Sticks

Sticks by Kat Armstrong

Bear Grylls is famous in our house for his harrowing adventures and survival skills. You and I don’t know each other well—at least not yet—so I’ll tell you now that adventure and survival are not in the realm of my interests.

Safety, security, and comfort rank as some of my highest values.

But my husband, Aaron, and my son, Caleb? They welcome opportunities to emulate the hero of the Man vs. Wild TV show.

Bear Grylls is renowned for

·      serving in the British special forces;

·      fighting his way back to health after breaking his back in three places during a free-fall parachuting accident;

·      being one of the youngest people to scale Mount Everest;

·      starring in Emmy-Award-nominated TV shows where he adventures with people like former president Barack Obama; and

·      writing over ninety-five books. That might be more than Scot McKnight!

The dude’s intense. He’s kind of like a real-life, wilderness-bound James Bond, foraging for life among the wild.

I don’t get it.

Send me to the beach for some sun and a nap, please. But not Bear Grylls. His insatiable curiosity compels him to explore the wilderness, hunting for adventure.

One time, Caleb explained that Bear was trying to decide if he wanted to eat raw bird eggs for sustenance or risk digesting the berries excreted in bear poop. My usual response to this kind of commentary is “Why though? Just why?” Caleb will say, “Because it’s awesome, Mommy!”

In a desperate attempt to involve me in a Bear Grylls adventure, Caleb asked me to imagine knowing what Bear knows. If I could navigate the wilderness, he suggested—if I were wise to the animal kingdom, if Mother Nature and I were besties—I wouldn’t just love what Bear Grylls accomplished, I’d try it for myself. The innocence of children is a precious thing. I didn’t want to put a damper on my son’s dream, so I simply responded with a “Maybe.”

If you take my resistance out of the equation, my son’s reasoning is sound. Knowing how to navigate the wilderness would make it fun, potentially. Bear knows the lay of the land anywhere he goes. He knows which plants to eat and not, which animals to hunt and not, which terrain is safe and not. All his wise choices are founded on awareness and understanding of what will be good for him and what will be bad.

I have zero desire to emulate Bear’s adventures, but I’d love to have as much knowledge and confidence as he does when he makes his decisions in the wilderness. I want to navigate my life with godly wisdom when my decisions matter most.

One of my newest titles is a Bible study called Sticks: Rooting Your Faith in Godly Wisdom When Your Decisions Matter the Most. I started studying tree imagery in the Scriptures at a time when my whole life felt like one big decision tree. If there was an existential question about my career, my family, or our future, we were asking it. We made more big decisions then than in any other season of our twenty-year marriage. And each time I made a hard choice, the stakes felt high and my faith was tested.

I needed God’s wisdom––his help in discerning what to do regarding the weighty decisions. And when the next right step seemed clear, I needed the Spirit’s empowerment to follow through. So I began to look for stories in the Bible where people were seeking God’s wisdom, making hard choices, or finding their faith tested, knowing that God would illuminate my own story through studying.

Guess what I found? A lot of trees and branches and vines.

Here’s what I want to suggest to you: The Bible has a whole lot to teach us about discernment through the study of tree imagery.

In Sticks, I explore these passages:

·      Genesis 2–3: The Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil will show us how to choose wisely instead of taking matters into our own hands.

·      Exodus 3: The Burning Bush will help us choose to notice when God is trying to get our attention.

·      Isaiah 1, 6, 11, 53: The Messiah Tree will help us choose to branch out from our own shady family trees.

·      John 15: The True Vine will teach us how to choose to stay connected to Jesus for a fruitful life.

·      Revelation 22: The Tree of Life will help us choose to reframe our perspective with views from the treetops.

Every tree, bush, or vine surveyed in Sticks is deeply embedded in an ancient, symbol-driven world where the imagery of a story didn’t just matter—it had meaning. Sometimes God repurposes familiar symbols or images to signal deeper significance. In the Bible, many stories that include tree imagery use them to symbolize what you and I might call “decision trees.”

Trees are where God’s people go to seek godly wisdom and make hard choices that honor God.

If you’re struggling with decision fatigue, studying the trees in the Bible will help you prioritize the decisions that need your attention. All the little choices will take up less brain space because you’ll be able to focus on what really matters.

If you’re looking for wisdom, studying trees in the Bible will root you deeply in the Source of wisdom. Many of the people in our faith history faced hard choices too, and their successes and failures can be our teacher.

Call me crazy, but I think studying trees in the Bible can also be an awe-inspiring catalyst to engage and experience God’s truth. One that might cause you to marvel at the artistry of God’s storytelling.

But most importantly, trees in the Bible will connect you to the Tree of Life, enabling you to live wisely and to make hard choices that honor God.

Take that, Bear Grylls. I’m survival ready for life.

Do you ever feel like your faith or Bible reading is fragmented? Dissecting passages or pulling verses to apply to your life may not lead to an organized understanding of Scripture. The Storyline Bible Studies follow a person, place, or thing to thematically guide you to a cohesive understanding of the Bible. Each study is five weeks and pairs with its thematic partner. Get free guides for small groups or preaching at The Storyline Project.