Day 5

Day 5, August 7

After coffee and devotions with Kay, Ron arrived with tools and a plan to clean roots out of the septic tank.  My fix yesterday was only temporary.  We teamed up and began to dig to expose the smaller portion of the concrete cover of the tank.  Roots were apparent immediately as we dug the few inches needed.  Ron is like me in finding ways to do by ourselves seemingly difficult jobs like lifting a very heavy concrete slab.  In my farming days I tackled hard jobs not by calling someone but by engineering a fix and modifying the modifications until there was success.  We put a strap on the edge of the slab and pulled it with Ron’s truck until it tilted upward and open enough for our repair.  Of course, that was after the chain attached in the middle of the slab failed to achieve the desired result.  Now open, we set about removing the roots fine and large that obstructed the necessary inlet to the tank.  It was good exercise and that fix should last for years.

The hours spent in the sewer yesterday and today supplanted time I had been using in reading and sorting paper.  It was not on my agenda for the sabbatical but it was an important lesson on agendas.  The work was needful, good exercise, and satisfying in accomplishment.  I have always told people that felt like they were interrupting the minister that, “The interruptions ARE the ministry.”  The journey with DB pointed out that we cannot receive large blessings if we do not name and claim the small ones we receive daily.  It’s hard to think of broken things we have taken for granted as blessings, but maybe what DB had in mind was being thankful with each flush for a good sanitation system.  Moses tapped on a rock for God to supply water to thirsty Israelites.  We need only tap the tap to have water delivered to our waiting glass.

Kay and I had already planned to go and do this evening.  We are old folks, so the order was movie, dinner and home just before dark.