Saved by One Word

During the first 10 years that we lived in Wisconsin, Loren and our neighbor Carl would spend several weekends in the late summer and early fall cutting down trees, splitting the logs and stacking them neatly under both of our decks. We heated our homes with wood burning furnaces. Wood was plentiful and fuel oil was expensive. After 10 years, our income was higher and the price per gallon of fuel oil was lower, so Loren and I discontinued using the wood furnace.

Fast forward to Ballwin 20 years later. We had a large tree in our backyard with one dead branch that needed to be trimmed. After 10 years of consistently cutting down trees and more years trimming them, Loren had lots of experience. We were aware of the dangers involved but this was just a branch, not the entire tree, so I was not overly concerned.

I was concerned about him balancing on a ladder to cut the branch and wanted to be sure the ladder was secure, so I was at the base holding it in place. As Loren began to cut, I was looking up and lots of sawdust was raining down upon me, so I looked away. It was from this moment that I don’t recall all the details, only that I heard, “Run” and I did. The branch had snapped upward knocking Loren’s arm and the chain saw was propelled away from him. He was clinging to a branch and the ladder had toppled over. The chainsaw was still running when it landed in the place where I had been standing.

Loren did not tell did me to run, and even if he had I would not have heard him above the roar of the chainsaw. I am very thankful that the “voice” spoke to me and that I listened.

Christine Polak August 2023

We hope you are inspired, not only by the faith we express, but by the

challenge to write your own faith story. We are re-posting the stories from last summer hoping you will be inspired to share your faith story with us.

 

If you write a faith story you would like to share with the congregation, send

it to Bill Tucker for feedback and publication. Only with your permission, we

will publish it on the St. Mark Blog.