My Help Comes From the Lord

Today I needed the Lord’s help with a completely mundane crisis involving my motorhome. Nothing to do with the local coastguard patrol, that’s just a pretty picture involving someone else’s problem and lots of water. And so my story today begins with a long hot shower… and a blocked plughole! Why are they all so small in caravans? So the rather shallow shower tray flooded and I needed my plunger to sort it out. But as I was mopping up I realised the water pump was still humming nicely despite all the taps being turned off. Don’t panic David! I’ve had messy problems with burst pipes in the past. Isolate the pump first. Pray for a simple resolution to the problem second. Yes, I’ve learned to carry a repair kit but fixing stuff is not my idea of a holiday. I really didn’t want it!

What was that? Immediately I’m sure I hear the Lord say to check my water heater drain down tap. Why? I only use it infrequently. So I check it out and decide I’m imagining things, it’s not that. Then I remember it’s an unusual tap so I check it in the other position and my problem is the same, though I then overlook the almost empty water tank. I even check outside the van. Nothing; the humming continues, the taps are dry. So I proceed with a much prolonged diagnosis of trying to find the leak, refilling the tank, removing bench seats and all the rest of it. I find nothing wrong whatsoever. So where is the pump sending my water? Not through the taps that’s for sure. I look outside again and sure enough there’s a stream of water flowing from the drain down tap outlet! Hey maybe God does know what he’s talking about after all. Then I remember my sink plunger was jammed against the drain down tap. Silly man. Fill up the tank, again, flick the tap in the direction it should be and all is well.

One day I’ll listen to God and believe that he is well able to speak in a way that this half deaf man should hear. And of course he’s just as interested in the minor details of my life as the bigger ones. So if he can help me fix my plumbing he can walk me through the challenge of bereavement.

Psalm 121:2 ^‘My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!’ (NLT)