Tree cutting

I’ve Got Confidence!

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and my song: he has become my salvation. Psalms 118:13-14 ESV

“Are you sure you can do this?” Mike yelled over the sound of the rushing water.

“No problem, I’ve got confidence!” I shouted back as I started my chainsaw and undercut my way through the trunk of the uprooted tree that I was standing on. But as the saw sliced through the last inch of bark, I realized too late to change things that I had terribly miscalculated the outcome. In one terrifying moment I was catapulted head over heels into chest deep freezing water. By God’s grace the saw flew harmlessly into the river, and I landed unhurt but embarrassed. Most humiliating of all was hearing my coworker Mike’s hysterical laughter, as he kept repeating over and over, “I’ve got confidence! Yes, I’ve got confidence!” Just as I didn’t think I needed help, until I was catapulted through the air, many of us find ourselves in spectacular fails because we have plenty of confidence but have based it on ourselves instead of God. Sometimes I wonder if God stands on the other side of the stream laughing hysterically and repeating our boastings a few times to the angels, before coming again to our rescue. But the good news is that even when we have catapulted ourselves into our own problem, He has promised to be our strength when we cry to Him for help. He is the one who not only is our song, but He also becomes our salvation. Through our prideful actions we may have sent us flying head over heels by unexpected outcomes, thank God that even at those moments, He will come to our rescue when we put our trust and confidence only in Him!

Right on Target!

/ pastorpete51 / 8 Comments 
Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old they he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6 ESV

The old dead elm tree crashed to the ground, right on target, and I shouted, “Praise the Lord!”

The customer, who had been watching us, shouted back, “What do you mean ‘Praise the Lord?’ Didn’t you know where the tree was going to fall?”

“Oh, we did everything to make sure it would fall that way.” I said with a chuckle, “But it sure felt good to see it happen!”

In some ways, raising children is like felling trees. Before we cut a tree, we put a rope in the top to give us the leverage to pull it the right way. To have leverage in our children’s lives we must take advantage of all the ordinary moments to show them, God’s love and what it means to follow the Bible. Now, those moments don’t look very special to us at the time, but one day they will help our kids when they are in danger of falling the wrong way.

Photo by Helena

Secondly, before cutting a tree, we make a pie-shaped directional cut that aims it where we choose. In life, that directional cut is determined by decisions that we make. If we skip church to go to the beach or run up large credit card debts with frivolous spending, we are making a directional cut that, no rope pulling can undo later in life. But if our children see us apologize when we are wrong, help a friend when it really costs us something and forgive people who have hurt us, they learn more about being a Christian than anything they will hear in church.

Last of all, we make a back cut that slices away the wood until the tree begins to fall. This is the scariest part, both with children and trees. That is when we lose control, and change, for better or worse is upon us. That is when our children make adult decisions that will change their lives forever. We have given them God’s guidelines, loved them through the ups and downs of life, but as we cut them loose, we close our eyes and pray urgently! For one terrifying instant, they hang between heaven and earth, and we know that even if we could have done everything right, there are no guarantees. Remember that God did everything perfectly in Eden and His children still went the wrong way. But, oh there is rejoicing in those wonderful moments when open our eyes and see our kids land right on target and then we shout with joy, “Praise the Lord!”