I told Randy I had a potential bulletin for him, he said "OK, write it down." I guess I didn't have to twist his arm. Anyway, we had this 30 foot oak tree in our front yard that unfortunately had died. Unfortunate because it provided some really good shade for the porch during the summer.

I asked Randy if I could borrow his rope and chainsaw to take it down. He said "sure!" Now there are 4 steps to take down a tree. First, you make the "big cut" that consists of notching the tree on one side and cutting it on the back side and down it falls. I thought this was a lot like becoming a Christian. The tree was dead so it had to come down. Before I became a Christian I too was dead. Ephesians 2:1, "you are dead in your trespasses and sins." When we are baptized in Christ we make that "big cut" from living a worldly life.

Second, the next step that I recognized was to cut off all the branches. This too was like becoming a Christian. When we are first baptized we have this new found zeal for the Lord. And like removing the branches, the second step as new Christians being babes in Christ, we start to recognize and remove the "smaller issues" in our lives.

The third step is to cut up the trunk of the tree into manageable pieces that I could lift by myself and place into the wheelbarrow to cart off & discard. These are the "weightier pieces." As we become more mature in our Christianity we start to recognize and remove the weightier issues that are not Christ-like. 1Cor 14:20: "brethren, do not be children in your thinking, yet in evil be babes, but in your thinking be mature.”

Finally, the fourth step, "the maintenance." You use a lawn rake to rake up all the sawdust & little pieces you couldn't pick up by hand. That's the maintenance. And like becoming Christians, we make "the big cut," then recognize and remove the "smaller issues," then the "weightier issues." Finally as mature Christians we constantly have to maintain or be vigilant to keep the things out of our lives that might keep us from staying in accordance with the word of God, the "maintenance."

Brian K

help from other Christians with these things, just as we might get help dropping this tree, the job is still all ours from start to finish. This is one task that we simply have to handle personally! – RC>