“And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.” (Acts 28:5)
The above verse refers specifically to a poisonous snake- a viper. After being shipwrecked on the island of Malta, the Apostle Paul was bitten by a viper. He should have quickly been dead; however, he (miraculously) shook the snake off and was fine. I’ll get to the significance of that shortly.
At the easternmost extreme of our 32 South Street, Framingham, church property, there is a large, old, ugly tree. I am not even sure what kind of tree it is. Its branches grow into all sorts of weird contortions and limbs and branches have at times fallen off the tree. The tree is literally right on the line of our property and the parking lot of a Rte. 135 professional building which our property borders. For some weird reason, last night at around 7 a very large limb fell from the tree. I’ve stated that branches and limbs have fallen before through the years, but this was huge- much bigger than anything that’s fallen before. The weather was not windy at all. There was seemingly no reason for this limb to fall, but it did.
Last night, I thought I could just drag it to the wooded periphery of the property, but when I got close to it, it was about three times larger than I’d expected. I’d say the limb was at least eighteen feet long and probably about four inches thick. There were all sorts of (those) contorted branches, leaves, etc., spreading out all over the place. There was no way I could move this without a lot of work.
Claire Grimes from our church offered to pay to rent a chain saw. Well, I’ve just sometimes found that rending power equipment can be more trouble than it’s worth, so I declined that offer.
At around 8 this morning, I went over to the church property in “bummy” clothes to deal with this tree. All I had to work with was a small bow saw. I decided the best thing to do would be to cut all the branches off the limb, and drag them off to the peripheral area, THEN deal with the eighteen foot limb. I began cutting off branches and dragging them off to the brush and leaf pile at the edge of our property. At one point, I stood on the pile to get in a good position to throw a branchin an ideal location. Suddenly, Ifelt a sharp pain on my head...then another, then another, then YELLOWJACKETS FLYING ALL OVER ME! It turns out there was a yellowjacket nest in the brush! I literally ran out to Taylor Street and then to South Street, and STILL had a few yellowjackets around me! Now, I’m a HIGH RISK when it comes to yellowjacket stings! In the early 1990s, I had two bad experiences with running into yellowjacket nests while mowing my lawn. I got twelve stings on one occasion, and fifteen on the other. When I received the fifteen stings, I had a strong allergic reaction. I broke out in hives all over my body. My wife took me to (then) Southboro Medical in Southboro. I was treated, and told to rest and take Benydryl. I was pretty well “out of commission” for a couple of days. I expected to suddenly break out in hives. I wondered if I’d have trouble breathing. Would I have to call 9-1-1? The church building was locked. I fumbled to get the door open.
I was at least somewhat in shock.
I rested and waited about ten minutes. Nothing happened. In fact, the pain of the stings was suddenly reduced by about 90%. I was “gun shy” about going back outdoors, but finally, I stepped out. I could see a few yellowjackets flying around. I continued cutting up the tree but did not immediately drag any brush to the pile.
Marty Rivera, a big 58-year-old Puerto Rican from Taylor Street came over to ask what I was doing. He was shocked to hear about the yellowjackets and was also shocked to watch me doing this job with a small, inadequate saw.
“It will take you forever that way!” he exclaimed. “I’ll be right back.”
Marty returned with an ax and a machete. In five minutes, he had the eighteen foot limb cut into five equal pieces. He then took the machete and cut the brush into small pieces. I dragged the stuff to the brush pile, but threw it onto the pile from a distance. There’s NO WAY I was stepping on the pile.
Marty cautioned that the tree is a diseased tree. We’ll have more trouble with it. Certainly it would come down in a hurricane.
“I could take the whole tree down in one day with my ax and machete!” Marty proudly announced. He probably could. Maybe the church should hire a tree contractorto professionally cut it down and haul it away. That will be a matter for our Board to discuss.
My Saturday had quite a start! In all of the trouble, though, DID God perform a miracle and protect me from the effects of the yellowjacket stings? I think so.
