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Kyle West Story-Truth Project
Why would God use a boy with cerebral palsy? That’s what 7 year-old Kyle West asked. Now 18, God has used Kyle in incredible ways, including on The Truth Project. Despite Kyle’s difficulties, God has a plan and purpose for his life and for yours. Watch Del's bonus teaching looking at the topic now or watch the full episode online now at Cross Examine's Facebook page www.facebook.com/CrossExamine.
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Dr. Del Tackett is the author, architect and teacher for Focus on the Family's The Truth Project, a nationwide initiative designed to bring the Christian worldview to the body of Christ.
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Clinging to That Which is Dear…but Not Always
Posted on May 29, 2010
Filed Under Personal | 31 Comments
I’ve thought often about the fact that we each have an invisible clock on our chest. It’s like a basketball clock and it is counting down. When it gets to zero, our life is over.
Except for those who are terminally ill, most of us don’t know what time is left on our clocks. For a few seconds today, I thought mine was out of digits.
After the snow snapped off a number of our trees, I realized that I needed to move an item up on my To Do list. There are several big limbs that are hanging over my roof and I needed to remove them. Now that isn’t such a big deal except that they are about 30 feet off the ground.
Well, today was another one of those phenomenal Rocky Mountain days and the winds were dead calm, so I figured it was time.
I hauled out my 32-foot ladder and put it up against the tree. Trees don’t make good supports for ladders because the trunk sits in the middle of the top rung and it causes the ladder to “rock” a little bit. But, if you make sure the bottom feet are secure on the ground, it is usually manageable.
Usually.
Well, I did a test run up the tree and found that if I stood on the next to the top rung, the first limb I needed to cut was still about four feet above my head. However, I have a lengthy log saw that I realized would be just enough to allow me to reach my target. It was a little shaky up there, but a perfectly placed limb on my left would give me something solid to hang on to and I figured that if I took it slow and easy, all should be well.
Should be.
(Anybody shaking their head?)
So, down I went and then up again with my log saw.
Now, everything was actually going quite well. Cutting the limb was slow because I couldn’t get much leverage, but I was making progress and so it was just a matter of time until my limb and my To Do item would be history.
I was almost history.
Here’s what happened next.
When I had cut almost all the way through the limb, it began to fall. However, since it wasn’t ALL the way through, the bottom part of the limb became a hinge…a hinge that worked perfectly well to allow the limb to swing down, and with perfect precision, hit the ladder and knock it out from under me.
Remember the perfectly placed limb on my left? That’s why I’m here to write this.
Actually, there were two other perfectly placed limbs—one for my right foot to land on and one on the left that caught the ladder and kept it from falling to the ground.
So, there I was, my left hand hanging onto a limb, my right arm wrapped around the tree, my right foot resting on a wonderful limb and my left foot (actually my toes) still barely on the ladder rung, but I’m doing a bad impression of the “splits”.
And the log saw was pinched in the limb above my head.
I was hoping it would stay pinched for a while. If not, it would probably saw off one of my limbs on its way down.
It’s funny, but as I clung to the tree, the classic line from Laurel and Hardy came to my mind, “Here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten me into!”
Actually, I was quite stable. It wasn’t as if I was about to fall or I was hanging on for dear life. My left hand had a good grip on the limb above me and my right foot was on a solid limb below me. And my right arm was hugging the tree like it was the love of my life.
(By the way, do you know that Ponderosa Pines have a butterscotch smell?)
I had my cell phone with me. It was buried in my left pants pocket. I wasn’t really sure if I could get it out without letting go of some things that I had become very fond of.
But, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to use it.
Who would I call?
911?
“Hello. Can I help you?”
“Uhhh, yes, I’m up in a tree.”
“Pardon me?”
“I’m up in a tree.”
“That’s what I thought you said. Are you okay?”
“Uhhh, sure. I’m fine….how are you?”
“I’m doing well, sir. Thank you for asking.”
“My pleasure.”
“What are you doing up in the tree?”
