The time has come. We have gathered the witnesses. Your trial date has arrived.
You were warned that this would transpire. I am praying that you will now be fully convicted and that you will begin, as a result of the message brought by the witnesses, to make the needed changes.
Perhaps you want some Scripture that would provide a basis for why we must do this. Here it is. “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.”[1]
In a very real way, we have already heard from the witnesses of heaven. We have heard from God Himself through His Word. We have examined the words of Jesus, heaven’s representative, when he was on earth. We have looked at both Old Testament and New Testament verses. And if that is all we had to go on, namely, God’s words, the very witness of heaven, that would be evidence enough to bring you, and me, to full conviction that our tongue and mouth should be committed to releasing God’s Word in prayer and confession as we live a life of faith.
But, God is calling heaven and earth as witnesses against us. Not just heaven, but earth. Since He is the judge, let’s continue with the trial by adapting to those wishes and call to the stand those earthly witnesses who will also provide evidence toward your conviction.
To whom might I be referring?
Are they your parents or your spouse? How about your fellow workers or friends? All of these people could surely have something to say because they have lived with you at various intersections in your life. They have witnessed the good and the bad.
But, no.
No one you know will be called to the stand to witness against you.
Are you relieved?
Don’t be.
Allow me, please, to call forth the first witness. A witness I know personally, having rubbed shoulders with him as a boy helping my grandfather on a farm in the Midwest.
Will the soybean plant please come forward?
Mr. Soybean, how is it that you live and change your world?
I am germinated from seed form by the combination of warmth and water in the soil of a given field. At the very moment I sprout through the earth there are present on my leaves hundreds and eventually, as I mature, tens of thousands, even millions, of stomata. During that time, I drink in the water that falls from the clouds and drink as much as possible, filling myself to overflowing with water and water vapor.
When the sun shines on me, it creates a pinching of my guard cells which swell to cause my stomata to open. Then the water vapor exits my leaves and goes back into the sky. When that occurs, carbon dioxide simultaneously comes into me, via the same stomata. That carbon dioxide mixes with the light from the sun and also with the chlorophyll.
A process called photosynthesis then takes place which produces glucose, a food I use to grow. But I don’t just grow, I also produce fruit. In my case, soybeans. What I do all day long, releasing water and receiving carbon dioxide, eventually and predictably results in soybeans, which are harvested by the farmer and are used to change the world. Soybeans are used to produce consumable oils, soy milk, high protein vegetarian foods, tofu, soy flour and soy yogurt. I am also used in soap, plastics, cosmetics, inks, crayons, clothing and biodiesel. What happens through my stomata determines the contribution I make to the world around me.
Mr. Soybean, could you please repeat that last phrase?
What happens through my stomata determines the contribution I make to the world around me.
But Mr. Soybean, are there ever complications or struggles that might change these processes you just described?
First of all, I am not any less a soy bean plant in wind and hail storms as I am in warm soft breezes. I am given capacities to respond to life—and respond I do. My processes do not respond better or worse based on my circumstances. Struggles are a given, but, in spite of them, I stay engaged in the processes that originate with my Creator. It is in those processes that I find the means to address any struggle in which I may find myself. As long as I stay engaged, there is a strong anticipation that I will eventually bear fruit that indicates I have overcome those struggles.
Thank you, Mr., Soybean. You may step down.
Your Honor, I would like to now call the corn plant.
Mr. Corn, as you know, we are here today because the readers of this book are on trial. We hope that we will gain a conviction and that they will see the importance of walking by faith in the world in which they are planted. You are a representative of the botanical world created by God to live according to the same principles and change the world in which you have been planted. How is it that you live and change your world?
I, too, have a strikingly similar testimony to that of Mr. Soybean. I am a plant with a massive number of stomata on my leaves. I find that when guard cells, swollen by virtue of sunlight, help to open my stomata that water vapor is released. This water vapor accumulates constantly by my incessant effort to drink in water from the soil.
The carbon dioxide enters me at the exact same time that I release water vapor. This one thing I know, every single time I open a stoma to release water vapor, carbon dioxide comes in right then and there. It happens this way every time, all the time. The resulting growth eventually produces corn which is harvested by farmers and gardeners. The corn is fed to people and animals, including chickens, cows, and pigs, and is even used, among other things, to create fuels, sweeteners, and cereals. My contribution to the world has been greatly appreciated but also expected by those who have come to depend on me. And because my contribution is expected, it behooves me to continue to apply myself to the processes that have gained me this reputation.
Has that reputation ever been challenged by forces beyond your control?
You should see the amount of bugs, raccoons, and birds that try to make me less than what I am intended to be. I don’t deny their existence, but for sure I don’t stop absorbing water, letting it do its work in me, and allowing it to escape my stomata. That is my number one priority.
Thank you, Mr. Corn.
Your Honor, I would like to now call the rose bush to the witness stand.
As a representative of the earth, do you solemnly promise to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do. Every day, all day long.
Ms. Rose, today is a very important and sobering day in the life of the reader of this book. The results of this trial could determine our defendant’s very future. Are you ready to tell this court how you intend to live in your future and how your life and existence might make this evil world a better place?
I know nothing more about how to live in the future than to repeat for the future how I, and my ancestors, have lived in the past. By God’s design, I spend my days releasing water vapor through my stomata on my leaves. The immediate resulting import of carbon dioxide mixing with light and chlorophyll keeps me fed and growing. I know that when I begin releasing water vapor from my stomata, carbon dioxide makes its entrance. This contributing dynamic adds to the substance I need most to accomplish the results I was created to produce.
I do not disagree with you that this world has its evils, but let it be known today, in spite of that evil, that the process of transpiration set in motion by my Creator produces a floral beauty oftentimes unmatched. And it is done in a world that desperately longs for beauty. In a world tainted by the ugliness of evil, let it be known that what I produce will make such a world a better place. “Let there be beauty” is my daily confession. If the defendant of this trial wishes to make a contribution of beauty to his world, then my challenge is to do what I do. I believe that my future won’t be any less beautiful as long as I commit myself to the same processes and disciplines I have practiced and enjoyed until now. Why would the stoma-possessing defendant think they are allowed to do anything less? There you have it; that is my testimony.
Thank you, Ms. Rose. Well said. You may be seated.
I would like to now call Mr. Weed forward.
Mr. Weed, you come to us with a certain unscrupulous reputation. You and your cousins are known to trespass into gardens and fields and leach the soils of various nutrients and water, and with no contributing fruit to show for your existence. In spite of that, do you have a witness against our defendant?
Okay, okay, so the fall of man created some weeds. My contribution to the earth may be truly less than decent, but at the very least the transpiration process in my leaves puts oxygen into the atmosphere by default. I’ve got my bad side to be sure, but I still have a witness against this defendant of yours. You may have to strain to find value in my existence, but every human I know is grateful for oxygen. At the very least, I’m a contributor to the oxygen supply of this earth through the processes that are still alive in me.
Thank you, Mr. Weed. Good point! There are truly virtues yet to be discovered.
Lord God, Your Honor, we are prepared to call many other witnesses forward and provide evidence from many other earth testimonies from the botanical kingdom. We reserve the right to call any of the plants which represent 350,000 species to be witnesses. Each of them will not only confirm that they all process the water they drink in the same way via transpiration, but they make fruitful contribution to the world in which we all live to make it a better place. We are prepared to show that if it weren’t for these earth witnesses and the way they live, human beings in diverse regions could very possibly find things like food supplies and various raw materials in jeopardy.
Perhaps the defendant would like to get on the witness stand and speak for himself or herself.
Thank you, Your Honor.
[1] Deuteronomy 30:19
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