Alas, like most good things in life, the En-Trees have come to an end... at least for now.
For my final En-tree I would like to share with you where I believe my love for trees comes from.
Most of my family lives in a giant chunk of land, that we call "Jenkinsville." This magical place is covered in trees. When I was a kid, my best friend Blake and I would go on adventures, playing X-Men, mining for gold in the creek, setting-up booby traps for intruders, etc. My Paw Paw (that was my mom's dad), my dad, and sometimes my uncle would go and cut down dead trees, split them, load the wood into the trucks, then spend the rest of the day stacking the wood. Another thing that we'd do with Paw Paw was pick-up pecans from all the many pecan trees in our yards. My aunt and uncle had a giant sweet gum tree that would leave "sticky balls" or as I liked to think, "grenades" all over the place. Being old country folks, we also had a tired swing hung from a tree. We had a pear tree that in the summer was yellow jacket central. We had an apple tree that got struck by lightening and looked amazing. There's a tree in my parent's back yard that, to this day, has never fallen over, but is leaning at an almost 45 degree angle. When hurricane Hugo came through York county, it turned hundreds of trees over on our property, leaving the root ball exposed. This was a perfect place to hide.
Of all the trees I've encountered in my life, my favorite, by far, is this giant oak tree behind my grandparent's house. It's ginormous! We always had huge family picnics for someone's birthday under it. There was a tire swing attached to it at one point. We used to rake the leaves under it and have a wild rumpus. If you were working in the garden, it was just close enough to sit under for a minute in the shade. It's kinda become a "family tree" for my family tree.
I think that most of all, my love for trees comes from my deep love for my family. There's at least one story that deals with a tree for each member of my family. I love my family so much. If there's any of you family members reading this, know that you have helped my roots grow and continue to nourish this little tree.
***UPCOMING: MY NEXT BLOG SERIES... FIRE!!!***
ALSO, I have this ticker at the bottom of the page (scroll down, it's black with yellow numbers), since my 500th view is coming up, I've decided that whomever is the 500th view gets a prize. Now, in order to find this out, whomever is that person, needs to let me know... be honest people, if 5 people say they were the 500th, I'm just gonna go with the first person, anyway. BUT, the prize will be, I will write an entire blog based on YOU! My favorite memory of you, the reason we're friends, etc. So, lucky number 500, I can't wait to talk about you!
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
En-Tree #10
Just finished taking my final, not sure how it ended up. Grad school is so different from Undergrad. You can fail every single thing in Undergrad, pass your final, make a B. You can make an A on everything in Grad school, fail your final, fail the course.
With the stresses of money, everyday life, school, etc., I thought it would be nice to have an en-tree, just for fun. Hope you enjoy.
Last year sometime, Anna Beth, Drew, Tessa and myself were playing Bocce out on Bowman field, at God's house, aka Clemson. The game was intense. Sweat pouring from our bodies... well, my body, because I am fat. Just ahead of me I saw a giant tree, with a giant hole. I thought, "What if I can just land the Pallino inside that hole, this will make for an interesting game."
Surprisingly, I landed it directly into the hole! Drew was first to throw, nothing but net... well, hole. Next, was AB, swish... well, squish. Tessa's rimmed out, then mine fell perfectly into the hole.
We all laughed for a solid 10 minutes.
Thank you majestic tree, without you, the Bocce would not have been as fun.
With the stresses of money, everyday life, school, etc., I thought it would be nice to have an en-tree, just for fun. Hope you enjoy.
Last year sometime, Anna Beth, Drew, Tessa and myself were playing Bocce out on Bowman field, at God's house, aka Clemson. The game was intense. Sweat pouring from our bodies... well, my body, because I am fat. Just ahead of me I saw a giant tree, with a giant hole. I thought, "What if I can just land the Pallino inside that hole, this will make for an interesting game."
Surprisingly, I landed it directly into the hole! Drew was first to throw, nothing but net... well, hole. Next, was AB, swish... well, squish. Tessa's rimmed out, then mine fell perfectly into the hole.
We all laughed for a solid 10 minutes.
Thank you majestic tree, without you, the Bocce would not have been as fun.
Monday, April 19, 2010
En-Tree #9
Remember when you were a kid... think back... what's something you learned about trees? Counting the rings to see how old it was?
I thought this was the coolest thing when I was a kid. Anytime we would go and split wood or cut down a dead tree, my first thought was counting the rings... okay, so my first thought was probably, "I hope PawPaw has enough Mountain Dew in his giant cup to share with me!" But, definitely counting the rings was second.
There are professionals who can bore out a cylinder of wood from a live tree to count the rings and not kill the tree. Most of us would count the rings after the tree was cut down in some way and we would count the stump rings. For the purposes of this blog en-tree, we're gonna focus on counting the rings after the tree is dead.
When looking at the rings you can see the years that there was a lot or a little growth. A lot of this is due to the amount of water that the tree got in that year; i.e. If there was a drought, the rings are closer together, representing less growth.
