Plant The Seed

Legend has it that once upon a time there was a black crow who wandered the fields of South America wishing he was important.  He had no distinctive marks that made his feathers desirable and he had no job in the world that a million other crows could not do just as well.  So he flew around and around and around until one day he decided he would ask God to give him an important mission and he promised he would fulfill it if only God would show him something important to do with his life.  God didn’t say anything, instead He gave the black crow a giant pine nut called a “pinhão” in Portuguese.  The black bird took it graciously and thought on what such a present could mean.  He held the nut between his powerful beak and bit down until part of the meat was exposed.  He began eating the smaller end and it was delicious!  He was enjoying this gift from God when he decided he would save the larger part for later so as not to be a glutton and appear greedy.  So the crow carved out a little spot on the ground and hid the pine nut for snacking later that evening.  He took off on his normal flying route without much thought about his ordinary life because he was so happy with the pine nut God had given him.  Soon the sun began to set and cast a brilliant smattering of colors across the sky.  The crow gazed up at the display of vibrant oranges and purples and reds that glowed off of the clouds and surrounding trees and he felt a happiness he had never experienced before as he flew in the direction of the pine nut he had planted.  His happiness did not last long, however, because search as he might, he could not find the exact spot where he had buried his prize! 

Day after day went by and the black bird’s wings drug lower and lower as he hunted for the nut that was sure to have rotted in the soil by now.  How disappointed God must be, he thought!  He was ashamed that he had wasted such an incredible answer to prayer.  The rain poured down and the crow lamented his loss for many days. 

Early one morning while calling out to his friends, the sad old crow decided to circle the area one last time where he thought he had buried the pine nut.  If he didn’t find it, he would leave the area and never return.  He flew dizzily for quite some time until something curious caught his attention, there in the patch of field where the owls played and made their homes, was a new little seedling.  The crow flew in closer to examine the new little tree and at the base he saw a piece of the hull he had broken off the pine nut!  The pine nut had sprouted into a tree!  He flapped his wings in excitement and began carefully attending to the tree each and every day until it grew and grew and grew into a giant pine tree of the likes no one had ever seen.  At the ends of it’s massive branches large green cylindrical cones began growing!  Each cone held dozens and dozens of new pine nuts.  When they were mature the pine cones would explode, showering down the pine nuts like rain to the ground far below.  All the crows began noticing the nuts and headed over to find out what was going on around the base of the giant new tree.  The old boring black crow told his story and showed them all how to break open the pine nuts and eat the good meat out of the bottom and how to plant the rest so a new tree could grow and give them all the food and shelter they would need for a lifetime. 

Many years past and the Southern part of Brazil was covered in beautiful forests made of the massive sturdy pines called the Araucária.  The legend goes that God was so pleased with what the young crow did with his life that God painted his wings blue, the color of the sky and he became known as the Gralha Azul or the Azure Jay in English. 

It is a beautiful story isn’t it?  Are you wondering how this gets you to know God better?  Well, if you still have a few minutes let me explain.

There are a lot of people in this world who are wandering around without the Lord as their Saviour.  You and I hold the truth and we can go and tell them if we want, or we can hide our lights and live out our pathetic lives being greedy and selfish of our loving Lord. 

On the streets of Lages I have found myself circling around a group of people that I know God loves and for whom He died.  He wants to save them.  I mentioned last week in one of my posts that God wants us to go and reach the lost. One of my driving verses since we returned to Brazil has been Luke 15:7 "I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over ONE sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance."  This verse is the reason I have prayed a lot about this opportunity to reach the women on the street.  Last week I was in the city  running errands with my daughter Amelia and as we drove back home through the country, do you know what we saw?  A giant pine tree filled with a group of Gralha Azuls.  When I saw the flash of blue wings, I knew I had the name for the new street work.  The Ministerio Gralha Azul. (The Blue Bird Ministry) Just like those birds take one seed and plant it.....I can go and plant THE SEED and reach one more person for the Lord.

The job of just one of those birds taking a seed and planting it has made our state here so beautiful with pines, just imagine if I could plant the seed of the Word of God in one lady’s heart on the street and teach her to plant the seed in another and another and another, the exponential growth would brighten up this city with something far more beautiful than a forest of full of pine trees.  There would be a crop of souls that were once considered undesirable but could be transformed into our brothers and sisters in Christ.  New neighbors in glory.

Is there an area of your town or city that you haven’t reached lately?  Somewhere you could go knock a street of doors one more time?  You never know what person is waiting on the other side that God is wanting to save.  Remember, it isn’t about you and me, it is about souls.  Jesus came to seek and to save.  Will you let Him use you to seek out someone and speak to them of that Salvation?

I want to….I’m a blue bird are you?

Isaiah 55:10-13 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. 

Until next time, Lord willing,

Sheri