Sunday, January 1, 2012

Emmanuel עמנואל, “God is with us” Part II


Long before the first wisp of chimney smoke makes it's way up the flue and is carried along on the chilly November breeze to our olfactory senses, the preparations have already begun. With the passing of the oppressive summer heat and the previous vocational opportunities it afforded me I made new plans. It's fall,and so it's time for me to shift gears once again...
Literally!
Working in the logging woods is one of the cornerstones of the local economy where I live employing perhaps half of the local people in various capacities. In the past six years my involvement has been in nearly every aspect of it at one time or another.I've operated sawmills,skidded logs,hauled logs and sawed out products such as railroad ties and "cants". However,one thing I'd never done before was haul bulk logs on a "pole trailer" which is basically a very long piece of steel pipe with log stakes attached.
                                     looks like fun doesn't it?
Well let me tell you it's not...At least not for me it wasn't!
The reality of the dangerous nature of the work I was doing combined with the questionable mechanical integrity of the equipment I was operating was the source of much anxiety for me. Hauling the massive loads of logs to the local mills was also problematic in that I was sure any DOT officer worth his salt would certainly shut me down and ticket me based on the numerous safety compliance violations of said vehicle.
But what a blessing...I immediately made a renewed commitment to praying!
I did it before leaving,quite often during the trip,and then I thanked God after and despite all of the aforementioned complications I was able to be quite successful. From my perspective God was faithful to me in so many ways during this time. A specific example of Gods favor toward me was that despite the fact that I was carrying very heavy loads on some very thin trailer tires over roads full of sharp rocks I only had one flat tire! If I'd of had that flat on the state highway instead of on the gravel road where it did happen it definitely would've been a much bigger deal! It happened right in front of this old country church which gave me the opportunity to check it out and take some really neat pictures of it's interior! I've had people tell me it's a symptom of being delusional to place unwarranted significance upon chance occurrences or to read too much into what is most likely just coincidence and I understand that...but when you're hauling a load of logs down a two lane hilly,curvy road and you experience a sudden loss of power due to a lack of fuel and then at the last moment before you stall out in the road you see a perfect place to pull over it's hard to just brush it off as luck...over and over again
I wonder if they understand that?

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