And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
–Romans 8:28 (NASB)

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!
–Romans 11:33 (NASB)

We’ve all been there. “Why is this happening to me?” “Why now?” “Why do bad things happen to good people?”

God doesn’t always let us in on the “whys” — and He doesn’t really owe us the answers (see Job 38-42 for more on this). Still, every so often, I believe He enjoys letting us in on His ways. Yesterday was one of those days for my family.

I’ve been visiting my family over the Christmas holiday, and staying at my sister’s house. Yesterday morning, we made an unpleasant discovery — we had no water in the house. My sister called the water company, and their immediate response was “It’s probably a frozen water meter — you’re supposed to insulate it! We’ve been getting calls all morning. We’ll send someone out to replace the meter, at your expense.”

My sister and brother-in-law were not happy, as they were unaware of this rule that the customer was to insulate their own water meter, and they hadn’t had a freeze in the several years they’d lived there. Still, yesterday was the coldest day of the year so far. The low temperature was 4 degrees, and the wind chill was well below zero. The water company was probably right.

When the water company’s repairman came, he was familiar with the houses in their neighborhood, and said “I’ll pop the meter and have a look, but I don’t think it’s frozen. These houses are all similar — you probably have a crawl space where the water comes in, and it’s not heated. That’s where your ice will be.” Sure enough, he removed the meter, and there was no ice. He turned on the water main, and water was flowing freely there. While my brother-in-law finished up with the repairman, I headed downstairs, armed with a heat gun and my new knowledge about the probable location of the ice. After a few taps on the pipes, and about 10 minutes with the heat gun, my brother-in-law told me that we had some slow water flow. Encouraged, I kept at it, only to be told shortly later that the flow had stopped.

By this point, we were certain that ice was the problem, but wondering if it had moved. Either way, we had exhausted our options. We’d heard our cousin had an arc welder, which is the equivalent of calling in a nuclear strike in the war against ice. My sister placed a call to him, but he wasn’t currently home, so she left a message and made a desperate call to some plumbers, two of whom told us we should just wait till the next day (today, December 23rd) and see if it thaws on its own. We didn’t like this option, as it would place us right up against Christmas Eve looking for a plumber if it didn’t melt. At another cousin’s urging, my sister decided she had nothing to lose by continuing to look for a plumber that would come and look at the problem today. Finally, we found some plumbers who agreed to come out and give us a free estimate.

An hour or so later, right after we were told the plumbers would be on their way, my cousin returned my sister’s message, and said he did indeed have two arc welders, one that ran on 110v, the other 220v, and would be happy to bring one over if we ended up needing it — though getting cables to run the distance to the pipe outside would be a project requiring my dad, as well, if we went that route — both he and my dad needed to pick up their wives from work shortly. In the meantime, he came over to take a look at the pipes while we waited on the plumbers, and brought a propane torch which we tried thawing the pipes with (with no luck). Before my cousin left to pick up his wife, we made plans to reconvene if the plumbers couldn’t fix the problem, him bringing his 110v welder and my dad bringing extension cables.

The plumbers arrived, told us that our suspicions that the ice was between the outside meter and the house were likely correct, but that they didn’t have a “hot shot” — which is basically a rebranded arc welder aimed at the thriving “people who need to thaw frozen pipes” market. At least the diagnosis was free, and we knew we were on the right track with the arc welder. Still, by this point my sister was in tears — my visit and the Christmas holiday were being “ruined” by everything going wrong. I assured her that things would work out, and that everything happens for a reason.

Her hopes were raised when our dad and cousin arrived. Unfortunately, all we managed to accomplish when we pooled our talents and resources with the 110v welder was to make hot extension cords, which smelled vaguely of burning sheathing, and repeatedly trip the breakers. Well, that, and I sang a few bars of a little song I improvised called It’s Beginning to Smell a Lot Like Arson. The crowd was not amused (much).

My sister was despondent. It was around 9:00, and our entire day had been dedicated to this ordeal, without any progress. The prospect of another day with no water was not something she wanted to consider, and she was having a hard time trusting that we would get it figured out, continually coming downstairs and stressing everyone out with her worries that we were going to burn the house down (one of her biggest fears that she just hasn’t been able to shake). As we drove to get the 220v welder, I promised my dad and cousin that I’d take on the task of running interference on her when we returned, and try to keep things relatively calm.

