"I'm Planting a Tree."

Planting trees Building lives

"What'ya doing, Bob?" I could see something going on from my apartment I'd walked by a time or two and saw a rectangular hole being dug. By the time I got around to asking, a second hole had been started. For all intents and purposes, the hole looked like a shallow grave for a very short, wide person. Bob told me, though. "We're planting trees."  Here on the campus at Pacific Islands University, indeed all over Guam, the rhino beetles are killing the palm trees. Bob and his buddy are planting new ones, next to some old ones. When the bugs win, and they generally do, the new ones will be big enough to take the place of the dead ones. The Spanish say, "A man plants an olive tree for his grandchildren." coconut palms grow faster than olive trees, but the commitment is the same. Digging a hole to plant a tree is no easy matter, here on Guam. Bob used a jack-hammer to break up the coral. He's hauling in dead vegetation to enrich the soil. It'll be five to ten years before those palms impressively sway in the trade winds. I told Bob, "I like your style." Can I guarantee that ten years from now this school will be alive and well? No, I can't, but I can say for sure that it won't be if we don't have that tree-planting spirit. Do I know what my life will be like in a month, a year, a decade? Absolutely not. I can be sure, however, that if I don't dig deep so my life can anchor on the rock, it won't survive.   [W]hen someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built. But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house right on the ground, without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.”  (Luke 6:47–49, NLT) Start digging. Do something that will last. It's STTA (Something To Think About).