Rivers Outside, River Inside

I love rivers.  I love the sound of the water and the smell of the sea.  I love the breeze against my face.  I love to hear the slurping sound our paddles make as they plunge into the river and I love the feel of the water dripping onto my arms and legs as the paddle comes out of the water.

I do not like, however, to see a river in my sun-room.

Last night I went into the sun-room to get something for my daughter and I noticed a river coming out of the laundry room.  Water had spilled out from under the door into the sun-room and was quickly making a river.  Ironically, the sun-room is the room where we store our three kayaks and all the paraphernalia needed for a kayaking trip.

As I quickly began wiping up the water with a nearby towel, I remember a fleeting prayer of thanksgiving for the ceramic tile we had put in that room several years earlier.  Even the inside walls are made of brick as this room was added onto the house by the previous owners.

It was easy to determine the source of our flood.  Our water heater had sprung a leak…or two…or three.  Water seemed to be coming from all sorts of places.  Were my son home and much younger, I would have suspected he might have used the water heater for “target practice.”

As a young boy, he would take his b-b gun outside and shoot at various targets.  In spite of strict guidelines set by his parents, we still find little b-b holes around our house where he had not had the greatest judgment in choosing his targets.  I can’t complain too much, he did grow up to become a Marksman instructor with the USMC.

Our water heater was leaking up high and down low.  We managed to turn off the gas, our prime directive at the time.  But we never managed to completely turn off the water.  A slow but steady stream of water, via water hose now, continued from our water heater to the front yard.  Almost insultingly, it started to rain on top of all that water.

You don’t truly appreciate hot water until it is turned off. Washing dishes with cold water just doesn’t seem the same.  Neither does taking a bath or a shower.  I don't even what to think about washing my hair with cold water! Do plumbing problems always happen on Saturdays?

During all our mopping and drying and mopping again and drying again, it would have been easy for either or both of us to succumb to the temptation to be at the least irritated, and at the most worried.  But we sat at the water heater calm, even making jokes.  

 We took a break while waiting for the water to drain (which we incorrectly supposed at the time would reach a finishing point) and cleaned the inside of our car.  We did not feel worry or despair.  Actually, we felt peace.  We both know that we have a Lord who has been in the habit of supplying our needs and taking care of us for over thirty years now.  As I often say to Glen when we speak of these things, “The Lord hasn’t let us go hungry yet.”

Confidence and trust are wonderful things, indeed, it is great to have confidence and trust in people. How much greater to have confidence and trust in the Lord of Universe, the One who hangs the very stars in place. How great to know He not only knows our needs, but He cares about our needs, and He has provided for our needs before we even call.  Now that is someone deserving of confidence!

The Lord is my Light and my Salvation,

Whom then shall I fear, whom then shall I fear?

The Lord is the Strength of my Life, the Lord is the Strength of my Life,

In whom then shall I be afraid?