Our home in Southwest Georgia is surrounded by huge majestic pine trees, which are very prevalent in this area. They create a beautiful setting for a home, until the storms come. Afternoon thunderstorms, with their heavy rain and high winds, are very common in the hot and humid summer of South Georgia. As the winds blow, and the rain pours, the pine trees shed their withered limbs and their dead pinecones all over our manicured lawns and many of our neighbors gather them up and place them in large piles for burning.
In the last few weeks I have spent just about every afternoon gathering limbs and pinecones from my front and back yard after late afternoon thunderstorms. It has become apparent during these clean up sessions that most of the debris that has succumbed to the storms is withered limbs and dead pinecones. You hardly ever find a live limb full of sap (life), or a green pine cone, that has been blown away. It takes a really, really strong storm to break away a healthy limb or pine cone.
Did you know that God refers to us as trees in the Bible on many occasions? Psalms 1:3 & Jeremiah 17:8, “And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water…”; Psalms 104:16, “The trees of the Lord are full of sap…”; Isaiah 61:3, “that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified”.
In the days that we live in there are storms all around us. There are business storms, financial storms, relationship storms, family storms, political storms, ecological storms and every other type storm you can think of. So how do we keep from just being blown away? How do we weather these storms? The answer is that you have to stay full of sap!! You have to stay green!! You have to stay full of life!! Jesus said it best in John 15:5-7, “I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you”.
Years ago I heard a great teaching on the date palm trees that grow in the desert. In this teaching they talked about how each time the strong winds would come the date palm tree may bend a little but what happened below the surface, out of sight, was that the roots would be loosened just enough to give the date palm the opportunity to sink deeper and deeper roots and thereby making it stronger and stronger.
We encourage each of you today to stay plugged into the vine. Stay full of sap. If someone were to come and check your Word dipstick, let it always read full. Do not let the storms of life blow you over and cast you forth like a withered branch or a dead pine cone. Let the storms make you stronger and stronger. Sink your roots deeper and deeper into God and His Word.
James 1:2-4, “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations (tests,trials,experiences). Knowing that the trying (proving, testing) of your faith worketh patience (leads to steadfastness, develops endurance, breeds fortitude). But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire (mature and complete, fully developed and perfectly equipped), wanting nothing (in nothing coming short, in no respect deficient)”.
Rev. Ed Henderson
New Life Network, Inc.
www.newlifenetwork-org-staging.smwnm894-liquidwebsites.com
