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...