IF A TREE FALLS...

“The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.” (Revelation 8:7)

The first time I ever heard the probing philosophical question, “If a tree falls in a forest and there’s no one present, did it make a sound?” It was asked by Dr. Fred Petti in an “Introduction to Philosophy” class at Stonehill College in Easton, MA.
I thought, “Boy, this guy’s really SMART, I’ve never thought of such a thing!” (not realizing that question is probably asked at least once in every “Introduction to Philosophy” class at every undergraduate institution of higher learning in North America!). I remember coming home and asking the question to my mother, who answered immediately, “Of course it did!” I don’t think she was impressed at all. I suspect SHE was thinking, “Boy, what a stupid question”!

We can debate that age old philosophical question ad infinitum. But the certainty is trees fall. Yes, they fall in hurricanes, and severe thunderstorms, and other such events. But, sometimes they fall on beautiful still days when LEAST expected! Fourteen years ago, on a beautiful June Friday evening, our kids were out on the sidewalk in front of our home rollerblading. They came in for a minute to get cold drinks. During their break, a large tree FELL right over the area where they’d been rollerblading! It was our neighbor’s tree. Part of it was on the street and sidewalk, part of it was in our yard, and part of it scraped and slightly damaged the vinyl siding on our house. It went down with a BANG- shockingly and unexpectedly! Within minutes an emergency crew from the Town of Framingham was on hand. The tree was essentially HOLLOW and FILLED WITH TERMITES. It’s amazing it stood up as long as it did. Finally, there was really nothing left to hold it, and it fell. Thank God, none of our kids was killed or injured!

About four years ago, on a nice day, I’d come home to eat lunch, and I’d gotten into my Volkswagen to return to my office. The car was parked on the street in front of the house. As I went to start the car, I got the strangest FEELING a tree was about to fall! I looked into my rear view mirror, and saw a large old tree just a few houses away FALL and COMPLETELY BLOCK THE STREET! (Thought: was that “FEELING” the Holy Spirit? Maybe!) That experience was FREAKY! I live on a dead end street which was now completely blocked, so I wasn’t going anywhere! As with the other situation, within twenty minutes, a crew from the Town arrived and within an hour, the street was cleared.

Yesterday, I went to a funeral home “visiting hours” in Milford (about 15 miles southwest of Framingham). I’d taken my grown kids Jon and Rachel with me, and we picked up two other people from our church who wanted to pay their respects, as well. My wife Mary Ann had been with friends celebrating a birthday, so she met us at the funeral home. Mary Ann left shortly before I did. As I was a couple miles from home, my cell phone rang. It was Mary Ann announcing, “You WON’T be able to get down our street!” She went on to tell me our next door neighbor’s tree dropped a LARGE limb which had the street completely blocked, and there was an emergency crew and some heavy equipment dealing with the problem. Sure enough, we were not able to get down our street so I parked the Saturn at a nearby Chinese restaurant and we walked home.

It turns out the large old tree limb was FULL OF WATER. It finally just dropped. I’m a big walker and I walk under that limb all the time! Fortunately, no one was walking or driving under that large limb when it fell! I kidded with some of the residents of the street who’d come out to watch the cleanup, “Never a dull moment on our street!” and they laughed and agreed!

I live on a small residential street, but these are three true stories of trees falling on the street in perfect weather! I don’t want to make anybody paranoid about trees falling, but you just never know when a tree is going to fall or some other “shoe” is going to drop! There’s certainly a spiritual application to all this. In Adult Sunday School class yesterday morning we talked about the guy in Luke 12 who was SO successful, he planned to build bigger barns, sit back, and eat, drink and be merry for many years of success. BUT, God said, “Tonight, you will die, and then whose shall all these things be?” We all take things for granted! We shouldn’t. The old time Pentecostal preachers used to ask questions like, “Are you ready for the rapture?” or “Friend, are you ready to meet Jesus?” You may laugh, but: ARE YOU?!

And, if a tree were to fall on my street and no one was around....DID it make a sound?...