Split Decision

When life gives you a fallen tree, make firewood. It’s an Appalachian twist on the lemons/lemonade mindset. Admittedly, it was daunting staring at the huge trees lying in the field where spring storms had forced them to surrender. How were we ever going to solve yet another challenge added to our lengthy to-do list?
 My sister Cindy has a saying we often repeat, “God will provide.” And He did yet again. Cousins Chandler and Paula came with their chainsaw, wood splitter, muscle, and motivation. A quote by Henry Ford pretty much summed it up, “Chop your own wood and it will warm you twice.” He sure nailed that one! Many of those logs took two people to wrestle under the blade of the wood splitter, but in a few focused days we worked up enough firewood to keep Mom warm all winter!
 One thing that nearly broke me though was occasionally a log would crack open under the 28-ton pressure of the wood splitter blade to reveal several hideous flat-headed white worms sticking out of holes. Ugh! It gives me shivers just thinking about them! I wondered how they ever got into the center of the tree, so I looked them up online (which I don’t recommend unless you want to dry heave like a city-slicker). They are called Pacific Flathead Borer Beetle larvae, and the adult insect bores its way into the tree and lays eggs. They are like sin that creeps in and destroys us from the inside.  Incidentally, the beetles seek out weakened or stressed trees to invade, which can also true of sin.
 Mountain people impress me. Firstly none of the others gagged and carried on over the Pacific Flatheads. Secondly, they knew their surroundings…naming trees and how to get them to fall in just the right spot…Oak and Locust are some of the best for firewood, but popular and sycamore aren’t ideal because they don’t produce much heat. I also learned the importance of getting firewood stored up now when winter is still months away, allowing time for the sap to dry out so the wood will be ready when the snow flies. Country folk also possess legendary tenacity and when I was ready to quit with my parched tongue dragging the ground, one of them would say spiritedly, “There’s still some room on the trailer!”
 I was curious if people split wood in the Bible and sure enough they did.  Abraham split wood to take on the mountain for his most obedient burnt offering (Genesis 22:3). And when the Philistines returned the Ark of the Covenant to Israel in a cart drawn by two cows, the people stopped harvesting wheat, chopped up the wood of the cart, and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering (1 Samuel 6:14). They knew what to do with the gifts God gave them, and used those gifts to praise Him.  We can learn a thing or two from these ancient wood splitters.
 Scripture tells us God Himself did a lot of splitting.  He split desert rocks to bring forth water, split water to produce dry ground, and at times split the ground to bring water. Whatever the people needed, He provided. He even split the temple’s curtain of separation!
 Let’s not split hairs, God sees the sin deep inside us that nobody else sees but sometimes is revealed under pressure…and He provides us with Jesus. We just need to decide what we are going to do with Jesus ASAP or as we say on the farm “lickety split!” because 1 Corinthians 15:52 indicates He will return ”in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye”. Imagine a split-second to change our forever!  Let’s remember a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways, so like a good mountaineer, it might pay us to get ready in this season… because there is no time for a split decision.

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