There is a moment when a tree hits the ground and it makes the most satisfying thump. It’s not only a sound, but is felt in the vibrations of the ground. It comes up through the feet and resonates in the joints. It is a deep primal feeling. It’s a glorious sound. I believe it happens even when no-one is there to hear it. The other trees feel it. It is the sound of the layers of loss as a witness to the world falls.
Last week, I went to chain saw training. I attended a class from the Texas Baptist Men Disaster Relief Team. It was hosted at the ROC. We were given a powerpoint presentation, a book to read and then went on a field trips for practical experience. There was safety equipment, rigging, cutting, dragging and clean-up. I learned several things, I was reminded of things and I remembered some things.
The first time I ever used a chainsaw was on a mission trip. I was leading the trip. I had a dozen teenagers with me. We had no training. We had gone to the mountains of North Carolina to one of the poorest counties in the US to cut wood for a ministry that then distributed the wood during the winter to those that were struggling to keep their homes warm. A landowner had an area he wanted cleared of trees. We had a few tools. I had watched enough TV to have a basic understanding of how to chop down a tree. So we play acted being lumberjacks. After the training last week a cold chill traveled up my spine. There was so much that could have gone wrong. There is so much that we did that was not according to “best practices.” We had no safety gear except gloves. We had no sense of a safe fall distance. We had no escape route planned. We did not know about kick-back. Somehow we survived without a single injury. The trees we felled on that mission trip were huge. Twice as tall as the ones we brought down in training. The sound they made was deeper. It linger in the ground.
Because of COVID the forest around us is thinner. Lots of trees have fallen. We have watched the number of deaths grow, but it feels unreal. We have not witnessed the deaths. We have been cut off from most of the stories, but they still fell. The number is hard to comprehend. It seems like a fiction. How can half a million people disappear and the upheaval not be felt by us all? It all feels so random. Some people get very sick. Some not at all. Gatherings happen with no repercussions others are super-spreading events. Sometimes big risks are taken with no consequences. Sometimes all the rules are followed and bad things still happen.
At the end of the day, we have to live with ourselves. How different my life would have been if one of those kids on that mission trip had be injured or killed by my lack of caution. I heard the thump of those trees last week and it made my heart skip a beat. We have been criticized for our response to COVID. I was recently accused of cooperating with Satan due to our choices. We got a hostile call at the church asserting that we were participating in evil for helping people get the vaccine. Here is what I know. The leaders of our church have tried to make decisons to keep the flock of God safe. They have been motivated by love. They have been tried to decided using their best understand of truth. We are nearing the end. We can see it from here. I’m praying that there are no more thumps in our forest.