, a lot of podcasts don't. And so we're very grateful, , to be able to do this. We're very grateful to God for, giving us this platform and to you, our listeners and our viewers, , who have supported along the way.
, So that's exciting. That is a milestone. , You told me before we came on Zita that you also have a milestone today or around this date, this week that we're speaking. Tell us about that.
Zanita Fletcher: , Yeah, so today, , nine years ago I got baptized, which is exciting. So it's my baptismal birth date. , Awesome.
Which is cool. Yeah, it's crazy to think that it's been that long, but also not that long. Bap
Jarrod Stackelroth: in the grand baptisms are so exciting. We had three baptisms at church on Sabbath, , Pathfinders who were baptized. , young ladies who got baptized together, their friends, which is also nice.
And what a special event to witness. Like, every time I see a baptism, it's. It's awesome. I love it.
Zanita Fletcher: [00:03:00] Yeah, so it's
Jarrod Stackelroth: very cool. And maybe more of us should celebrate our baptism birthday.
Zanita Fletcher: Yeah. I, I used to do this thing where I would. Go. This is before I had a full-time job where I would set aside that one day to spend with God and I would go to the beach where I got baptized and it was just like the one day of the year that I set aside to just like be with God and reflect and stuff.
, So I'll have to squeeze that into my itinerary in the next few weeks, but, . It was an awesome, really encouraging like time and I always left that day feeling like, oh yeah, I'm really glad I made this decision even if I was, you know, in a season where I was struggling or questioning things. ,
Jarrod Stackelroth: Mm-hmm.
There's a lot, yeah's, a lot to say for like,
Zanita Fletcher: doing things to remind yourself of how far you've come or what you, the decision you made, whether it's a baptism or a anniversary or whatever. .
Jarrod Stackelroth: It really links to the topic we have picked for today and it's why we picked, oh, before we go
Zanita Fletcher: there, [00:04:00] you've also, alright, we, we can't move on without, , acknowledging this, that you have also celebrated, , I guess we could say a milestone recently.
Do you wanna tell us about that?
Jarrod Stackelroth: I am 40 this month. I have turned 40. So it's, I'm told a, a big milestone. . My wife, my lovely wife, through a party. We got together with friends and had some good food, some good conversation. , She collected some video, little snippets from people who couldn't be there, which was also really lovely to see people from, , different times in my life, different, .
You know, the past and people who were overseas and couldn't be there. , My college roommate made a nice appearance in there , and yeah, it, it was special. . I guess whenever you have a milestone, like especially the big ones, you know, every 10 years, every five years or so, you start to really reflect, , and to think forwards, to think backwards.
I wasn't gonna [00:05:00] skip mentioning the birthdays, Anita, but I was gonna say that your little ritual around our baptism really fits with what, we're talking about today in terms of marking. Your journey of faith with memorials or with, with these things , and because of the birthday, because of the podcast hundredth episode, we were thinking about milestones and if there is any spiritual significance or any spiritual, , usefulness to marking and remembering some of these things.
So yeah. I think it's an interesting topic and yeah,, I did start thinking about it because of my birthday coming up. It's actually 40 and , the number 40 is very significant in the Bible. You've got the 40 days of rain. You've got the 40 days of Jesus fasting in the desert before he starts his ministry.
So this number 40 reoccurs over and over again. And often it's times of trial or testing, often it's, wandering in the desert for 40 years is like this generational [00:06:00] transition. , So some of those things are very significant. And so I've got an editorial coming out.. At the end of this month, I believe, which is about some of those meanings of , the number 40 in the Bible.
But we didn't wanna speak just about that today. We wanted to talk about milestones in general. So what is a milestone? Danita,
Zanita Fletcher: I like to study words, but I believe you've done done the hard yards on studying what the word milestone means. So I might pass it back, but I would like to know Jared, because, , before we kind of.
Flesh out that word. , I don't think that 40 is an old age. , However, I feel like when people turn a year older, it's not always, I don't know, when you are like a teenager and you're a young person, maybe it's exciting, but then once you pass 30, then it's like every year is like, oh, I'm getting so old.
, So were you, , excited to turn 40 or was that a bit of like a daunting thing to celebrate?
Jarrod Stackelroth: I had a bit of a joke with people, especially, 'cause my birthday celebration was a few days [00:07:00] before I actually turned 40, and I'm like, , I'm not 40 yet. I'm 39. You know, I'm holding on to the last few days.
I was kind of joking. It didn't really impact me. I think 30 was potentially more. Yeah, existential for me. 'cause it was like, oh, 30, you know? , I kept thinking, oh, Jesus started his ministry at 30 and he really got a lot of stuff done. What am I gonna achieve in the next, few years now that I'm 30, you know, , 40 For me, it didn't pass two.
