Lochmaben Stone

It is somewhere over there. 

After Sunday’s evening service I went up to Westmorland and then Scotland to hunt down the Lochmaben Stone not far from the shore of the Solway Firth. An ancient monolith, I sought it in August but was hindered by a field of maize. This month, the maize was gone, but I still could not see it. Had I trespassed through a field, I suspect I would have located it, but I respect private property too much. Or maybe this stone just did not want to be found.

The object is probably named after the Celtic god Mabon or Maponus and may have been a focus for his worship a thousand years before Christ was incarnated. Mabon’s stone I could not find, but even if I did, the mental satisfaction may not have rewarded the tramp through the muddy fields, though the day was certainly pleasant.

Some people think it is hard to find God -the real one, I mean, not some historic myth or made-up deity. And unlike that great boulder, He wants to be found. He even places that desire within us; when we seek Him with all our hearts, we find Him. Though He might seem distant and too great for comprehension, He desires that people-

…should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’

Lost gods and ancient boulders are hard to find, but the true God is always near and desires you find Him.

Solway Firth