Sometimes God Has A Plan You Can't See
Dirty. Hard. Work. Those are words I associate with physical labor.
Surprise. That is generally not something I want or like.
Delay. This is what I do, when I don’t want to do what I need to do.
So it was not a great moment when my vacation out of state was interrupted by my neighbor’s email telling me that there was a deluge (a flood) coming from my front yard.
He had to turn the main water off to my house.
Here is how I dealt with that, and the lessons I learned.
Surprise. That is generally not something I want or like.
Delay. This is what I do, when I don’t want to do what I need to do.
So it was not a great moment when my vacation out of state was interrupted by my neighbor’s email telling me that there was a deluge (a flood) coming from my front yard.
He had to turn the main water off to my house.
Here is how I dealt with that, and the lessons I learned.
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The Flood Story.
So I got home from vacation and found out that it was the sprinkler system mains that broke not the main’s to the house. That was not what I wanted to hear, because the main to the house is the cities bill, the mains to my sprinkler is MY bill. But I turned off the main’s to the sprinkler and turned the house mains back on.I looked at it with a water guy from the city and he told me to un-bury the side that broke, should be an easy fix. Easy for him to say, I’ve spent my life avoiding physical labor. I looked forward to broken sprinklers because that meant dead grass and less mowing for me! Win for me! So I delayed fixing it.
That was June 2013.
So, it’s now March 2014 and my wife wants the sprinklers fixed so we can start our garden and put down weed killer, which needs water. So I dig out the side of the sprinkler main that was broken.
I stared at it for about ten minutes trying to figure out how to get a jagged piece of threaded plastic out of the metal threaded hole. I was not seeing a solution. Somewhere in the back of my mind was “fill in the hole and do it a different day…” But I kept staring at it, figuring out a plan in my head.
Then It Got Worse - My Kid Broke The Other Side
My boys want more time with their Daddy so they are out there with me and… my six year old falls-steps down into the box stepping on the pipe that is left and breaking off the other end… the end with the shut of valve. NOW I’ve got a flood on my hands. NOW I have to turn the main’s to the house off. Now we have no water in the house.
Now my project that I could delay on if I needed to, became an immediate need.
“I’m not going without water until your next day off, you are fixing this tonight…”, my wife said. “… and thanks for teaching your oldest son a new phrase.” she continued.
So after I calmed down, repented for yelling (which made my six year old cry and feel guilty) and teaching my nine year old a new phrase he has to unlearn, I prayed. I realized after prayer and examination of the left over evidence of chaos that all my child did was hurry the inevitable.
The sheer force needed to take out the plastic from the metal would have broken the other side off anyway and I would have had to do this work anyway. His foot did for me in a moment what would have taken me several days and attempts to figure out, or force myself to acknowledge; I needed to do both sides anyway!
The Solution Came By Favor
We went to the hardware store and got the new parts. We got there 20 minute before closing. There were three guys there who knew how to handle this work that gave me advice, helped me find the parts, and lent actual physical labor, right there in the plumbing aisle, to help me get the plastic pieces out of the metal.
The whole event cost me $33 (including a new tool which I can use again for other things in the future), and less than 3 hours of labor and store time combined.
Here’s what I learned.
1. Tackle The Task
Delay is bad. If I just did it, it could have been done almost a year ago, instead of being a dread in the back of my mind stealing my joy and peace every time I saw the lid to the compartment when I was anywhere near my front yard. I was dreading the time, money, and effort it would cost.It only cost $33, 3 hours, including time at the store, and very little effort, compared to the imaginations of my mind about what it was going to be. In fact, the water caused by my son’s accident soften the soil for me to dig too!
2. Unexpected can bring unexpected results.
My son broke it more, which, turned out to be a good thing., the very thing I needed!- It helped me commit to a course of action and delay no more.
- It helped me find a solution.
- It helped me put the past behind me and move on.
3. Trust God. He’s Got Your Back.
Trust God. He can work it out perfectly! Because of the timing of the accident we got to the hardware store before it closed.If I’d sat there staring I couldn’t have gone to get the parts that night, or worse I could have tried to work on it, broke the mains, and then the store would have been closed and we would have had no water until the next day!
Sometimes you just need to Trust God, and Start Walking! Tweet That!
So here are the lessons:
1. Tackle The Task2. Unexpected can bring unexpected results.
3. Trust God. He’s Got Your Back.
This Weeks Resource:
Today I'd like to share two of my favorite books. They helped me understand how THE BLESSING of the Lord is not just a religious phrase, but one that matters in the smallest areas of life... it even causes Favor to work at the Hardware Store looking for PVC Pipes!
- The Blessing of the Lord Makes Rich and He Adds No Sorrow with It (Affiliate Link)
,
- Walking in divine favor (Affiliate Link),
And now I leave you with a question:
Tell us about the last time you just had to Trust and Start Walking?
To Respond: Leave a comment on this post
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By Darrell Wolfe
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Disclaimers:
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* Information here is As-Is. These are the opinions of a fellow traveler and seeker of truth. I am not a doctor, lawyer, licensed financial advisor, tax preparer, etc, etc... I'm just one guy, sharing what he's learned. As such, the information may be as true or faulty as the guy on the buss stop giving you directions. If you need accurate information I encourage you to seek the help of a professional in your field.
* I do make money from this blog. 1 Tim 5:18 says the worker is worthy of his wages. I do earn affiliate commissions or freebies from some of the products I discuss at various points on this blog. Regardless I only suggest things that have personally helped me, or someone I know. If you click on an "Affiliate Link" and you buy something I'll get a cut. Thanks for your support!
* I am a conservative Christian. I write from a bible-centric point of view. I welcome people from other points of view to jump into the conversation. If you don't like bible-centric writing: I encourage you not to read my posts.... Unless you want to learn something new.
* In all you do: Live Long and Prosper, with GOOD SUCCESS!
Thank you, Darrell Wolfe
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