THREE DOWN
There are actually three things “down” in this photo, taken right after a Derecho (inland storm with winds of 80-100 mph.) This 100-year-old tree was uprooted and slammed down in one piece by that storm — which, by the way, did the same thing to literally hundreds of trees in a three-county area. We looked like a war zone after it was over. In this photo you can see the tree itself ‘down.’ There is also a little birdhouse sitting on the sidewalk in the foreground of the picture. (Another home lost due to the storm). But the third item is not visible to the camera. The owner of the tree also owned a truck that was parked on the street in front of his house. The tree fell completely across it, and it is also “down.” But perhaps I should actually say this picture represents four “downs,” when it’s all said and done, because the family who experienced this much loss was feeling very “down” about the whole situation.
The Happy Wordcrafter 
I like this photograph. It is not often one gets a view like that. I feel sorry for the tree though. It looked healthy.
Thank you. And thank you for taking the time to comment. Yes, the tree was still very healthy and beautiful. Since I am a newspaper reporter, I was out right after the storm to get pictures and stories, and I was amazed at some of the shots I was able to get. Many of them not very happy, of course, but still they were important for historical and community purposes.
Oh how sad I hate to see a tree taken down like that, I hope some was recycled to make something beautiful 😦
I know he was planning on using some of the wood for some projects. But that storm uprooted and flattened literally hundreds and hundreds of trees in a three county area. I have some friends who own a large horse farm,and several acres of their land had wooded sections. She told me they had lost about a hundred trees just on their property alone. It was almost two weeks before our electric company could get everyone back onto power. Almost all the towns had curfews that began at 8:00 p.m. And it was several months before the clean-up crews could get all the debris hauled away. But the beautiful part of the story — and I’m sure it was only by God’s grace and intervention — is that not one person was killed in that storm.
Thank God for that! what a disaster though, where do you live? Roughly I mean?
I live in the southern half of Illinois. Sorry about the slow response. I missed this comment somehow — until tonight.
Amen…God’s Grace…Hallelujah… I couldn’t help but notice, ( weird as I probably am) a vision of hope the moment I laid eyes on this photo.That was the birdhouse:
This and many other scriptures came to mind when I saw the little bird house sitting perfectly upright, almost hidden, shaded from the disastrous possibilities of such a crashing tonnage.
Matthew 10:31
Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
As the birdhouse is perfectly perched for occupancy, upright, on solid ground.
Excellent sermon! Thanks for posting it.