We all have a story about this terrible winter. (My friend’s bedroom is too cold to sleep in.) This is mine.
I always trickle water in my bathroom sink and tub when the temperature dips below 20 degrees. But Friday the 23rd, was an unusually busy day and when I finally got ready for bed, I absentmindedly turned off the sink. Saturday morning, it was frozen. No worries: turn the cold water fully on and wait for the ice to thaw. Then I discovered that the toilet was frozen, too.
I went online, looked up frozen toilet, and scared myself silly. None of the remedies were possible, most of the consequences were dire. I am a “member” of a local company (with, I thought, priority service) and I gave them a call. A man named Vince answered.
I told him my story. He told me that the earliest they could send someone was Monday.
That all I needed to hear. Last fall, the new furnace, installed by this company, stopped working. I was told it was unfixable but under warranty. I waited weeks, made multiple calls but never got any answers. Finally, someone sent help. The serviceman took 5 minutes to fix the problem.
Long story short, I was not very nice to poor Vince. (Looking back, I can see that he was doing his best to help but couldn’t change the system.) I went off on him, complaining about poor customer service and threatening to withdraw my membership. It was probably even worse than that.
Yep. Not at all nice. Not at all … Christ-like.
I tried to find another plumber but gave up when one said he could have someone here in 90 minutes … for $650. I was out of options. Man couldn’t help me. My only hope was in God.
I felt the Holy Spirit nudge me to apologize. I didn’t want to, but I remembered this verse:
If I regard sin and baseness in my heart
[that is, if I know it is there and do nothing about it],
The Lord will not hear [me];
Psalm 66:18 Amplified Bible
What was I going to do? Stay tuned for more of the story.