Do you remember the other day when I told you about painting our house? There was a bird’s nest in the way, and by God’s grace the baby bird took flight just before I had to remove the nest to paint. Well, during that same paint job I discovered evidence of another life form, one less welcome: termites. So after I was done painting I called a termite guy to check out the house. He looked around and said that I had done a good job painting, and patching holes that there wasn’t much left for him to do besides inspect for subterranean. He went under the house. When he came out he said, “no,” there was no evidence of subterranean, but there was something potentially just as bad, water.
He pulled out his phone and showed me pictures of a little puddle of water under one of the bathrooms. He also took a picture of the beam and floor boards above the puddle. They were stained with water. He said it was strange because under the puddle was a vinyl plastic sheet for the water to rest on. Someone must have put that there a long time ago, he said. As he spoke the words my heart sank. Something was leaking water under our house. This was very bad.
Sheri and I wondered where the water was coming from. We thought that it must be the shower in the master bedroom. It was a walk in shower with tiles. We assumed that the grouting on the tile was wearing out and water was leaking through. So we scheduled a time to go down and figure out what was happening. I put on work clothes, and then a set of coveralls my father had given me, with a headlamp, and my cell phone. When I removed the cover and the wire mesh door to the crawl space, everything was crawling with spiders. My heart sank even further. One good sign was that a rat trap I had left just inside the crawl space was still loaded and had not been sprung.
As I squeezed my body under the house everywhere was blanketed by spider webs. I began to pray to God to not let a black widow drop onto my exposed neck. I even tried to reason with the spiders out loud, “Listen spiders, you leave me alone, and I will leave you alone. Let’s just call a peace treaty for now, okay?” I belly crawled under the house to where the bathrooms were and found the puddle. It was hard to recognize because the light from the flashlights almost made it invisible. It also blended into the ground because spider webs blanketed the edges of it to the ground. Indeed the water sat on top of a plastic vinyl sheet. I shined my light into the water and small tiny swimming larvae were attracted to the light. I began to feel very uncomfortable. But I could not figure out how the water was there. It was not under a tub, shower, or sink. I heard Sheri walking on the floor above me. I called out to her, and she heard me. I asked her to flush the toilet. As soon as she did, water rained down from above in a circle dripping from the floorboards and supporting beams. The drops of toilet water fell like rain into the puddle. We had found the source of the leak.
Back up top in the house I removed the toilet and discovered that the wax ring supposed to connect and seal the toilet to the drain pipe was not connected at all. There was no evidence that the wax ring ever properly sealed to the bottom of the toilet. It was as if for however many years it had been since this toilet was installed every time someone flushed the toilet some of the water fell in the sewer drain pipe, and the rest just spread out through the subfloor raining down under the house.
Paul writes in Romans chapter nine, “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.” That was how I felt when I had discovered all of this sewer water puddling under my house. I had been worrying about the pests and even disease that was lurking under my house and it all caused me pain and worry. No doubt you have had things happen your life that cause you great sorrow and unceasing anguish. I believe that even Jesus felt this way. After his cousin and spiritual brother, John the Baptizer was martyred by beheading Jesus withdrew from his disciples and the crowds to be alone. He probably felt sorrow and unceasing anguish in his heart both at the loss of his beloved cousin, and in knowing that such gross injustice was the rule of the day. What would this mean for him?
Then Jesus was discovered once again by the crowds. They surrounded him and overwhelmed him with their needs. Jesus had compassion for them. Compassion means to suffer with. Jesus suffered with the people. His personal grief and sadness at having lost his cousin did not block him off to others but opened up his heart and deepened it so that he could feel and understand the suffering of the people who came to him looking for help. Jesus healed the sick who were there. Jesus does the same thing even still today. Jesus suffers with you. He knows the sorrow and unceasing anguish of your heart. He does not judge you, he heals you. But the hour was getting late and as they were in the middle of nowhere the disciples urged Jesus to send the people away. Instead Jesus told the disciples to give them something to eat. Among themselves they had only five loaves of bread, and two fish. At least it was something. Jesus had the crowds sit. He blessed the food, and as they broke the bread, all were fed and filled. There were twelve baskets of food left over at the end.
What is so remarkable is that Jesus was able to solve a very big problem, like over 15,000 hungry people with just five loaves and two fish. It was a simple solution to a complex problem. Back at my house we drove to the hardware store to buy a new wax ring. It cost less than $10 for the extra large and tall ring that would make a seal. I was nervous installing the new wax ring. It took five minutes, and when I put the toilet back on I could feel it resting on the wax ring and then slowly squishing it as I pushed the toilet into place and gently tightened the nuts on either side of it, securing it to the floor. But the only way to know if the repair worked would be to crawl under the house again while Sheri tested it. Crawl I did, past my spider friends to the pond of unwelcome life under the bathroom. When the toilet was flushed not a drod could be seen escaping. It worked like a charm.
Sometimes big scary problems have simple elegant solutions. Five loaves and two fish blessed, broken, and shared can stimulate an outpouring of generosity to feed tens of thousands of people. A seven dollar wax ring can save thousands of dollars of construction repair and pest control. Wearing a cloth mask can slow or maybe even stop the spread of deadly pandemic. You don’t have to be afraid to face your problems, you don’t have to be afraid to make small sacrifices. Very simple things that make a huge and profound impact. So do it. Show your faith by doing your part. Amen.
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