CHAPTER 35

Water Leak

Several years ago, on one of those days, when the pressures of life and work weighed down on me, our gardener David called me outside, announcing:

There’s a leak!

No . . . please, no! Why now?!

This emergency threatened to ruin the all-too-precious flow state I had going with my work. Granted, one hardly ever encounters a convenient water leak, but this one was especially disruptive.

I followed David around our house to just outside our bathroom wall. There he pointed to water jetting out from a perfectly round hole in the copper pipe—the main water inlet to our house. I discussed some options with him but we were both at a loss. After he walked off, I stood there in total dismay. 

What made it particularly bad was how close this leak was to the wall—right where the pipe entered the wall. There was no room for cutting off the bad section and installing a new copper quick-connect. Drawn back to my work, I was loath to commit to making a permanent repair. I thought of a temporary fix and plugged the hole with suitable wire, but the high water pressure defeated that plan.

My mind worked out a few more possibilities and dismissed further impossibilities. This couldn’t be repaired without soldering, something I was poorly prepared for. David and I are adept at repairing PVC irrigation leaks on the smallholding but not copper. Due to the cost, calling a plumber wasn’t an option. It seemed I had no other recourse; I would have to place my work on hold, lose momentum for the day, do a mind-shift from graphics and coding over to plumbing, learn copper soldering, source tools, materials, and parts . . . arrange a shut-off time with the people inside the house, drain the system, and proceed with repairs. On the smallholding, water for four houses is fed from a storage tank fed by a borehole. Left to leak overnight, water could be severely compromised for us and others. Despite feeling overwhelmed, I was ultimately compelled by my sense of duty.

Right, let’s do this!

Immediately after committing to the task, an unspoken revelation induced an abrupt change of mind. Without thought or reason, I somehow knew this leak was not for me to fix. So, instead of beginning with item one on my extensive repair list, I just prayed—asking God to make the repair for me—and then promptly walked away from the leak.

Back at my computer, unburdened and at peace, my state of flow resumed for a productive day.

A few days later, the forgotten leak sprang to mind, making me dash outside with a tinge of worry. However, the copper pipe was dry—no water jetting or dripping. I gave thanks to God who had so obviously answered my desperate prayer.

At a much later date, that same hole leaked again, thankfully at a convenient time. On that occasion, despite the aforementioned difficulties, a simple fix presented itself without fret—no soldering required. Simply securing a small square of rubber bicycle tube over the hole with a metal hose clamp has solved the leak for many years since.

Today, while writing this testimony, I called David to the same pipe. We had this conversation:

David, how many times did this pipe leak?

It was two times. The last time you put the clamp.

And the first time, how did we fix it?

Uh, I don’t know.

David rummaged fruitlessly through his mind to recall how that pipe was repaired the first time. Back then David didn’t know that I had prayed, and that God had closed the high pressure leak without human intervention.