leak

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I Lacked Something Really Important

This week I realized I lacked something most people would assume I had. 

We sometimes assume that a store will have a certain item we are looking for, only to find when we get there that they are out-of-stock or worse – they don’t even sell that product at all. 

Not long ago I needed to purchase a wooden end plug for a new hockey stick I had bought.  The store I usually get them from was out-of-stock at the time.  

I thought I would see if I could get one at another sports store. 

When I couldn’t find even a spot for these plugs on any of their shelving, I asked an employee. His initial reaction told me they didn’t have them. He had no clue what I was talking about, so he checked his little handheld computer to discover the store didn’t even carry them.

I wasn’t that surprised to find they didn’t have them at this time – after all it is summer – but I did assume they would carry the product since hockey is one of their specialties. 

Then this week I found myself not only lacking a stick plug, but something more important.

For the last ten months we have been dealing with a leaky roof at our church. The ability to stop the leak has eluded the roofers for the umpteenth times they have tried to fix it. 

In the mean time, our caretaker has made two elaborate troughs to catch the water and keep it from hitting the carpet. These troughs are each about six feet long and very noticeable. 

The other day our caretaker said to me, “Maybe we should put the troughs away for now.”  

We haven’t had any leaks for the past three weeks and the last time the roofers came they fixed a large section that they discovered might be the problem. 

Since then we haven’t had a leak, but we also have not had much rain to really test it. 

I hesitated and said, “I’d like to believe it’s fixed but I’m not holding my breath.” … We’ve had high hopes before, only for them to be dashed a short time later when the roof started leaking again. 

I finally replied, “Well, let’s just move one trough out of the way underneath the coat rack.” I wanted it close by so that if it started leaking we could put it back quickly.

My caretaker wanted to get both troughs out of sight, but I didn’t really want to go that far.

Then he wanted to sit the other trough inside the one we put under the coat rack, virtually removing any leakage protection we had. 

To that I said, “You have more faith than I do.”

I got to thinking … I’m the guy most people would think would have the faith to believe that our leaky roof has been fixed. Faith is the basis of my job as a pastor. But here I was low on faith for something my caretaker had no problem with. 

Here’s the thing: I don’t lack faith in God, but I did lack faith in what God would do for us in this particular situation. When you lack faith, your actions or non-actions will give you away. That’s when you need to think a little more about your lack of faith. Figure out why you lack faith for something and then take steps to apply your faith in God for that thing. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What is something in your life you realize you have lacked faith for and really need to trust God with? Leave your comments below.

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I Didn’t Think The “Wet Lands” Meant My Basement

It sure has been a wet spring where I live. There have probably been years where we’ve had more moisture in April and May, but I can’t remember any.

It always strikes me that when you have a record-breaking day, it is only record-breaking to a certain point, like “this is the hottest day on record … since 1923”, or “we haven’t had this much snow for 31 years”, or “this is the most rain we’ve had since Noah finished building his ark”.

It seems that with weather there is always a day somewhere back in time that was cooler, hotter, wetter that what we are experiencing today.

But I will say that, in the last month, my sump pump has NEVER gotten as much exercise as this … period.

I probably I need to qualify that too, however; we’ve only had the sump for 8 months.

We’ve lived in our home for 21 years, and when we bought the house it came with a sump pump in the basement.

I was not too familiar with sump pumps, having never lived in a house that had one before. So I didn’t pay too much attention to it.

For several years it would turn on and suck some water from the reservoir in the corner of our basement spare room. Any time I got to see it I was amazed at how fast the water shot out of the tube.

I remember one time being on our deck in the back yard and a firehouse volume of water came shooting out of the tube that extended from our house’s foundation.

It truly was remarkable.

But for many years I just forgot about the sump pump. I don’t think it did any pumping for years. I lost track of the last time I remember hearing it work.

One time we were looking at that area of the house and I tried to manually get it to pump. There was nothing; it didn’t work at all.

I figured that it was old and had stopped working due to lack of use. It had been that way for years.

Every once in a while we would get some moisture in our basement, but I never equated it to the sump pump not working.

This past fall, we took a look at our sump pump again and, sure enough, it still wasn’t working.

Now I’m not sure if the weatherman was warning people of a wet fall or not, but for some reason Lily and I thought we should replace our sump pump with a new one that worked.

I bought one, installed it, and I think it worked a few times last fall.

But that was nothing like this spring! We had a stretch of about 5 days of solid rain in which our sump pump came on every 2 – 3 minutes.

If we hadn’t had that sump, I’m sure our basement would have been about ankle deep in water.

Back in the fall, the thought of buying a new sump wouldn’t leave us. It stuck with us until we bought one … I’m sure glad it did!

Here’s the thing: God is speaking to us all the time, but often we are good at ignoring or dismissing His voice. Start listening and paying more attention to His voice; you’ll be glad you did.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What thought have you had that you are glad you acted on? Leave your comment below.