I pulled into the garage, yesterday, with a car full of groceries, and, since Kevin’s car was gone, had a clear view of the opposite wall. Our house sits on a slab, and the garage is sunken, requiring steps to walk down into it from the house. Because of that, there is about 3-4 feet of exposed concrete from the floor, before the drywall starts. It was on that concrete that I saw wet spots, no pooling water, but water seeping from the concrete itself.

Great.

I went inside and couldn’t see any visible problem from the bathroom, or laundry room, that share that common wall. So, I unloaded my groceries, and called a plumber. Since it was already late in the day, the plumber couldn’t come until this morning. So, when Kevin came in a short time later, he got a little more aggressive and pulled out the washer and dryer. It was underneath the dryer – the dryer – that we found it: a small pool of water on the surface of our stained concrete floor, but more, a larger area of moisture within the concrete itself.

It appears that the leak is coming from a pipe in the concrete.

We’ll know more later this morning, but I have visions of jackhammers and mess and repouring and restaining going on in my head, and, well, the visions are not dancing like sugarplums.

No.

After this fiasco, I got an email from a friend; a confession of an area of sin in her life that she’s been keeping secret and it’s finally starting to catch up with her. The weight of it has become unbearable, and it’s starting to affect other areas of her life, taking over her thoughts and sleep and distracting her from living the kind of life she wants.

Like with all sin, there was that moment when it was just a temptation, when the decision was hers to move forward or stop, and when she chose to move forward, the sin started its slow leak. Silently seeping from one facet of her life to another, it really didn’t show on her at first, but now it has saturated her heart and has become a visible problem.

What could’ve been a quick pipe repair in the beginning, will now likely require heavy machinery and hard work to fix.

Fortunately, though, there is a Professional who can take care of the problem if she’ll release it into His care. The dust may fly in both our lives, but, in the end, both our problems will be gone and everything will be good as new.

And, well, that’s a vision that dances.

“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” 1 Corinthian 10:13 ESV

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 ESV

“Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean,
    scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life.
Tune me in to foot-tapping songs,
    set these once-broken bones to dancing.
Don’t look too close for blemishes,
    give me a clean bill of health.
God, make a fresh start in me,
    shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.
Don’t throw me out with the trash,
    or fail to breathe holiness in me.
Bring me back from gray exile,
    put a fresh wind in my sails!” Psalm 51:7-12 MSG