Wednesday, August 26, 2015

The Source of the BOOM and God's Protection!

In my last post I told you about the huge explosion our entire neighborhood heard and was quite shaken by.  Well, on Saturday, as Warren was working on a part of our yard that we rarely enter he found the source of that terrifying moment.  One of our huge Tulip Poplars had been struck by lightning.  Later would would find out that three trees were impacted but one huge one was split from top to bottom and yet still stood.  It looked deceptively fine.  But if you looked at it from the side you were able to notice bark strips missing and a crack.  These signs were on both sides of the tree leading us to believe that the crack went the entire width of this large trunk.



My heart sank.
This tree is so large that the only option we had 
was to call a Tree Service so that they could come and diagnose the damage 
and then if it needed to come down they would have the bucket truck to take the top off before dropping the tree.

Initially the soonest appointment was for today...just to get it looked at.
But, soon I got a call back that Dale (the owner of the tree service) would come by after he finished another job that very day!!
He came, looked and seemed somewhat concerned...but assured us that he felt it would hold on until he could get here later this week.

I prayed he was right.  
We really felt that the tree was majorly compromised.

Yesterday I received a call that he and his team could do the job a few days early.
I quickly agreed!

They came and were gone before I could even get home from my afternoon activities.
All that remained were a few pieces from the tree, as he had taken the trunk
as part of our payment, and his skid loader.
Pretty soon I saw Dale pull up to retrieve the skid loader and we got to chat.
He told me that this tree NEEDED to come down.
It was so split at the point of impact that when his team member reached it 
in the bucket truck he could put the entire chain saw blade down into it without touching anything.
That split went the entire length of the tree....although of course it wasn't as wide the whole way.

We are so very, very thankful that the tree stayed up when it was struck, 
that Dale was able to make us a priority in his otherwise very busy schedule
and that no one was injured.

Turns out that just moments before that huge lightning strike
Warren's mom, Georgia, was out in her hammock
just feet away.
She had just stepped back onto her porch when it hit.

Isn't God good?

Since bark came off two other nearby trees I'm not so 
sure Georgia might not have felt a jolt as she removed the metal hammock hooks
in those moments.

This is not something we wanted to have happen....
but if it had to it turned out as well as it possibly could.

5 comments:

Theresa said...

Yes, God is good! We had a similar thing happen at our house several years ago! The lightning stuck a tree and ran across the ground throwing a HUGE rock a long way! Pretty scary, BUT it didn't fall on the house and it didn't strike the house! There is always something to be thankful for! Have a blessed day dear friend, HUGS!

sherry. said...

holy cow you were very fortunate!

JD/ Jill said...

That is a scary thing! You were fortunate that no one was injured when this happened.

God does watch over us!
A few months ago, Jim and I heard a large crash. Had no idea what it was at the time because we were each in a different room at our home, and on the other side from where the huge tree limb fell off our tree.
The limb that fell was directly over one of our skylights. When it fell, for some reason, it did NOT fall straight down it flipped side ways instead. Saving our window, and our roof, and us!
Counting our blessings...Jill and Jim

Vee said...

God's protection is an amazing thing. Sometimes we get to see it, yet many times we go blithely on and never know. So glad that the tree is no longer an issue and that everyone was kept safe in the storm.

Theresa said...

Just checking in on you:) Hope that Chadd is improving each and every day! Sending HUGS and PRAYERS your way!