Relentless Discipleship
by Lisa Coleman

I am always amazed to see photos taken during world wars after bombing campaigns or after tornados. All the carnage scattered around, yet in the midst of so much destruction, a tree can still stand.  Look at the rows of trees left after the bombing this past Christmas in our very own Nashville! What a picture of endurance and resilience.

A bombing in the mid 1990’s left a tree that no one expected to survive. In fact, no one gave any thought to the dusty, branch-stripped tree. But then she began to bud. Sprouts pressed through damaged bark; green leaves pushed away gray soot.  People noticed.

The tree modeled resilience from the Oklahoma City bombing that happened on Wednesday, April 19, 1995. The tree was nearly chopped down during the initial investigation, when workers were recovering evidence hanging in its branches and embedded in its bark. The force of the blast ripped most of the branches from the tree. Glass and debris were embedded in its trunk and fire from the cars parked beneath it blackened what was left. Most thought it could not survive. 

Almost a year after the bombing, people who gathered for a memorial ceremony noticed it was beginning to bloom again.  Today, it’s very deep roots are maintained by workers accessing them through a secure hatchway in an underground crawlspace.

I like trees. I like that they have roots that cling to the ground in terrific storms while they have limbs that reach to the sky and sway in wild abandon with breezes and winds that come and go in various seasons. When I look at trees, I wonder at all the life that has passed them by through the years – often decades and in a few cases a century or more. What great lessons trees teach us about life from the acorn to the root to the environment to the fruit.

We are compared to trees on occasion. We are like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither – whatever they do prospers (Ps. 1:3). In lands without abundant rainfall, vegetation flourished only where there were natural streams or man-made canals. Trees in particular were planted closest to the bank, where their roots could reach the supply of water. The tree derives it resilience from its source- it’s deep roots. They take in nutrients and water, caring for the tree through trials of great stress. Psalm 1:2 explains the person compared to a tree. It says a person whose delight is in the law of the Lord and who meditates on his law day and night is like a tree. In other words, one who embraces the source for life can thrive even when the environment isn’t ideal.

We are going to study resilient discipleship this Sunday, in fact relentless discipleship in the face of great opposition. Hope to see you in class or on Zoom!

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If you cannot be with us in person, feel free to download the Bible study materials for your personal use by following one of these links: PowerPoint Slides, PDF File. You can also find the video of this session on our YouTube channel soon after the meeting concludes. And lastly, you could follow this link to download other studies in this series: INpowered Discipleship if you happened to miss one of our prior studies.

Yours in Christ,

Eric Glover   
The Gospels Class     
Brentwood Baptist Church