The Sown
Last week I attended a retirement party for a friend of mine, Dennis, an emergency physician that mentored me for most of my years in rescue.
During the party, there were several medical professionals that spoke of their experiences with Dennis. After they spoke, the floor was open for others to share some of their emergency room experiences. I was shocked when a women stood up that I knew well. You see, I had delivered her premature baby several years ago and Dennis was her attending E.D. physician. What made this call special was that, during the delivery, I noticed the umbilical cord was wrapped around the babies neck. I was able to loosen and cut the cord but not until the child was anoxic (without oxygen) for far too long. The child displayed remarkable mental challanges and physical deficits that would never return to normal. The mother was devistated. At only 17 years old and without family support, she cried out to anyone that would help. Thatʻs when Dennis, the hospital, and other firefighters responded to her pain.
My partner and I kept in contact with her throughout the years. We would pray and even though she would never say she was Christian, she was in the Word on a daily basis and would routinely stump my partner and I with Biblical questions! (Which really wasnʻt that difficult!). From time to time she would refer to the parable of the “Sower”. Matthew 13:4-9. She believed that she was the seed that fell among the thorns in verse 7. One of 6 kids, she was raised by a young mother in an area devastated by drugs and violence. She felt “choked” by her surroundings. While speaking to her at the party, she relayed to me the hopeless feeling that she had for so many years but she was determined to not let her circumstances dictate the rest of her life. She said that even though she started in “thorns”, Jesus had “replanted” her into “good soil”. To this day, she states that Jesus is walking with her and her life is “160 times greater” than it ever was. She has moved from the “thorns and thistles” to the “good soil” and has never looked back.
Where did your seed land?Along the path in verse 19? The rocky places in verse 20? Among the thorns in verse 22? In good soil verse 23?
18 “Hear then the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” Matthew 13:18-23
Which is your seed? Praise Jesus that He wants all of us to find the “good soil.”
Blessings to you!!
Kent Patton, Operations Manager