We ran into a snag as we looked for a plug to use for the welder, however, since my cousin didn’t have one that fit the 4-prong 220v outlet at my sister’s house. I wondered aloud if we could just wire up her existing dryer pigtail to the welder, but we ruled it out. I called my sister with the bad news, but promised we’d figure something out. As it turned out, my dad figured out a way we’d be able to use her dryer cord. We loaded up the welder and drove back. It was about 10:30 at this point.

As promised, I was running interference on my sister, when my dad and cousin called us down to look at something. As they were removing her dryer pigtail, they found that one of the wires on the back of her dryer hadn’t been attached properly by the installers. It had been slowly melting its sheathing, and now was exposed, and looked as though it could have started a fire any day now. They were able to repair the damaged wire, preventing what could have been a catastrophe (and my sister’s worst fear come true) had it not been discovered.

It was after midnight, and we were having some success heating the pipes, but still no water flow. After trying for a couple of hours, gradually increasing amperage until we didn’t think the wiring could stand any more, a new plan was concocted. We’d cut into the pipe at a joint, drill and snake the pipe until we destroyed the obstruction, and weld it shut again. At this point, I knew I was well out of my element, and would only get in the way. Besides, I was exhausted. I went to bed, and did the only thing I could for them — pray that they’d figure out what was wrong.

They cut the pipe. Imagine my cousin’s surprise when the water was turned on after cutting it, and he was drenched. Quickly turning off the water, they re-soldered the joint, and turned on the water — only to hear it stop inside the house as it rushed in. This made them sure the problem was inside. They tried heating the portion of pipe inside the house with the welder. After 10 or 15 minutes of heating that length of pipe, still without results, they were about ready to throw in the towel.

That’s when my cousin said “I can’t believe I haven’t checked the valve yet. I should have checked it when we had the pipe cut before.”

It was 3:00 AM, and my sister’s cry rang throughout the house: “WE HAVE WATER! WE HAVE WATER!” She swung open the door to the guest bedroom. “WE HAVE WATER!”

I asked her what the problem was, and she said it turned out the problem had nothing to do with ice at all. It was a faulty water valve. They put in a temporary fix for the problem, and would replace it later. I laid my head back down on the pillow as she closed the door, then it hit me. I shot out of bed, went to the top of the stairs, and called to her. She asked what I wanted, and I explained what had just struck me, which was the miraculous chain of events that led to the finding of the fire hazard on the clothes dryer.

Upon reflecting further on the conditions that led to that moment this morning:

• This occurred on the coldest day of the year, causing the water company to assume it was an ice problem.
• The water company’s repairman directed us inside the house, again, wrongly diagnosing an ice problem.
• One cousin encouraged my sister not to wait to see if the “ice” would melt the next day, and get a second opinion from the plumbers who eventually encouraged us to use an arc welder.
• Another cousin happily offered his welders (and his help) and the continual tripping of breakers on the 110v circuits we tried to use forced us to resort to the 220v welder.
• A lack of the proper power adapter forced us to improvise by removing the dryer pigtail, instead of plugging into the existing 220v outlet.

My sister had a big day of laundry planned for today. Who knows what might have occurred, had we not gone on a wild goose chase for an ice clog that didn’t exist?

God is good, and His ways are better than our ways. Trust in Him — He won’t let you down.

From what I can tell, it looks like it was done by a church or churches in Texas, and it was executed with a level of excellence I’ve never seen when it comes to a web-based ministry. This is something I honestly wish I’d thought of. It starts with a list of video testimonies you can scroll through, or you can just click on the random one that is displayed front and center when you visit, and once the testimony is over, you can see other testimonies with a similar theme, or proceed to a basic Q&A about the Christian life, with such questions as “Does God care about me?”, “Aren’t there many ways to Heaven?”, “Why does God allow bad stuff to happen?” — it provides answers to some of the tough questions someone contemplating a Christian faith might ask.

Then, to top it all off, and this is what sort of blew my mind, it provides a link to contact someone, then and there, via e-mail, phone, or live chat. According to the site it is staffed 24/7. This is the sort of thing companies do to provide tech support after you buy a computer (though even that usually isn’t 24/7), not the sort of thing we Christians do to advance the kingdom. But why don’t we? This is just awesome. Like I said, I wish I’d thought of it, but I’m honestly just thankful someone did.

