Psalm 119:27(MSG)Help me understand these things inside and out so I can ponder your miracle-wonders.
Snuggled deep beneath the layers of blankets, I squirmed a little closer toward the bottom of the bed in an effort to shield my eyes from the light that was spewing out from underneath the bathroom door. It was a day off for me and I intended to make every second of slumber count. No frenzied wake up call, no breakfast to hurriedly prepare, no shoes to find, no planners to sign, just a lazy morning after a late awakening. Or so, that was the plan.
My husband was up early; 5:30am to be exact. Unfortunately, this was not a day off for him. He is normally quite considerate of my "sleep in" days, but not this day. He went into the the other room in his usual manner, but when he came out, he said, in a rather loud voice, "We don't have any water!!" I sat up in a dazed and disoriented state and responded, "What do you mean, 'We don't have any water?'" He repeated, "We don't have any water!" I said, "What? How's that possible? Do you mean we don't have any water coming out of the shower? Is the pipe frozen again" "No," he said, "We don't have ANY water!" It was comically reminiscent of one of the "Three Stooges" routines from days gone by where they would talk about the names of the baseball players until everyone involved was thrown into a state of confusion. Do you remember it? In a conversation between the men, they would say something like..."Who's on first? No. Who's on second. No. What's on second...Who's on first." It would go on and on like this until one of the stooges got mad!
Anyway, once my sleepy brain grasped what he was saying, I jumped up and we both went running for the basement. At that point, we each had enough cells firing in our gray matter, that we realized perhaps there was a broken water pipe downstairs. He ran to the hot water heater, as I bolted off to the washing machine. We gratefully found no ankle deep liquid about our feet. Phew.
But, wait!! In years past we had a pipe out in the yard break underground. It formed a small stream running through our backyard. Maybe that was it? We threw open the door to the front yard and passed the flashlight over the ground. Nothing. We spun around to repeat the task in the back yard. Nope. Again, nothing. If there wasn't a broken line somewhere within our home, then what in the world was going on?
To confirm our findings, my husband, sporting a robe and slippers I might add, walked out to the water meter in the dark to check the dial on the water usage moniter. It was sitting still, allowing us to realize that the water problem was not internal, but instead somewhere beyond our house. Phew!! No water pipes busted. NO money down the drain...quite literally...chuckle.
But...huh? Why don't we have water? We proceeded to call the city utilities company and inform them of our dilemma. As we waited on the line for an answer to our perplexing problem, my mind went racing off to the "emergency kit" that we were supposed to have prepared for the time when we might need a three or four day supply. I quickly started counting up the water bottles we had available in the fridge....there were four. OK...we could last the morning. Nice preparation. It was eerily similar to the day when the power went out because of the ice storm in 2007. When the C.U. operator came back on the line, she informed us that all of the southwest side of town had been calling in with the same report.
It's not good to be without water. I take so much for granted in my nice warm in the winter, cool in the summer, dry house that is free from bugs, spiders (well almost free of them thanks to spider traps), and dirt. The ability to walk over to a sink and turn on crystal clear drinking water whenever I feel a little thirsty is not a luxury to be dismissed as easily as I do. Embarrassingly, I even complain about having to drink eight glasses of water a day. Sigh....
It is with great humiliation that I admit these things and ask the Lord (as the verse says today) to "help me understand" these blessings, so I can give God all of the glory for the wondrous miracles that I take for granted every day! The blessing of water is just one of the many gifts that I busily brush by on a daily basis.
It turned out, in our case that a water main along the highway had broken and the crews were out fixing it. They had it repaired within hours, so my four bottles of water lasted the few hours that I needed them to. Yay! But something else lasted within my heart for the entire week. It was the sense that there are people who don't have any water to drink. In fact people are dying everyday because of it.
Not surprising to me, because this is how the Lord works in my life (remember there are no "coincidences" in life), when I arrived at church on Sunday morning there was a "Water Drilling Rig" in our church parking lot. There was also a video on the precious lives being lost in northern Kenya hourly due to their inability to get water! Our pastor challenged us to help. We are partnering with WorldServe International to take Water Drilling Rigs to Kenya and drill life giving water wells. It costs money. I can't go to Kenya at this juncture in my life, but surely I can help. Uniquely, right now, our church has the opportunity to give money and whatever we give will be matched dollar for dollar by another donor. What an opportunity! (Click here if you would like more information about this mission outreach.)
I don't think this would have meant as much to me had we not experienced our brief little period without water this last week, but as the Lord is so kind to do, He softens and prepares our hearts for exactly what He has in store for us. The Lord helped me to understand that I am so blessed to live in a land where water flows plentifully. It is most certainly one of His "miracle wonders" and I want to do all I can to help others obtain this life giving resource.
