A Cracked Tank by Carrie Crossett
In the midst of the rainy season here in Washington, Carrie reminds us to build on The Rock…
A Cracked Tank
A few weeks ago I casually glanced into the waiting room at work and discovered a small wading pool. I jumped out of my chair and called for reinforcements. The 280 gallon saltwater fish tank had sprung a leak. Again.
Upon inspection I noted that the water level in the massive tank was three inches lower than it should have been and sinking steadily. Not good at all. I turned off valves and switches and still the water level dipped. Under the tank, a waterfall gushed. I knew there had to be a crack somewhere, a catastrophic crack. I just couldn’t see it.
I called the doctor in charge of our saltwater family. He, of course, was three hours away. His calm advice was to stick a tube in the draining tank and siphon some water into a trash can and then catch the fish.
So, I sucked and spit, sucked and spit, to no avail. By then the water was so low it couldn’t fight gravity. Meanwhile, a brave patient had meandered in and began filling garbage cans with saltwater. Anything to save the chromis and crabs who lived in the tank.
By the end of the ordeal, I was wading through the flooded room shoeless with my pant cuffs turned up, picking up the occasional crab or snail that I found. Dried bits of salt clung to my shirt. A few days later I learned what had caused the crash. After removing sand and hundreds of pounds of rock and coral I saw a four foot crack across the bottom of the tank; it had been hidden.
From the outside, the tank looked beautiful; the black lights shone, the fish were colorful and healthy, the water sparkled. The tank was the pride of the clinic, despite the occasional leak. But, unseen, something dangerous had formed. The foundation had weakened over time. Hundreds of pounds of pressure had caused a crack to form. When it finally burst the life of the tank drained. Water overflowed and there was nothing but disaster.
This can happen in our lives, too. From the outside, everything looks good. Our smile is in place. We’re always at church. We’re reading our Bible everyday. But, underneath, in our souls, is a crack. And we don’t realize it until the pressure in our lives causes something to burst. And then we drain.
Life’s pressures will never go away. God taught me that if I don’t cry out to Him on a daily basis, a crack will form in my own foundation. It may start small, but with each passing day, it will widen, the day’s pressures overwhelming, damaging. God wants our pressure, our burdens. He wants us to talk to Him about our issues, no matter how small they are.
Matthew 7: 24-25 says that we are to build our house on the rock because, “The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.” However, the house built on the sand foundation, the weak foundation, “fell with a great crash.” (v. 26)
Is there a deadly crack in your foundation that will cause your life to drain, till nothing is left? Or have you built, and keep building, on the Rock?