Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him and bless his name. - Psalm 100:4
You have put gladness in my heart. More than in the season that their grain and wine increased. - Psalm 4:7
You never appreciate things more than when you avert a disaster. That happened to my family this week.
It was an unseasonably warm couple of days and my parents decided to air out the house. Not just for the fresh spring air but because we had been smelling a strange odor for quite some time. We speculated what the smell might be. A dead mouse? Spoiled food coming from the new refrigerator? We weren't certain but the one thing we did know -- it was mighty smelly.
After a while, the smell was making my mother sick to her stomach. Then that morning, this last Sunday, my dad woke up and began gagging. I was doing my morning walk to my favorite DVD and I kept checking the time. Dad must have gagged for ten minutes straight.
At this point we had pretty much decided what we were smelling was gas. But we weren't sure. Didn't gas smell like rotten eggs? This didn't smell like that.
That day my Dad went to a local establishment hoping to run into a guy who could help him, someone who might have a detector to tell us exactly what this smell was.
But this day, the man didn't show up. It was the first time in months this man hadn't been there on a Sunday.
Was this a blessing in disguise?
Because Dad didn't find his friend he decided to turn off both the furnace and the water heater. Because that was where we were smelling most of the gas.
Another blessing? Hum.
I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. - Genesis 12:2
We went to sleep that night concerned but not truly scared. We left the doors open overnight for good measure. Maybe if we had been smarter about such things we would have been very frightened.
The smell kept my Mother up half the night with a sick stomach. And when I got up the next morning I could really smell a strong odor coming from Dad's bathroom (where the furnace & water heater live).
Our initial thought was that the smell was coming from the furnace. But it was off. So, why were we smelling it even more?
I went to work not overly concerned. Dad was planning to call someone to come over and check things out.
Did I fail to mention one small detail? My parents both smoke. That means they were lighting up off and on through our entire experience.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. - Matthew 5:5
While I was at work, Dad called the people who had originally put in those gas lines. When they went into the back yard to check the pipes, the strength of the gas about knocked them all over. At that point the workers knew this situation was a dangerous emergency. They quickly turned off the gas and fixed the leak. A pipe at ground level had completely rusted through and the gas was leaking into the house from a pipe running from the backyard to the furnace.
They told us we were lucky our house didn't explode. Amazing, huh? But there are other things to be thankful for besides the fact that I'm still alive to write this.
If it hadn't been so unseasonably warm, we wouldn't have had the doors and windows open which aired out the house.
If Dad hadn't missed his friend on Sunday, we never would have turned off the furnace and water heater.
So, we're safe today not just because the gas leak got fixed but because of all the little things that happened throughout the week. Three are probably many other things that happened throughout the previous week. There are probably many other things I don't know about that contributed to our being here today.
My prayer for you is to be thankful not just for the big things, but for all the little things you don't even notice. Because this week it was the little things that saved our lives.
And immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" - Matthew 14:31
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