You can literally see the hard times and good times, after the tree is gone. You can tell when the tree had to fight, when the tree got to bask in great things, when the tree had an average life. You can celebrate the life that this tree had, looking back through it's years.
One of the best sermons I ever heard was at a funeral. The speaker said that you can't help the birth date and the death date... the only thing you have any control over is the dash in between them. He then asked the question, "What will you do with your dash?"
What will people look back on your life, after you're gone, and see? Just years going by? Hard times? Good times? Times you had to fight? Years of growth?
After the tree is cut down, after it's life is over, when you are counting the rings... the tree leaves something behind: firewood, lumber, a mess, etc.
What's going to be your legacy? What will you leave behind?
"...they say you can't be killed."
"I wouldn't be bothering with the shield, then would I?"
"...he's the biggest man I've ever seen... I wouldn't want to fight him."
"That is why no one will remember your name."
--Achilles and a messenger boy, Troy
I thought this was the coolest thing when I was a kid. Anytime we would go and split wood or cut down a dead tree, my first thought was counting the rings... okay, so my first thought was probably, "I hope PawPaw has enough Mountain Dew in his giant cup to share with me!" But, definitely counting the rings was second.
There are professionals who can bore out a cylinder of wood from a live tree to count the rings and not kill the tree. Most of us would count the rings after the tree was cut down in some way and we would count the stump rings. For the purposes of this blog en-tree, we're gonna focus on counting the rings after the tree is dead.
When looking at the rings you can see the years that there was a lot or a little growth. A lot of this is due to the amount of water that the tree got in that year; i.e. If there was a drought, the rings are closer together, representing less growth.
You can literally see the hard times and good times, after the tree is gone. You can tell when the tree had to fight, when the tree got to bask in great things, when the tree had an average life. You can celebrate the life that this tree had, looking back through it's years.
One of the best sermons I ever heard was at a funeral. The speaker said that you can't help the birth date and the death date... the only thing you have any control over is the dash in between them. He then asked the question, "What will you do with your dash?"
What will people look back on your life, after you're gone, and see? Just years going by? Hard times? Good times? Times you had to fight? Years of growth?
After the tree is cut down, after it's life is over, when you are counting the rings... the tree leaves something behind: firewood, lumber, a mess, etc.
What's going to be your legacy? What will you leave behind?
"...they say you can't be killed."
"I wouldn't be bothering with the shield, then would I?"
"...he's the biggest man I've ever seen... I wouldn't want to fight him."
"That is why no one will remember your name."
--Achilles and a messenger boy, Troy
Monday, April 12, 2010
En-Tree #8
I took so long to update, I figured a couple back to back ones would be the best thing to do.
We had a pool growing up. We didn't have a lot of the fancy stuff, like cable or satellite or a TV that wasn't a giant wooden box with the big knobs; but we had a pool. It was a standard, aluminum sided, above ground, 5 feet at it's deepest, with a homemade deck around it pool. I loved that dang pool. I love water (maybe that'll be my next "series" of blogs).
When I was younger, I would blow-up a balloon as full as possible, submerge it in the water, sink myself and then try and breathe underwater using the air from the balloon... it did not work. My mom informed me that I would need an oxygen tank to breathe underwater.
Through school and my PawPaw teaching me, I learned that "Them trees are where we get our oxygen. You cut 'em all down, we won't have anything to breathe!"
Trees take-in the CO2 (carbon dioxide) that we breathe-out and use it to make food for themselves and make O2 (oxygen) for us.
A single mature tree can absorb carbon dioxide at a rate of 48 lbs./year and release enough oxygen back into the atmosphere to support 2 human beings.
The trees take the air that we have used up, the junk we're done with, that we can't use anymore... and make the thing we need, possibly, most of all.
You can live without food for 4 to 6 weeks; at most, you can live 10 days without water; you can only live, at the very most, 7 minutes without oxygen, but most cases show that anything after 3 minutes causes severe brain damage.
YWHW takes our junk, the stuff that we've used up, takes all the stuff that used to be good but we've turned into something else... He takes it, transforms it, makes it new, and gives us what we need the most.
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes, the oil of gladness
instead of mourning, and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.
--Isaiah 61:1-3
We had a pool growing up. We didn't have a lot of the fancy stuff, like cable or satellite or a TV that wasn't a giant wooden box with the big knobs; but we had a pool. It was a standard, aluminum sided, above ground, 5 feet at it's deepest, with a homemade deck around it pool. I loved that dang pool. I love water (maybe that'll be my next "series" of blogs).
When I was younger, I would blow-up a balloon as full as possible, submerge it in the water, sink myself and then try and breathe underwater using the air from the balloon... it did not work. My mom informed me that I would need an oxygen tank to breathe underwater.
Through school and my PawPaw teaching me, I learned that "Them trees are where we get our oxygen. You cut 'em all down, we won't have anything to breathe!"
Trees take-in the CO2 (carbon dioxide) that we breathe-out and use it to make food for themselves and make O2 (oxygen) for us.
A single mature tree can absorb carbon dioxide at a rate of 48 lbs./year and release enough oxygen back into the atmosphere to support 2 human beings.