It wasn't too momentous, I suppose it was much like every other day I don't feel any different too much. , Although yeah, there are seasons of change happening and it does feel like each decade of my life as I look back has been really, God has had his hand in that and it has been, . Certain themes or certain flavors, certain things happening.
And I think I'm excited. , 40 for me is unknown. I dunno what's gonna happen in the next decade, but I'm excited [00:08:00] for it. I know, that God has really done a lot of amazing things in my last decade. , We weren't sure we would ever have children. At 30, we were still in, in that place of not knowing.
And now we have two beautiful children, a boy and a girl. And that has changed our lives immensely, like beyond anything else, , that's a real life change to, to have kids. And so yeah, this past decade there's been a lot of change, a lot of growth, a lot of development for myself and a lot of. It's been, it's been good.
God has been good. , I don't really know what the next phase of my life looks like, but it's, I'm excited for it and I know God's, gonna do a lot in that space. So, I don't know if that answers your question, but Yeah. It is. It seems to be that when we reach these. Milestones, , these big numbers, we start reflecting a bit and we start looking back and, and we start thinking, Hmm, what's [00:09:00] next?
What, where is God leading in this season of my life? , Yeah.
Zanita Fletcher: I think that's kind of the point of them is to like look back and remember we've spoken a lot on this. Podcast about how God is a God of remembrance, and he often asks us to like, pause and reflect even in moments when, I guess the reason I brought up your birthday, because I just assumed growing older, there would be a element, of, I don't know, angst.
So yeah, I think even, even in those periods. Thankfully there's not, it sounds like, but even in those times when uncertainty, , is present and we're not sure what the future holds, I think it's, there's still a. , Benefit in stopping to reflect, , and remember, but anyway, let's talk about this word milestones, because , you were telling me a little bit about that before we started recording.
What is the history of that word?
Jarrod Stackelroth: Well, I don't think we really use, I mean, we don't use miles in Australia anymore. , I think, I think it's been a concept that sort of even comes from the old Roman [00:10:00] roads where they would have markers of how many miles they were to the next town or.
, Or how many miles they'd come from the town behind them. , I love that. On a road trip, I don't know if you've done much road tripping in your time, Zita, but we used to often drive to Melbourne from Adelaide or we'd drive to Sydney or we'd drive to Brisbane. 'cause we had relatives all up and down the eastern coast of Australia and.
You're always, I was always excited seeing those little markers. Oh, we've ticked off another a hundred kilometers, we've ticked off another 5, 10, 20 kilometers. 'cause you see them every five kilometers to the next town. Like, all right, we're at Gunda guy only, you know, 300 more kilometers to go. This is exciting.
So like, I think that's where it comes from and it's, so, I guess it's a, it's to track how you're going. I guess on your journey, how far do you have to go and with an age? It's hard. Is it, it's not so much a milestone 'cause you don't know how many days you've been allotted, so you don't know when your [00:11:00] last day will be.
You don't know how many years you've got. And so it's not a milestone as much as a marker along the road telling you where you are, but it's how far you have come. Certainly with the age stuff., But then. You know, the Bible., I was reflecting on this and we can get quite caught up humanly in some of these milestones.
Like, oh, it's significant. We've made this many sales, we've made this many podcasts, , , but what does the Bible say, , or how should we think about these memorials or these milestones? Should we get excited about them? Should we celebrate them? Should we just. Not worry about them and stay focused on the mission.
I guess these are some of the questions I've been having. Like do we have memorials in our faith journey , and should we make more of a thing about it? Mm-hmm. For yourself, you know? I don't remember the exact date I was baptized. I could tell you the year, potentially the month, but not the day necessarily.
[00:12:00] So for you, why is it significant or it seems to really have stuck in your mind like that was the date. Do you think it's important to have that as a memorial in your faith journey? What does it do for you to have that memorial in your life?
Zanita Fletcher: Hmm. I think someone once told me that the most important day in your life was this day.
Like second, like after, after you get baptized, your birthday is no longer the most important. It's the date that you were like reborn. And so I think I, , just naturally the day I got baptized, I was like, okay, I need to remember this date because of what this person had said. But I do find that it, , it just helps me like focus again.
Like it's so easy to get distracted in life and to lose sight of. What you're here for, , to lose sight of your purpose and I guess your driving force in life. And I think having that day that you like intentionally set aside, maybe not the whole day, but maybe like even an hour of that day or just.
