A once in a generation blizzard slammed into Buffalo, New York that sadly left many people without electricity in the cold and worse a few people were unable to get home and died. Despite the efforts of our heroic first responders, the blinding snow storm prevented finding people stranded in the storm to save their lives. I had been deployed to help utility workers who found the dead in their cars while repairing the down power lines to restore electricity to homes.
Then again there are many stories like Jay who recused people in the storm. He found an empty school that he broke into and brought the stranded survivors inside out of the cold. These survivors bunked on the floor and cooked cafeteria food until they were able to leave the school in safety leaving a note of thanks.
For 72 hours, I looked outside the windows of our farm and watched the 60 mile per hour plus winds toss the trees like twigs. Then on Christmas Day, while I was Zooming Mass from my study, we got over a foot of snow dumped on the farm. Not the 70 plus inches at the Buffalo airport, but at the end of the storm we had a new landmark, a large locust tree had been uprooted and it was lying over the driveway hung up on the trees. Thank God there were no electrical wires down or caught up in this tree, but this poised a danger for anyone driving to our home and the tree needed to be brought down. But who was I going to call for help?
John was my guardian angel. A retired teacher and expert forester, he checked out the location of the tree and call backed that he had a friend in Elma who cuts trees. My forester feared that we would not be able to save the serviceberry tree at the end of the driveway located near the 40 foot tall locust. He then introduced me to Patrick, whose truck had the sign printed “Timbercat.” He was the expert. He started to cut the locust from the bottom, a section at a time, so that the tree stood straight and did not roll to the side. John and Patrick huddled together to share their ideas how to fell the tree without damaging the serviceberry. I offered my two cents, and to my surprise they agreed it made sense to pull in the opposite direction to keep the giant locust from falling on the fragile serviceberry.
At one point, John shared that Patrick was a widower after his wife had died a few years ago in her forties to a rare form of cancer. As Patrick was preparing to lasso the tree with his rope and tie down to his truck, I shared my sympathy and prayers. Patrick appreciated the support and shared a message he received from his uncle. His uncle told him that what helps us get through the difficult moments of life are the positive connections you make. That was a God moment. In his moment of agony with the lost of his beloved spouse, he was told that he was not alone and he had friends who would be there for him.
2022 has had its share of pain and tragedies, Buffalo with its TOPS shootings, the blizzard of a generation that left many families grieving, and now I met a tree cutter who shared his lost but came to my rescue to make our land safe. In 2023, think about this. When was the last time you praised God for anything? In 2023, let our focus be on praising God for all those moments we have taken for granted.
Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that we learn to stay in the moment and ponder where God is calling you to be and do in 2023. By the way, the serviceberry tree still stands tall with no damage. Patrick did a great job in falling the tree away from the serviceberry. Now our driveway is safe, our serviceberry will grow for generations. “Praise God’ for all His goodness.”
