Seeds in Charleston

Other seed fell on good soil. 
It came up, grew and produced a crop, 
some multiplying thirty, 
some sixty,
some a hundred times.

On Wednesday June 17, Dylan Roof went to a Bible Study at Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston South Carolina. An hour into the study he pulled out a gun and shot and killed 9 of the people in the study, including the pastor, Rev. Clementa Pinckney.

The passage they were studying was the parable of the sower found in Mark 4. In this parable, Jesus teaches how the Word of God is like seed sown on a variety of soils. 
Some seed missed the soil, hit the path only to be eaten up by birds. 
Some fell on rocky soil and had no chance to set down roots. The sun burned them up. Some seed fell among thorns - the thorns killed the seed.

But other seed....
That seed fell on good soil - that seed did not die.
It came up
It grew.
It produced far beyond its humble beginnings.

The men and women felled by Roof's gun are like that seed. The reason I can say that is because EVER SINGLE family member of the 9 killed offered forgiveness to Dylan Roof. Forgiveness was extended a mere 2 days after the killings during Roof's initial hearing.

Good soil, seed coming up, growing, producing a hundred fold.

Roof meant to cause a new civil war. He picked the wrong tactic. Every time the church is pushed down, she finds a way of rising again because she follows a God who knows how to get out of graves.

I watched a video of the sermon given today at that same church. The preacher said by opening their doors today, they have sent a message to every demon on earth and in hell that evil does not win. The reason those families could offer forgiveness is because on this Father's Day, they chose to bear their Father's image.

The Bible study did not end with those 9 dead people. it continued on. The killer was even invited back through the vehicle of forgiveness.

The seed keeps growing.