“Well, right now, nothing.”
Anyway, I could imagine that it would eventually end up with the firemen coming to rescue me like they do when a cat gets stuck on a rooftop. They wouldn’t come quietly, either. They would come with sirens and lights flashing, just to make sure the entire Black Forest residents wouldn’t miss the fact that some stupid guy was stuck up in a tree.
I could imagine them smiling when they saw me.
And I would probably ask them to take a picture first.
None of this seemed pleasing to me and so I began to wonder if I could get the ladder back in position.
It really wasn’t that hard. I just had to get the courage to take my foot off of the second rung and move it up and over the top rung. Then, using the back of my foot and some effort (the ladder is very heavy), I eventually pulled it back to the main trunk.
After I got it centered and tested it several times for stability, I made my way down. I thought about kissing the ground, but that would have been a little dramatic.
Now, it could have ended there and I could have spent the rest of the day just being thankful that I was still alive and with feeling in my legs.
But, my Dad’s words came back to me, “The easiest time to get back on the horse…is just after she’s bucked you off.”
And there was some incentive to do so.
The limb and the log saw were still up there, hanging precariously, and I certainly couldn’t leave them that way.
So, up the ladder I went.
I was a little smarter cutting the second limb, scoring the bottom first and making sure the ladder was in a position that the limb couldn’t hit it.
Well, it was now about 9 a.m. and, with great satisfaction, I crossed this one off my list. But I took some time to thank the Lord for His kindness and to think about how this day could have ended up drastically different.
Monday is Memorial Day. We observe this holiday to commemorate those who have given their lives in military service. It would be safe to say that almost every one of them woke on the last day of their life not knowing that their clock was down to a few hours. For sure, many of them knew they were marching into danger. But they did so because they knew it had to be done. They sacrificed their lives for the sake of others.
Don’t let this day become just a holiday for you. Take some time to talk about courage and valor with your children or friends. Talk about the great love that is required when one lays down their life for another. Many did just that on the battlefield. Sometimes for a fellow soldier; always for a fellow citizen.
Nothing, however, matches the courage and valor and love that was demonstrated by a carpenter from Nazareth who gave up His life for you and for me. It, too, was on the battlefield. The same battlefield we all face every day.
Clinging to a tree, thirty feet above the ground, can clarify the preciousness of life. In most cases, it is right to preserve it with every ounce of strength you can muster.
But, there are also times when it must be held lightly. Times when it is appropriate to risk everything for the sake of others and for the sake of truth and what is right. Times when courage and valor and love demand you sacrifice that which, under normal circumstances, you would cling to tightly.
Times when we are called to be the hero.
Times like now.
Comments
31 Responses to “Clinging to That Which is Dear…but Not Always”
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I recently watched a man cut down a huge tree limb by limb all by himself. It was across the street from the office I work in. The other girls and I watched and worried! As you told your story I was able to picture it in my mind very clearly! Yes, my first thought was what “were you thinking”??? But you’re right, it had to be done.
Today in our church service we saw a short video in recognition of Memorial Day, and there were several quotes splashed across the screen as the video played. One quote in particular, short and sweet, caught mt attention – “It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.” – George S. Patton
Please next time use a saftey rope on you, the latter and the saw. It not the fall that hurts it is the sudden stop at the bottom.
Having lived a rural lifestyle for most of my life I can just SO relate to your stories and I too feel God leading me in these activities to see Him. I also ride a motorcycle and I see Him everyehwere and He speaks to me continually with analogies of what I see to what He is doing in my life. Thank you for sharing your gifts….may God be greatly glorified!
I do outside lawn service work. Sometimes that includes using a chain saw or gas-powered hedge clippers. And, sometimes some of the clipping work is done from a short ladder or scaffold.
I have two rules: (1) Never work alone. Always have somebody nearby, even if just as an observer. Chain saws (I know, you weren’t using a chain saw, but just to make a point about safety), and gas-powered hedge clippers are dangerous tools. And,(2) Keep my cell phone is an easily accessible place (e.g. open shirt pocket). My cell has #9 speed dial programmed as the local emergency service (police, fire).