Setting time aside to reflect and to ponder and to think about the meaning of that day and the meaning of [00:13:00] that decision, , helps to reset that and helps just send to yourself again. , Mm-hmm. And I, I do remember there was, , one year where I was really questioning whether I made the right decision in giving my life to God.
So I got to my baptism and I was like. I don't wanna celebrate my baptism. Like I don't even know if like I believe , in that decision anymore. But I remember I still did it. I went to the beach and , I, when I got there, there was like streamers all over, , the trees and like balloons and like a happy birthday sign.
And , the funny thing was that on my actual baptism, my church community had made it like a party, like a celebration and they had streamers and balloons and , party hats and things. And so when I got there. After five years and was in this place of like doubting, I was like, I felt so attended to by God.
I was like, wow. Like how, who was? I'm in the middle of nowhere on a beach that's like four kilometers down the sand, who has put these like streamers and balloons here, , five years to the day of my baptism kind of thing. And so it was [00:14:00] just like a really nice reminder of like the presence of God. And I think like he really like honored me, like setting aside that time, even though I was like.
Questioning everything and even though I was doubting him. So I think like when we do prioritize things like that in terms of our faith and our spiritual life court does, he does honor that. And he does like, maybe not always with balloons and streamers, but I think he does show up and he .
Reminds us of, of his love and his presence.
Jarrod Stackelroth: I really like that. 'cause, what I was thinking of when you were talking was like marriage anniversaries, like remembering the date of your wedding and , it's almost like an annual check-in. You can maybe go out for dinner or some people take a trip away or they say, oh, we are gonna celebrate our anniversary and.
A marriage is a relationship that takes a lot of work, as is our relationship with God, as are certain other things in our lives. And so when we have these milestone markers come up in our lives, it's like [00:15:00] an opportunity to check in with ourselves. , With God, with others to, to reassess, and maybe get our relationships back on the right track.
I, I think you mentioned the word distracted. , We can get so caught up in doing day-to-day stuff. We maybe lose our first love as Revelation says, or we drift away from what it is that we had done in the past. So I really, the concept of spending that day with God to commemorate the day you.
Made that intentional public decision of your baptism, like that's special to me. It seems like a really nice way to check in and to remember. It's like you are, you don't have a physical memorial as such, but there's a a time which. We believe in memorials in time as Seventh Day Adventist.
We've got the Sabbath, right? Every day we commemorate, every week we commemorate, , creation. , Deuteronomy talks about, . Also the idea of coming out of slavery. So there's multiple layers of meaning to [00:16:00] that, that Sabbath commemoration. And I guess what we're saying is that memorials can be in time.
What do you think about physical memorials? Because I guess when I think of the Bible, I think there some examples we see of God's people doing this physical. Commemoration. , When they crossed the Jordan and they moved into the promised land on Joshua's time, he instructed 12, one representative from each tribe to pick up a rock and to place it in an altar.
12 rocks, , in the altar. We also have a story , in Jacob, in his dream, he sets up an altar after he has his dream, and God gives him a promise to look after his life too. Be his God. And so we see these physical manifestations, I suppose. Mm-hmm. , And yet as Protestant Christians, we don't have a lot of physical things that remind us of God, I guess, that are part of our faith tradition.
Or do we, what do you think about Yeah. Should we have [00:17:00] physical milestones? Yeah, physical warriors. Yeah. I know obviously
Zanita Fletcher: like people have in the Bible it talks about stones. Obviously it's probably. What they had. But you also see people in other faith traditions have like the rosemary beats or the cross around their neck, which is like a reminder as well.
, And I, I think it's awesome to have physical things if I don't have any, just because I don't have a physical thing that reminds me of something. But if I did, I think it would, it's an serves as an awesome, again, a reminder, probably a more frequent reminder to, , instead of, you know, walking up a Long beach, it's something that.
Yeah, you see regularly, it's almost like, , this is a little bit different, I suppose, but I feel like , God gives us like a physical reminder of the rainbow, which we don't see every day. It's not like tangibly physical, but we see it in the sky and it serves as that reminder again of, of his promises and that he's coming back and that we're not gonna, , die from a flood.
So I think, , there's definitely a place for it, but I don't know. I'd be curious to know like what other stories in the Bible. Whether they [00:18:00] have physical things or how they like celebrate moments.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Yeah, it is interesting. I guess just thinking about before I answered that question, I just looked in my office on my window, silt, I've got this rock.
Zanita Fletcher: Nice.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Speaking of stones, , this was given to me, I think by, a youth speaker who was talking about David and Goliath, you know, , the pebbles that he picked up , and , the. Overcoming against great odds just with a little stone, , because God is present in your life. So I guess whenever I see this rock, it reminds me of that story.
