The Big Tree

Happy 62nd Birthday Grady Glover! My birthday wish for you is that you would be like a Mighty Oak Tree.

I love this man. I have spent 44 of Grady's 62 years of life by his side. It's been a good life! I would love to make you believe that this Big Tree is representative of our lives and the legacy we will leave. This Big Tree is thought to be 1,000 years old. The ocean is about one block away so there is no telling how many hurricanes this Big Tree has withstood. The root system is as large as the fenced area. However...

This Oak Tree is probably a better representation! In fact I don't think we are alone.

The ocean is across the street from this grove of trees. Every single oak tree is so windswept by the storms that they are permanently leaning - but they are still standing! There is an eerie and stunning beauty in the twisted leaning. The trees in the front were a wind block for the trees in the back, but they are all still leaning in the direction that the wind was blowing. They have all been subjected to the storms. We have all been subjected to the storms.

Why do we, as people, try to build a facade that portrays to the world that we have it all together? Why do we try to pretend that we aren't crooked and wind blown. That we have no storms. Everyone can see us leaning. We aren't fooling anyone. Social media is filled with leaning and bending couples that only portray themselves as tall and massive and strong and mighty and perfect.

It is only in the admission of our leaning and the sharing of our storms that we may actually be a wind block for others. The fact is, the closer you are to the hurricane force winds, the more vulnerable you are to bending and leaning. What leaning oak wants to stand in the presence of a perfect straight and tall specimen of an oak and be counseled about how to withstand storms?

Grady and I have been through a storm or two (or 1,000). But we have a promise in regard to our legacy.

Psalm 1

1  Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,

2  but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.

3  That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.

4  Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.

5  Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

6  For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

Grady Glover, we have been through some storms. We stand as a testimony of God's amazing and saving grace. There is a beauty in you, in us, that would not be there if it had not been for the storms. Our leaning is evident to all who know us well. But, we continue to stand and to grow and to produce fruit. Our leaves are still green and God's promises for us are sure and true.

I love doing life with you.

Go with God.