The Lightning Tree

So I love making new discoveries. When they involve good food, interesting stories or unforgettable encounters of meeting others, newly discovered secrets can be life changing. Being of Irish descent, (among a few other colorful ethnicities,) I really appreciate when all of the aforementioned ingredients merge to produce a highly charged, transforming and entertaining life story bordering on legend. Of such things is the story stuff I am about to share.

One of my husband’s and my new favorite places is McColley’s Irish Pub in Spencerport, NY. It was recommended to us a few years back by some friends who knew we’d love the ambience of the Irish atmosphere, including thatched roof ceilings, authentic music and a menu that would do The Aran Islands proud.

Every time I step through McColley’s welcoming doors, my senses celebrate as I take in the charming fireplaces and saunter through the wooden dining room on the way to the “back room.”

My first encounter with the “Root Cellar” produced a wonderment at viewing a very tall tree hanging roots-end-up, suspended from the ceiling. The bark was stripped off, leaving the impression that this tree carried an unspoken but unique story. Curiously, it was a very comforting space. I stood there gazing at it, half-expecting some type of explanation or revelation. If that tree could speak, I wonder what it would say to me. I paused, listening for a few moments. But then dinner was waiting.

A few months go, seemingly out of the blue, my wondering met with an answer. During a “random” conversation with a resident of Spencerport, I unexpectedly learned the true story of the tree’s plight. It felt to me like this individual was speaking on behalf of the tree as she recounted the curious happening.

It seems that a young Spencerport man was in a season of questioning his true purpose in life. Standing alone near the local canal, he was desperate for answers and wondered if anyone really heard him when he cried out into the cosmos for validation and value. Ripe for a real reckoning, he even approached the God question. He had not been convinced that The Almighty ever existed but decided to put it all on the line when he heard himself call out, “God, if you’re really there, show me yourself and strike that tree over there with lightning right now!”

Immediately the tree was struck by lightning and came down. It seemed he was being spoken to in a language he could understand. At once, the barriers in the man’s heart and the lies he had believed about God were also uprooted and came down. The powerful love and kind reality of the real God came crashing into his life. This was the beginning of a life that has never been the same.

So, seeing that this man happened to be the owner of McColley’s Irish Pub, he transported the tree to the pub’s location and had it permanently afixed into the back room, roots-end-up, suspended from the ceiling. His own life had been transformed from upside down to right side up. This tree is displayed for all to see honored the supernatural encounter that permanently changed his life. It continues to spark wonderment to this day.

I have yet to meet this man and look forward to that happening one day. Somehow though, I feel I have already encountered part of his soul in the hearing of this truly electric life-changing encounter which is the stuff of which local Irish legends are made.

So now whenever we visit McColley’s, I visit and honor this tree that gave it’s life for a man’s divine encounter, curiously like another tree from long ago. Combine that with wonderful food, authentic music and lovely personal interactions, and you have a uniquely comforting, encouraging and inspiring place.

Who would have known that a tree could and still does speak a living, moving, active word? Who would believe it? I know of one man who does. What do you think?

I know I will never be the same since hearing the tale. Somehow … and rightly so, my life has been forever affected for the better because I have met “The Lightning Tree.”

Thanks for listening.