Our Tree
By Candy Staples

     Years ago we bought property eight miles out in the country.  We should have known how windy it was by some of the trees growing at a 45-degree angle.  Our front yard was filled with shady elm and pine trees.  They were very tall although their roots were shallow.

     During the previous months we enlarged our small living space with a living room, bedroom, bath, and a screened in front porch.  For me, it was a dream come true.  With lots of room to entertain, I felt like I had been given a million dollars.

     One afternoon, my husband was working in the front yard and discovered one of the 60+ foot pine trees had started leaning and most of its roots had begun to show above the ground.  The tree was leaning toward our new addition and would ruin it if it fell.  We called a friend to cut the tree down, but he couldn’t get there until the next day. 

     We moved our cars and anything that we thought it might fall on, went to bed and hoped it would make it through the night.  As we were lying there, we could hear the wind pick up to about 25 knots, feel it shaking the house, and hear it howling through the trees.  We became fearful the tree would come crashing through the roof into our bed at any moment.

     I got out of bed, went outside and stood looking up at the tree.  I spoke out loud to God and said, “God, You know this tree is headed for our new room addition when it falls.  I know You can make it fall where ever You want.  If You would just make it fall a little to the left into the driveway or away from the house, I would appreciate it, and I will tell everyone I run into what You did for us.  If You want it to fall on the house, I guess that is okay, too.”  Then I went back into the house and went to bed and slept soundly until about three of four in the morning when we heard the cra-ck, cra-ck, cra-cking sound and realized that the tree was beginning to fall.  We braced ourselves for something awful, but when it fell, it just sort of slapped the house.

     We cautiously got up, went outside to assess the damage and saw the tree just lying on our roof.  Just lying there, quietly resting.  The branches didn’t break anything, not one of the six eight-foot windows surrounding the front porch.  The roof had no damage.  The gutters had no damage.  The only damage was a small 12-inch crack in the trim board behind the gutter.  Amazing!  We thanked God and went back to bed.

     My husband had to leave on a trip early the next morning and was unable to clean up any of the mess.  He felt bad about going off and leaving the tree there for me to deal with, but Uncle Sam wanted him, and I would just have to take care of it.  I called our friend and told him he didn’t have to worry about the tree anymore, but he got some of our friends from church and brought them to our house.  They got on the roof, cut up the part of the tree lying there, and removed it in no time.

     God cared about us, cared about our new roof, cared and knew how much damage the tree could have done to us financially and emotionally.  He didn’t go against nature and keep the tree from falling, but He gently laid the tree down on the roof.  He didn’t postpone Sid’s trip, but He provided godly friends to help clean up part of the mess.  He answered my prayer and then some!

He is a great and awesome God, worthy to be praised, and I will praise His name.