Fallen

The tree fell across the fence and served as a reminder that trees know no property boundaries when they fall. The heavy limb had fallen from nearly 60 feet up in the tree.

We pulled up to the church members house and unloaded the equipment. Upon closer inspection there was only eight feet of tree on his property. The culprit was the sixty feet laying on the other side of the fence.

We easily cut up the tree on Howard's property.

I asked about his neighbor. He said, "I have lived here eight years and really haven't talked to him much."

One of the team members accompanied Howard to visit his neighbor over the fence.

The purpose of the visit was to offer Nazarene Disaster's Response help in removing the tree from the property.

He said that he was a skeptic and seemed wary of the offer. He finally agreed to let us on the property to clean up his property.

We removed the fallen tree. We raked his property. We replaced the broken fence boards. We swept his property. That was important work.

But the most important work was Howard and his neighbor standing under the carport talking about life. I overheard Howard talking about how proud he was of his church and extending an invitation to his skeptical neighbor. His neighbor agreed to visit sometime.

His neighbor had the opportunity to see people who genuinely believe in helping others.

I saw a sign while driving home the other night. It said, "With Heart to God and Hand to Man."

That describes why we are here.

Today I saw a tree become a bridge.