Tillamook

In my previous post, I spoke of some of the adventures we had in Tillamook County, Oregon several years ago. I did not include one of the most interesting aspects of our visit, specifically it was having the opportunity to get up close and personal with The Octopus Tree.

This tree is located just a few hundred feet from the Cape Meares Lighthouse. It is a massive Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) that has multiple monikers, including: The Monstrosity Tree, The Candelabra Tree, The Council Tree and The Octopus Tree.

Oregon 2009 434 (C) Octupus Tree at Cape Meares State Park near Tillimook Oregon — The Octopus Tree, Cape Meares State Park, Tillamook County, Oregon

The tree is certainly not hard to miss – it has a 50 foot base, it reaches upward over 100 feet. Its most incredible characteristic, however, is that it has no central trunk! Instead of growing straight up from the trunk, the limbs extend horizontally from the base as much as 16 feet before turning heavenward. This gives it the appearance of an inverted octopus.

Oregon 2009 435 — The base of The Octopus Tree showing no central trunk but sturdy branches growing horizontally.

It is impossible to determine the tree’s actual age because, to do that, we would need to cut it down and examine the rings. No sense in destroying such an incredible living thing simply for that purpose. But, it is believed to be 250 to 300 years old, which would date the tree at the time when the Native American Indians lived in the area. In support of this theory, rumors exist that the Octopus Tree got its shape from being used to hold their canoes with their dead in them. In other words, it is believed that the tree was a sort of burial site or a site used for sacred purposes.

Octupus tree looking up Oregon 2009 436 — The beautiful limbs soar overhead.

The tree’s limbs towering overhead are beautiful in their strength and dignity. It would appear that the tree is thriving, notwithstanding its unique formation at the base.

For more information I would encourage you to look at the following websites provide a great deal more information about Tillamook County, Oregon. I would then encourage you to visit the area itself.

http://gotillamook.com/things-to-do/sights/cape-meares-octopus-tree/ and https://theoregoncoast.info/OctopusTree.html

Beside from being an interesting place to visit, what does the Octopus Tree have to do with me? Or with you?

The Octopus Tree provides us with an example of God’s creation extolling His greatness, even if distorted or disfigured through time or by the acts of others.

Paul says this about the condition of His creation after sin entered and broke the relationship between the creation and the Creator:

“For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.”

Romans 8:19-22 ESV

When sin entered the world, everything changed. Instead of love reigning and instead of walking in fellowship with God, mankind now spoke of hate and walked in opposition to His Creator. That continues even to this day. A brief look at the news headlines confirms that the world is in the grips of sin and that evil rules almost without opposition.

How many of us have been abused as children; have been in destructive relationships; have been addicted to drugs or alcohol or have endured any of a multitude of other addictions? How many of us have been in poverty, have been hungry, have been sick and hospitalized? How many of us have been subjected to these conditions because of the actions of others?

That is the story of The Octopus Tree. It was misshapen and became a tree unlike any of those surrounding it in the forest. Whether forces of nature changed the tree’s shape or whether it was the result of being used in some sort of religious rite, the result was disfiguring of the beautiful tree. But it still stands, growing in God’s sunshine, honoring the Creator by reaching to the heavens.

So to, when we have been subjected to hard times, trials and the evils in our world, we may well become misshapen, scarred, and have hurts that are too deep to even mention to our loved ones. We know they are there nonetheless. No matter what has happened to and/or through us, we can still stand in the grace and power of our God. We can honor our Creator by looking to Him, reading His Word, surrendering our will to Him and living for Him as guided by the Holy Spirit. We can grow in His Son-shine, the Light of the world, Who shines on us and infuses His light into us so that we then can brighten the darkness we find around us.

You can be The Octopus Tree in your neighborhood. If you are misshapen and scarred, that adds character and strength to your witness of God’s goodness, love, mercy and grace. Share your witness and the Word with those around you – God will use it for His purposes, you can be assured of that!

By all means, if you are in Oregon, take time to visit Tillamook County. Open your eyes and open your heart and hear your Creator speak to you as you see the sights and hear the sounds around you, both in Oregon and wherever you call home.

Father, I pray that You would empower me as I live my life, scarred and misshapen though I am. I pray that I would bring You honor and glory and that Your Word would be on my tongue as I spread Your truth to others.

