Time Was Not on My Side

Last week, the week of Christmas, was a blur. Work, last minute shopping, two 8 hour days volunteering at church, then Christmas morning festivities, cooking for parties at my parent’s house and also the in-laws…..man….I was looking forward to Sunday. No church (we had 18 Christmas Eve services in 3 days prior to Christmas day), so Sunday was going to be me, a good book and the NFL. If my kids could pry the remote or the book out of my hands, then maybe I would play with them. I can’t remember a day in a long time that I so eagerly anticipated. When we returned home Christmas night after an 18 hour day and only 4 hours of sleep the night before, I had a strong sense of foreboding that my Sunday was not going to happen as planned. “We don’t have any water!” my wife cried out. I will spare you my impulsive thought. This was the second time in two weeks that I heard a similar plea. The first time our water line was frozen and my white shiny Reebok wearing brother in law, Joel, came over with his blowtorch and solved the problem. I didn’t have a blowtorch and since it was midnight, I thought I would spare him the trouble. That was my Christmas gift to him. With nothing to do (my BBQ lighter wouldn’t do the trick) I went to bed.

I awoke to several inches of snow on the ground, treacherous road conditions and no water in the house. I just wanted to go back to bed. Have you been without water? Think of the implications: no showers, no dishwashing, no flushing toilets, no washing hands or clothes. I don’t know how they made it in the little house on the prairie. Instead of going back to bed, I put on warm clothes and endangered my life to go get jugs of water and a torch. A husband’s and a father’s duty…

After talking with Joel by phone and 3 hours of heating the water lines, I surmised that the problem wasn’t a frozen line after all. I was frozen, but not the water lines. Instead I had a bad pressure switch and I don’t know how to install a new one. It’s Sunday, the day after Christmas and the chances of getting a plumber or electrician here was impossible or at the least very expensive. I hated to call Joel again. I always have to call Joel. I didn’t have to call Joel. As I was hanging by the end of my rope, Joel pulled up in the driveway. Can you ask for a better friend?

After driving to Lowe’s and installing a new pressure switch which proved to be faulty and then driving back to Lowe’s to get another one, we finished everything around 7:30pm. My whole day was gone. The one day that I looked forward to so much evaporated like a mist on a hot July morning. All so my family could flush.

At a point earlier in the day, I had a revelation. It’s probably during our trials when we get most of our revelations. But I felt like God said to me,

“So…you wanted a day for yourself, time to do whatever you pleased?”

Yep…I mean yes, sir.

“What about Me?”

 You?

“Have you spent any time with me lately?”

Well, no, not really.

“When was the last time you read the Bible?”

Hmmm…

“When was the last time you spoke to Me in prayer?”

Uhhh…

“Well, that time you wanted for yourself…not gonna happen.”

Then He reminded me: But seek first the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33). Draw near to God and He will draw near to you (James 4:8).

So, the day wasn’t a total loss. I got reminded again how great a friend I have in Joel; I learned how to install a pressure switch and once again I realized that God loves me enough that He will do what it takes to get through to my very thick skull. That means there is hope for all of you.