Tree Falls on Seminole Heights Pastor
Seminole Heights United Methodist Church Pastor Sharon Davis sustained serious injuries after a tree limb fell on her as she prayed, and the community is rallying to help her.
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TAMPA, FL -- Local Pastor Sharon Davis' nightly walk is a routine she is well known for.
At the end, she sits in the same spot outside Seminole Heights United Methodist Church to pray for the community and the church and to reflect on everything she has been working on. But on Sunday night, her walk ended with a surprise from above.
As Davis prayed, she heard a cracking sound coming from overhead. Before she could even look up, church members said, she was struck by a falling tree limb on the church's steps. She doesn't remember being struck, but she remembers waking up on the ground, according to church member Beni Blankenship.
"The tree limb threw her back and down, breaking her clavical in three places and cutting her head open pretty bad," Blankenship said. "Other than that she is just really sore and is doing OK. When you look at the pictures, it's a miracle it didn't do worse."
The large tree limb is believed to have been weakened by the wrath of Tropical Storm Debby which hit the city of Tampa so hard just a week ago. Luckily for Davis, there happened to be a neighbor outside their home who saw the event unfold and was able to dial 911 within minutes.
Word of the incident is spreading fast around the church community, which is making plans to rally around Davis and give her any assistance she may need as she heals in the coming weeks and months, Blankenship said. Davis was still hospitalized as of Monday afternoon, church members said.
"People are starting to ask, and we're getting organized to try and see what we can do," Blankenship said. "She's right handed, and it was her right shoulder, so we have to see what we can do as far as putting out a call to take some food over and help out with cleaning. Right now she is just asking for prayers for healing and for her husband Len."
For more information about how you can help Pastor Davis, call Seminole Heights United Methodist Church at 813-236-5931.
Laura Gainer
12:52 pm on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
A sign from above perhaps? Bless their hearts, I guess we'll never know because you can rest assured it's a question no self respecting Christian would ever ask their Lord and Saviour; even though admonishment, or chastisement as it's described in the Bible is from Christ and only extended to those He loves. Instead, ignoring it by keeping up a pretense of thanking God for those imagined consequences that could have happened and didn't, which then become a blessing, is the order of the day. Unfortunately, since almost none of the scripture's truth is actually spoken much less believed, it's little wonder then when it's written "if we say we have no sin, we lie and do not the truth," so that even though God's love never fails; it can and does, with wasted breath, fade away.
John
3:17 pm on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Try to make sense once, rambling nonsense!
Rebecca Trusty
2:52 pm on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
What on Earth are these comments about? Thankfully, the Pastor is okay and will fully recover, most likely. God bless her community and church family for rallying around her and her family to support them as she heals.
Helen K
3:08 pm on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Laura, for someone that quotes the Bible, you did so easily leave out the Scripture in 1 Corinthians 13 that says "Love never fails" so God's love does not and cannot fade away.
We humans are so quick to judge - if everything was in our control - each one of us might be the only lonely person on this earth.
If a tree falls on me - and I walk away - I would definetly take that as a good sign. Of course I'd wonder why it happened - but I guess if the winds are 60 mph that day, I think I'd take the weater report as a clue.
Laura Gainer
6:08 pm on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
right, that's supposed to be our end of the bargain for which history, especially Christian history, testifies to when we fail to uphold our end of the deal. I'm not judging, I'm just stating what the Bible says and it only makes sense, when we fail to recognize it, there's very little God can do.
Andrew
11:41 pm on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
If a tree doesn't fall on me and I walk away is that a good sign, too? Is it a good sign if I get cancer and survive or is it better that the deity takes me to be with it in "heaven"? If I survive, doesn't that mean that the deity doesn't want me? The bottom line: why do people who "believe" in an afterlife cling to life so vigorously?
John
3:21 pm on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
What is wrong with you morons. The way you write, you could just as well be speaking an unknown alien language. If I wrote like you people do I would do the universe a favor and shoot myself for being dumber than a rock!
Claude M
4:25 pm on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Then do us a favour! Just don't talk about it do it!
freethinkr
3:41 pm on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
I find it interesting that God crushed her calvicle in three places and cut open a gaping wound in her head and then some delusional religious freak can re-interpret this mishap and then turn it around and call it a mirikle. lol...
There are no miracles in science.
wllharrington
4:27 pm on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Sounds like an Act of God to me.
MDB
4:40 pm on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
To each his own......
......but as a rep to a savior I'd ask "what did she do to deserve having a tree thrown at her?"
......but with that said under the live and let live motto......."get well soon"
RMJ
5:20 pm on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
THERE ARE A LOTS OF SICK MIND OUT THERE, AND EVERYONE REALLY NEEDS TO READ THE BIBLE, START WITH 1ST JOHN, 1,2,3, LIVE LIKE CHRIST, WHEN YOU FINISH READING THESE BOOKS, YOU WOULD THINK, TALK OR WALK THE WAY YOU ARE NOW. NOT EVER. IF YOU DO, YOU ARE A CHILD OF THE DEVIL.
Andrew
11:23 pm on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
While you are certainly entitled to your own interpretation of scriptural mythology, I see nothing humble, meek, non-judgmental, loving or "Christian" in your accusatory condemnation of others.
Ruth Agda Rice
6:03 pm on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Ruth Rice
From Trilby UMC, Trilby, FL
Pastor Sharon, we are praying for your complete recovery. God's blessings as you heal.:)
Andrew
11:34 pm on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
While I am truly glad that Pastor Davis escaped serious injury, I am, as usual, amazed that the ease with which the "faithful" are able to accept a less than lethal act of nature as miraculous. If one's deity were going to dole out a miracle in such a case, why not simply prevent the branch from falling on Pastor Davis in the first place? Or, for that matter, feed one of the hungry kids in the neighborhood?
Helen K
12:26 am on Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Andrew, after reading your comments, I would think yes -
I take it as a good sign of God's mercy that a tree did not fall on you and you walked away.
Trisha Lynn Dragon
4:09 am on Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Ouch. That sucks. Hope she heals quickly.
Diane C. Siddons
11:47 am on Monday, July 16, 2012
To my Dear, Sweet Friend - Get well soon! Diane C. Siddons, Pineville, AR