THE JESSE TREE

This winter season in the Northeast part of the United States has been challenging already since it has produced some snow and ice storms in both November and December.

About a month ago, we had one day of icy conditions followed by some snow the following day.  In the evening, I had just gone downstairs to the laundry room while my husband was in the kitchen.  All of a sudden he heard a loud noise and figured for sure that the roof of the garage had fallen in crushing the cars!

As he was shaking from the loud noise, he opened the side door to peer in the garage but it looked in tact.  He opened the attic door that is nearby and could not see any issue.  As he ducked down to look in the garage more, he saw this:

 

Through the garage roof and attic

 

The branch just close enough to break some glass

 

Yes, a pine tree branch came through the garage roof, through the attic floor appearing right into the garage!   On its descent, it managed to also break just part of the bottom glass of the garage walk-out door window.  Talk about feeling blessed!!  We were so thankful to see that this happened in the far corner of the garage missing our cars and especially the motorcycle that was closest to this branch!

 

The branch just missing the back of the car & motorcycle!

 

This whole incident was such a shock and with it being dark outside it was hard to see fully what happened that night.  To this day, it amazes me to think that a branch of a tree could actually come plummetting straight down, at the perfect angle, making a hole in a solid roof!  A few days later we could see where two limbs were actually broken from this huge pine tree so probably the combined force contributed to the incident.

 

Evidence of the two branches that broke off

 

Probably the remaining part of our garage visitor

 

Being this happened at the beginning of December, the words “Jesse tree” came to my mind and a pretty familiar Bible verse for this time of year.

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;  from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.  –Isaiah 11:1 (NIV)

 

With only God’s perfect timing, guess what Scripture was read that weekend at church? Yes, that exact verse and subsequent verses.   The sermon’s focus was on “spiritual fruit” in our lives which was also so perfect.

 

 

I believe an accurate rephrasing of this verse is

“From the Messiah,  Jesus (a shoot) will grow from the lineage (stump) of Jesse (King David’s father).  From the roots of Jesse, Jesus (a Branch) will carry out God’s will (bear fruit.)”

 

I got to thinking I guess God sent us our own little “Jesse tree” this year; maybe it could serve as our Christmas tree this year considering we had not yet put one up.  To add to the Christmas spirit, the garage even had a lovely pine scent!

 

I know there wasn’t really a physical “Jesse tree” when Isaiah was written but the symbolism of that Bible verse seemed like a good parallel especially with something we learned because of this tree branch appearing in our garage!

My husband and I ended up posting a few pictures on social media that night.  Having never experienced anything like this before and not knowing fully in the dark,  what the extent of the damage was,  we were kind of in shock with knowing what we were suppose to do.

 

The branches on the outside of the garage roof

 

A side view of the garage

 

Within probably five minutes or less of posting a few pictures on social media, there was one guy who asked if we needed help removing the branch and/or fixing the roof.  He said to let us know if he could assist in anyway.

It touched us that someone was kind enough, cared enough, to reach right out with an offer to help; in fact, he was the only one that did outside of a friend in NC that said he would have helped if he lived near us.

 

My husband figured he should at least cut the branch off that was inside the garage at 10 pm that night.  Thankfully just a hand saw worked well enough.  The next day he was able to clear off the snow and thaw out the layer of ice from the area on the garage roof and fairly easily remove the fallen tree branch from the rooftop.  At that point we contacted the guy who offered to help and he just  “happened” to be in the area coming over shortly to help assess the situation especially because he has some roofing expertise.

The garage roof hole; glove for size comparison

 

The new skylight from the inside of our garage!  🙂

 

We got to know this gentleman probably 13 years ago when he was one of my youngest son’s first baseball coaches, and later basketball coach too.  His son is about the same age as ours and he also has a younger daughter.  They became friends of ours and the gentleman ended up coaching my son for several years always believing in him. Our sons were good buddies as they grew up and we have kept in touch via social media these latter years.

The family has definitely gone through tough times since our time of knowing them with probably the toughest time when they ended up losing all their belongings, including their house, back in the flood of 2011 that much of our area was devastated by.  If my memory serves me well I believe they  also lost a lot of household items back in the flood of 2006 as well.

Our family tried to support and help them in anyway we could through the years.  My husband and I spent my birthday in 2011 trying to help them salvage the house from that year’s flood.  It was so sad a few weeks later to learn that the house was too far in disrepair and would eventually be bulldozed to nothing with the area being considered a green space area.    Our hearts ached for them and all they were going through.  The son was about 11 years old and the daughter 9 years old at the time.

Trying to save the flooded house

 

Fast forward to the garage story….After I arrived home and joined the discussion party in the garage, the guy wanted to share a story with us that touched my heart.  His daughter was turning 17 years old in December and wanted to talk to her dad about her upcoming birthday.  He thought to himself….oh boy, I wonder what she wants this year and how much money will it cost?!

He then proceeded to share that she wanted to help people in someway for her birthday this year rather than personally receive any presents.  She felt like she has everything she really needs, not necessarily wants, and would rather help others.  The other cool thing is that she didn’t want any recognition for doing this so no one really knows about it.

A few weeks later I asked the dad what his daughter ended up doing in paying goodness forward. She ended up blessing a single mom and her two children through her generosity. What a special request from a young teenager; a heart caring about helping others in their time of need.

 

The guy started to get a little teary eyed as he said that she remembers, even with being 9 years old, how we, along with others, were there trying to help them in different ways in their time of need.  He said he knows that our example was a great influence in her life.

I couldn’t help but think back to that Scripture above— here we were standing in the garage where this branch suddenly appeared and we were hearing of how this teen wanted to bless others, to produce “fruit”,  because she remembers being helped when they had absolutely nothing!

Maybe that tree branch, which came from a tree stump, came through our roof so that this gentleman could share that story with us! 

The “fruit” that was produced in his daughter’s life, of paying kindness and goodness forth.  I am really not sure the opportunity for us to find that out would have happened otherwise since they did not let others know.  

 

Photo courtesy of Martin LaBar under Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC 2.0)

 

That story and the sermon that weekend made me stop and think about “spiritual fruit.” Take a moment to think about “spiritual fruit” in your life.

Spiritual fruit like being more and more like Jesus daily.  The fruit that changes our outlook on life, the way we interact with others, the way we view others.

Sharing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, seeking out those that need help, sharing our time and talents with others.

How do you share that spiritual fruit with others on a daily basis?

Would you be so kind to share, in the comment section below, some way you have shared spiritual fruit with someone this past week?

Jesus came into this world to spread the Good News; our lives need to bear that spiritual fruit to show our experience of truly knowing Jesus in our hearts and living moment by moment for Him.

 

In that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors in Israel.  –Isaiah 4:2  (NIV)

And the seeds sown in the good soil stand for those who hear the message and understand it: they bear fruit, some as much as one hundred, others sixty, and others thirty.  –Matthew 13:23  (GNT)