I have worked at residences when a local tree service was also at work. My observation from seeing them work: Leave some jobs to others who are trained and have proper equipment. Doing tree work safely looks easy for those who know how, but for others, the simple becomes difficult, and the outcome can be disaster.
Wow. I’ve got goose bumps thinking about what you went through. I’ve had similar experiences in life and am thankful for them. At those moments it really does cause us to focus on what’s important in life…or at least, what we think is important. It also raises questions like “Do I really trust God with my life?”. It’s the same with any disaster or life threatoning event. They are terrifying, but I sometimes wonder if God allows some of us to go them to bring us back to reality. I find myself so caught up in entertainment or things I want to own but can’t afford, etc. Daily concerns that in reality are of little importance. Well, that’s just my own experience. There’s probably something completely difference that God wants to show each individual through those sort of incidents.
I thank God you’re still here with us because I am loving the changes that I’ve experienced/witnesses through The Truth Project and want more. It’s an answer to many prayers.
Stay fresh and don’t lose your ladder again if you can help it. Take care man.
-Shane Newville
Hey Del:
I may not be able to pronounce “cairns”, but I can sure pronounce “d-u-m-b”. I’d like to be the beneficiary on your life insurance policy – I’m older than you, but I have a feeling it would be a safe investment to pay the premiums. It was a funny story from the minute you put the ladder on the tree — no way that was going to work out good.
Terry
I liked your story, especially since you finished the job. Wonderful. Very challenging. Glad your okay, and live to write the story.
Lynn
I realy enjoyed your story. I love the way you explain how this all took place, and the descriptions of what happened to you. Wow, how fun!!!! I know how that situation could feel, but God still wants you here. Love you Del, and the Truth Project. God’s richest blessing’s to you and your’s. Jack
One day as I was backing out the driveway to go to work my husband said that he was going to cut some limbs off of our big pine tree in the front yard.
My response as I leaned out the car window was, “OK, but remember that if you fall out of the tree you are going to lay there until I get home”.
He said, “I think I’ll call someone to come over and do it”. He Did.
Praising God for the wisdom and wit He has given you to recognize and share a lesson from even mundane chores. Thanking God for your safety.
Del
Been there, done that!!
What an exciting experience,knowing you have been the recipient of God’s Grace.
God’s sense of humor demonstrated in my now being a safety trainer who teaches fall protection!
He has used you often to point to him in the Glory of Creation.
Thanks for all you have done in the Truth Project
Rick
So glad this had a happy ending (and am pointing out the “finishing the project and crossing it off the list” part to my husband). You and The Truth Project have become pretty important in my life and I thank God on a regular basis for you both!
I had a 90-year-old friend who fell off a ladder against a tree…He died shortly after making a full recovery. In addition to the brother’s comment above about never working alone (and in my case, the Lord has protected me when I was not smart enough to protect myself!) I think maybe it would have been good to tie the ladder to the tree with a short piece of rope and a couple good sailor or Boy Scout knots. For the moment, at least, the Lord continues to preserve us. I’m grateful!
Perhaps for safety reasons renting or borrowing a lift truck would have been a safer route?
Your tree experience describes mine almost exactly except my ladder was perched on our deck so I could just reach the branch with my electric chain saw if I streched a bit on top of the ladder. Another difference is I had no support branch. As the branch “hinged” down and peeled the bark off the tree it hit the ground and seesawed knocking the ladder from under me. The only reason I am here to write is I hit the barbeque grill enough off center where it collapsed sideways slowing my fall a bit. I laid there for a long while waiting for the Lord to say hello or to feel the pain slam home but amazingly I was unhurt and played golf the next day.
