The Water Situation: Part 1
We are in a major drought in the northern part of Honduras. With an average rainfall of 100+ inches per year, the daily, hour-long rains usually start mid-May and turn into multiple-day rains by September. This year, we have had only a few short, light rains.
Around twenty years ago, a visiting scientist took measurements of our local creeks and said we could never waste water here; he said there was such an abundance of water that he couldn’t foresee any problems with our water supply. This year, many of these creeks have completely dried up.
So when the water pressure in our home started to lessen, we assumed the creek was low and this was going to be our new reality. Larry and I started to be careful with our water use and taught the kids how to use less to get the job done. We went from sometimes taking four showers a day (because it’s just.so.hot) to one shower. We used one bowl for rinsing all the dishes before soaping them, and figured out the washing machine really does use a lot less water than washing by hand.
Three-year-old Isaiah, who’s first love is water, has had a hard time understanding why he can’t play in the shower during home school time. His prayers for rain may be among the most fervent.
This lack of water pressure went on for at least two weeks. The pressure got so bad that we were only using water from the gallon jugs we keep filled. We used the water from the jugs and then Isaiah or Joel would fill the bottles while we had home school. On average, it took two minutes to fill each gallon jug.
(Point of reference, my graph-loving mama and numbers-loving dad filled several gallon jugs at their house in Minnesota and they were consistently filled at 19 or 20 seconds.)
Then one day, the water went completely out at our house. But this time, the water pressure at Campus was back to its original pressure: we could fill gallon jugs in just ten seconds!
Campus is on the same water system as our house, but on the opposite side of the street. With this glaring difference, Larry started digging up the pipe and making cuts to figure out the problem. Now we knew we couldn’t blame the drought; something else had to be the cause.
The problem was in a place the community’s Water Board is responsible to fix. They did so within hours of being informed of the blockage, and now we have ten-second-fill pressure at our house too.
**
When we considered the lack of rain in our area, we understood and accepted the lack of water and took it as our inevitable future. But when we saw a home right in front of us, getting its water from the same source, and we saw abundant pressure when we had none, we knew the problem didn’t have to exist.
How often do we accept sin in our lives because we accept these truths: “we live in a fallen world,” “we carry around these sinful bodies,” and “Nobody’s perfect.”
But then we see someone living well, someone who shows compassion and exhibits joy, or someone who has patience with those who drive us nuts. We see the dichotomy between the Love “pressure” in our lives and in others’. It should drive us to look for the problem, to find our areas of unbelief or unforgiveness, or patterns of living that bring death instead of life.
I’m not preaching the health and wealth gospel here. There is still a drought! Sin and death still exist! But we have access to a Source that is strong enough to give us joy overflowing in the middle of it.
Are we accessing Him? Are we asking him to clean out the sin and selfishness in our lives? Or is our pipe blocked and we are just going to succumb to a low-pressure existence?
We are in a major drought in the northern part of Honduras. With an average rainfall of 100+ inches per year, the daily, hour-long rains usually start mid-May and turn into multiple-day rains by September. This year, we have had only a few short, light rains.
Around twenty years ago, a visiting scientist took measurements of our local creeks and said we could never waste water here; he said there was such an abundance of water that he couldn’t foresee any problems with our water supply. This year, many of these creeks have completely dried up.
So when the water pressure in our home started to lessen, we assumed the creek was low and this was going to be our new reality. Larry and I started to be careful with our water use and taught the kids how to use less to get the job done. We went from sometimes taking four showers a day (because it’s just.so.hot) to one shower. We used one bowl for rinsing all the dishes before soaping them, and figured out the washing machine really does use a lot less water than washing by hand.
Three-year-old Isaiah, who’s first love is water, has had a hard time understanding why he can’t play in the shower during home school time. His prayers for rain may be among the most fervent.
This lack of water pressure went on for at least two weeks. The pressure got so bad that we were only using water from the gallon jugs we keep filled. We used the water from the jugs and then Isaiah or Joel would fill the bottles while we had home school. On average, it took two minutes to fill each gallon jug.
(Point of reference, my graph-loving mama and numbers-loving dad filled several gallon jugs at their house in Minnesota and they were consistently filled at 19 or 20 seconds.)
Then one day, the water went completely out at our house. But this time, the water pressure at Campus was back to its original pressure: we could fill gallon jugs in just ten seconds!
Campus is on the same water system as our house, but on the opposite side of the street. With this glaring difference, Larry started digging up the pipe and making cuts to figure out the problem. Now we knew we couldn’t blame the drought; something else had to be the cause.
The problem was in a place the community’s Water Board is responsible to fix. They did so within hours of being informed of the blockage, and now we have ten-second-fill pressure at our house too.
**
When we considered the lack of rain in our area, we understood and accepted the lack of water and took it as our inevitable future. But when we saw a home right in front of us, getting its water from the same source, and we saw abundant pressure when we had none, we knew the problem didn’t have to exist.
How often do we accept sin in our lives because we accept these truths: “we live in a fallen world,” “we carry around these sinful bodies,” and “Nobody’s perfect.”
But then we see someone living well, someone who shows compassion and exhibits joy, or someone who has patience with those who drive us nuts. We see the dichotomy between the Love “pressure” in our lives and in others’. It should drive us to look for the problem, to find our areas of unbelief or unforgiveness, or patterns of living that bring death instead of life.
I’m not preaching the health and wealth gospel here. There is still a drought! Sin and death still exist! But we have access to a Source that is strong enough to give us joy overflowing in the middle of it.
Are we accessing Him? Are we asking him to clean out the sin and selfishness in our lives? Or is our pipe blocked and we are just going to succumb to a low-pressure existence?