It's Windy

Ok, So this blog could be a mess, it has been rumbling around in my head for about a week now, and that usually means trouble, when I decided to get it all written out it just kinda sludges out... so bear with me.

It's windy outside in southern VA today. VERY windy! The trees and bushes are leaning sideways, my windows are rattling at times. The wind is so strong that once, while standing in the garden section at Lowes today, I thought it was going to knock me over!

As I watch the wind I wonder how deep the roots have to be in order to hold the trees and bushes in the ground. I mean, I know that is the only thing stopping them from flying around my yard... but how deep are they? How deep is "deep enough" for the roots to hold on when the tough winds come? Why do some grow deeper than others? Some grow deeper because they are bigger, and need more roots. But there are times that two bushes of the same kind will grow different depths in their root system. Sometimes things, rocks, concrete, bad dirt, will get in the way of the roots, and therefore will mess up the roots system. As a planter (I am not really, but let's just pretend) I think if I knew that the root system in one location was bad, I would not plant another tree in that area. I would go to good ground and plant my tree there. Wouldn't you? I mean, you wouldn't want to waste the one little tree that you gave good money for right?

The short version of my application here is that sometimes I think as Christians we start growing roots, but then get distracted by the things around us and just decide "our roots are deep enough." But do we know what depth that our roots will need to be when the winds come? Sometimes, the winds will be only strong enough to make us sway, but sometimes, those tornado style winds will come and ONLY our root system - buried in the Word of God - will be left holding us to the only stability that we have... The Rock of our Salvation. It is then, that we will realize the true depth of our root system. Only then will we know for sure that we went deep enough.

But what about the times that things get in the way of our growth. Sometimes it is choices we make, sometimes it is circumstances out of our control. But regardless, things happen - bad dirt - rocks - other roots - mess up our growth. Some times it is our fault.... Sometimes we see that someone else is buried in bad dirt, and instead of going another direction with our own life, we decide to plant right down beside them. I don't mean we go over to help them get more roots... but we mix our roots right in the middle. THIS is the thing that has been burning in my head for a week.

I have some friends. More than one example of this - that have watched friend after friend after friend have their lives taken by drugs, alcohol, and other things like this. They see the damage, they see the pain caused, they have even seen deaths due to these things. Yet, they continue to try to grow their own root system buried down right in that same dirt. They are still drinking to the point of drunkeness regularly. They are still playing with the drug scene, the girls are still cutting and playing with anorexia. It is like it is a game. It is like they don't realize that their roots are being effected by these things! It's like they have no value on the ONE LIFE THEY HAVE BEEN GIVEN! The bottom line is that it is scary to those of us who care about them. We see them continuing to rest their root system on the edge of the badness, and we see the wind coming. We can even hear it in the neighboring trees! We see our friends struggling to grow more roots, but they are growing them into the wrong things! They have left obstacles in their own way! Why can't they see what we see?

How do we go about continuously growing our own root system, in the healthy soil, so we are not blown away by the winds... and yet, move to help our friends get out of the bad soil? Well.... First, I guess we can't help them out of the bad soil unless we are already on the good ground right? Hmmm.... Anyone have thoughts on these thoughts? Anyone else experiencing similar things?