#317: Mentoring Moment: Redwood Faith – Standing Tall Together

Welcome to Kingdom Writers, where we help equip and empower Christian writers of all genres to share your unique gifts with the world. We're your hosts, C.J. and Shelli Hitz.

This podcast is filled with spiritual encouragement as well as prayers to help you overcome the resistance you face as a writer. Your story matters.

Today we're going to talk about Standing Together tall and CJ Is going to share some encouragement about redwood's faith. So C.J. go ahead and share that encouragement with us.

Yeah. So first of all, how many of you have ever been to the Redwood National Forest? Redwood National Park?

Many of you I know have. Shelly and I a few years ago had the opportunity to, to visit that area. And I just remember walking through these forests with lush ferns among these gentle giants that just went on what seemed like forever, all their majesty. And I thought to myself, my goodness, huh, Think about the God who created these trees. And you know, just in terms of a perspective, but just to give you a little information about redwood trees, redwoods can actually grow as tall as 400ft.

That's basically a football field. And a third, imagine a tree that tall. The oldest redwood is thought to be over 3200 years old and is known as the President.

And.

Some, and many of you when you visited had the opportunity to do this. Some are wide enough to actually drive a car through, some that had been hollowed out. And I remember Shelly and I did that. You can drive your car right through and, and it's just incredible to even think that you can do that. Now some of you may realize that redwood roots actually don't go down as deep as you would think. They only go down about 7 or 8ft, but the roots can actually spread out up to 100ft. And not only that, but redwood roots are intertwined with one another and that's really what makes them really stable when it comes to.

Holding up during storms.

Leaning on one another. And I actually see Christian Book Academy.

Like these general redwood forests where our roots are actually intertwined with one another. That's kind of one of the ways that, that I see CBA.

A redwood can actually produce 150 to 250 seeds. That's just in one cone. In one cone that comes from a redwood tree, which, you know, obviously thousands of these cones will fall to the ground in just one cone. You've got 150 to 250 seeds, each seed being only the size of a tomato seed, which is actually the size of a match matchstick head. So just imagine what comes from that seed, at some points has become these trees that are two, three, even up to the record 400ft up in the air. And so our books are a lot like these seeds. You know, they begin with that seed idea, and then that seed is actually then watered by God. And it becomes something. How many of you have had this experience where that. That seed becomes a book that you could have never imagined at one time. You know, it's grown into something that you're just flabbergasted by. You're like this. This was totally God that did this. And so redwoods, there's. There's a few lessons that I think we can learn as Kingdom writers from redwoods. First of all, redwoods are rugged trees.

Some have deep grooves worn into them, into their bark, and they still survive. They still stand tall. Some have been struck by lightning. You can just imagine that. Especially the taller ones poking up out of the forest.

Some have been partially burned by forest fires. Some have been blown over by winds.

But how many would agree that Kingdom riders are a rugged breed? Ourselves, Right? Amen. We stand tall. Many of us have been battered by various elements. Spiritual battle, attack against us because we're endeavoring to write a book that impacts people for eternity. It impacts people with God's word. It impacts people by pointing them to our creator. And so.

Many of us can tell story after story. And yet we still stand tall.

Together. I love this scripture, 1st Peter 1:7. It says, these trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold, though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Christ Jesus is revealed to the whole world.

Now, another lesson we can learn is, among these redwood forests are also trees that have actually been toppled over due to old age. These trees, you can imagine if you've been there, you see these trees toppled over. These types of trees are ideal for kids and adults alike to actually jump up on and play on. You can balance on them, walk up and down them. I mean, just imagine a tree that's toppled over, that's even 150ft long, half a football field. Imagine walking along that and enjoying, you know, balancing upon it, just seeing all the different grooves and the bark and. And so you've got these trees that have toppled over in the middle of the forest. And yet if you've been there, you might remember that some of these trees actually have hollowed out areas where Younger trees are growing up out of them. And it's almost as if the aged, deteriorating bark and the tree itself is providing a fertilizer, so to speak, for these younger trees. And what I want to say to that is that these dead trees are still giving life to the young trees. And there's going to be a time when you and I topple over.

But we can continue giving life to those that come before, come after us. Through our writings and through our books, we're continuing to give life. That's one of the neat things about endeavoring to write a book that outlives you, a book that God uses even after you and I are gone, that still bears fruit, that still gives life to others. And I love Hebrews 13:7. It says, Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God. Some of you are doing that. Some of you are leaders teaching the word of God. I think of Leo in his book that he's working on regarding truth. He. He's passing on the torch of truth to the next generation. And we do that through our books. That's the way we're called. But it says, think of all the good that has come from their lives, the writer of Hebrews says, and follow the example of their faith. And then finally, many of us would agree that a single loan redwood tree is quite impressive all by itself. I mean, if you were just to stand next to a redwood tree and look up, crane your neck, and it hurts. Actually, you got to be careful. You get dizzy when you look up too quickly, but you're looking up automatically with these trees. And one tree is impressive. But imagine a forest of these giants and how spectacular that is. Similarly, I want to say this, a lone Christian writer can improve, can basically produce impressive stuff. We can write all kinds of stuff on our own. But it's a beautiful thing to be a part of a forest of Kingdom writers with all of our diversity and styles. And I see that even right here this morning in this virtual writing retreat. I see diversity, I see different styles, I see the different backgrounds that you come from. We come from not only all over the country in the United States, we come from other countries outside and around the world. And we're all bringing something that's varying in our experience.

