When it Rains, it pours
and sometimes it just sprinkles.
Two weekends ago i had a housefire. Is that right? I think that's right.
It has been a long two weeks, so it seems like a few months ago.
Well, what i didn't tell you is that while our house was trying not to burn to the ground, my husband's truck was in the shop, finding out that it would cost us $1800 to fix a $500 truck's transmission. And in the haze of a sleepless night fighting fire, my husband sold it the next day to a mechanic who thought it was worth the $500 we paid for it. Not such a bad idea, just interesting timing.
Plus, we have two cars for a reason.
Well, i think it was Wednesday of the following week . . . yes, that's right. We had barely gotten back into our newly cleaned-by-strangers house, when my sweet little car started overheating for no apparent reason. Well, nothing apparent, except for the mysterious leak taking place nowhere near the radiator -- except for that.
So, this past weekend, my husband went about learning what could make a 15 year-old honda civic start leaking and overheating. As it turns out, his deductions led him to believe that the water pump needed to be replaced. Well, needs to be replaced.
My car repairing super hero worked and worked and worked, enlisted friends, and worked and worked and worked, and discovered that the water pump is attached to the engine block or some such ( i don't actually know what an engine block is, but i nod intelligently, and people think i know ); thus the entire engine has to be dismantled on my front porch in order to get to the place where there is an impossible bolt that must be persuaded to loosen, by use of some mysterious tool that the auto-parts store will insist does not exist. If you find the non-existent tool, you may or may not be able to work its magic on your impossible bolt, but if you do, you'll have to replace the bolt, which is also not in existence at your auto parts store.
Get the picture?
Whoever said "just" in front of "replace the water pump" clearly didn't see this picture. Or else, this whoever might have taken my car to the mechanic. Maybe.
In any event, my car is dismantled on my front porch, where the chickens can poop on it, and i had no way to get to work in a city that is a 45 minute drive from my house.
Our life has been way too easy lately really. I was getting bored. I jest, of course, but then again not really. Because i have to admit to you something. O.k., i don't have to, but i'm going to, and it's for your own good. This whole situation has made me kind of excited. Yes, i'm nuts, but just listen.
Trouble is good for us. Or at least it can be.
On Sunday evening, i had to start looking for alternatives to losing my job because of an impossible bolt and a non-existent bolt-loosening-tool and start inviting myself over to the homes of people who weren't expecting company. Also, once i persuaded someone to let me come live with them indefinitely, i had to find someone to take me to said host's home, 45 minutes away.
I am always surprised at the generosity of even my closest friends, probably because i do not know that i would be so generous in a similar situation. It took a total of about 5 text messages for me to arrange a place to sleep, in the home of my best good friend and her family, and a ride from my sister-in-law, who would have to drive 30 minutes to get to my house, then drive me another 40 minutes in the opposite direction to drop me off, and then drive home. My s-i-l was having an "open day," and "of course" she would take me. And my best friend was giddy. It's like i had called to say,"let's have a slumber party."
Reason #1 why trouble is good for you: It forces you to ask for favors and receive love.
Also, you learn an abundance of things. You learn that you are stronger than you thought; you learn that God is faithful; you learn what is important to you; you learn who cares for you. You learn so many things.
And you get so much stronger!
This might sounds strange, but before the ashes had even cooled after our very first house fire, i became thankful. I knew that God was turning us in a different direction. I am a completely different person than i was almost 11 years ago when our house burned to the ground. I am stronger; i am wiser; i am more willing to love; i am more level-headed; i am less materialistic; i am closer to God; i am not the same person i was.
Today, i am overwhelmed by the love of my friends. Even though i am separated from my super-lovin' husband, and i miss him, i am covered in friendship and kindness and love. It's funny how independence can keep us from loving each other. But now i am dependent and having a lovely time.
I might be crazy, and i don't want it all the time. But i think i kind of like trouble.
Two weekends ago i had a housefire. Is that right? I think that's right.
It has been a long two weeks, so it seems like a few months ago.