On one of our trips out West, we drove up the Oregon coast and found that there is much to see and do in Tillamook County. For example, you can take a tour and taste incredibly delicious cheese at the Tillamook Cheese factory.

Oregon 2009 456 (C) — Tillamook Cheese factory – tour and taste testing of marvelous cheeses awaits. Be sure you are hungry — enjoy!

A marvelous sampling of their cheeses prompts purchases of the goodies, as well as investigation into the stores at home where we can acquire the cheese without traveling across the country! In fact, I would love to enjoy God’s creation right now by having some Tillamook cheese!

A real treat awaits the traveler because the Oregon coastline itself provides beautiful images of the ocean with the waves breaking upon rocky shoreline.

Oregon lighthouse 2009 422 — Oregon coastline shows waves pummeling the shore.

Another place to visit in Tillamook County is the Cape Meares State Park which boasts the Cape Meares Lighthouse. A wide asphalt trail goes from the parking area, through the forest, into the clearing with the lighthouse directly ahead.

USED Oregon 2009 417 Cape Meares Lighthouse Ore — A stroll through the woods, down the paved trail, heads straight to the lighthouse at the coast.

The lighthouse is 38 feet tall, not exactly stellar height for a lighthouse. In fact, it is the shortest lighthouse in Oregon. But, it sits at the coastline on the top of a cliff making its effective height 223 feet above sea level. So despite its own short stature, when the light was operating, it could be seen for 21 miles.

USED Cape Meares Lighthouse short - not height but placement Oregon 2009 424 — The lighthouse exhibits all her 38 feet in stature!

Beside from being an interesting place to visit, what does Tillamook County, Oregon have to do with me? Or with you?

I think it provides us with an illustration and/or lesson for our life and our Christian walk, especially when we focus on Ephesians 2:8-10.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Ephesians 2:10 ESV

The lighthouse was built for a purpose – it was to warn mariners that they were approaching the shoreline and it was dangerous to come too close. It was to provide navigational assistance, and it saved lives as a result of its light shining far out over the water.

USED Lighthouse lamp Oregon 2009 419 (C) — Its purpose was to provide light to the mariner in a time when GPS did not exist.

Notably, it did all this while being only 38 feet tall. Its effective height did not come from itself, rather it came from the terrain on which it was placed – the cliff was high and from that vantage point, the little lighthouse could be seen for 21 miles.

Paul says that we have been saved through grace by faith alone. We had nothing to do with securing our salvation from sin; Jesus Christ did that atoning work on the cross for us. And, we did nothing to deserve the atonement that He provided. It was a gift of grace – not based on our work, our reputation, our finances, our stature in the community, our anything.

The reason for this gift is stated in verse 10 – we were created by God in Christ for good works that God had prepared for us to do long before we were born.

God is sovereign. He is in control of our world and all that is in it. His will, His purpose, will be accomplished and mankind cannot thwart it. In Concise Theology, J. I. Packer says:

“The assertion of God’s absolute sovereignty in creation, providence, and grace is basic to biblical belief and biblical praise.” [Sovereignty, God Reigns at page 33.]

One of the best descriptions of God’s sovereignty came from a pagan king after a lesson God provided to him.

“At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?“”

Daniel 4:34-35 ESV

The little lighthouse had a job to do and it was able to do it because of strength that was not its own – it was based upon the strength of the mountain on which it was built. We were created by God and saved from our sin by Jesus Christ so that we could do the work that God preordained for us to do all for His glory and His purposes through the power of the Holy Spirit.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

John 15:5 ESV

We have no strength in our own self to do anything of eternal, lasting value for God. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to do God’s work in the world.

Am I serving His purpose, the good work that God had preordained for me to do? Am I working for the Lord through my own power and for my own reputation or am I relying on Him and the Holy Spirit to work through me for the glory of God? Am I refusing to shine because I am only of modest stature, or am I willing to shine my brightest for my Lord and let the Holy Spirit magnify the light so that it shines where He wants it to go?

Father, I give You honor and glory for Your sovereign love and mercy, grace and power that was shown by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. I pray that You would give power to these words and that they would accomplish that which You desire, through Christ Jesus I pray.