Needless to say, I was running to the other side of the house for Don. I think he heard me running on the tile because as I rounded the bedroom door, he was throwing off the blankets. He put on his fu-fu slippers, as I call them, and followed me out to the garage. I love how Don can be woken up suddenly, calmly ponder the problem and deal with it. He went for a flashlight and immediately to the street to turn off the water main. He put on an old pair of tennis shoes and was immediately elbow deep in the ground searching for the leak. He had to syphon water out of the ground, and for 30 minutes constantly sweeping the water from our “lake” to keep it from up against the house and forcing it to flow down the driveway.
Brittany wondered what her parents were doing up at 1 am as we went in and out of the garage door several times. She was soon up and going to good old Wal-Mart at 2:00am to try and get some pipe, glue and couplings, because it did end up being an underground sprinkler line. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the size we needed.
The amazing fact was after Don had cleared away the mud and rocks to get to the pipe, it was just a small crack in a 1 ½ PVC pipe that had created all that mess and done all that damage. Thankfully the dog woke me up or I am sure our house would have been like Noah’s ark and floating down the street this morning.
Recently a pastor mentioned to me John 7:28, “Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” Similar to the stream and flowing water at my house last night, our Christian lives should be as such.
- First of all, the water was forceful; therefore it cleaned away impurities and pushed away things blocking its path, just as the living water does in our Christian life. Flowing water moves debris.
- Secondly, it leaves an impact. A river is very noticeable, especially in a place it doesn’t belong. As a Christian, our lives are noticeable and people are watching us. Philippians 3:20 says, “Our citizenship is in heaven”, so we are foreigners here. We are in a place that we don’t belong which makes us stand out.
- And lastly, living water flows from within. I still am in awe this morning as to how Don was jarred from sleep, calmly evaluated the problem, did what he could to fix the problem, and then just went back to bed. No drama, no hysterics, just matter of fact. What was within Don came to the surface. Calmness, confidence, capability and certainty. He was certain that the problem would be fixed in the morning and there was nothing to worry about so he peacefully went back to bed.
I love how the lord works in this household through everyday issues or mishaps. Yesterday at church the sermon was on worry. I wrote down that worry makes us lose our perspective. Worry back us into the corner of self-centeredness. We get tunnel vision on ourselves. Worry uses up needed energy that could be used for a solution. Don Rausch you did good! You left no room for worry.
Now that the pipe is fixed, I have no excuse for NOT doing the dishes, the laundry or fixing dinner. I better get busy, but first I am going to the store to get Don a fat juicy steak and my dog a very large bone!