Our
day here started with an emergency call to a plumber.
Then
after not being able to reach my husband’s favorite bakery by phone for a
couple of days, I went down to the shop and found they couldn’t provide a cake in
time for his birthday due to their wedding schedule.
I’ve
been having email server problems all week, and today when I checked my inbox,
over eight thousand emails had downloaded into my box. And twelve thousand more
are waiting to download. Really.
Did
I mention the dog threw up twice this morning? And not on the new floor we had
installed in the den so this kind of clean up would be easy, but on one of the two small
rugs in the room.
So,
we hoped we might just have to replace a part in our plumbing. But as it turns
out, our fixtures were installed about the same time Noah built
the Ark.
The
plumbers are in there right now banging around in the crawl space, tearing
out a wall in the bathroom, and putting in new copper pipe. Can you say “Ching, Ching?”
 |
| New copper plumbing |
All this made me think of a piece I never published which I wrote one winter day awhile back during a similar time when the road of a life was challenging and in a far more serious way.
Maybe your day’s not going well, either. So here it is:
“I
sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the way to Atlanta on Sunday, a trip I’ve
made countless times over the past few months, and one that is growing
tiresome.
I
scrolled across the radio dial looking for something to break the monotony. For
awhile, I listened to a little of the Georgia State Women's basketball game. I
don’t know anybody at Georgia State, I just like listening to sports on the
radio when I'm alone in the car, doesn’t matter what kind. My husband finds
this a mysterious behavior.
From
there, I tuned to Alexander Scourby reading Exodus 17-19. The children of
Israel were complaining, and Aaron and Hur helped Moses keep his hands
high. Love that story, and Scourby reads in such a compelling way, I hated for
him to quit. (Listen to another version here at Bible Gateway)
After
that was over, I found A Prairie Home Companion just in time to hear Garrison
Keillor sing, “The Plumber is the Man.”
Laughed hard.
The
plumber sure encouraged me on a day that was colder in more ways than just the temperature. He, Alexander Scourby, the children of
Israel, and the Georgia State Women's basketball team helped me make it to Atlanta and
back without falling asleep or rear ending anyone, praise God!”
Beloved speaker and author Barbara Johnson who tragically lost two sons in a nine year period once wrote, "Wherever
Jesus is, there’s a party going on. His grace is the yeast that makes hope and joy
rise in your heart…Developing my sense of humor and unwrapping grace daily
helps me hang in there even when I don’t get the answers I want. With Jesus
beside me, I’ve learned to read the funnies of life and leave the rest of the
newspaper lie.”
So,
today, once more the plumbers are saving us. When they get through, I’m telling them about the song, because they could need a laugh, too. And I might listen to it a few more
times myself. I’m going to need something to do while my twelve thousand
emails are downloading. Maybe I’ll
invite Alexander Scourby and the children of Israel over and we'll all have a big party.
Still gonna have to wait on that cake, though.
"...Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10).