I Am Not A Plumber

July has not been a good month for me an plumbing.  In fact I can never remember a time I have had more plumbing problems, sadly I have no one to blame but myself. Earlier this month I was up in the attic storage getting some things down for a trip.  I accidentally and unknowingly bumped my attic A/C unit's drain pipe loose.  It did not start leaking until after we left on our trip.  Fortunately a family member came to take care of our dogs and found a stream of water flowing from the ceiling into our kitchen.  She got it stopped but now there is a big stain in my ceiling.

Next I went to repair the toilets in my parents old home.  The inside parts were all worn and not functioning, flappers need to be replaced and so forth.  I have done this before so I thought I could do this again and I was successful with one toilet but with the other, as I was hooking the flapper on to finish the job, the plastic part that holds the flapper completely broke off.  I will need to remove the tank and get a new part.  The bolts that hold the tank are rusted and almost impossible to get to.  I gave up for another day but felt defeated again by plumbing.

Not having picked up on the fact yet that I am not a plumber, I could not let well enough alone.  I have had a very leaky faucet at the back of my house for quite some time.  With all the dry weather watering we need to do, it leaks a lot.  I just couldn't stand it, I had to try to change it out.  I found what I need to repair it, thought it through, turned off the water at my meter and started what I thought would be a ten minute plumbing repair.  As soon as I twisted the old leaky faucet I knew something was wrong.  I stopped, returned it to its original position, turned the water back on and saw what I had feared - the pipe to the faucet had broken in the wall behind it.  I gave up in defeat again but this was not something I could just walk away from.

I called a plumber and told what had happened.  I was told, "We love you do-it-yourselfers."  Fortunately they came that afternoon.  As I led them to the back yard and my problem, I will never forget the look on the plumber's face as he saw it.  It is not the look that any homeowner wants to see.  He mumbled under his breath, "Oh my!"  Fortunately, skilled plumbers fixed my problem in a matter of minutes but now I have a hole in my bedroom wall with a view to the back of my new plumbing. 

Part of my problem is that I am a farm boy.  Farm boys thing they can fix anything and if they can't fix it they can use duct tape and bailing wire to make it work.  I must have been absent on the day where they showed how to use duct tape and bailing wire to fix plumbing.  I don't know how to do it.  It is clear, I am not a plumber.

We all have problems that we can't solve.  It is hard to admit that.  Fortunately the worst problem we cannot solve ourselves has been solved for us.  Jesus came to be a savior for us in the sin that we cannot fix - that always defeats us and leaves us with stains and holes in our soul.  But he did fix it and fix it completely.  He asked us to remind ourselves of that when we observe the Lord's Supper.  I hope you can join me Sunday.

For the journey...

Concert of Prayer

Each year I try to journey up to Sonday's Camp our annual youth camp.  It is a long journey but well worth it.  I have timed my visits to be a part of the Concert of Prayer.  On Thursday morning of camp, the sound of a lone bagpipe player signals that it is time to gather in the Worship Center.  Each church journeys from their cabin to the Worship Center in complete silence.  The only sound other than the bagpipes are the sounds of hundreds of feet walking the streets and gravel drive ways of the camp.

Once inside there is a time of praise and worship but then for the next 2 hours kids pray.  It is pretty amazing.  There is guidance and direction on specific things to pray, in groups or individually, by school and by church.  I listened to sounds of hundreds of teenagers praying.  Though there often were tears and struggles being dealt with it was a joyful noise to hear them all praying at the same time.  They bring so many problems and struggles.  It is hard being a teenager these days.

At one point I got to stand right in front of the stage on the front row.  I looked out on this huge audience of students as they sang an updated version of the old hymn, "Jesus Paid it All."  It gave me hope.  There are so many problems in this world and even in these young lives but God is also at work. And He is doing a great and everlasting work, from generation to generation - He is faithful.  The problems of the world don't seem so big when you watch around a thousand kids pray.  You feel the presence of God.  He is with us, even in the problems.

For the journey...

Problems Multiplying

According to the United Nations, the world population is expected to reach eight billion persons in 2025.  Right now we are 6.9 billion people here on planet earth.  Here is when we reached other milestones - in 1970 there were 3.7 billion, in 1980 there were 4.4 billion.  By 1990 we had surpassed 5.2 billion, and in 2000 we made it to 6 billion. 

I got these numbers from a release from the Baptist World Alliance now meeting in Asia.  They were discussing the types of problems that this population growth would create and how to best address those needs as cooperating Christians.  Two things were sure, the population of the world will grow and with that the troubles of the world will grow.  All 6.9 billion people on earth right now have problems.  With more people, come even more problems.  That is inescapable and always has been.

Did you learn the world's shortest poem in school?  It is entitled "Fleas."  Here it is:

"Fleas"
Adam had'em.

From the beginning of time until now, everyone has problems.  As I put these words together, congress and the president are debating the debt ceiling.  NFL owners and players are arguing about a new contract.  An email just came to me urging power conservation to avoid power outages.  These are just a few about which I know right now.  There are more that I don't know about or more precisely, I don't want to think about. 

How do you think about your problems?  How should you?  That is what we will look at Sunday and begin looking at in a new series, "Problems - God's Presence in Difficulty."  We know we have problems.  They come to us all the time.  We need to remind ourselves that God has solutions. 

For the journey...

Are you afraid of water?

That is a question I have now learned to ask every baptismal candidate.  One case of not asking it was enough for me to always remember to do it.  I should have known something when the woman (that I should have asked that question of) came to the baptistery in water shoes and a swimmers cap.  She never said she was afraid of the water, I did not know enough to ask.  What ensued was not really pretty.  She is the first person who half way submerged, going backward in the water somehow found a way to try to come back up.  Not really understanding what was happening, I was fully committed at that point to total immersion - that is what the Greek word for baptize means.  I cannot fully describe what happened, she and I got pretty wet and somehow people in the congregation commented later that they knew she had on water shoes.  I just knew that feet, hands and arms flailed.  When I came out of the door that lead to the baptistery area, back out into the congregation, no one would make eye contact with me.  They had the appearance of much compressed and contained laughter.  Now I always ask that question. 
But that is not the most important question about baptism.  There are a lot of more important ones.  I will attempt to hit on several this Sunday.  We will celebrate the ordinance of baptism.  I have asked both the candidates, they are kids and they love the water.

There is another question about baptism that is more Biblical.  It comes from the Ethiopian Philip witnessed to in the book of Acts.  I love the way he asks this after he understands the truth about Jesus, "Look, here is water.  What can stand in the way of my being baptized?"
You do not have to ask people my question, but how do you answer his?

For the journey...