Piles of stones

I've always kind of found the story in Joshua 4 to be interesting.

4 Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the children of Israel, one man from every tribe; 5 and Joshua said to them: “Cross over before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, 6 that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ 7 Then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.” (NKJV)

Joshua knew there would come a time when the miraculous signs that brought Israel out of Egypt would cease. Moses had warned them years earlier not to forget the Lord (Deuteronomy 4) after they had children and grandchildren. It is not that God wouldn't be with them, or that he wouldn't be actively involved in their lives, but that he wouldn't be doing the miraculous signs and wonders as he had before. It is in those times that they would be most likely to forget the Lord their God, so to remind them, Joshua erected a pile of stones. He then goes onto assume that their children would ask them "What do these stones mean?" This was to serve as a reminder to tell their kids the glorious deeds of the Lord. Strangely, this is the same thing we should be doing today: telling our children, and all who will hear about the glorious deeds of the Lord.