Dendrochronology

I learned when I was a kid that if you cut down a tree and you can count the rings, that number is approximately the age of that tree. Each ring represents a season. The thick rings mean there was a lot of water that year. The thin rings mean that it was a dry season.

Lately, my dad has been doing a lot of trimming the edges of the farm and cutting down trees that are dead or decrepit falling apart.

As I was walking with the LORD, I decided to try and count one of the fallen tree’s rings. I counted to 50 and then estimated the rest of the length with my hand as a measuring stick to determine the age of the tree.

This tree, according to my estimation, was over 150 years old!

That is insane to think about that. This tree has been on this farm for over 150 years.

From a brief perusal of the internet, some things that happened around 150 years ago:

• Alexander Graham Bell invents the first prototype of the telephone.

• The United States was going through the post-Civil War Reconstruction era.

• The Atlas bear became extinct.

• Mark Twain publishes ‘’The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’’ in 1876.

• Jeanne Calment, born 1875, would eventually become the longest-living human being with a verified lifespan. She lived until 1997, aged 122. She still holds the record as of April 2023. (She's almost as old as the tree!)
  

So much has changed in the past 150 years and yet some things never change. God's people are frequently compared to trees in scripture.

Psalm 1:2-3 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

While the world is planning for their next 5, 10, 50 years, followers of Jesus look ahead to eternity.

Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

When I look back through my journals and see how I worried about present circumstances, it's funny because those same stressors are no longer a thought anymore.

Why do I worry about so many inconsequential things? Why do I let worry choke out my joy?

God has me in his hand.

John 10:27-30 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

None of us can escape pain in this life, but neither can we escape the love of the Father.

Romans 8:35-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

UPDATES/PRAYER REQUESTS

• Currently, I am at 31% of my monthly commitment goal. At my current projection, I don't believe I will make it to Heidelberg by August, but would you join me in prayer? Pray that God would leads hearts to pray for the ministry that is taking place in Germany and that I may be able to join them in God's timing. Pray for people to remember to give.

• Pray for me.
  

• Confession: I have not been working out at the gym like I know I should and that's been affecting my mind. Pray that I would cut the excuses and discipline my body like Paul says we should (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
  

• Pray for the persecuted church.
  

• I am taking part in an evangelistic ministry here in Michigan called the Godmobile: they set up a tent at fairs/festivals and share Jesus with people. Pray that God would give us the words to speak, to boldly declare the truth of Jesus, and to love as He does.