The above verse refers specifically to a poisonous snake- a viper. After being shipwrecked on the island of Malta, the Apostle Paul was bitten by a viper. He should have quickly been dead; however, he (miraculously) shook the snake off and was fine. I’ll get to the significance of that shortly.
At the easternmost extreme of our 32 South Street, Framingham, church property, there is a large, old, ugly tree. I am not even sure what kind of tree it is. Its branches grow into all sorts of weird contortions and limbs and branches have at times fallen off the tree. The tree is literally right on the line of our property and the parking lot of a Rte. 135 professional building which our property borders. For some weird reason, last night at around 7 a very large limb fell from the tree. I’ve stated that branches and limbs have fallen before through the years, but this was huge- much bigger than anything that’s fallen before. The weather was not windy at all. There was seemingly no reason for this limb to fall, but it did.
Last night, I thought I could just drag it to the wooded periphery of the property, but when I got close to it, it was about three times larger than I’d expected. I’d say the limb was at least eighteen feet long and probably about four inches thick. There were all sorts of (those) contorted branches, leaves, etc., spreading out all over the place. There was no way I could move this without a lot of work.
Claire Grimes from our church offered to pay to rent a chain saw. Well, I’ve just sometimes found that rending power equipment can be more trouble than it’s worth, so I declined that offer.
At around 8 this morning, I went over to the church property in “bummy” clothes to deal with this tree. All I had to work with was a small bow saw. I decided the best thing to do would be to cut all the branches off the limb, and drag them off to the peripheral area, THEN deal with the eighteen foot limb. I began cutting off branches and dragging them off to the brush and leaf pile at the edge of our property. At one point, I stood on the pile to get in a good position to throw a branchin an ideal location. Suddenly, Ifelt a sharp pain on my head...then another, then another, then YELLOWJACKETS FLYING ALL OVER ME! It turns out there was a yellowjacket nest in the brush! I literally ran out to Taylor Street and then to South Street, and STILL had a few yellowjackets around me! Now, I’m a HIGH RISK when it comes to yellowjacket stings! In the early 1990s, I had two bad experiences with running into yellowjacket nests while mowing my lawn. I got twelve stings on one occasion, and fifteen on the other. When I received the fifteen stings, I had a strong allergic reaction. I broke out in hives all over my body. My wife took me to (then) Southboro Medical in Southboro. I was treated, and told to rest and take Benydryl. I was pretty well “out of commission” for a couple of days. I expected to suddenly break out in hives. I wondered if I’d have trouble breathing. Would I have to call 9-1-1? The church building was locked. I fumbled to get the door open.
I was at least somewhat in shock.
I rested and waited about ten minutes. Nothing happened. In fact, the pain of the stings was suddenly reduced by about 90%. I was “gun shy” about going back outdoors, but finally, I stepped out. I could see a few yellowjackets flying around. I continued cutting up the tree but did not immediately drag any brush to the pile.
Marty Rivera, a big 58-year-old Puerto Rican from Taylor Street came over to ask what I was doing. He was shocked to hear about the yellowjackets and was also shocked to watch me doing this job with a small, inadequate saw.
“It will take you forever that way!” he exclaimed. “I’ll be right back.”
Marty returned with an ax and a machete. In five minutes, he had the eighteen foot limb cut into five equal pieces. He then took the machete and cut the brush into small pieces. I dragged the stuff to the brush pile, but threw it onto the pile from a distance. There’s NO WAY I was stepping on the pile.
Marty cautioned that the tree is a diseased tree. We’ll have more trouble with it. Certainly it would come down in a hurricane.
“I could take the whole tree down in one day with my ax and machete!” Marty proudly announced. He probably could. Maybe the church should hire a tree contractorto professionally cut it down and haul it away. That will be a matter for our Board to discuss.
My Saturday had quite a start! In all of the trouble, though, DID God perform a miracle and protect me from the effects of the yellowjacket stings? I think so.
2 comments:
I would certainly call it a miracle. Even one sting is one too many. Praise God!
oh goodness i hate bees!!! i would have freaked probably much more than you did. gotta love marty and his machete!!
Post a Comment