By Beau Crosetto
Don’t let nothingness equate to death in your mind. Just because you can’t see something doesn’t mean there isn’t life there.
A tomato plant that we had last year died like a tomato plant does every year. I ripped the roots out and threw the vine away, leaving just the dirt behind. The sod sat in that pot for 6 months totally abandoned. Six months later, a sprout sprung up out of nowhere totally surprising my wife and me.
- Surprised a seed was in there…we didn’t plant it
- Surprised it was growing under the dirt…we hadn’t watered once
Now that there were signs of life, we started watering it and a few months later it is full, vibrant and producing the first signs of fruit. It is pretty exciting.
It got my wife and I talking as the kids played in the back yard.
Spiritual History
Spiritual history is important.
Once you get the seed into the soil, incredible things can happen.
It is important to get the seed of the gospel into the soil of our families, neighborhoods, campuses and clubs.
Just think about it. When you start a ministry in that neighborhood, that campus or that group, you are shifting the spiritual climate like never before. There is something very real and powerful about the gospel being planted in places where it has never been planted before. It takes root, grows and lays seeds of legacy whether you can see it or not. Even if the original work dies, there is dormant potential waiting to spring forth.
Family & Campus
It definitely makes me think of families and how generational blessings work. Even if the gospel skips a generation like it did in my family, it can spring up a new plant out of nowhere decades later (my faith life as well as my sisters is flourishing and no one in my family watered it or directly planted the gospel into our lives. It was two people I never met, grandfather and great grandfather, that were ministers and planted seeds in our family).
It also makes my wife think of San Diego State and the Greek System there. It took years to get students to engage with us around the gospel. But once they did we noticed a seismic shift in the spiritual climate. We literally can sense now how the soil of that campus and the Greek system is full of invisible seeds waiting to grow. We left the campus last year, the staff after us is now leaving, but we have a strong sense that even though the ministry looks like it might be in jeopardy, something will spring up and a healthy ministry will grow. The legacy is set there. Even if for a season the plant goes away.
- Where are the current places of ministry history that look dead now?
- Have you taken over a ministry that someone else planted and now it is dying, or shrinking?
- Are you called by God to believe for a city, neighborhood, country or campus that looks barren and unfruitful?
Don’t underestimate what was planted before. You never know what it left behind!
How can you begin to pray for the seeds of potential that lay hidden in the soil and are ready to take off? Can we have faith for the unseen? Can we have faith to look at a place and call forth the hidden seeds of the gospel that others planted years ago?
How does the image of the tomato plant speak to you?
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