The Tree That Refused to Die

On April 19, 1995, a truck bomb tore through the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people. The blast shattered glass for blocks, reduced concrete to rubble, and scorched everything nearby. But standing in a parking lot just yards from the explosion, an American elm — over ninety years old — somehow survived.

The tree was battered. Its branches were sheared off, shrapnel lodged in its trunk, and investigators initially marked it for removal. But when arborists examined it the following spring, they found green buds pushing through scarred bark. The city chose to preserve it. Today, the Survivor Tree stands at the heart of the Oklahoma City National Memorial, and each year seedlings grown from its seeds are given to communities that have endured tragedy — a living sign that destruction does not get the final word.

Genesis 9 tells us that after the floodwaters receded, the Almighty planted His own sign in the sky. The rainbow was not for Noah's benefit alone. God said, "I will remember my covenant." He bound Himself — unilaterally, irrevocably — to a promise that the waters would never again destroy the earth. Every rainbow since has been a living reminder, like that scarred elm in Oklahoma City, that God's mercy outlasts His judgment. He does not merely survive the storm. He covenants through it — and His faithfulness endures.