January 13, 2012

Seeds. They go mostly unnoticed by man, they seem inconsequential. They are easy to ignore, and if you want to see them to have to look very carefully. To see spiritual seeds, you can look carefully, but you have to ask. You must ask for new eyes, and a divine revelation. And you have to be hungry. And humble. There’s nothing like a huge tree full of stinky, rotting, black, and moldy fruit. In your front yard. One or two, or if you’re a slow learner, even three. And now you’re hungry. Now you’re humble. And now you Fear the Lord. Now is a good time to ask to see seeds, now is a good time to clean.

Wait until tomorrow, you say? Yes, that is an option. But tomorrow it wont be a seed. It will be a very small tree. It has little roots, and is growing in strength. Soon it will have fruit. And it will not be a pleasing aroma. Don’t wait until tomorrow.

But it’s so small, you say? Yes, but the smaller the seed, the larger the tree. And the more fruit. Yes, you can ignore it, or cover it up, minimize it. In the next season your front yard will be littered with soft, juicy, and rotting fruit. Maybe then you will be hungry and humble. But maybe not.

Look here, at all this good fruit, you say? Yes, it’s good. Beautiful. Even glorious. But what’s that to do with the stench arising? Jesus said it. Both can grow together, but only for a time. The Day of Harvest is coming and the fruit will be sorted. “I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them.” The Day of Harvest is coming, and there will be fire on that day. But that’s another topic. “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will remove from his Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.” The Day of Harvest is coming.

Then what will be placed in the barn, you ask? It sprouted from a mustard seed, it sprouted in your heart. It became the largest of garden plants, it grew into a tree. And it sustained life.

They go mostly unnoticed by man, they seem inconsequential. So get hungry. So get humble. For you can see the seeds of your heart! Ask for new eyes and divine revelation. Stop asking all other questions. This is the Kingdom of God. Seeds.

This City

By Erianna Swansey

9th Grader at SAMI

Member of SOZO Church

Edited (but just a little) by Robyn Buchanan

Growing up in Tacoma definitely is a challenge, and you wouldn’t really be able to understand until you live here for a week and maybe a half. It’s rough being surrounded by people that you can’t trust and feel betrayed by, but I guess that’s where we can learn a lesson. You can’t really trust anyone but God. Living in Tacoma is like a repeating cycle of generations. My mom’s generation rubbed off on my generation, and so on. I grew up in Tacoma under a lot of struggle, coming from a family of a single mom and drug addict for a dad, my sister and two brothers. Struggle was our middle name, low income because my dad needed drugs, and a lot of broken hearts. Tacoma is really a broken city, but I believe we as people have the potential to change this city around and make people care a little bit more, love a little bit more. The point of my story is, growing up in Tacoma, you will see struggle! People in this city are careless and want nothing to do with anyone! Filthy rich and want it all for themselves. Greed over something that god created for everyone, including the poor and sometimes people don’t use money for the right things. Tacoma, hear me and my message. I want everyone to know that living in Tacoma is hard. Sleepless nights, thoughts of suicide and second thoughts of heaven or hell. tears of joy and sadness at times. It’s sad, but it’s true. Not sugar coated, nothing more and nothing less. Most people try and cover up the truth with a lie. Today what I want Tacoma to know is we are not perfect, but this is not what God wanted for our city! I’m sure of it, I’m sure his heart hurts to see a teenager die almost every month. A teenager pregnant at 15. Abortions, gangs, drugs. Their all works of the devil, little tricks to get you one step closer to him, to the place where you’ll burn for eternity. The devil does not care about you; he cares about getting you closer and closer to him. My take home message is, help your friends and help your fellow citizens to open their eyes to a different Tacoma. A Tacoma where the violence is all turned into peace, and the abortions that are killing innocent babies are banned, and the death rate drops just a little bit more every month. Lets stop living for ourselves, and live for the Man we want to be with for eternity.