[Update: They've set up a blog as well!]

This song has really been an inspiration to me lately. It helps remind me just how big God is, and how He doesn’t need my help to accomplish His will. He’s fully capable of doing that on His own. All he requires of me is a willing heart to obey and follow where He leads me. Not because He needs me, but because I need Him.

You are not a god created by human hands
You are not a god dependent on any mortal man
You are not a god in need of anything we can give
by Your plan, that’s just the way it is

You are God alone
from before time began
You were on Your throne
You are God alone
and right now
in the good times and bad
You are on Your throne
You are God alone

You’re the only God whose power none can contend
You’re the only God whose name and praise will never end
You’re the only God who’s worthy of everything we can give
You are God, and that’s just the way it is

You are God alone
from before time began
You were on Your throne
You are God alone
and right now
in the good times and bad
You are on Your throne
You are God alone

unchangeable
unshakable
unstoppable
that’s what You are

Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

[. . .]

And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Yes, it’s from the Bible. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7,13 to be exact. These are some of the most beautiful verses in scripture, to me. I’ve been going through what easily qualifies as the most painful emotional experience of my life for over 6 months now. I’m not going to get into the details here. If you know what’s going on, and decide to comment, please be vague about the specifics out of respect and love toward the other person involved.

What’s important is that during this time, especially in recent weeks, it would be easy to find myself harboring feelings of anger, protecting my pride, becoming wrapped up in self-pity or the blame game. It’s incredibly difficult to remember to show patience, kindness, and trust. And especially, it’s easy to lose hope and perseverance during this time. Through all this, I constantly must remind myself that it is my duty to protect the other party, even when their actions are hurting me.

Last night, I found myself in a crisis of faith. I refuse to believe that the direction things are going is in God’s will, because He explicitly makes His position on this issue known in scripture, yet I can no longer see a path that leads to His appointed destination. I spent the entire evening talking with family, and one close friend who I consider family. Through it all, they listened. Never in the 6 years since I moved to Louisville have I been so acutely aware of how alone I am, here. I have some friends, sure, but my family is over 400 miles away.

I received plenty of well-intentioned advice, as well, but I kept coming back to this: most of the advice requires me to act in a way that seems to me self-seeking. They tell me it’s justified given the situation, that I have to look after myself. They’re good friends and family, and it’s kind of them to say so. But I can’t help but think that by taking their advice, I’d be veering from God’s path and doing more to harm the chances of a resolution than help them. This situation could very well end in financial ruin for me, if I follow my conscience instead of what everyone else seems to tell me is common sense. But if I can’t even trust in God to provide the means to meet basic needs, and instead choose to “look out for number one” on my own, ignoring His guidance, how can I rightfully expect Him to bless my efforts?

In the end, I found myself unable to calm down to sleep that night, and flipping through my Bible, I came to the passage referred to at the beginning of this entry. I had read it dozens of times since this all began, but I decided to spend some time “hiding it in my heart” (Psalm 119:11) last night. It had been a long time since I actively worked to memorize scripture (when you work with computers for a living, you tend to adopt the attitude that what you can look up easily, you needn’t memorize) but I was glad I did. The neat thing about scripture is that you can read the same text more than once and take away a different emphasis each time, depending on your need. As I read it, my focus shifted toward the last part of the passage, rather than the first, as it normally had.

Protection. Hope. Trust. Perseverance.

Precisely the things I needed to think about at that time. I decided to stick to my convictions, and do what I can to continue displaying God’s love in the best way I know how. My friends and family will probably tell me I’m being impractical. The way I see it, this is the only practical way to approach things. You can’t expect God’s guidance if you make it clear that you aren’t going to play by His rules.

Please consider committing the verses above to memory. Even if you aren’t a Christian, you can probably agree on the beauty of their sentiment.

If you are a Christian, think about the aspects of love which you have a hard time displaying, and pray for help in these areas of your life. Call these verses from memory when you find yourself unsure of which course to take, and let Him guide your actions.

And please, pray for me. I’m going to need all the help I can get.