FLUSHED WITH PRIDE
I did it. I bit the bullet. Or perhaps I should say, "I jumped the gun". Either way, I waded in way over my head. However, necessity sometimes dictates such - especially when necessity has been in consultation with my wife!
Right now in Toronto there is a campaign to try and encourage water conservation. If your home has an out-of-date toilet, and you are willing to replace it with a recommended six liter water-saving toilet, the city will give you a rebate of between sixty and seventy dollars. Not a bad deal, especially when you have a toilet like we did in our upstairs bathroom.
When we bought our home about a year and a half ago, we inherited a toilet that only a mother could love. Actually, that's not true: my mom hated our toilet! This thing had miles on it! It had to be at least 30 years old and the tidy bowl man had long since abandonded ship. Let me try and communicate its essence: The tank had a crack in it that had obviously leaked in a major way sometime in the past. We know this for sure because it ended up doing it again since we moved in. The lid on the tank didn't fit. It was not the right lid. I sometimes lay awake and night and wondered why. Did someone steal our real lid? Was the lid we have stolen from somewhere else? Was the former residents of our house somehow involved is a strange lid-swapping cult? The possibilities are endless. As a result of our ill-fitting lid, our tank ruptured again when the lid fell into it one day. I patched up the crack and used two of my neckties to secure the tank lid to the tank. It wasn't pretty, but it worked. The bonus was that it was the best use that I've found for ties thus far! Still, we all knew this was only a temporary measure.
Now, let me digress for a moment and speak about the practicality of such a necessity. I realize this is a sensitive topic, but it is also a common experience which we all share. Let's face it, everyone does it!-except maybe school teachers, preachers, and the Queen, so why can't we share in something that's so universal?
One thing that can't be emphasized enough is the need for security when one is reposed. Am I right? You need to feel like you are on a firm foundation before you can relax and proceed. Well, because of the water damage and the loose ceramic tile surrounding the base of the toilet, one had a sense of being on high seas when sitting down to embark on one's journey. Not a good feeling.
Let me qualify what I am about to say next by boldly declaring that I am not afraid of death. I am a follower of Jesus Christ and he has taken both the sting and the fear of death away from me. However, there is still something mildly disturbing about the thought of falling through floors and losing one's life to a lavatory. Kamikaze commodes are not the way to go. That's just not how I want to be remembered.
So the up side is that Sheila applied to the city for this rebate program and we got all the information. Of course, anything dealing with the government has fine print somewhere and the fine print in this case was that we replace the toilet within forty-five days of receiving the information. I am sure you can guess what happened. We waited until the last minute to start the work because I knew that not only would we have to rip out the old toilet and install a new one, I also knew that we would have to rip out the one inch sized squares of ceramic tile in the entire bathroom, replace the bad part of the floor, put new sub floor and linoleum down and who knows what else.
If you have read my "How-to" Blues" Whatcha, you will know that I have no skill, or experience at fixing anything above the difficulty of changing a light bulb. Yet, our finances are such that we really couldn't afford to pay a plumber and contractor to do the work for us. So, off I went on an adventure of monumental proportions. In all seriousness, it was a scary proposition. I have never done any of the things this job required.
Now that I am on the other side of the battle, I have to say that I am feeling FLUSHED with pride and I am FLUSHING with pride! As I look at our solid new floor and our gleaming white turbo-charged, water efficient bulbous beauty, I am ecstatic! If toilets were like cars, our new one would be a Ferrari. I am thinking of installing a seat belt! Still, the job took a lot of work and much more faith! I really can't overemphasize to you the true horror I felt at what lay ahead of me when I began the job. But, you know what I did? I did what I always do when I have to step out in faith and face unknown challenges that I am too weak and too inexperienced to handle on my own. I prayed and asked God to guide me through every step, especially when I just missed cutting a couple of water pipes in the floor! I was constantly in prayer. I remember thinking, "Jesus was a carpenter, so why not rely on his expertise and power? There is nothing he doesn't know and there is nothing he can't fix so why wouldn't I rely upon him?"
What's the point?
Faith isn't just for rainy days, or pie in the sky ideas. It is as real and as pervasive as you allow it to be. It is for the down and dirty times in your life that you need practical help and strength. In two words, let me sum up my toilet theme: FAITH WORKS!
Faith can enter in and dominate every room of your life - even those rooms in which you'd rather be left alone. Jesus wants us to rely on Him for more than just an hour on Sundays. He wants to be part of more then just our prayer for the sick and the lost. He wants us to step into new territory with Him, trusting Him. He wants us to see Him as a partner in life. He wants us to take Him along wherever we go!
The bottom line is that my Jesus was not afraid to leave His throne room to help me with my throne room! That may surprise you. I mean we are talking about replacing toilets here, but it didn't surprise me. After all, he is in the business of removing the rotten and rebuilding a sure foundation so that we can get rid of all that stinks in our lives.
No matter how "out of my league" I feel, no matter how afraid I get, Jesus has always supplied what I needed. He has always abundantly provided the extra strength and skill to accomplish what must be accomplished. If you try Him out, you can prove this amazing truth in your own life. What does He want to accomplish in your life? What new thing does He want you to try - with his help? What scary things do you need to fix? What room in your heart have you kept Him out of - even though it desperately needs to be repaired? Let Him in and He'll guide you every step of the way!
If you have any comments or questions, please click on my name at the bottom of this page. I promise to write back.