Delllll…never use a ladder to do tree work!!! My husband and I own a tree service business. Any time you need some work just say the word and we’ll be there. We love The Truth Project and you. God bless, Ron and Eve
But, there are also times when it must be held lightly. Times when it is appropriate to risk everything for the sake of others and for the sake of truth and what is right. Times when courage and valor and love demand you sacrifice that which, under normal circumstances, you would cling to tightly.
Times when we are called to be the hero.
Times like now.
Now is indeed the time. I really hope it is not too late. BTW, I have attended TTP three times and facilitated twice. What an inspiration it is. Sorry, the previous post just slipped away from me. Blessings, Bob…
I just taught a bible school lesson about how we must trust God in every situation. The point to the lesson was that we all have trying times but we must get ” back on the saddle again. ” Your experience makes for a prime example for tomorrow’s review.
Del, we have a new rule around our house for those of us over 50, which I think you are: STAY OFF OF LADDERS!! My husband broke his arm this spring and it is not worth the risk anymore. Call the tree guy next time. He’s bonded! Thank God you’re OK.
Glad you’re okay and thanks for being humble enough to share your story! *_*
My youngest brother is the director of Family Life Ministries for the Orient with Campus Crusade for Christ. A few years ago, they discovered that their precious, youngest daughter was born profoundly deaf. And so they decided to return to the States, to the log home he and his wife had built several years before, so their daughter Sophia could have a cochlear implant.
It was during this time that he decided to remove a couple of pine trees that were dangerously close to their home. This was done with the utmost of care, yet even so several things happened–actually simultaneously–that were not in the plan, shall we say.
While his daughter was playing downstairs he climbed the tree and began removing the limbs so that he could fell it without incident, or so he thought. He was using a chain saw & because he lived in logging country, he was fimilar with loggers who had had their limbs removed & other serious accidents that had left them unable to work, or worse. These men were left as living examples to others loggers and the community to pay attention when using power tools in felling trees. So it was with a heightened awareness that he began his work. Yet even so accidents cannot be planned for. Actually, he had already successfully felled the limbs and was on the ground cutting up the branches when it happened–as the saw sliced through the branch of the limb, he watched, as the saw grabbed his pant leg! With no time to stand there horrified, he instead mustered all the strength he had and threw the saw as far away from him as he possibly could. Standing there shaking, he looked up to see his little girl standing there making the sign language for monster, with the look of absolute terror across her little face!
Just learning to hear at the age of three, she had never yet heard many sounds, and the chain saw made a sound, which she could only interpret as a monster loudly attacking her daddy!
What he had interpreted as an act of protecting his family, had turned into an attack not only on himself, but on the very one he was trying to protect.
I think that often we believe we are the only one being affected by the difficulties of our lives. But how others interpret these things is up to us.
I recently had an accident in which I broke my back causing me to damage my spinal cord and it left me a paraplegic. After the surgery, I was told, by my surgeon, that he tested the damaged nerves with electrodes and that there was no reading. In other words, there were no electrical impulses whatsover generated at the damaged nerve root. And that that meant I would never be able to walk again.
What he did not realize was that the Holy Spirit was already speaking to my heart and giving me the assurance that I would walk again.
Fifteen months later, through the power of prayer I am walking with just a cane! An experience I share with anyone willing to listen. And although I am not yet totally healed, I am very near to it, and I have a testimony to share with those in need of both physical and spiritual healing.
God has his way in the whirlwind & the storm. We cannot necessarily understand his ways but we can always take whatever we are given and use it for his glory–if we can remember those around us who are also in pain.
PTL you survived! Quite the ordeal!
Fixing a window at the top of my barn, the bottom of my very tall extension ladder slid out on the slippery-ness of Wisconsin’s morning dew. I rode that ladder right down the side of my barn, and when I hit the concrete I shattered my right wrist. Skillful surgery, and weeks of physical therapy got me back in shape, but at considerable price. (Try flossing your teeth with your left hand alone!) Next time I’m hiring a pro (at the insistence of my wife!) Del, you’re too valuable to lose here on earth… heaven is great, but you’ve yet an important job to do here. God bless!
