WHAT A DIFFERENCE...

A week can make a big difference. Last week I posted pictures showing the beauty of fresh snow, when I didn't have a care in the world. Today, things could have been very different!

We've had very high temperatures since the weekend. Records have been set on several days. Today, the winds were predicted to pick up, and pick up they did, as the transition back to more seasonal temperatures occurred! I was talking on the phone when I felt (and heard) this THUMP! I had previously been looking out the windows and had seen trees rocking in the whistling wind. I felt very relieved that, just a few weeks ago, we had hired a friend's son to take down a dead tree that was near our garage; this would appear to be the type of day that could have brought it down.

So, while still talking on the phone, I began walking through the house looking out again. In the front yard was a large dead tree, with its top end near the porch. As soon as I finished the telephone conversation, I went outside to inspect the damage...

I found one piece of the tree - a small branch from the top that had apparently broken off in the fall - on the porch roof.

There was also one piece on the bottom step of the porch.
























































There appears to be no damage! If the angle had been slightly different, it could have really done some harm to the porch and the house.

In addition, the top of a smaller tree broke off and fell near our well cover. Although much less potentially disastrous, that little structure does not seem to be damaged either.

God protects us and cares for us. There are those who would say, when a tree does fall on a house, or perhaps when someone dies in a tragedy while others are spared, that God doesn't care, that He's not paying attention, or that He's busy with something else. But, God is good all the time. Let me never forget that as 2008 comes to age, with its benefits, its challenges, and undoubtedly its trials.