When Things Go Wrong

Yesterday:

Our car had its annual service. Car-mechanic-Andy phoned: ‘Your rocker cover gasket’s leaking. I ordered one; they sent the wrong one. I ordered another; they sent another wrong one.’

I don’t know what a rocker cover gasket is. I wouldn’t know the difference between a right one and a wrong one. Eventually Andy obtained the right one and fitted it. I now know that a rocker cover gasket costs £18.42.

Sometimes when things go wrong, I must trust an expert.

I went to see my friend Jack, via the Costa-machine. I tried to start it. Nothing happened. I told Ellie at the checkout. Ellie got the key, unlocked the machine, jiggled things about. Still it didn’t work.

Gary came. Further jiggling. No success. He switched the machine off and restarted it. Another failure. ‘I’ll clean it.’ Gary persisted, following complex display-screen instructions. Eventually all was working. Jack and I got our coffee.

Sometimes when things go wrong, I must wait patiently.

The Sun told of Wiltshire-born Eddie Rudd: ‘An army skydiver parachuted into his own wedding – then did his first dance with a broken leg.’

He met his Texan bride Cassandra on a Disney cruise. …Rudd, an experienced member of the British Army’s parachute display team, jumped with four pals from 5000ft …The day after the wedding, his leg, swollen from a night of dancing, was X-rayed: it was broken… It’s the first time that he’s broken a bone.

Sometimes when things go wrong, I just keep going.

With a few friends, we read Psalm 91:

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
    will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
    my God, in whom I trust.”

It describes things going wrong… ‘The terror of the night… the plague that destroys… harm and disaster.’  …How sometimes we must wait patiently, sometimes we just keep going, …confidently trusting the expert-God who knows what he is doing.