Well, what i didn't tell you is that while our house was trying not to burn to the ground, my husband's truck was in the shop, finding out that it would cost us $1800 to fix a $500 truck's transmission. And in the haze of a sleepless night fighting fire, my husband sold it the next day to a mechanic who thought it was worth the $500 we paid for it. Not such a bad idea, just interesting timing.
Plus, we have two cars for a reason.
Well, i think it was Wednesday of the following week . . . yes, that's right. We had barely gotten back into our newly cleaned-by-strangers house, when my sweet little car started overheating for no apparent reason. Well, nothing apparent, except for the mysterious leak taking place nowhere near the radiator -- except for that.
So, this past weekend, my husband went about learning what could make a 15 year-old honda civic start leaking and overheating. As it turns out, his deductions led him to believe that the water pump needed to be replaced. Well, needs to be replaced.
My car repairing super hero worked and worked and worked, enlisted friends, and worked and worked and worked, and discovered that the water pump is attached to the engine block or some such ( i don't actually know what an engine block is, but i nod intelligently, and people think i know ); thus the entire engine has to be dismantled on my front porch in order to get to the place where there is an impossible bolt that must be persuaded to loosen, by use of some mysterious tool that the auto-parts store will insist does not exist. If you find the non-existent tool, you may or may not be able to work its magic on your impossible bolt, but if you do, you'll have to replace the bolt, which is also not in existence at your auto parts store.
Get the picture?
Whoever said "just" in front of "replace the water pump" clearly didn't see this picture. Or else, this whoever might have taken my car to the mechanic. Maybe.
In any event, my car is dismantled on my front porch, where the chickens can poop on it, and i had no way to get to work in a city that is a 45 minute drive from my house.
Our life has been way too easy lately really. I was getting bored. I jest, of course, but then again not really. Because i have to admit to you something. O.k., i don't have to, but i'm going to, and it's for your own good. This whole situation has made me kind of excited. Yes, i'm nuts, but just listen.
Trouble is good for us. Or at least it can be.
On Sunday evening, i had to start looking for alternatives to losing my job because of an impossible bolt and a non-existent bolt-loosening-tool and start inviting myself over to the homes of people who weren't expecting company. Also, once i persuaded someone to let me come live with them indefinitely, i had to find someone to take me to said host's home, 45 minutes away.
I am always surprised at the generosity of even my closest friends, probably because i do not know that i would be so generous in a similar situation. It took a total of about 5 text messages for me to arrange a place to sleep, in the home of my best good friend and her family, and a ride from my sister-in-law, who would have to drive 30 minutes to get to my house, then drive me another 40 minutes in the opposite direction to drop me off, and then drive home. My s-i-l was having an "open day," and "of course" she would take me. And my best friend was giddy. It's like i had called to say,"let's have a slumber party."
Reason #1 why trouble is good for you: It forces you to ask for favors and receive love.
Also, you learn an abundance of things. You learn that you are stronger than you thought; you learn that God is faithful; you learn what is important to you; you learn who cares for you. You learn so many things.
And you get so much stronger!
This might sounds strange, but before the ashes had even cooled after our very first house fire, i became thankful. I knew that God was turning us in a different direction. I am a completely different person than i was almost 11 years ago when our house burned to the ground. I am stronger; i am wiser; i am more willing to love; i am more level-headed; i am less materialistic; i am closer to God; i am not the same person i was.
Today, i am overwhelmed by the love of my friends. Even though i am separated from my super-lovin' husband, and i miss him, i am covered in friendship and kindness and love. It's funny how independence can keep us from loving each other. But now i am dependent and having a lovely time.
I might be crazy, and i don't want it all the time. But i think i kind of like trouble.
5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
2 Peter 1:5-9
Great post, Beth! I love it!
ReplyDeleteI love you so very much. I love the way you write, the way you think about life and the way you love me. Thank you for marrying me.
ReplyDeleteI had to wipe the tears from my eyes to see well enough to finish reading this post. It was exactly what I needed to read during my own time of trouble (which I'm not enjoying quite as much as you!) :-) Thanks for being such a faithful Woman of God.
ReplyDelete