Dry Bones

Ezekiel 37:1-5 The Lord took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the Lord to a valley filled with bones. He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out. Then he asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?”

“O Sovereign Lord,” I replied, “you alone know the answer to that. Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”

I recently spent a day on the Brule River with my nephew. When we were getting ready to launch the kayaks he showed me a tattoo he just had done on his arm. It was not yet complete because he told me it was all the pain he could handle at one time. As we were paddling down the river he told me of the meaning behind the tattoo. A bottle of booze and a skull representing death. Stars representing the party scene. A pirate ship just because it looks cool and to be added next a cross with the word life.  “I have the same problem as my dad. I can’t handle drinking and this tattoo is to remind me where drinking and parting will lead me,” he said. The rest of the trip we talked of life and a little about the Lord.

 We had an awesome time on the river that day, the water was high and the rapids were exciting. We were able to enjoy the beauty that God has created. Yet for the next couple of days I kept thinking of the statement my nephew was making with his tattoo. I knew I wanted to write this article about him. As I started reading my bible this morning the first chapter I read was Ezekiel 37, I read through verse 14 and suddenly I realized I had just read what my nephew has tattooed on his arm, not with words but with pictures. I am sure he has never read this verse yet God gave him this vision.  A skull,
dead dried bones , people dead in their sins. The cross with the word, Life. I felt blessed and encouraged to know that my nephew recognizes that many of the things of this world, (sin) lead to death. That he knows that Jesus represents life through what he did on the cross. Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”