The Cornerstone They Almost Threw Away

In 2015, a construction crew demolishing an old church in downtown Savannah, Georgia, pulled a massive granite block from the foundation and tossed it into the debris pile. It was cracked, moss-covered, and seemingly worthless. But a local historian named Margaret Chen recognized markings on the stone — it was the original 1856 cornerstone, laid by freed Black congregants who had pooled their wages for years to build a place of worship. That "rejected" stone held the entire story of the church's identity.

The city rallied. They recovered the block, cleaned it, and placed it at the entrance of the new community center built on the same site. Today, every person who walks through those doors passes the very stone the demolition crew discarded.

Psalm 118 declares, "The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone." The psalmist knew what it meant to be cast aside — surrounded by enemies, pushed to the brink, left for useless. Yet the Almighty had other plans. What human wisdom discards, God sets at the very center of His purposes.

This is the pattern of heaven. The overlooked become essential. The dismissed become foundational. The One the religious authorities would nail to a cross became the cornerstone of all creation.

Whatever feels rejected in your life today, bring it to the Lord. His steadfast love endures forever, and He specializes in building kingdoms out of what the world throws away.