NEVER CUT A DEN TREE

Psalm 91: 1-2 “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.”

Yesterday I was cutting along a wooded area to clear for building a fence. Nearing the end of the fence line, about to cut a mostly dead oak, I noticed two holes in a (ten inch) limb about 20 feet up. 

The holes were worn around their edges and immediately the thought came “somebody lives there.” Of course, I did not cut the tree and if it falls on my fence in a future time, the fence can be repaired. 

Early this morning out for my walk-about, I noticed a movement about eighty yards to my left. Turning, I saw a squirrel running up the tree, and saw it run into one of the holes. It was very possibly a girl squirrel and she may have had babies in that tree. That tree is her home!

On my first mission assignment to Kenya, one of our interpreters lived in the jungle in a mud hut with a dirt floor. Immediately the reality of “that’s his home” came to mind.  It is just as precious to him as someone living in their home in America or any other western world country. 

Oliver Wendell Holmes said “Where we love is home - home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.” When I was in college, the most precious weekends to me were the ones when I got to go home.”

Mostly, my time there was spent working in plumbing and electrical jobs so I could go back the next semester. And of course, getting to be with Margie; I thought it best to add that. After over half a century together, a little sweet talk still works.

Home is where we feel safe and comfortable. My shoes of choice are flip-flops. I would not even consider wearing them to church, Walmart or in the woods. Comfort beyond expression is how I feel in flip-flops.  And of course, shorts and t-shirt add to the contentment of home.

Home is where we find those we love. There is security in numbers especially with those we have a blood connection.

I well remember reading about a young man from an Appalachian community that was hired in a very lucrative, high paying position with a firm in California. After a few months he resigned to return home to work in a restaurant. 

As absurd as this story may sound it speaks volumes about the connection of home. Home may be the family but it is also the community. In many small towns around America, the community’s identity is primarily their churches and schools. 

We actually have several homes. First, the dwelling of our youth is a precious place to many. In studying family history and thinking back on my dad’s home place, the memories are abundant. Dad became very emotional when we went to that place on a hill in rural Kentucky.

Dad told me stories of the snowstorm of 1917 and 18. We found stone crocks in a cellar that initiated several stories and an old trunk with a land grant deed dated 1792. I was only about ten years old at the time but my memories linger of those times and his emotions.

Our town was so small dad gave directions to our house as “It’s the green house on the corner.”

A second home we have is our community. The times spent in our little town in Western Kentucky bring back many memories. The people there are typical in that they cherish their town even today. Another time, another generation and another people; the torch has been passed.

My youth was spent in the 1950’s and 60’s. Today’s generation is different but the same community spirit is there. I don’t live there now but that little town is still my home.

A third home we have is our church. People without a church home have no idea what they are missing. The church is not only a building but a family. Relationships flourish in church. 

Friendships, connections and Christian love cannot be duplicated in any other institution because Christ Jesus provides a permanent bond. The church of my salvation (Easter Sunday 1955) and for forty-three years, is still in that small town. I go there occasionally when I’m in Kentucky. Different people are there but it’s still my church home. 

The primary recommendation I make to people is to become a believer follower of Christ Jesus as Savior and Lord. Another is to find a church home and be a part of the kinship that exists there. 

John 14: 1-3 “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

Our Heavenly home Jesus is referring to in John 14 is a certain promise we have not only of a future home but an eternal home. Listening to a Christian speaker recently I well remember his words: “We cannot even begin to imagine how wonderful it will be to be in the presence of God.”

2 Corinthians 5:1 “We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”

The thought of the squirrel going into that hole into the tree has crossed my mind several times. Because of our busy lives we fail to recognize how precious our homes really are. 

 Van Yandell is a retired Industrial Arts teacher, an ordained gospel evangelist and commissioned missionary. His email: vmy2121@outlook.com