Fixing One Thing Breaks Something Else

A few weeks we wrote about road work.  It was exciting to see overnight the big machines come in, the road ripped up and gravel and concrete being put down.  It seemed like we would have a new road running by our house in just a few days!  But alas, it was not to be.

Hauling water from downstairs

As the roller vehicles pressed and battered the gravel down to a hard flat surface, shaking our house like an earthquake, the old rusted water pipes that ran under the road could not take it.  They broke and work was stopped as some of the new road had to be dug up so that the water pipes could be fixed.  Apparently this happened in multiple places.  The end result being that we didn’t have water coming to our house for the next two weeks.

What did it mean for us?  Well, our neighbors, who are on a different line had water coming nice and strong to their tap down in the courtyard.  So every few days, we would run up and down the steps with 10L jerrycans filling and emptying, filling and emptying until the water reserve barrels in our house were full again.  Good exercise, but hard work!

Though the road work stalled because of plumbing issues, other life still went on.  The roads remained closed for travel which meant a lot of cars were diverted from their normal routes.  Of course, this caused traffic.  Our small city, which is usually blessed with few traffic problems, became a snarling, honking mess of crawling taxis and buses.

But it was not only the taxis that could not get through.  Normally the garbage trucks roam the city streets honking their horns on arrival and picking up trash almost daily from every neighborhood.  But with the roads closed, no garbage trucks were coming through.  For us, that meant, walking our bags of garbage a block away to a designated drop area.  But since multiple neighborhoods were effected by this roadwork, the garbage pile there was going exponentially, and despite the fact that it is a drop off point, it appeared that the garbage truck could still not get to it, resulting in a expanding mound of refuse that is spilling out into the street, letting off a tremendous, sickening stench.

Filling up our water barrels

So to summarize, a good thing, that should make life in our neighborhood a little nicer—a new road—ended up stirring up problems (water and trash) that actually made life more difficult for many people.  Isn’t that the way it often is in our lives?  We try to fix one thing only to break something else in the process.  

There is certainly a lesson to be learned in all this.  Life is interconnected.  One system effects another system.  We have to consider how everything works together.  How often in life do we try to fix one problem in our lives for example: “I’m too busy.”  or “I’m not patient enough.” or “I need to exercise more.” or “I want to be less anxious” without considering the way the one problem is interconnected with the rest of our lives.  Many times we try to fix one thing and maybe even see results (I’m exercising more!), only to see something else suffer (I’m spending less time with my family.).

Perhaps the problem is that we try to fix symptoms of things going wrong in our lives, when what we really need is systemic transformation.  In our personal lives that means heart change.   Only heart change gets all our systems working together in harmony.  It’s what we need in our own lives and in bigger systems as well.  But transformation is hard.  Harder than building a new road.  It takes time.  Thankfully, we know the one who is an expert at transformation. He is ready to work in individuals and societies, if only we will have Him!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our island brothers and sisters made it safely back from their conference and it sounds like it was a very encouraging time of great fellowship with brothers and sisters from all over Africa! Our leadership training ran relatively smoothly this weekend, despite our facilitator being connected via zoom, some our members flights being changed, and issues around power and internet connectivity.  We work with some great and patient people and have a team full of servant-hearted helpers.  So, in the end, things went pretty smoothly and the time of learning, thinking, and growing was beneficial.  Our house helper had her baby!  Mom and baby boy are doing well- though there has been some concerns that he isn’t going to the bathroom like he should- pray that this would resolve quickly.  The women’s gathering was a success and encouragement to all.  And after two weeks of hauling water up and down the stairs, our water finally got fixed today!

The gross trash pile (that's usually a sidewalk)

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Please pray that the road could get fixed, the water pipes replaced and the garbage trucks would run again, but more importantly pray for the heart and minds of islanders to be transformed!  Please continue to pray for our newest teammate as she works hard to learn language, that she could be set up with consistent and faithful language helpers.  Please keep praying for government approval for our medical team.  They have been waiting months now to be allowed to work in the hospital.  It certainly seems like the problems are simply red-tape and bureaucracy, but it is still rather frustrating.  Pray for their patience and to make good use of this time to make more inroads into relationships and into the community.  May they be well-loved in that town even before they start medical work! Pray for Megan as she goes to visit them and encourage their local language learning!