I have been in a remodel project at my house of late. And so, those things are on my mind. The blog post below was written awhile ago, but I saw it recently and thought I’d pull it back out.
Enjoy…
It was a normal Wednesday night. Suddenly, the bathtub was backed up and full of black gunk. When the back bathroom toilet started to overflow as well, I knew there was trouble. Long story short, after a few wet-vacs and fan treatments at mid-night, and not much sleep, the next morning I called the plumber.
The average Joe plumber guy came to my aid. Got right to work. Followed procedures and took on the problem at hand. While he was roto-rooting the depths of my home, I popped my head in just to check on him. It was then that he started to talk.
“I’m gonna write a book.” He said with a wipe of his brow. “Been doin’ this for over 25 years. I could tell you stories all day.” And so he did…
His stories began with one call that placed him at the home of a lovely woman. While there, he did some rooting and told her at one point that he had the problem on the other end and would soon be pulling it up. All the family gathered in the bathroom to see this culprit emerge in real time. As the wad in question surfaced, he began to unwind it. Suddenly all in the room realized it was a red negligee. Standing beside the woman was her husband –whom she promptly hauled off and belted in the mouth. That was before she started screaming at him and chasing him down the street. (Ouch).
On another occasion, at a preacher’s home, he learned that the problem was in the septic tank. The pastor and plumber headed out to the back 40 and once in the right spot, they pulled the first lid off. As they both leaned over to look in, a complete stash of discarded sexual protection devices stared back at them. A few weeks later, the man called back our faithful plumber back to the scene of the crime. At the door, the man greeted the service man with a big hand shake and thanked him. Apparently, this husband began to chat with the neighbors after that first fateful discovery. What he learned during that time of research is of interest. While he had been hard at work ministering to the flocks, his wife was servicing, um, “guests”, shall we say. At one point, she had reportedly had more than a few over in one evening. Needless to say, they were divorced shortly thereafter.
There were other stories. And to be honest, they were even more dramatic than the ones above, if you can imagine.
But as I stood there, with a most horrified look on my face, and my mouth gaping open, the only words I could muster in response were, “Be sure your sins will find you out.”
Now, these words actually come from the Old Testament. You can find them in Numbers 32:23. And they don’t have much to do with a clogged pipe and drains. They do however deal with truth. And the truth usually finds it’s way out and to the surface. We may think we can hide, but in the end, the truth will emerge. Possibly literally.
Just ask my plumber!
Read Psalm 139:1-24