Father,
So many times I actually miss Your hand in my life. Forgive me for my insensitivity to Your blessings and help me to be more aware of the goodness that surrounds me. I am asking for a great harvest of wells to be placed in the dry areas of Kenya. May You protect and give the life saving water that is so needed in this parched land.
In the thirst quenching name of Jesus,
Amen
Snuggled deep beneath the layers of blankets, I squirmed a little closer toward the bottom of the bed in an effort to shield my eyes from the light that was spewing out from underneath the bathroom door. It was a day off for me and I intended to make every second of slumber count. No frenzied wake up call, no breakfast to hurriedly prepare, no shoes to find, no planners to sign, just a lazy morning after a late awakening. Or so, that was the plan.
My husband was up early; 5:30am to be exact. Unfortunately, this was not a day off for him. He is normally quite considerate of my "sleep in" days, but not this day. He went into the the other room in his usual manner, but when he came out, he said, in a rather loud voice, "We don't have any water!!" I sat up in a dazed and disoriented state and responded, "What do you mean, 'We don't have any water?'" He repeated, "We don't have any water!" I said, "What? How's that possible? Do you mean we don't have any water coming out of the shower? Is the pipe frozen again" "No," he said, "We don't have ANY water!" It was comically reminiscent of one of the "Three Stooges" routines from days gone by where they would talk about the names of the baseball players until everyone involved was thrown into a state of confusion. Do you remember it? In a conversation between the men, they would say something like..."Who's on first? No. Who's on second. No. What's on second...Who's on first." It would go on and on like this until one of the stooges got mad!
Anyway, once my sleepy brain grasped what he was saying, I jumped up and we both went running for the basement. At that point, we each had enough cells firing in our gray matter, that we realized perhaps there was a broken water pipe downstairs. He ran to the hot water heater, as I bolted off to the washing machine. We gratefully found no ankle deep liquid about our feet. Phew.
But, wait!! In years past we had a pipe out in the yard break underground. It formed a small stream running through our backyard. Maybe that was it? We threw open the door to the front yard and passed the flashlight over the ground. Nothing. We spun around to repeat the task in the back yard. Nope. Again, nothing. If there wasn't a broken line somewhere within our home, then what in the world was going on?
To confirm our findings, my husband, sporting a robe and slippers I might add, walked out to the water meter in the dark to check the dial on the water usage moniter. It was sitting still, allowing us to realize that the water problem was not internal, but instead somewhere beyond our house. Phew!! No water pipes busted. NO money down the drain...quite literally...chuckle.
But...huh? Why don't we have water? We proceeded to call the city utilities company and inform them of our dilemma. As we waited on the line for an answer to our perplexing problem, my mind went racing off to the "emergency kit" that we were supposed to have prepared for the time when we might need a three or four day supply. I quickly started counting up the water bottles we had available in the fridge....there were four. OK...we could last the morning. Nice preparation. It was eerily similar to the day when the power went out because of the ice storm in 2007. When the C.U. operator came back on the line, she informed us that all of the southwest side of town had been calling in with the same report.
It's not good to be without water. I take so much for granted in my nice warm in the winter, cool in the summer, dry house that is free from bugs, spiders (well almost free of them thanks to spider traps), and dirt. The ability to walk over to a sink and turn on crystal clear drinking water whenever I feel a little thirsty is not a luxury to be dismissed as easily as I do. Embarrassingly, I even complain about having to drink eight glasses of water a day. Sigh....
It is with great humiliation that I admit these things and ask the Lord (as the verse says today) to "help me understand" these blessings, so I can give God all of the glory for the wondrous miracles that I take for granted every day! The blessing of water is just one of the many gifts that I busily brush by on a daily basis.
It turned out, in our case that a water main along the highway had broken and the crews were out fixing it. They had it repaired within hours, so my four bottles of water lasted the few hours that I needed them to. Yay! But something else lasted within my heart for the entire week. It was the sense that there are people who don't have any water to drink. In fact people are dying everyday because of it.
 |
| Sitting on our parking lot at church Sunday. |
I don't think this would have meant as much to me had we not experienced our brief little period without water this last week, but as the Lord is so kind to do, He softens and prepares our hearts for exactly what He has in store for us. The Lord helped me to understand that I am so blessed to live in a land where water flows plentifully. It is most certainly one of His "miracle wonders" and I want to do all I can to help others obtain this life giving resource.
Father,
So many times I actually miss Your hand in my life. Forgive me for my insensitivity to Your blessings and help me to be more aware of the goodness that surrounds me. I am asking for a great harvest of wells to be placed in the dry areas of Kenya. May You protect and give the life saving water that is so needed in this parched land.
In the thirst quenching name of Jesus,
Amen
