By Doug Creamer

We received our water bill the other day and I nearly fainted. It was about triple what it normally is. I pulled some recent bills. My water usage has been steadily climbing over the last couple of months. This month it was sky-high. I learned that we can look on the internet and see our water usage. I discovered that we had water running 24/7.

I checked inside and nothing seemed to be running. I crawled under the house, thinking I might discover a swimming pool under there. There was no pool, and it was nice and dry. Where was all the water?

With all the rains we have been having lately my whole yard has been soggy. I didn’t notice anything unusual. After a couple of sunny days, I did notice one area where the ground was especially soggy. A friend came over and we started to dig. We thought we would find the water line within two feet. We kept on digging and digging. We were just shy of four feet before we found the line. We needed a backhoe to get to this leak.

Every plumber I called was backed up for two weeks. With the cold and rainy weather subsiding, the plumbers were getting back to work. I have a few friends with tractors but none with backhoes. Then I found out that a fellow church member had a backhoe. I talked to him and he was on board to help.

One of my neighbors is a plumber and he said that if I got it dug out, he would fix the leak. I didn’t realize that the gentleman from church was also a retired plumber. I was truly blessed. I went from not being able to find a plumber to having two plumbers here to fix my leaky pipe.

We dug through that soaking red clay and got the hole big enough to repair the leak. The plumber got the necessary parts and got down into the muddy hole to fix things back up. We made a muddy, soupy mess of my front yard, but we repaired the leaky pipe. Now all I have to do is hope that the city will work with me on the terrible water bill.

When we got done, I asked the guys what I owed them. Neither one asked for enough. I know if I had gotten a plumbing company in here, I would have had a huge bill. These guys had been a blessing to me and I wanted to be a blessing back to them. I paid them both more than they asked. God has blessed me with good neighbors and friends from church.

I have had my insurance with State Farm since I was 16. Their slogan is, “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.” I have been thinking about my situation. I wonder if Christians should have that attitude, “Like a good neighbor, your Christian brothers and sisters will be there for you.” These two guys made me feel that way. I was in trouble, and here came two godly men to help me.

I imagine if you looked around, you would find people who could use a hand. Some might need practical help like I did, while others might need emotional support. Maybe they are going through a loss or difficult time and they need you to listen and be there for them. Some might be struggling with mental health issues, something we don’t talk about in church. Still others are facing a health crisis and need a miraculous touch.

Maybe you feel unable to help in a practical way, but you can still help and make a profound difference in people’s lives. You can pray. Often prayer seems inadequate. We feel like there ought to be more we can do, but prayer makes a supernatural difference. Inviting the divine into any situation will change that situation. The enemy will try to convince you otherwise, because he knows the divine power of prayer.

I want to encourage you to consider what you might be able to do to help someone else out. Be wise and careful because there are people who might want to hurt or take advantage of you. Pray and ask God to guide you as you use your talents, gifts, and abilities to be a blessing to someone else. While praying for others, ask God how he can use you to be a blessing. Sometimes a card or phone call can be worth a million dollars. The goal is to be a blessing, and in the end, you will get blessed.

Contact Doug Creamer at PO Box 777, Faith, NC 28041 or doug@dougcreamer.com.