Currently Reading The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out By Brennan Manning see related

Hey there to anyone who actually still reads this. (If there is actually anyone reading this...)

It's been awhile, but here is my new post.  This is the from the devotional material for summer camp this year.  I hope it can be an encouragement to you in some way!

"When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path."  - Matthew 13:19

Have you ever been hiking or mountain biking on a trail in the woods?  All around you are trees, wildflowers, poison ivy, weeds, and pretty much any other kind of plant-life you can think of.  But is anything growing on the trail?  No way.  The ground has been packed down so hard by all the hikers and bikers, there’s no chance of anything growing.  Try as it might, the seed that falls on the trail just can’t take root and grow.  Instead it just lays there until it’s been ground into dust or eaten up by birds.  You know, sometimes our hearts can be like the hard-packed trail, can’t they?  We’re so set in our ways and doing our own thing, we harden our hearts to the Word of God.  When we do this, it makes it so easy for Satan to come in and steal the good seed and replace it with selfishness, apathy, and indifference.  When this happens, we stop growing.  Our spiritual lives become dry and withered and we stop being fruitful.  Does this sound like a good thing to you?  I hope not!  Instead, our spiritual lives should be thriving – growing like crazy and producing fruit everywhere!  Instead, we should be tight with Jesus, walking with Him everyday in everything we do.  Instead, people should be able to look at us and see the love of Christ in all that we say and do.  Okay, so let’s review:  A dry, withered, and fruitless spiritual life vs. a thriving, fruitful, tight-with-Jesus spiritual life.  Hmmmm… I don’t know about you, but I want the thriving, fruitful, tight-with-Jesus life.  Don’t you?  Don’t let your heart be like the hard-packed trail.  Soften it so the seeds of God’s Word can take root and grow, producing a thriving, fruitful, and tight-with-Jesus spiritual life!