Christ’s Tree
Daddy, daddy I see Jesus!
Event 04/13/1998
To celebrate my son Austin’s fifth birthday my oldest sister Marybeth had traveled up from Jacksonville FL. to Greenville S.C. The Monday after his birthday on Saturday 4/11/98 my sister, Austin and I drove to Table Rock State Park in South Carolina to go fishing, hiking and have a picnic lunch. The park is 3,083 acres in size and is at the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains in northern Pickens County, South Carolina. Within the park is Pinnacle Mountain, the tallest mountain totally within the state. The park offers almost any thing you would want to do out doors. One of the first things you notice as you enter the park is beautiful Lake Pinnacle. The Lake is 36 acres in size and offers fishing, protected swimming with a life guard and also canoeing and paddle boating. As soon as Austin saw the lake the first thing he wanted to do was go fishing. His love of fishing and patients to do so did not come from me. When it comes to fishing he has the patients of Job, and he would always out last me and out fish me even at age five. Next up was renting a paddle boat, for about an hour. We had a great time and we covered a fair amount of distance paralleling the shoreline of the lake. After going paddle boating we went swimming for about forty five minutes.
It was now almost one o’clock and we were getting hungry, so next up was the picnic lunch. My wife Sharon and my sister Marybeth had fixed a great lunch with all of the items you might imagine. After eating, we all took it easy and rested for about thirty minutes. Our trip to the park would not be complete without a hike. The park offers six trails, and we selected one that was fairly easy and the three of us headed out. I can’t say enough about how beautiful the park and the hiking trails are. After about a mile and a half Marybeth said she was getting tired and she was going to head back. From our position the trail got quite a bit steeper and there was a short foot bridge spanning a shallow raven about eighty yards ahead of us. I said, “OK, you head back but were going to go to the bridge and see what’s on the other side, we’ll be back in a little while."
After we crossed the bridge Austin picked up his pace and he was now about thirty yards ahead of me. After we walked forty or fifty more yards I got my first glimpse of a huge oak tree that had fallen over on its side. It was huge and it’s root ball / structure was completely exposed and was vertical to the rest of the tree. I believe the tree was at least 200 years old. Just before I got abeam the tree I called out to Austin, and said “Son, son stop a minute, I want you to see a part of the tree that you don’t often get to see.” As soon as he turned around he hollered in an excited voice and said, “Daddy, daddy I see JESUS!” I responded, “You do, where?” He said, “He’s right above the tree, don’t you see him?” I turned and of course I looked up but as I was doing so I thought of my personal experience which also happened in April two years earlier. Because my time was my time and this event was Austin’s time, I was not disappointed in not seeing Jesus. After I gave a good look, I said, “No son, I don’t see him, he is only showing himself to you because this is your T-I-M-E." Next I said, “Why don’t you climb on top of the root ball and tell me what else you see and feel.”
As Austin was walking over to the tree he comments, “Jesus and I made this tree centuries and centuries ago.” Austin has always been a very spiritual child therefore some of the words he used did not surprised me but some of what he said amazed me. The selection and accurate use of the word century in relation to the age and being of the tree is what astounded me. He was only five years old when he said this. He absolutely had no concept of the duration of time which is a century, yet he used the word in perfect application. When Austin got to the tree I said again, "Go ahead and climb on top of the root ball and tell me what else you see and feel." Austin climbed to the top, then made his way over to a circular root which was so sharply curved that it formed almost two thirds of a circle, and then sits down. I said, “What else do you see and feel.” He places his right hand on the circular root and says, “This is his head.” He then points to a root to his left and a root to his right which are about half the distance from where he’s sitting to where the root ball is embedded in the ground. He comments,” Those are his arms.” Then he points again to his left and to his right to two roots who are larger in diameter than the first set. This set of roots is firmly implanted in the ground, and he says, “And those are his legs.” I stood there for several seconds and went over in my mind the things he had said. I then said, “You have just meet Christ and this is a very, very special day, go ahead and climb down and let’s get back to Marybeth.”
On the drive home both Marybeth and Austin fell asleep and I was glad because this allowed me more time to reflect on the things Austin said at the tree. Austin is our only child and we found each other through the loving process of adoption. I believe one reason he is so spiritual is because he's three quarters Osage American Indian. As soon as we got home and got settled in I asked my wife Sharon to come up stairs. I asked her in private, “Have you ever talked with Austin about what a century of time is?” She responded. “Of course not, it’s a concept he can’t understand, it’s a segment of time he can’t grasp.” I ask her, “What about at Pre-k, do you think they’ve talked about it there?” “No, children that young can’t comprehend that span of time.” I said, “I agree, and I know I’ve never talked to him about it either.” Sharon asked, “Why are you wondering this?” I replied, “Austin said some amazing things today in the park, lets wait till we go to bed and I’ll tell you then.”
Later that night as I was putting Austin to bed, I asked him, “Are you sure you saw Jesus at the tree?” He said, “Yes, daddy yes.” I asked, “What did he look like, Austin responded, “He looked like everyone in the whole world, his face looks like everyones face.”
What a day, indeed what a day in the presence of Christ’s Tree