I had a complicated situation arise a while back with a large oak tree on our farm. The tree was off of the edge of the township road and the federal highway that run by our farm. I really like large oak trees that stand so strong and beautiful, and yes, I liked this big tree that stood next to the fence of my heifer pasture. But there was one big problem with it that I saw every time I walked by it; the bottom 1 foot of the tree was 90% rotted away. The stump should have been close to 3 feet in diameter, but in most places, it was only 2 to 3 inches thick, and in a number of places, I could see daylight through it.

It stood there so beautiful and majestic, full of leaves, oftentimes with a lot of blackbirds and crows sitting in it. I’m sure everybody who drove by thought it was a super-strong tree that would continue to stand there for many years. They couldn’t see the base of the tree because of the grass and small brush around it. Sometimes things look good from a distance, but when you get up close it’s a totally different story. Such was the case with this tree.

I was amazed that this tree had stood all these years considering the condition it was in. As I surveyed the situation, I didn’t like the looks of it at all. In the past, I have cut some trees down that were next to my fenceline on the road right-of-way to keep them from going down on my fence. We, along with the authorities, don’t like cattle out on the road because of fallen-down trees.

This tree was a unique situation though. If it went to the north, it would smash down my heifer fence. If it went to the west, it would end up totally blocking the township road, and if it went to the east, it would smash down the state highway fence. Looking at this tree, I didn’t know which way it would want to go, and if it went the wrong way, I knew I would be in trouble. With the bottom so rotten, I knew it could be a real challenge to cut and also be dangerous.  

So I figured I better play it safe and call the township authorities. When I told them about it, they were very surprised. They could hardly believe me. But at my insistence, they agreed to stop and look at it. Shortly thereafter, they stopped and were shocked at what they saw. Right away they gave me the authority to cut it down. That wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted them to do it because of the risk involved and because it was either on their land or the federal highway land.

They replied, “We think it is on your land, and we don’t want to do it because the state gets real upset if we smash down their highway fence with a tree. It’s on your land, it’s your responsibility.”

I responded, “This land here, because of the corner in the road and with the federal highway turning slightly, can’t be my land. It has to either be the township’s land or the federal highway’s land.”

After chewing it over for a while, they reluctantly agreed with me.

When they were leaving, they told me they would contact the county that handles the work on the highway and see what they would do. Shortly thereafter, they said the county would come and cut the tree down, under two conditions. One, the township would have a couple of men out here to control traffic on the road. Two, they could put the big hunks of the tree on my land for me to take care of later. The township was more than happy with the proposal, and I said I would gladly take the wood for firewood.

On the agreed-upon day, they all showed up with a bunch of equipment, including a big front-end loader. Like I figured, it was a nasty tree to cut down. The man started to cut the tree, and the tree pinched his chainsaw bar tight. He took the bar off of the saw and put a different one on to finish cutting the tree down. He still had an awful tough time getting it cut. Then, the tree went in the wrong direction and took two other good-sized trees with it before coming to a stop on the highway fence. Not only that, one of the other good-sized trees ended up on my heifer fence.

After that, they cut the trees up, putting the big hunks on my land with their front-end loader. Then they burned the brush and fixed up their highway fence while I fixed mine.

John, one of the men from the township, said to me, “It’s good we had them out to do it because they don’t say anything when they smash the highway fence down.”

With that, we both broke out laughing.

I was relieved to have the large oak tree safely down and spent the next few days cutting it all up into firewood for my wood furnace.

If that tree had a strong trunk, we would have never cut it down. So many people in our world today are like that tree. They look good and strong, but if you get close to them, you find they are bad and weak, either from bad habits or sinful things. Sometimes when they crash, they unfortunately take others with them. I have seen this so many times in my life and it is so sad. It doesn’t have to be this way; we can repent and change. God is only a prayer away; I know from personal experience.