Keeping my Head Above Water
The ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s disease) Association started using a unique fundraiser in 2014. People would fill up a bucket with ice and then they would add water. The next step was to dump it on someone’s head while they were being videotaped. It was a great success. It is estimated that there are over 2.3 million videos of people taking up the challenge. It is also estimated that the ALS received about $115 million from the challenge in 2014.
If you are a person who has been in the plumbing field any length of time, you are eventually going to have a water story to tell. One of mine is just like the little boy with his hand in the dike. He was afraid to move it for fear of flooding everything. It did no good to yell, because there was no one there to hear or who would listen to his voice anyway.
Believe it or not there are really three different types of plumbers. There are new work residential plumbers, commercial plumbers and service plumbers. There are very few plumbers who can claim to be experts at everything. Even within those three types there are “specialty” plumbers. These “specialty” plumbers are generally only good at certain aspects of the plumbing work they specialize in. You may have someone who is very good at installing water pipes, but not so good at setting plumbing fixtures. I did the new residential work. I don’t know if I was expert on one type of plumbing, but I was a decent all-around plumber on the new residential work side.
When I went in business for myself I didn’t really realize there was much difference in the plumbing types. I passed the plumbing contractor’s test that had all kinds of weird stuff on it that I had never attempted before. How hard could the other stuff be, right?
I got a call from a business that had a leak at their water heater. No problem. I arrived at the business and was shown the leak downstairs in a maintenance room. It was one of those old, musty rooms that you might have seen on one of those scary movies where people run in to so they can avoid the evil person who is chasing them. The water pipes were galvanized, which is rarely used anymore. One of the biggest reasons it isn’t used much anymore is probably one of the things that helped save me. In hard water conditions, you can have buildup on the inside of galvanized pipes. I have since seen pictures of some galvanized pipes so clogged up that you would be lucky to get a pencil’s worth of water through it.
I didn’t see any valves to cut the water off, so I just put my pipe wrench on the fitting hoping I could just tighten up the leak and stop the slow drip. I put my pipe wrench on the fitting and slowly tried to tighten the fitting. Snap! The fitting completely sheared off and now I had water rushing out of the pipe. Rushing might be an exaggeration because the galvanized pipe was so clogged up that only a small, steady stream of water was coming out of it. I was in a panic. I threw the tools out of my plastic bucket and put that bucket under the pipe to catch what water I could. I then ran up the steps and outside looking for the valve to shut off the water to the whole building. I was finally able to find one and get the leak fixed.
I learned my lesson. I would stick mainly to new and remodeling work. If I was ever going to get into other type of plumbing work I would hire a new plumber who had to know more about that type of plumbing than I did.
It was a very gloomy place. Everyone’s dreams seemed to have vanished. It was such a grand idea. If hope could win battles, the war would have been over a long time ago. Where was the justice? They had been treated so badly, but nothing was going their way. They had only declared their freedom from it all six months ago. But they did not have a single offensive victory on the battlefield since then. The war appeared to be close to being over and it looked like they were going to be on the losing side.
The enemy had just captured another one of their big cities. No foreign country would acknowledge their efforts because they had very little to display that their cause was even going to survive. Besides, without any victories, it didn’t look like this war was going to last much longer. So here they sat on a very frigid, snowy December day a few miles from that captured city. I’m sure most of them were filled with fear knowing that, eventually, they would be tracked down and punished. Their cause would go down in the history books as just another failed rebellion.
He wasn’t about to give up, though. He was in charge of this mess. Some of his fellow commanders even started undermining his efforts. His total troops were down to about 2000 soldiers. Congress was very slow at sending supplies and money. Most of his troop’s enlistments were scheduled to expire at the end of the month.
Christmas was approaching and he decided to make one giant, possibly final, stand. Unlike his other efforts, this was going to be an offensive, not defensive move. Being far outnumbered, he decided to plan a surprise attack. The town he was to attack was being held by some of the best trained mercenaries in the world, the Hessians.
I think we sometimes forget that some of our own misfortune is caused by our own, or those around us, disobedience. Usually that disobedience is aimed right at God or His commands. We have our own lives and we care very little about what He wants. It is all about us anyway, right?
God had finally had enough. The Israelites had totally forgotten about Him and His ways. If Israel didn’t want to include Him in their lives, He would remove His protection from them. This prophet decided to try his hardest to persuade them to change, one last time, before it was too late. “Repent and reform,” he would shout from every street corner. “Repent and reform from what?” they would shout back. “Our lives are great. We can do whatever we want to. Why would we want to change that?” they continued.
Day after day, he continued his warning. The people grew tired of his holier-than-thou attitude. So they threw him in a well that had dried up. Well, it was almost dried up. It was very muddy at the bottom and water dripped on his head.
Jeremiah’s predictions of doom for the Israelites were validated when Babylon invaded their country and carried them off to a foreign land because they wouldn’t repent and reform. As the water dripped on his head, and he stood at the muddy hole, deep in the ground, he was still crying out for God to not only rescue him, but all his people as well.
It was Christmas Eve. The Hessians were feeling pretty cocky. They knew they were some of the best trained soldiers in the whole world. They couldn’t wait to do battle and finish off those pesky revolutionaries. But all that could wait. It was Christmas Eve and it was time to party. And party they did.
George Washington rolled the dice on attacking Trenton, New Jersey, where the Hessians were stationed. He figured the Hessians would be partying late and hard. He was right. But his plan hit one snag after another. A heavy snow storm, a blizzard, hit the area. His well-worn soldiers were wearing torn clothing not really suited for the weather. They had to cross the Delaware River to get to Trenton. The river was starting to freeze and they had to dodge the ice that was forming on it.
It took Washington and his troops a lot longer to get Trenton than they planned for. Washington was hoping to get there before the sun came up. He was hoping that would help the surprise part of the attack because the Hessians would not see them coming out of the darkness. It was about 8:00am, well after the sun came up, when they arrived. His other commanders tried to talk him out of the attack. Washington would have none of that.
It was an American rout. Washington would not lose one of his troops. The Revolutionary War would continue for six more years, but Washington would have his first offensive victory. Some may say that it was a small little battle, but most historians credit that one small victory as being the turning point in the Revolutionary War. Freedom’s bell sounded a lot louder after the Battle of Trenton. It all started with one man’s dream of what lied beyond the freezing Delaware River.
Whether you have a bucket of ice water dumped on your head, or you’re frantically grabbing a bucket to catch the water from a broken pipe, or if you have water dripping on your head while you’re experiencing a low part of your life which you did not cause, or even if you are crossing the nearly frozen Delaware River, it sometimes takes courage to be different than the crowd or to have faith that things are going to work out. Don’t give up. If God has a plan for you, He is going to be there to get you through it, just don’t give up. It may not always be easy, but God is a very good guide.
Prayer: Dear Mighty Father, Our troubles always have a turning point if we don’t let go of Your hand. Please grant me the faith to cross those icy Delaware Rivers of my life. Amen.