So that's a physical manifestation. It's not, I, I think , the danger can come if we idolize or we worship the objects. And I think that's what the Protestant reaction , against ritual, against memorials, against statues and things. But I don't think it hurts to have, , artwork or, or physical things that can just remind you, trigger your memory and give you that, , that idea.
Um. [00:19:00] You mentioned other stories in the Bible that might give us this, , , or be, , models of this. It was interesting when I was doing some research for this episode, I found some passages in Exodus. , Got my Bible open over here. , My Bible app, , the word memorial is used a number of times in Exodus, and it talks about the stones on the e fod.
So the priest, the high priest, Aaron, at the time was to wear this special breastplate. , And if you remember, there's precious stones, 12 precious stones representing the 12 tribes of Israel. And then on, on his shoulders, , he has, , a list of the names of the tribes, there. And he was supposed to wear this on the special day when he would go into the temple, right?
And so he's got these stones that represent the 12 tribes, God's people, and he's taking those stones before God. Is he reminding the [00:20:00] tribes, I guess, who they are and what they are? Well, kind of but he's also reminding God in a way. So God in a sense instructs Aaron through Moses to do the tabernacle and to do the priestly garments and how all those rituals unfold.
And it's interesting that God wants his people represented before him and brought before him. Front and center of the priest who's representing, you know, in some ways God, to the people, but also the people to God. He's coming before God as a representative with all 12 tribes right there on his, on his chest.
And so, and this is like interesting to me. The word memorial is used there 'cause it's like these stones represent the people to God and it reminds God of his love for his people and his his relationship. With his people.
Zanita Fletcher: That's an ing concept to remind God.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Okay, [00:21:00] so I use that word. Under advisement. I know God doesn't forget, I I, I'm not suggesting that God would forget his people or forget us, but God tells us a number of times in the Bible. Remember, remember the Sabbath day. Remember this. Remember that? Because he knows we do forget. Right? But at the same time, I think God wants to be reminded because.
Just like we celebrate a birthday or we hit a milestone that we enjoy. , It's a special time as well. There's some specialness in it and God has his people represented as precious stones on the priest's chest. They're coming in there. It's like , . Petitioning God like, Hey, remember us, not because God has forgotten us, but because they wanna recognize the place of God in their lives and they want to.
It is hard when using language to describe God because, you know, he's so transcendent and, and all of that. So I don't want to put [00:22:00] words in God's mouth. I, I, that's why I'm being a bit careful with , my language. I don't want to, , suggest something that it is not there. But to me, as I read that passage, it's like God gives them the instruction to memorialize themselves in a way.
On the EOD and to come into God's presence because God wants that connection with his people.
Zanita Fletcher: Mm-hmm. He
Jarrod Stackelroth: wants to remember his people. He would never forget his people, but he needs them to know that he needs them to have that representation. And so I think it's, yeah. , I hadn't seen that story in that light before until I did this bit of a word search like memorial to.
Does the Bible use the word memorial? , It doesn't use the word milestone in translations that I could find, but it uses the word memorial. What are they memorializing? Well, in this story, in this context, in Exodus, they're representing themselves before God as the 12 precious stones on the breastplate of the [00:23:00] priest.
Zanita Fletcher: Hmm. Yeah. And the stones are that physical object that remind them of the 12 tribes.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Yes. And reminds God of his people.
Zanita Fletcher: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so interesting. , I've never thought of that idea, but, , I guess, yeah, I wanna dwell on that a bit more, but now's not the time to dwell.
Jarrod Stackelroth: You're gonna take it away and, and think about it some more.
Go read the passages if anyone's interested. right through this Exodus 28, it's talking about some of the instructions for Aaron. Exodus 30, there's some more memorial stuff being mentioned. Exodus 39. It's repeated again, the Memorial stones for the sons of Israel. They should be fastened into the eod.
and the word is used again then many times through the Old Testament, but it just in the Stones context, it's in those f few chapters of Exodus. Exodus 28, Exodus 30. Nine, in there. So yeah, it's, it's worth reflecting. The Bible has plenty to reflect on. I think we, we know that on this show, we've got rich things, , to go through and to reflect on.
Mm-hmm.
Zanita Fletcher: Yeah. We've talked [00:24:00] about like a few things. What, like aside from baptism and birthdays and podcast episodes, what are some of the things that, I guess are worth celebrating or worth marking milestones for. Are there any others that you have in your life that are like important dates that, , you remember?
Jarrod Stackelroth: , I think we mentioned Sabbath. , My kids are really young and , I'm struggling sometimes to get everyone to pay attention, but we did a thing this last week where we lit a candle. To open Sabbath. , And I think that's nice. I just think , it's special and I wanna make Sabbath special. I wanna set it apart from the rest for my kids so they can understand the significance of it.
