Home

Opinion: by Gavin Berrier

As I perused through a book not too long ago, I was captivated by the following story:

The most sacred symbol in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is a tree: a sprawling, shade-bearing, eighty-year-old American elm. Tourists drive from miles around to see her. People pose for pictures beneath her. Arborists carefully protect her. She adorns posters and letterheads. Other trees grow larger, fuller, and even greener. But not one is equally cherished. The city treasures the tree, not for her appearance, but her endurance.

She endured the Oklahoma City bombing.

 Timothy McVeigh parked his death-laden truck only yards from her. His malice killed 168 people, wounded 850, destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, and buried the tree in rubble. No one expected it to survive. No one, in fact, gave any thought to the dusty, branch-stripped tree.

But then she began to bud.

Sprouts pressed through damaged bark; green leaves pushed away gray soot. Life resurrected from an acre of death. People noticed. The tree modeled the resilience the victims desired. So they gave the elm a name: the Survivor Tree.

What is a survivor? A survivor is one that can carry on despite hardship or trauma; persevere. It can also be said that a survivor is one who lives through affliction. I have learned over the last few years that one can become a victim to their circumstances in life or they can become a survivor of their circumstances, it is all a matter of the choice that one makes. We can either let the circumstances and situations that we face in life cripple us and become a victim to them or we can rise up and thrust through the gray soot, press through the damaged bark, and become a Survivor.

So the next time you find yourself in a situation that you are not so sure you can overcome, remember the words of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ which strengthenth me.” I can become a Survivor through Jesus Christ!

Timothy McVeighs still rock our worlds. They still, inexcusably, inexplicably maim and scar us. We want to imitate the tree – survive the evil and rise above the ruin! We too can be a Survivor!

Bro. Berrier is an Assistant to the Pastor at the Gospel Lighthouse of Arroyo Grande CA.