I remember going to Bible Study for the first time and sitting around a table with others and feeling like I could have just entered into another country. I had no idea what the Pastor was talking about. He would say a couple words and the study group would finish it. I was amazed. "Wow" I thought, "these people are really smart". I sat there in silence hoping no one would call on me to answer any of these half spoken sentences, because I would have no clue. Unless of course they asked me what John 3:16 was. Then I would look smart like them because it was the only verse out of the Bible I knew.
John 3:16 was my dead seed.
I began reading the Bible and I had come to Pastor with this question. "Does Begot, mean have sexual relations with?" I will never forget the look on his face. I said, well I got to thinking and reading this part and look it says.... Pastor smiled. No, it means that a child was born to them it's heritage. I felt silly. But in order to have children...something has to happen...I wasn't that far off. Perhaps, we were even on the same page...just looking at it through different angles.
Probably the next month, because I read the Bible a lot, I came in and asked Pastor if it was a sin to cut my hair. I remember the look on his face then too. He smiled and said, no, in the Old Testament, the hair was a covering for the woman's head for prayer. Prostitutes, who were considered sinful were the ones that cut their hair. I remember thinking...oh my...I think I would like to grow my hair out. (Mind you, I had a pixie cut.)
The next month, I came in and was devastated because the Bible said that woman should not speak in church. They should sit quietly and not cause any trouble. If they had questions, they should keep quiet and ask their husbands when they got home. So does that mean that God wouldn't want me to teach? Pastor smiled. Back then he said, the woman sat on one side of the church and the men on the other, and if they had questions for their husband during the service it would cause interruption because they would have to talk across the church.
Later my questions got deeper...like my thoughts on the Nephilim and God destroying that creation. Things like if the Lazarus that was brought back from the dead, and Jesus wept for, was the same Lazarus that was in Abraham's bosom in paradise. Because it would make sense that God would feel bad for dragging Lazarus out of a safe place to be brought back only to be stoned by people.
My husband loves Pinterest. Right now he is experimenting with taking some dead seeds and putting them in a jar. He waters them and they are supposed to sprout something and then it is supposed to be good and nourishing to feed to the animals.
Interesting to me, is how God can take a jar of dead seeds and open up a story for me to share with you.
Because you see...we are like dead seeds before we come to Christ. Just dead. Maybe not the kind where life is ended, but the kind where there is a void in your life. Like spiritually dead. But what happens when you open that book we call the Bible is nothing less than amazing. We start to ask questions. We seek answers, and Pastors and Christian friends can help water those seeds. If you sit too long, however, without some sort of care, those seeds will start to get moldy. But if cared for, and watered and drained properly, those seeds will begin to spout...they have this new life that comes out of them...it's just this strange little white thing that pokes out of the seed...and pretty soon it starts to grow. If it's at the bottom of the jar, it might take a little while for that sprout to reach the surface. When it does, it starts to become a full grown plant. When that plant is ready, it is given to someone else to eat for nourishment. One seed alone won't feed anyone for long, but when it becomes one plant it becomes a meal. Eventually that plant dies, but not before it sees that it has produced an entire head full of dead seeds, who will then have the same effect as the one dead seed that started this cycle.
Yeah...those are the things God talks with me about. Pretty cool from a dead seed that started a Bible Study just 10 short years ago. So you see, it doesn't matter what stage of a seed you are in...there is always hope, and always purpose.
John 3:16 was my dead seed.
I began reading the Bible and I had come to Pastor with this question. "Does Begot, mean have sexual relations with?" I will never forget the look on his face. I said, well I got to thinking and reading this part and look it says.... Pastor smiled. No, it means that a child was born to them it's heritage. I felt silly. But in order to have children...something has to happen...I wasn't that far off. Perhaps, we were even on the same page...just looking at it through different angles.
Probably the next month, because I read the Bible a lot, I came in and asked Pastor if it was a sin to cut my hair. I remember the look on his face then too. He smiled and said, no, in the Old Testament, the hair was a covering for the woman's head for prayer. Prostitutes, who were considered sinful were the ones that cut their hair. I remember thinking...oh my...I think I would like to grow my hair out. (Mind you, I had a pixie cut.)
The next month, I came in and was devastated because the Bible said that woman should not speak in church. They should sit quietly and not cause any trouble. If they had questions, they should keep quiet and ask their husbands when they got home. So does that mean that God wouldn't want me to teach? Pastor smiled. Back then he said, the woman sat on one side of the church and the men on the other, and if they had questions for their husband during the service it would cause interruption because they would have to talk across the church.
Later my questions got deeper...like my thoughts on the Nephilim and God destroying that creation. Things like if the Lazarus that was brought back from the dead, and Jesus wept for, was the same Lazarus that was in Abraham's bosom in paradise. Because it would make sense that God would feel bad for dragging Lazarus out of a safe place to be brought back only to be stoned by people.
My husband loves Pinterest. Right now he is experimenting with taking some dead seeds and putting them in a jar. He waters them and they are supposed to sprout something and then it is supposed to be good and nourishing to feed to the animals.
Interesting to me, is how God can take a jar of dead seeds and open up a story for me to share with you.
Because you see...we are like dead seeds before we come to Christ. Just dead. Maybe not the kind where life is ended, but the kind where there is a void in your life. Like spiritually dead. But what happens when you open that book we call the Bible is nothing less than amazing. We start to ask questions. We seek answers, and Pastors and Christian friends can help water those seeds. If you sit too long, however, without some sort of care, those seeds will start to get moldy. But if cared for, and watered and drained properly, those seeds will begin to spout...they have this new life that comes out of them...it's just this strange little white thing that pokes out of the seed...and pretty soon it starts to grow. If it's at the bottom of the jar, it might take a little while for that sprout to reach the surface. When it does, it starts to become a full grown plant. When that plant is ready, it is given to someone else to eat for nourishment. One seed alone won't feed anyone for long, but when it becomes one plant it becomes a meal. Eventually that plant dies, but not before it sees that it has produced an entire head full of dead seeds, who will then have the same effect as the one dead seed that started this cycle.
Yeah...those are the things God talks with me about. Pretty cool from a dead seed that started a Bible Study just 10 short years ago. So you see, it doesn't matter what stage of a seed you are in...there is always hope, and always purpose.
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