By Greg Yee, Superintendent, PacNWC
Spring and end-of-school-year greetings! As Mary and I have been slowly cleaning our yard in our Renton glacial-till and construction debris-buried land, Jesus’ lakeside teaching about four soils prominently comes to mind. For many of us, through our Western lenses we read the Bible more individualistically. Certainly, this is appropriate, and we are encouraged to apply the Parable of the Four Soils for personal application. Lord, how has the soil of my heart, my actions, my choices, my resources, my life been? Has it remained fertile for these Spring seedings to produce much fruit? Am I connected to Jesus The Vine, my life-source? Am I drinking Living Water and though I may be low/no-carb for my body, am I spiritually feasting on The Sustenance (Bread) of Life? Do I continue to say “yes” to Jesus’ invitation to be my only path, for he alone is The Way, Truth and Life? Am I walking off on my own or is The Good Shepherd leading me? Is The Light shining in all my dark places? As I stand in my weed-filled sections of my backyard, I cannot help but think about the weeds that have choked my own life. I think about my heart as hard soil. I must remind myself that those ravenous life-sucking demon crows are real. As I work my yard, I personally practice the presence of God…
For more collectivistic cultures, Jewish/Middle Eastern included, we see the four soils through the lens of the family/tribe/church as a unit – think letters to the seven churches in Revelation. For us as a family of 78 churches and for your church, on what soil does God’s good news and mission fall? Does it fall on hard ground? Do you prefer to take out plants and trees and just lay concrete to put some permanent fixtures in? Do you want to just install artificial turf because it’s more important to look good because the real stuff takes too much work? Or, has the busyness, worries and pursuits of life grown so thick that growth and fruitfulness is just a distant memory? Have we watered-down Jesus’ call to for us to drop everything and follow him, or has unresolved conflict or other types of enemy birds successfully wiped us out?
My prayer has been for us to increase our sense of spiritual realities and urgency. I pray that your churches would continue to grow into expert disciple-makers, developers of leaders, and bringers of God’s shalom. There’s nothing more beautiful than a fertile, thriving, fruitful garden. May we spring forth in the days and months ahead to reflect just that with fertile hearts. God bless you!