The trees take the air that we have used up, the junk we're done with, that we can't use anymore... and make the thing we need, possibly, most of all.
You can live without food for 4 to 6 weeks; at most, you can live 10 days without water; you can only live, at the very most, 7 minutes without oxygen, but most cases show that anything after 3 minutes causes severe brain damage.
YWHW takes our junk, the stuff that we've used up, takes all the stuff that used to be good but we've turned into something else... He takes it, transforms it, makes it new, and gives us what we need the most.
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes, the oil of gladness
instead of mourning, and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.
--Isaiah 61:1-3
Sunday, April 11, 2010
En-Tree #7... THE RUG
Sorry it's taken so long for me to update, De... De...
So, I moved into the new house. It's incredible; no 25 almost 26 year old guy should have a house with this much swagger.
At my new house I have a "Welcome" rug at the front door... with a tree on it... huge surprise, I know.
Go with me on this, it's gonna start pretty hokey... My "Welcome" mat at my house with the tree on it got me to thinking about how welcoming a tree can really be (Told ya it was gonna be hokey at the beginning).
Have you ever looked into the woods, I mean really looked? Out my giant sliding glass door in the living room is nothing but trees. Since my house is on a hill, the door has a small deck and stairs off the house. This makes my line of sight much higher. I don't see the bottoms of the trees or the leaf covered ground; just trees.
When I look out the window, all I can think is those trees are challenging me to adventure, calling me to something more and inviting me to discover. Whether it's the birds flying to their nests or the squirrels jumping from branch to branch, I do not know; what I do know is that I wanna' be out there with them!
My yard is very small, but is covered in sod. There is this distinct line drawn: one side is SOD and the other side is TREES. The sod is where my property ends; the trees are where someone else's property begins. My yard is safe, kept, pretty and easy; those woods are dangerous, unkept, unorganized and definitely challenging.
YHWH never called us to a life of safety. C.S. Lewis said in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe of Aslan (a representation of Christ), "He's a lion! Of course he isn't tame! But he is good... and he is the king!" Jesus was not safe! He challenged the established order, he broke the "law," he destroyed peoples' thoughts of the status quo! Stuart Fuller said, "He looked like a terrorist;" I responded with, "Because He was!"
Those people who live life to the fullest and try to live in the fullness of Christ, are like the woods outside my house. They welcome us to a dangerous world. We are called to be a part of something more! We are told in Scripture that Christ came to give us life, MORE ABUNDANTLY! Why are we so satisfied with surviving, when Christ gave us the ability to truly LIVE!
Go find something that makes you feel alive; hiking, driving, cutting grass, talking with friends, drinking coffee with Burtney Reid, hanging out with college guys until 5:00 AM, etc. In those moments, when you truly feel alive, you are tapping into the spiritual world, if just for a second. In those moments you are closer to YHWH then you'll ever know!
So, I moved into the new house. It's incredible; no 25 almost 26 year old guy should have a house with this much swagger.
At my new house I have a "Welcome" rug at the front door... with a tree on it... huge surprise, I know.
Go with me on this, it's gonna start pretty hokey... My "Welcome" mat at my house with the tree on it got me to thinking about how welcoming a tree can really be (Told ya it was gonna be hokey at the beginning).
Have you ever looked into the woods, I mean really looked? Out my giant sliding glass door in the living room is nothing but trees. Since my house is on a hill, the door has a small deck and stairs off the house. This makes my line of sight much higher. I don't see the bottoms of the trees or the leaf covered ground; just trees.
When I look out the window, all I can think is those trees are challenging me to adventure, calling me to something more and inviting me to discover. Whether it's the birds flying to their nests or the squirrels jumping from branch to branch, I do not know; what I do know is that I wanna' be out there with them!
My yard is very small, but is covered in sod. There is this distinct line drawn: one side is SOD and the other side is TREES. The sod is where my property ends; the trees are where someone else's property begins. My yard is safe, kept, pretty and easy; those woods are dangerous, unkept, unorganized and definitely challenging.
YHWH never called us to a life of safety. C.S. Lewis said in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe of Aslan (a representation of Christ), "He's a lion! Of course he isn't tame! But he is good... and he is the king!" Jesus was not safe! He challenged the established order, he broke the "law," he destroyed peoples' thoughts of the status quo! Stuart Fuller said, "He looked like a terrorist;" I responded with, "Because He was!"
Those people who live life to the fullest and try to live in the fullness of Christ, are like the woods outside my house. They welcome us to a dangerous world. We are called to be a part of something more! We are told in Scripture that Christ came to give us life, MORE ABUNDANTLY! Why are we so satisfied with surviving, when Christ gave us the ability to truly LIVE!
Go find something that makes you feel alive; hiking, driving, cutting grass, talking with friends, drinking coffee with Burtney Reid, hanging out with college guys until 5:00 AM, etc. In those moments, when you truly feel alive, you are tapping into the spiritual world, if just for a second. In those moments you are closer to YHWH then you'll ever know!
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