Tim's tree

I remember it like it was yesterday. We were moving into out apartment in Louisville Ky. It was a day of unpacking, taking boxes to the dumpster then unpacking some more. In the mist of it, Tim came through the door holding a small dead looking twig in a busted up pot. It Looked like its former owners gave up on it and put it in the trash. Leaving it there to die. Tim could not stand it and brought it home to nurse it back to health. It was the twigs lucky day because if it had been me taking the boxes to the dump it would have been left there. I have never been much of a plant person. I laughed at him for bringing it home. I could not imagine that it would live. It was practically dead. All brown and dried up. Despite what I thought, it lived and thrived under Tims loving care.
Then came time for Tim to graduate from seminary and for us to move to Georgia. The small tree as it had become now was use to the colder, milder climate of Kentucky. I really did not think it would go well for it. First it had to survive the move then the climate change. Tim loaded it carefully into his station wagon. When we arrived in Georgia, it slowly began to loose its leaves over the next few weeks and look "sick". I thought yeap this is it. Tim however never gave up on his little tree. He gave it extra nutrients in the soil and nursed it and it began to thrive again. It grew and thrived year after year.
After five years in Georgia it was time for another move. This time to a little milder climate in SC. I knew this would not be a great climate change for the tree but still could it really survive another change. He Loaded it in the back of his truck and we were off again. As it had before, it lost all its leaves over the next few weeks. Tim nursed on it again and once again it begin to grow its leaves and thrive. I marveled at this amazing little tree.
Then the time came for us to move again. This time it was just me and the kids. Tim wasnt with us anymore. I carefully loaded the tree in my van as tears rolled down my face. I will take care of you little tree. The tree must have know that I had little knowledge of how to care for it because it did not loose its leaves in this move. It never looked sick.
I was repotting the tree again today for the 3rd time in 5 years. Oh little tree what you have seen. You were rescued from the dump. You were saved. You saw our laugher in our first years of marriage. You saw our joy in getting our first baby KC our cat who still lives with us.You saw our tears over not being able to have kids. You saw the joy of the adoption of the boys, then Caitlyn. You have seen the highs and loves in our lives. I just wonder what you will see in the future.

WHY

I know everyone has things in their lives that they wonder WHY. I read it everyday in my news feed. I see people fighting cancer, children going through diseases, people dealing with injuries, operations that dont work and so on. The sad fact is that it is a fact of life. If you are not dealing with a why now then you will one day. I have found that the best way to deal with a why is to see how God can be glorified by the situation. This is not always easy.
In my own life, as fathers day approaches we deal with our BIGGEST why. That is why God took Tim. I have my own theories mostly that his work was done. But I also see all the people that came to Christ because of him. We may never know the real reason but what I do know is that I am not the only one that goes through a why and I can use my situation to help others.