Inspired by Jay DePalmo – ‘By the Roots’
John R. Houk
© October 14, 2014
This is an awesome Christian essay/sermon sent to me via email through the Alumni connection where I also attended. Jay writes about seeds taking root. The application is to sin that take root in a person by giving yourself permission. The permission may begin as a non-effective harmless seed but if the seed takes root, then the longer the weed grows the deeper its roots grow absorbing nutrients to strangle out the good plants in one’s life. The deeper the roots the more difficult it is to pull out that strangling weed.
Jay is writing about character choices a young person might choose that can become harmful. However, what got my attention is where Jay DePalmo works when he is not in direct service for the Lord. According to the info at the end of the essay sent by the alumnus, Jay works in a managerial position for Hobby Lobby. The title provided in the bio is VP of “Hobby Lobby Manufacturing”.
As a Conservative political blogger this piqued my interest because Hobby Lobby took on the Obama Administration pertaining to Religious Freedom and the mandate for employers to provide insurance for forms of birth control that a Biblical Christian would find to be ungodly. Those forms of birth control relate to taking an unborn baby’s life (cough murder) for no other reason than birth control.
Hobby Lobby stood up to the Obama Administration and won at the Supreme Court meaning Hobby Lobby and like-mind Christian owners’ of business do not have to support baby killing in the name of a woman’s choice. A child’s choice – especially an infant that is born or unborn – has to be protected by the rule of law. An unborn baby may be sustained by a woman however it is a separate life apart from any harmful choices made by a woman sustaining that separate life.
The alumni email did not provide a date that as to when Jay DePalmo wrote this astounding essay on the roots of spiritual weeds in one’s life. However thanks to Google I found the same essay posted by Debbie Kinsey of Management Ministries. The date of that post is October 6, 2014.
JRH 10/14/14
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By The Roots
By Jay DePalmo
Hobby Lobby VP
Original PDF sent via email
My wife and I serve our local church as Youth Pastors. A while back we took the youth to a local park for a scavenger hunt. One of the things the teens had to bring back to us was a weed that had been pulled out of the ground with all of its roots still attached. As I was watching the young people pull at the weeds I was getting a good laugh. They struggled and struggled to get a weed to come up intact and whole. I told them “You have to go for the smaller ones; they are easier to get out.”
This was an object lesson for the youth. We had been teaching on the subject of ‘Roots’. The main thing we wanted the teenagers to learn is that once something takes root, it becomes difficult to remove. The more it grows and develops, the more effort it takes to get rid of it. The teenagers were just not strong enough to up root the mature weeds.
Believe it or not, the Bible has much to say about seeds, harvest, fruit, and roots. When Jesus cursed the fig tree in Mark chapter 11, the Bible says that “It dried up by the roots” (Mark 11:20). In order for the tree to die, what was feeding it had to die first. Because the tree was large, the Apostles did not see the result with their eyes right away; the roots were underground. Sometimes others do not see the roots in our lives, but they do see the tree and the fruit that those roots produce through our words and actions.
The things we put into us every day through our eyes, our ears, and our thoughts are seeds that can develop roots and become ingrained in our lives, actions, and habits. Just as these teenagers struggled to pull up the weeds by the roots, we will struggle to remove things from our lives that we allow to grow and become strongholds. And, none of us want to produce bad fruit!
Of course we all think of the big things like addictions to drugs, tobacco, or alcohol. These things obviously can grab hold of a person’s life and wreak havoc of it. But did you realize that Worry, Bitterness, and Un-forgiveness are just as bad. They can ruin your life from the inside out!
It could be constantly worrying about our kids, our future, our RVP visit, etc. Or maybe it is letting bitterness take root because Mr. So and So got promoted before we did. Or maybe it is not being able to forgive a person in your life who has hurt you. All of these things are like drinking poison! They will eat your insides causing the production of bad fruit in the form of your words and actions!
The longer we allow something to stay in our life the stronger it will become until we have a real fight on our hands. It is always easier to deal with things in your life when they are small. We must be diligent to not let these types of things develop roots. Let’s be quick to repent. Let’s be quick to forgive. Let’s be quick to turn to our Heavenly Father for direction and peace, leaving our cares with Him. Let’s only water what we want to grow in our lives!
Be careful and cautious of what seed you are allowing into your life. Let’s determine today to allow only the Word of God and ways of God to take root in our lives! All the others we will pull up and burn!
Have a SUPER awesome day today;
Jay
Jay DePalmo has been with Hobby Lobby for 15 years and currently serves as Vice President of Hobby Lobby Manufacturing. He and his wife Amanda both graduated from Rhema Bible Training Center in Tulsa, OK and serve in the capacity of Helps ministries as well as Youth Pastors at their local church in OKC.
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A Baby is a Person
John R. Houk
© October 14, 2014
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By The Roots
© Jay DePalmo
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