Thank You, Lord, for Not Sending Me This...

I wrote a while back about how God has tailor-made our particular cross for us.  While I can embrace my crosses, I can also thank God profusely for the crosses He hasn't sent me at this time.  I can be thankful for so many things; and this, my friends, is one cross I am thankful I have not encountered...

A friend of mine had some plumbing problems a few weeks back.  It seems that her kitchen sink drain plugged up.  It also became apparent that her upstairs toilet pipe is somehow tied into the same pipe as her kitchen drain (use your imagination and I'll spare you the details).  That, however, is not the worst of the story.

Her son was in the upstairs bathroom emptying the garbage can when something caught his eye in the toilet.  It seems that there was something in there looking back at him.  He called his dad upstairs who, upon coming into the room and going toward the toilet, saw a nice sized sewer rat swimming back down the pipe.

They slammed the lid down and put some bricks on it to make sure the rat stayed put.  In all likelihood, the rat got trapped in the upper part of the pipe since the lower part, the one leading back to the city sewer system, was currently plugged.

Well, they eventually got it all cleared up and the city came and put poison in the manholes and their kitchen is restored to its original pristine condition.  I can't say, however, that they don't look twice before they sit down :)

So for my part, I just want to say that I am so thankful that our house is not connected to the city sewer system.  To the best of my knowledge there aren't things called "septic rats".  I am thankful for the trials in my life - the ones that don't include four legged creatures invading the very private parts of my home!

God Bless!