Wednesday, September 1, 2004

10:54 PM Today’s entry in the Crosswalk weblog is called Dumb, Dumb, Dumb. 9:25 PM A bit of sad news. The massive elm tree that towers over the west parking lot will be cut down tomorrow. The century-old tree has Dutch Elm disease so the village is cutting it down to protect other elm trees in the village. John Sredl, Davis Duggins and I stood under its massive limbs this afternoon and looked at it one final time. From ground level, the tree looks remarkably healthy, but the upper branches are already entirely bare. That tree has lived through two world wars, the Great Depression, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and both Gulf Wars. But it could not survive the beetles that brought the disease that took the life from its branches. As with most other things in life, I had hardly thought about the tree at all until I found it was going to be cut down. They say you don’t miss the water till the well runs dry. And you don’t miss the elm tree until they come to cut it down. 10:22 AM Counting down the days … 7 days until the Concert of Prayer for “God Speaks Today” 11 days until the “God Speaks Today” series begins. 22 days until “First Watch” begins.