Chaplain Ken, USN(Retired)
A Wisconsin “Hobby Farmer”
You and I are alive for one reason, brother … to bear fruit for eternity! I’m glad that you are still here to be a continual conduit of His truth in His love! As for me, after all the care I took while standing on a solid branch, the branch above that I cut sheared off the one I was on … thankful for the other branch I clung to that saved my life. Now, I cling to The Branch so that those around me might have life, too!
When I read your blog I knew right where you were going. Been there, done that. Usually when I’m up a tree on a ladder I tie it to the trunk so that won’t happen. One time I didn’t. Fortunately I was only up 15 feet or so. This was going to be easy. No need to tie on. Branch hits ground and bends like a pole vault pole to sweep me off the tree. I sort of rode the ladder down, landed in a heap, and emerged unscathed. I’m about your age and this happened last year. So maybe our adversary is doing variations on a theme. In any case I’m glad you’re OK.
Del, It’s funny as I read this I thought about quote I heard today on the plane to Dallas, one older cowboy was talking to another (they were coming back from the Reno Rodeo)and he said “life is like a roll of toilet paper, the closer you get to the end the faster it goes”! I bet it seemed like it was going fast up there in that tree. Your story also reminded me of a comment one of my Young Life leaders made to me after I survived yet another of my misadventures. She said, “God must have important work for you to do because He’s sure missed a number of chances to take you out!! So obviously you’ve got more to do for him yet!
Dear friend Del,
I had to laugh out loud because I was shaking my head when you wrote that comment: It was timed perfectly. Sounds like something my dad would have done… He was so brave & independent when it came to these kinds of jobs… though he always taught me to never climb a ladder more than 3 steps high without a buddy. Although, I think he rarely ever took his own advice on that subject. ; ) He was an adventurer at heart, and so are you.
Take care & glad to hear you are okay ~ A friend and Sister in Christ ~ Tonya
Del,
As my Great-Grandfather used to say, “Vee get to soon oldt, und to late schmart”! I too have had a tree trimming experience with the ladder a pine tree and a chain saw. Mine ended with all parts parting company but I was much closer to the ground. What should be simple and safe often isn’t. PTL for grace, mercy, and the presence of the Holy Spirit to minister it all! I am very glad you are still with us and sound!
SEVERAL MONTHS AGO,MY BROTHER DECIDED HE NEEDED TO FIX SOMRTHING ON HIS ROOF TOP. HE TOOK OUT HIS LATTER AND CLIMBED UP. WHETHER HE FINISHED HIS JOB ON THE ROOF OR NOT IS A MISTERY TO ME. BUT JUST RECENTLY MY SISTER-IN-LAW INFORMED ME THAT MY BROTHER FELL OFF THE LATTER, AND IN DOING SO HIS BODY TWISTED WEST AND HIS LEG TWISTED EAST. YES, HE BROKE HIS LEG, JUST BELOW THE KNEE, AND TORE SOME TENDONS. IT COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE, PRAISE GOD, IT WAS NOT. MY ADVICE TO YOU, AND MY BROTHER, IS THIS: STAY OFF THE LATTER, AND LET A PROFESSIONAL TO DO THE JOB.
Wow, what a story, and what a predicament. God is so good!!! We’ll be starting our second Truth Project class soon and I’m excited and a little nervous, too. Will people come? Yes, God is able to bring the people He wants to be there. Will our tiny house be big enough? Of course it will. Whoever God sends we will make room for. Will we be sufficient to lead this group? No~~but God is!!! I’m thankful God was sufficient for your tree, ladder&saw experience. I thank God for you and the TP. ginny
Del, What does your wife think of this story? My husband makes me very nervous when he gets out the ladder! I’m glad you are well and safe. Also good to remember, freedom comes with a high price. Our little lake community recently hosted an early July 4th concert on the beach and all the songs of the various armed forces were played and the veterans in attendance were encouraged to stand during “their song”… so wonderful, powerful.. so good to remember. Happy 4th to you and yours, Terri