Update

Dean and Jonathan enjoying something amusing on Dean's 75th birthday at friends Paul and Karen's.

New prayer request for Dean. Since he has no energy, his legs are getting weaker. I am concerned about him falling now. He has to hold on with both hands to get up the front porch steps and really struggles. He has difficulty getting in and out of the car. If his legs were to buckle and he were to fall and break something, it would be more than I could handle. And our house is certainly not wheelchair-friendly. I want to get him a walking stick but that wouldn't help much in a fall. I am attempting to get him out every day at least for a little bit.

Wednesday night as I was brushing my teeth I noticed that the water pressure was low. By morning we had none. Not a drop. I put in a call to Oregon Pump. I was told that Mike, the owner had open heart surgery last week and was doing fine. His son Jake would be right out.

Jake tested the electric and the pump was running at full amps, but no water was getting out of the well. He went back for his boom truck and a helper. They had to cut a hole in the roof in order to pull the pipe. Then he gave me the news. There was no good news. The very last pipe had rusted and actually broke in two when they attempted to pull it. They were only able to save the pump by pulling it out with the attached electrical cable.

About 10 years ago, we had a lot of rust and sediment in our water and had them pull all the pipe. Four of the 20' pipes had holes and were replaced. Dean thought he had them replace the pump at that time. But when Jake got the pump out, it was the Sears pump I bought back in the early 80's.

The least expensive fix was to have him replace the rusted out pipes only. But as the pump was almost 27 years old, and not wanting to have to go through the expense of this again in a year or two or whenever, I had him go ahead and replace it, and replace the galvanized pipe with the newer heavy-duty plastic made specifically for wells.

And then when they got the water hooked back up it was full of sediment which of course went throughout the house, clogged up the toilet mechanisms, the line to the washer, etc. Dean called our plumber who came out as a favor and cleaned out the new toilet he had just installed a couple weeks ago and the line to the washer, though it clogged up as soon as I put the first load in.

So on top of using my retirement fund to pay medical bills and the economic situation already evaporating half of it, I now have literally sunk another $3K into a hole in the ground. It is difficult to put this out of my mind, especially when I awake in the middle of the night.

In the natural, all this can be quite disheartening. I am so very, very thankful that we know the Lord is our strength and joy, that our momentary challenges are just that. Samuel Rutherford said, "When I am in the cellar of affliction, I look for the Lord's choicest wines." Charles Spurgeon wrote, "They who dive in the sea of affliction bring up rare pearls."

We don't speak of pie in the sky. We keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the Author, Source and Finisher of faith.