THE TREES WILL REJOICE by Robert Soto

April 25, 2010

THE TREES WILL REJOICE by Robert Soto

I Chronicles 16:33-34 "Then the trees of the forest will sing, they will sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever."

One thing that has impressed us all on our trip to the pow wow in Pennsylvania is the forest that lines up the freeway. They cover the hillsides and seem to hug the freeway as we drive these long and winding roads. I guess its splendor just reminds me what life might have been like before this area was settled and carved out into cities and towns. If it is clustered with trees now, I wonder what it looked like when the ancestors of our brothers and sisters of the north made this their home. Back when there were no freeways and roads. It is hard to imagine or even fathom what life was like back then. I know what it was like in South Texas because the desert has not changed much. It looks just as it did when the first whites came and started to fence their little world or kingdom.

Yet as we drive through the forest that outlines the roads I am reminded of the hundreds if not thousands that were slaughtered to possess the land that now makes this country. The thousands if not millions that died and whose blood now lies in the land these trees now make their rest. But one day the very trees will rejoice for the victory and justice that will come to those, both living and dead, for the innocent blood that was spilled on the ground. As the writer of I Chronicles wrote, "Then the trees of the forest will sing, they will sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever."

Robert Soto, Lipan Apache and pastor of:

McAllen Grace Brethren Church
The Native American New Life Center
Chief of Chiefs Christian Church