Daddy grew watermelons in his garden—Black Diamond Watermelons— gorilla sized, not the striped tabby-kitty varieties we see in stores now.A watermelon is a wondrous thing—a vegetable, experts say.
Daddy plopped seeds about the size of my pinky fingernail into the ground and then irrigated the rows.
Botanists tell me when you plant a watermelon, a sprout comes to life and consumes nourishment from within the seed. (Wow. Isn’t God super?) The sprout grows and like a new chick escaping the shell, the seed shell bursts and a shoot forces its way out. Soon it emerges into the sun. Leaves unfold and photosynthesis provides food.
The seedling’s hairy roots push down into the soil to anchor the plant and absorb water and minerals.
The vine soon stretches itself over a large area. Yellow blossoms appear; then little green things about the size of a walnut. The roots suck nourishment and water from the earth through their hairy systems, pump it up through the stem and to the melons. The teensy watermelons grow from that small black seed, but now we have fresh dessert—green on the outside, white next to the peel, and an abundance of sweet red meat filled with more seeds that will make dozens more watermelons!
Watermelons are 92 percent water. Ancient travelers brought them along as a convenient source of water. But one large watermelon also can feed a big bunch.
Guinness lists the heaviest watermelon ever grown as the one planted by Lloyd Bright of Arkadelphia, Arkansas, that weighed 268.8 pounds.
Imagine. Almost 270 pounds from a tiny seed where life burst forth.
Can you grasp the wonder in a package of watermelon seeds? The energy comes from life—and life originates with God.
Jesus likened our faith to a seed, because it has the potential to grow and do great things.
We’re told resurrection is similar to seeds. “Someone will say, ‘How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?’ Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain—perhaps wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as he pleases, and to each seed its own body….
“So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body….
“Behold I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed….
“For this mortal shall put on immorality. Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory”
(Selected from 1 Corinthians 35-59NKJ).
Like a simple watermelon seed, that’s the way God’s power will work in us!
©Ada Brownell 2012
Swallowed by Life—KINDLE VERSION FREE ON AMAZON May 18-20
By Ada Brownell
Do you know you are more than a physical body? Evidence shows our body is constantly dying and being renewed cell by cell and about every seven years is totally rebuilt – even our bones. We start as an egg about the size of a dust mite, yet we were the same person in the womb we are today. We may lose limbs, gain and lose weight, have vital organs removed and mechanical or transplanted parts inserted and we’re still the same person. Inside us is life, and a soul and spirit which were designed by God to live forever.
Swallowed by LIFE is subtitled “Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal.” The book speaks about this mystery; how you know what to believe; the wonder of life with all its electrical systems; the awesome truth about cell death and regeneration; brain death, and other mysteries of the change from mortal to immortal; where we go when our body dies; resurrection; a glimpse at what we will do in heaven; God’s mercy after man’s rebellion when He promised a Redeemer way back in Genesis to deliver us from death; and leaving a legacy here.
Questions and answers are included for study groups.
FINDLEY FAMILY VIDEO 
What a wonderful article, Ada! I always say that a good article…or in this case, blog…makes new thoughts come to my mind…
Whenever I hear or read that scripture from 1 Corinthians, it obviously makes me think of the resurrection of the dead first and then the living will be caught up with them. This time, however, your analogy to the seed having to die made me think of Gal. 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” That scripture joined with the others made me realize that we ALL must die in order to be resurrected even though the living have not yet physically died.
The parable of the sower in Matthew 13 comes to mind, too. Oh, what a precious seed it is that the enemy tries to steal! (vs 19)
“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” John 12:24,25 In this parable, Jesus was speaking of himself. By his death, he was able to produce MUCH grain…and it seems that he is saying that if they will hate their life, they too can follow in His footsteps, die and produce much grain.
I couldn’t stop thinking of how odd it was in 1 Cor 15 that people would say, “How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?” (vs 35) and had another thought that came to my mind. No one plants a seed and expects that what will come up is just another seed. I mean, what would be the point of that? No, it never comes up the same as it was before it died in the earth. It brings forth fruit (and grain, according to Jesus…see above). Some will produce more than others but to do that, they must die to themselves, don’t they? Now, I come full circle to that first thought…that all those who are resurrected to life eternal will be dead, even tho’ some of them will still be alive in the physical sense…they will have died to themselves.
The Holy Spirit has used your words to inspire me, my friend! New thoughts have definitely come to my mind so this article rates waaay up there at the top! I don’t have a kindle so I won’t be able to take advantage of your special offer but I must say that after tonight’s study, I can’t really complain, now can I? =) I confess to not blogging in some time but you have inspired me. I look forward to reading your other guest blogs and to get to know the writings of your blogger friends. This one looks great!
Thank you, Susan, for your wonderful input. I remembered this morning that Amazon has apps for those who don’t have a Kindle. Get the info here and download my free e-book, Swallowed by LIFE, to your computer today or Sunda. http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=sv_kstore_1?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771
I found that too, Ada! I even tried to put the links on your FB page so others could use it but I think FB removed them. 😦 Amazon has free Kindle apps for all sorts of devices and Windows 7, Vista and XP versions are among them. It was really easy to download and I shared the link and book info with my FB page, too. Can you tell I’m excited??? Haha! Thank you for telling me cuz if I didn’t already know it, I would WANT to know it! =)
Glad it worked out.