How It All Began

From the Cobblestone Connections newsletter, Volume 16 No. 4, Fall 2017

The Early Years: RENOVATION

At the Open House (fall 2017) several first-time visitors asked Jan Carr, “Why Cobblestone Springs?”

I struggle over this question because it is a deeply personal one for me. As I look back at the pictures of the renovations and all the people and miracles that have made up our journey at Cobblestone Springs, I think about the miracle that planted the seeds for Cobblestone Springs in my heart.

Irvine Smith / Steep Hill with Gritting Box! / CC BY-SA 2.0
About 30 years ago, I was walking alone one evening on a dusty farm lane. The late August sun gave everything around me a special glow, and suddenly I felt that a beam of sunlight bore straight through me— like God’s hand. It seemed to pull something out of me. For a moment I saw the world not through my eyes, but through another’s. I saw the whole Earth and all that is on it was made up of the same tiny sparkling particles… all of them moving. I could see through everything, even my own hand. Everything was one.

That moment changed my life. Instead of being the center of the universe, I knew that I was but a bit of dust flowing and joining with other bits to make up a much bigger creation of God’s. The beauty of that creation was astounding. I wanted to share it with everyone! So the search for Cobblestone began— a simple place of peace, a place and time for people to let God find them, a place where all could share the miracle of our “oneness.”

Then little miracles started to happen: No one bid on this old house when it went up for auction. The two feet of water in the basement suddenly went gushing out when we accidentally hit the old drain tile. Before we tried to fire up the old furnace (that had been sitting in two feet of water), we prayed that it would last just two years— it worked two years to the day!

Since then we’ve had a lot of dust on us—sawdust, plaster dust, flour dust, real dust. I see so many faces, hands, and hearts, so many miracles! People helping with whatever they could, whether it was with prayer or hammer, food or funds, they added their special sparkle, their dreams, to Cobblestone.

Wonders of Creation. Photo by SLWhite.
The real miracle for me was to learn that I’m never alone on the dusty road. The miracle of God’s creation is in us, surrounds us, and joins us to each other and all of life. I hope we can continue to share the joy of it at Cobblestone Springs.