And yet we can lean on one another as the storms of life hit. And we're going to have storms, especially as Kingdom writers. So I want to. I want you to consider cba, and especially for those of you that are new members, I want you to consider CBA to be a kingdom Writers Redwood forest, where we cause others to look up and give glory to the great God who actually guides us. Just like those redwoods were created by our great God and they sort of point in a majestic way upward to his majesty. Imagine what we're doing with the writings that God puts on our hearts. And as we share with one another, as we lean on one another, as we pray for one another. And again, that's another thing that sets us apart. We're praying, people, and we're going to pray this morning. And I just want to encourage you all, especially encourage you that are new here. You have joined a redwood forest, and there are many, many people in this redwood forest that are weathered. They have the marks and the battle scars, but they still stand tall. And that's what you're entering into here, here today.

Yeah. And I just want to say that, you know, this is year seven. We just finished the seventh year. We have been doing this academy, and it has been such a privilege and a joy to watch as your lives have intertwined with each other. Right. And I see you supporting each other and commenting on each other's posts and, you know, helping each other and hiring each other and, you know, just all the things, praying for each other. And in our Facebook group, it's just such a beautiful thing as we help each other and encourage each other. And even this week, I just saw some of that happening and I just love that so much. And so, CJ, you were saying that the redwoods, they go about 8ft deep, their roots but 100ft wide. Is that right?

Yeah. You know, you would think that a tree that's 2, 3, 400ft tall would have roots that would go, you know, even, even 25ft. But no, they're shallow root systems. And you'll see that when a tree topples over. And many of you can Google this, when a tree does fall over, makes a huge crater of about 7, 8ft deep, because those roots taking a lot of the soil with it. And yet. Yeah. That intertwining in the, the breadth, the width of, of those roots is what keeps them strong. Yeah.

And so if you're here and you know, sometimes people call on social media, media, if you're, if you're watching and you're taking in, but you're not becoming active a lurker. Right. If you've been a lurker in Christian Book Academy, if you've been taking in the training or you've been coming to some of the events and just kind of sitting on the sidelines and not even commenting in the chat box or, you know, I encourage you, get involved, sign up for an accountability partner. Come and show us your face. Turn your camera on when you are here. You know, make comments in the chat box. Get to know one another. Private message someone and say, hey, I am praying for you. Send them a little audio. Private message say, hey, I want to just pray for you today. It is a one minute thing. And each of you can grow your roots wider, right, 100ft wide by reaching out to one another. And it is easy to want to stay isolated. I think the last two years with the pandemic, it has really caused a lot of us to change in many ways. And we have come much more isolated and independent and just in our little cubbies, you know, in our little places. And so I just want to encourage each one of you. It does take courage. It does take, you know, a little bit of.

You know, just, you know, doing it. Afraid, right. Your heart might be beating a little bit, but just to get involved and to let your roots grow out wide so we can stand tall together. But that's why we're here. You know, I think the Lord just has kept CJ and I doing Christian Book Academy for you to help have this community that we can stand tall, stand tall together and cheer each other on. So, cj, why don't you just pray for us right now and you know, that all of us would be able to experience this.

Yeah. Father, we thank you so much for each one of these Kingdom writers. And we do ask that you would help us to stand tall. And as we do so, we're pointing to you. Our lives are pointing directly to you. And I ask, Lord, that you would.

Allow our roots to intertwine with one another. I pray that you bring much encouragement to those who are new in the Academy. I pray that they would thrive, that they would be in soil that allows them to grow and to. To be productive as writers, as Kingdom writers, endeavoring to write things that outlive them and appoint and glorify.

Their God. And I just thank you for what you're going to do today and into tomorrow through this virtual writing retreat. And we'll give you the glory for all the. The fruit that is borne out from this. In Jesus name, Amen.

Amen. Well, I hope that you were encouraged with that today. It's not only a verbal encouragement, but a visual. Right? It's a visual encouragement that you can remember. And so thank you, CJ for sharing that.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Kingdom writers. We believe that you, as a Christian writer, have a specific role to play in the Kingdom of Heaven to impact lives for eternity.

And because of this, we choose to pour out our lives into encouraging writers like you to not only tell your stories, but to take the courageous step of self publishing your stories in books that will outlive you and leave behind a powerful legacy. This podcast is sponsored by Christian Book Academy, where we help you give birth to your books. We invite you to join our community of Kingdom writers.