Interruptions!

Tuesday, June 14, 2022

Interruptions. Ever have those? Ever have so many that they totally change your plans for the day? Last week, we had one of those days. In the midst of life, we had a day of interruptions from the time we got up in the morning. Thus, I am interrupting our 3-part saga: What could possibly go wrong, with this story about interruptions! (Would you believe, I keep having interruptions as I write this!!!)

Early in the morning I had texted my sister, Renee’, to ask her about having coffee later that morning. While we were parked on their property, out in the “country”, we started the ritual of morning coffee a few times a week. Since moving to town to be with papa san, that ritual continues, just not as often. Sometimes we plan in advance, sometimes it is more spur of the moment. This had been more of a spur of the moment day, but normally she answers right away. It was hard to plan our day without knowing when we were to head over to her place.

Then our “family” devotions were so thought provoking, I spent my private devotional time reflecting on those thoughts that had so impacted me and didn’t do my own reading. Then my prayer time was interrupted because Renee contacted us that we should come. Normally I totally ignore my phone while having devotions, but since I was waiting for her text, I answered. This distracted me from praying.

We headed out almost immediately to Jim and Renee’s but didn’t get very far when the repair man for our RV called to say he was on his way. Two weeks earlier he had come to remove our radiator fan from our home so we could take it to another mechanic here in town for repair. Tim had called the man and left a message that we would be getting the part back that day. We just had to pick it up. Most mechanics would take days or even weeks to schedule, thus, we had planned to pick up the repaired piece after our coffee with Jim and Renee’. This guy was fast, less than an hour after calling him and he was on his way! We headed up to get the part and informed Jim and Renee’ of the interruption, we would be a bit later.

Once we dropped off the fan part at the RV, we headed out to Jim and Renee’s once again. There was no need to stick around, as everything the mechanic needed was outside waiting for him… or so we thought.

It was a beautiful day so we took our coffee outside to enjoy the sun and the view. Not even ten minutes had passed when Tim got a call from the mechanic. Tim had forgotten to leave the needed fan screws outside with the fan. We had to go back. With gas prices so bad, and other plans for the day, we wouldn’t be returning again that day. Other commitments included lunch with papa and Christina (another sister who was coming to town to take papa to lunch) and coffee with a good friend in the afternoon.

Because the mechanic would be working under our RV home, he really didn’t want us walking about, shaking things above him. Can’t really blame him, can you? No matter, in between everything, I had been doing laundry at papa sans. We were so grateful to be able to do laundry at his place.  Thus, I returned to it and was working on my laptop in his living room when Tim came in with a look on his face I had never seen before. There was a crisis and he desperately needed my help.

Tim calls this crisis, “A new one to put down in the books of full-time RV living”. It was time to empty the black tank (any story that starts out with “black tank” cannot end well LOL) but, in order to save fuel and dump fees, he decided to get out our “Sewer Solutions” pump and kit. If you have never used one of these ingenious devices, you connect one garden hose from the “pump” to a nearby sewer cleanout or toilet and then you connect another garden hose to supply pressurized water to the pump, which macerates and pushes everything down the first hose and into the sewer cleanout. This usually takes about 30 minutes or more. He planned to check in on it every few minutes while working on a project outside next to the RV.

When Christiana pulled into the driveway, Tim thought nothing of it, but unbeknownst to him, she had parked a tire on top of the sewer drain hose. He still didn’t realize this, not even when, to his horror and surprise, sewage started pouring off the roof of our RV – YES, THE ROOF! He dashed over to the hose to turn off water, and disconnect lines, quickly pulling the valve to our gray tank (which was not very full) to drain off some of the excess into the gray tank. Looking inside our RV, there was not only the sight, but the smell of over a gallon of water on the bathroom floor. That’s when Tim came and got me.

We both set out to cleaning: I tackled the inside mopping and scrubbing the floors of the bedroom, bathroom and kitchen while he worked on the outside.  Washing off the roof, he learned that the sewage had backed up into the air vent pipe, and onto the roof. This was something to be grateful for, because if it had simply poured inside, he would not have realized there was a problem till next time one of us went inside (which may have been much later).

As Christina and papa were getting into the car, I went out to tell them I wouldn’t be able to join them. I saw her tire on the hose and wondered if that was the cause of the problem. Unfortunately, it was.

With them gone, I went back to work and noticed that water (sewage) was under the floor boards… The mess was bigger that we thought. Tim began pulling up the floor until only dry appeared; 75% of the bathroom flooring, 40% of the bedroom and 20% of the living area had “liquid” under the laminate floor boards and underlayment. Meanwhile, I looked for something quick for lunch since it was getting late and I was hungry. Thank goodness for a cauliflower crust pizza in the freezer!!!

After lunch, Tim sprayed everything with an antibacterial spray, while I left for coffee with my friend. Since the interruptions had prevented the other events, Tim wanted me to go. I needed to go! He also didn’t want me around for the next part. He rode his bike to Walmart, picked up 2 gallons of vinegar (I’m allergic to bleach), added essential oil antibacterial soap and around 40 drops of lemon essential oil to the vinegar, shook to combine, then poured inside the area where the leak originated, allowing it to follow the same path the sewage had taken along with any area of the floor that had gotten wet. That sat for 20 minutes, was mopped up and repeated again. All the windows were opened and by night the smell was nearly gone. Life in an RV is an adventure, but who would imagined seeing sewage pouring out of a roof vent would be one of those adventures!

Yes, an adventure, though I don’t think the mechanic working under our RV was thinking of it that way, not with the sewage pouring down the sides of the RV around him. When I saw him before I went for coffee, his pants were wet, and NOT from grease! I heard later, he went directly home after finishing the installation to take a shower!! His day had also experienced a big interruption!

That evening I was also interrupted with the fact that I desperately needed a shower but really didn’t want to spend the energy to take one. It meant going back into papa san’s house because of all the chaos in ours. I was done for the night. But not really. Reason and smell won out!

What’s going to happen with our floor? We really don’t have the money for new flooring so we will have to see how God provides. In preparing a different blog article, I came across a verse that fits this situation. Ephesians 3:20-21a says, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory…”

There are several things that stand out with those verses. The first being, “He is able”! The God of the Universe, the Creator of all things, is able. The dictionary defines able as “having sufficient power or resources to accomplish something.” There are so many verses that talk about God’s power, I shared some of those last week. Here are a few others: Luke 1:37, “For with God nothing will be impossible”, Psalm 147:5, “Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite”, and Jeremiah 32:17, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm! There is nothing too hard for you.”  He is able to do ANYTHING!!

The second thing that stands out is, “What do we ask or think?” His abilities go far beyond what we can even comprehend. We may be clueless as to what will happen next in this situation, but He knows. We need a miracle, but that is not impossible for Him. In fact, Psalm 145:16-17 says, “You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing. The LORD is righteous in all His ways, gracious in all His works.”  New flooring, is not beyond Him, nor another solution, if He so chooses.

One more thing to point out from that first verse is, “to Him be glory”. He does all for His glory. Even this whole day of interruptions was done for His glory. How do we respond to interruptions? How do we respond to crisis and disappointments? 1 Thessalonians 5:18 tells us, “in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” In this situation, like so many others, we are choosing gratitude. Thank You God, for another opportunity to see You at work though we have no idea what You will do in this situation. Thank You God, for the blessings, adventures, and unknowns of tomorrow! We choose to trust You.

When in doubt how to respond to life’s curve balls, choose gratitude. It’s a choice you won’t regret!

Blessings, Mari and Tim