So I think we've mentioned Sabbath, but I think Sabbath , is a good one, I think. , Birthdays we've mentioned, but just to go back in some of what I've. Done in writing about the 40, the significance of 40 and the number 40, and thinking about, Hey, I'm turning 40. , When I have an event like this in my life, it really makes me look back for the [00:25:00] hand of God in my life.
And I think that could be done through journaling. That could be done keeping a prayer journal. We've talked about this on the show before, not forgetting what God is doing and has done in our lives. And then from time to time, maybe it's a regular thing, you set aside some time to look back in some of the things you've expressed, the prayers you've prayed to God, the journals you've journaled to God are.
That's right. God took me through this stuff. 'cause you might forget, in our humanity, we forget , the real wrestle of the time. But when we've written about it, when we've gotten it out of our system in that way, in that time, it's good to reflect back. It's good to read back some of those things. , Sharing some of those stories with our kids.
I think it's important to tell our kids not only stories from the Bible, but stories from our lives where God has helped us. . I get so excited. I hear my daughter now, my 5-year-old daughter. , I ask her a question about something [00:26:00] that's happening and she says, oh, , God did such and such for you, God, , , blessed you with us kids, , because I've told them like, we've prayed for you.
You guys are a miracle. You guys came from God, so that. Is helpful to pass those stories on to others so their faith can be bolstered, so they can understand the milestones, the mile markers in your life.
Zanita Fletcher: Hmm.
Jarrod Stackelroth: , Those are some that come to mind. Zita, do you have , any others?
Zanita Fletcher: I think, I think the only ones, obviously a lot of people would have anniversaries.
, Yeah, birthdays. I think it's really awesome to celebrate the people in our life, but I think also celebrating milestones of goals , we've set out to do, or things that maybe we've abstained from., If we've hit a certain period, I think it can be really empowering and encouraging to, , celebrate how far we've come, just like when we're on a road trip.
, But yeah, I think the cool thing about celebrating milestones is. Yeah, it's so unique [00:27:00] to you how you celebrate that. Like you mentioned journaling, but for someone else that could be eating ice cream or having a party, or it could be solitude, , could be anything. So yeah, I think that's just an invitation for anyone who is, , celebrating something in their life.
Celebrating a certain milestone too. Yeah. Just stop and think about how. You might like to remember that and
Jarrod Stackelroth: mm-hmm.
Zanita Fletcher: Yeah. Invite going into that process.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Sunita, you, , I know you've written about this for signs and you've talked about it, um, before, but gratitude, , and celebration. These are positive things for our lives, right?
These are healthy things. , , and these milestone markers can remind us to have gratitude, to be thankful. For things that happen , in a physical way, celebrate with others, tell others about it, get excited about it because others can see the work of God in your life.
Zanita Fletcher: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And this is, I think this is something that's in our podcast introduction, so people might, this might be familiar, but, record live.
We try to have conversations [00:28:00] about church, faith and living well. And we say that faith is more than just a set of beliefs. It's something that we put into practice. , And so. I think that applies to this conversation as well. , Whether it's creating memorials or doing something to celebrate a milestone, , yeah, it's an important part of your faith journey and it can yeah, really encourage you in your faith journey.
Yeah. And others, and we can, you can celebrate others milestones as well. ,
Jarrod Stackelroth: A hundred percent and affirm others. And wouldn't it be special if someone remembered the date of your baptism and sent you a little card or a message and just said, Hey, congrats. You know, happy birthday, happy baptism birthday.
. Maybe we should pay more attention to those around us and what we can affirm for them and milestones we can create for them to give them that sense of feeling special, feeling loved, feeling connected, to community. That can
Zanita Fletcher: be everyone's homework this week is to figure out the date of someone's baptism birthday, and put it in your calendar.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Awesome. . [00:29:00] Yeah, we can do that. That's a very practical thing and we've run out of time, but I think we've got some good homework. Not only the baptism birthdays, but practicing gratitude, celebrating the small wins, , and keeping. First and foremost in our mind, what God is doing and has done and continues to do in our lives.
Happy baptism, birthday, Anita.
Zanita Fletcher: Happy 40th birthday, Jared. Happy a hundred episodes to us.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Yes. , Thank you. Thank you, Zanita. Thank you our viewers, and thank you, God for amazing milestones that we can tick off this week. We hope to see you next week on Record Live
Zanita Fletcher: for another a hundred episodes.
Jarrod Stackelroth: God bless you all, and we'll see you again.