“‘When life [or in our case, God] gives you a lemon … make lemonade.’ You can trust God to teach you to trust and be patient, because God knows what is on the inside.
I’ve worked at Trail West Lodge as a maintenance guy for 16 years. In 2011, a major wind storm knocked down a lot of old-growth trees. After assessing the damage and culling what we could for firewood, we had to make some decisions. One of the felled trees was an old-growth ponderosa pine that came down right in between our log fort (Fort Chisman) and our well-head shed. The fallen tree completely missed the fort and slightly damaged the shed. I believe God had a hand in this, he knew the potential of what was on the inside of that tree.
After a couple of years of fighting to keep the tree stump from
becoming table slabs or firewood, God went to work. An intern was asked to find an artist who could carve the stump. After a lot of time, the right artist, Bill Fee, was found. Bill could not believe how big the stump was. The tree had originally stood over 150 feet tall and was 120 inches in circumference. When he and his crew came out, they started showing us what God had in mind.
As Young Life’s only family camp, fitting with our mission, we wanted a sculpture with a family theme. We told him we wanted a bear and cub. Bill and his associate started carving at noon, and 12 hours later at midnight, they were done. Come up to Trail West Lodge and see the beauty that came from the ugly. Thanks, God!” — Tim Stange, maintenance technician III, Trail West.
By Younglife.
Lucho Llanca 
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