When a Tree Falls

One time my mother-in-law wanted a tree cut down in her back yard. Bobby goes out there and climbs about 30 or 40 feet off the ground and starts to cut the top out of the tree. He asks Jeannie (his sister) and I to hold the tension ropes so that the tree falls in the direction that he want it to. No biggie.

We are standing there talking and holding the rope and watching the top of the tree when it starts to fall. So we pull and it teeters a little more and in slow motion the tree starts to fall. We are both standing there looking up and I think to myself, "It looks like it's going to fall on me. No it's not. Yes, maybe it is. Oh God, it's going to fall on me!!!!" At this point I dive behind a tree next to me because it's obvious that I can't run and get out of the way in time.

I'm standing behind this tree looking at the branches and leaves all around me that are piled up taller than I am when I look over at Jeannie. Jeannie is still standing there - still looking up. About 2 inches over her head is a huge branch. A branch that if it would have clocked her in the noggin would have easily killed her. She was frozen and never budged and inch!

I can honestly say that God must have intervened that day because I still don't understand how that branch didn't hit her in the head. It had to have bounced up and down some when it hit the ground, and I am not exaggerating when I tell you that it was barely not touching the top of her head as she stared up at it!