There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1)

The redbud tree in my backyard has been given up for dead many times. Gnarled and scarred, it has had a rough life. Just when we think that it should be cut down, an unexpected flowering shoot springs from the trunk, and it’s weary limbs fill with the buds of life, new life. It’s not done yet! The game’s not over until the last out.

In 1941 as London withstood nightly bombings Winston Churchill  visited his alma mater Harrow School and made a few memorable remarks: “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.”

Anything can happen in life and does. When the disciples asked Jesus “Who, then, can be saved?” He replied, “With people it’s impossible, but with God all things are possible.” 

Never bet against God or God’s Church. It is the best hope of the world. That’s the glimpse of grace I picked up from a redbud tree.