When The Holy Spirit Rings Your Doorbell

Ok so the Holy Spirit didn't actually ring our doorbell but it sure felt that way. Let me start from the beginning.

But first let me post this disclaimer. I wasn't sure I was going to write about this because I don't want to come off as self righteous. Please hear my heart in wanting praise to go to the Holy Spirit.

My ideal morning routine would constitute getting up at 4:45 AM to spend some time in prayer then the Word. Admittedly, that doesn't happen as much as I'd like. In fact, it's rare I get up that early. It usually happens in the 5 o'clock hour and that isn't even everyday.

Anyway, having said that, yesterday morning I got up around 5:30 AM to spend some time with the Lord. After going through my prayer list, I usually end the prayer time asking Jesus for help in obeying the Holy Spirit. I usually have my Bible reading in mind as I need Him to give me insights into that morning's readings. But it also includes any leadings the Holy Spirit may give me throughout the day.

Now that I've creeped some of you out, here is where the Holy Spirit rang our doorbell. I had just finished feeding Brevin and was about to get him dressed for church when our doorbell rang. Being it was 8:20 on a Sunday morning, my initial reaction was to not answer the door. But instead I opened the door to a girl who was about 10 holding a puppy and she asked if I could help. Not knowing the "for what" answer, I stepped outside and asked "what's up?" Her answer surprised me:

Our house is flooded, can you help?

Again, my initial reaction was a negative one. I was flooded with valid excuses of why I couldn't help. But what was I going to say? Sorry I can't help, I have to get ready for church? There's a good ministry. Not only would I not help, but I'd be using God as my excuse. (Now there are some very valid reasons why saying "no" for the sake of going to church but none of my excuses met that criteria.) So I reluctantly said:

Sure.

I said I'd need to finish a few things but would be right over. She told me the house number, as I'd never seen her before, then quickly dressed Brevin and brought him up to Erin where I told her the what I'd be doing. With a puzzled "ok" and a quick "be safe" I was off. (I told her I'd have my cell phone just in case.)

When I got to their front door, I saw the little girl wasn't kidding, the house was flooded. The carpet was sopping wet. The kitchen floor was now a pond. The ceiling was now a dark, continuous rain cloud. Upon entering, I was greeted by the girls mother where I was let in on the situation.

Apparently the house was the mother's mother's house. Make sense? Basically the little girls grandma's place. The mother was going to let grandma's puppy out before going to work. But when she opened the garage door and saw it raining in the garage, she knew she wouldn't be going into work that day. The mother traced the origin to the upstairs bathroom...where the puppy was. She said it would have been funny if it hadn't been so sad. The toilet was overflowing and puppy was desperately trying to get out of the bathroom. His kennel was flooded, and so was his litter box. (Yea, a puppy and a litter box. Go figure.) The poor little guy was getting soaked pawing at the door.

This is where the mother wanted help; she didn't know how to shut off the water going into the toilet. She asked her daughter to take the wet puppy and find someone to help.

Ding Dong.

Why the little girl chose our place, I don't know exactly. I had taken Bella out but that was long before they would have got to the house. Our curtains were still closed so she couldn't have seen I was up. We weren't next door neighbor's either, in fact, we are over half a dozen homes away. My only thinking (behind pure chance) is the Holy Spirit answered my prayer in wanting to obey him. It wasn't close to the way I would have thought that prayer would have been answered but nonetheless, the Holy Spirit gave me that opportunity in the form of a panicked girl and her puppy.

The mother was able to shut off the water right before I got there. She was obviously flustered in what to do next. So I cleaned up the bathroom (which was filled with wet kittie litter and puppy poop) while she grabbed a mop, talked with the grandma over the phone, and was looking for a place that had a wet/dry vacuum all at the same time. (Wow, women are great at multi-tasking.)

After finishing the bathroom she had a good handle on the situation and thanked me for coming over. So now what do I say. I wanted to let her know that I was a Christian and not just some stranger trying to do a good deed. I wanted to give God the glory. So, what do I say? Do I give her a presentation of the gospel message while the ceilings are still raining? Do I ask if we can lay hands on the toilet getting rid of it's demons? (I'm kidding, I just thought that was funny.) All I said when leaving was:

May God bless the rest of your day.

Was that enough? I don't know but it seemed appropriate as she had a long day in front of her.

Getting back to our place, I was able to fill Erin in with the details as we rushed to get out the door. Thankfully we were only a little late for the time we were supposed to be at church.

So that was the beginning of my first official Father's Day. I spent more time that morning talking with my heavenly Father than I would have guessed. And next time, instead of asking Jesus to help my obey the Holy Spirit's leading, I think I'll ask for a DVD instead. ;)

—b