To Watch A Tree Grow

 Recently, my family and I took my first trip to The Great Smokey Mountains to celebrate 3 years living free from the grips of meth addiction.  Our mountaintop cabin for the weekend was recently re-established in 2020 after having been destroyed in a forest fire. The entire mountain climb previous devastation was evident both in the plethora of newly built vacation rentals and in scenery.  Everywhere you turned the previous fires path was evident. While there was plenty of dense forest remaining, there was also patches of new growth amongst still standing charred remains of once thriving vegetation and trees.  I couldn’t help but relate to God’s handiwork amongst the growth and the devastation, and it got me to thinking and researching what it takes for proper regeneration after a roaring fire.  A forest CANNOT regenerate in a drought. It needs moisture. In fact, slower growth in younger trees due to a drought create a lack of carbon dioxide which, in turn,  increases global warming. I

 I’ve written AND deleted this blog umpteen times this week, umpteen 1000 and 1, if you were to count file 13 piled up inside my head.  There’s so much to talk about. Picture a film room in disarray, reels on shelves, the floor,  out of their cases.  A nearly dangerous web of unraveled tape strewn about.  Aimlessly leading to nothing yet pointing to something.  So let’s do some unraveling.  - I had $9.24 left in my bank account this week after paying my tithe and the rent. My only $8 in cash had went to someone else the day before. (They needed it more than me.) The girls are home from school for the summer, sending food cost through the roof, gas prices just topped $5/gal for regular,  in Smalltown USA, the phone bill is due, and I have $9.24 left in the bank. All pay day long, as I went about cleaning the church, I thanked Jireh for this opportunity to be stretched and not stressed.  Faith it till you make it.  The next day, I received a check for a prn childcare gig I had forgotten