Spiritual footprints

t works every time. Trace the flow of money to its source and you will see who is responsible. Detectives look for digital footprints to track down cybercriminals. Investigators examine the money trail to stop human trafficking and the sale of illegal drugs. There is always someone behind the trouble.

Gossip leaves a similar trail. Whether we post something online or say it in private, our words travel fast and wide. Solomon tells us not to underestimate this. “Do not curse the king, even in your thought; Do not curse the rich, even in your bedroom; for a bird of the air may carry your voice, and a bird in flight may tell the matter” (Ecc. 10:20). How many times do we ask, “Where did you hear that?” only to trace the rumor back to one person? Links in the gossip chain always begin with the first one.

But this also works in a good way. A story from middle Tennessee in the 1800s is a great example. Jesse L. Sewell was a leader in the restoration movement in Kentucky and Tennessee. David Lipscomb wrote about his life in Jesse L. Sewell: Early Tennessee Preacher. He said, “My conviction is, the hold the Christian religion has upon the people of middle Tennessee, is due under God to Jesse Sewell, more than any other one man” (p. 119). But little is known or said about someone who was instrumental in his work. The first link was his brother William. He convinced his brother Jesse of the truth about salvation and the church. But how did William find the truth? Lipscomb wrote that William B. Sewell and his wife “were the instruments through which the Sewell family were brought to the truth. We know nothing of her, save that through her conversation her husband was won, and many years ago, she departed to be with Christ” (p. 59). The spiritual footprints of this influential family in the church lead to this forgotten Christian woman.

Ultimately, however, the steps lead to God. “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase” (I Cor. 3:6).

Kerry

West End church of Christ • June 21, 2026