taking out the water

After a few posts that have been kind of a joke, I find myself thinking a bit more seriously tonight. Today was a long day, starting at 5am when I woke to the crashing sounds of a thunderstorm. Feeling the urge to get out of bed, I ventured down into the basement to find yet another 2" of water waiting for my dad and I. What a pleasant surprise! We ended up moving everything out of the basement (again), called a plumber and literally swept the water out of the basement using a ShopVac. This is what gets me. In case you didn't know, there are things in most houses called sump pumps which take care of getting the excess water out of the house instead of doing things like, oh, flooding the basement. We had our replaced a couple of years ago I think, but get this. The plumber found a 14 year old broken sump pump underneath the one we just put it. So all this extra work was being done by the smaller pump, which explained why it just couldn't get all the water out. We replaced it and are just waiting for things to dry up before we move it all back down.

I've found my life is very similar to this in some ways. I have this bad habit of putting a lot of weight on my shoulders and taking on more responsibilities than I ought. I find myself thinking that I am more mature than most because I may be more intelligent, more experienced, or more adept than the next guy. I try to take care of the water problem on my own, trying to clear it out before someone else does it instead of me. Its like I'm just saying to the world, my family and friends "I can do it better than you, so please move out of the way."

I was reading a passage in 1 Corinthians, and this seemingly insignificant passage stood out to me:

"You know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and they devoted themselves to the service of the saints. I urge you, brothers, to submit to such as these and to everyone who joins in the work and labors at it. I was glad when Stephanas, Fortunas, and Achaicus arrived, because they supplied what was lacking from you. For they refreshed my spirit and yours also. Such men deserve recognition." - 1 Cor. 16:15-18

Paul is reminding the leaders of the church in Corinth that they don't have every detail under control. These other people understand other aspects of life and leadership that the Corinthians just haven't understood as easily. I'm becoming increasingly thankful for those kind of people. The people that can speak another language fluently, the people that can play sports so much better than I, the people that can lead worship, the people that can spend days on end with kids shorter than my legs, the people that can relate to the people I can't, the people that devote themselves to prayer, the people that can, thankfully, not be me. It is these people that are the second, deeper sump pump, for they have supplied exactly what I lack. It is I who must learn to not give myself the responsibilities that others can fulfill 10x better. Becoming the body of Christ isn't about being a bit of every part; its about realizing what part you are and building relationships with those around you.

Tonight, I raise my glass to those that I have undervalued, and thank them dearly for taking out the water that I cannot.