When Waiting is the Only Option

“Do not be anxious for anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” *

When Al and I bought our house three years ago, we were told to be sure to have a plumber check the sewer line annually because tree roots invading the line could cause all kinds of problems. It was nice having a forewarning about the sewer. Our home in Springville had a septic tank; so being connected to the city sewer system has been a new experience for us.

Another first-time experience, at least for me, is having a basement in the house. Initially, I didn’t want a house that had one, especially living in an area that received a lot of rain! Except for the laundry and furnace rooms, the floor is carpeted, making the thought of flooding downstairs especially worrisome!

After a plumber conducted his annual inspection of the sewer pipe by running a scope from an access point in the basement floor out towards the back gate, he gave us some disturbing news. The scope showed cracks in the wall of the clay portion of the pipe, invasive tree roots and some blockages.

 In 1953, when our house was built, a metal pipe was used from the house out to about twenty feet. At that point, it was inserted into a larger pipe of clay that led to the sewer main near our back gate.  The plumber told us that clay pipes were good for about 50 years. Ours could collapse at any time.

We talked it over and decided to go ahead with the repair, even though it would be costly. His company would come back, dig down to reach the pipe and then insert sections of PVC into it out to the sewer main. A metal detector was used to locate the placement of the line so that the crew would know where to dig.

He said it was actually a good thing that the pipe went through the back yard. If it had gone through the front yard and connected in the middle of the street, we would have had to pay to have the asphalt dug up and then replaced!

It was just before Christmas when three men came to do the job, bringing along a backhoe. Even though officially winter, there wasn’t any snow on the ground and the weather was cooperative, a very good thing!

Al tried to salvage some of the new landscaping bark that had been trucked in during the summer, piling it around the perimeter of the yard. He was hoping that some new small lilac bushes could be saved. Thankfully no other trees or shrubs were in the way and there was no lawn to dig up.

One of his favorite plumbing quotes is, “Every plumbing job I have done has always wound up tougher than I thought.” Well, this job turned into a bigger and messier one than expected when the crew discovered that the pipe was buried too deep for the small backhoe. Unfortunately, a bigger backhoe wouldn’t be available until mid-January.

So, they filled in the hole, leaving a big mound of dirt in the middle of a depression. Our two dogs were curious to investigate their new “pond” as soon as the men left. It was okay until the first rainstorm hit. Then came the constant challenge of keeping their feet clean when they wanted to come in the house.  No flooding though, whew!

When the men returned, they used a large backhoe to dig through the soggy soil about fifteen feet down, encountering another section of clay pipe used for storm runoff. PVC pipe was inserted into both lines and sealed tightly. Job finished…well almost! It would take one more day before the gaping hole was filled in and the bark replaced.

Peace of mind is difficult to obtain when we have to wait for the solution to a problem, isn’t it? Paul’s wise words from the book of Philippians in the New Testament advise us not to worry, to pray about our concerns and thank God for being in control of the situation. The result of turning problems over to Him? “... the peace of God, which transcends understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

*Philippians 4: 6-7 NIV