We woke up Saturday moment to a "shower" in our basement. A pipe had burst in the half-bath on the main floor while we slept and was flooding the floor below. There was about an inch of water on the basement carpet and the ceiling had collapsed in several places:
I started to cry when I saw the damage, but then somehow I just started to laugh. "When it rains, it pours" was all I could think of. Terry and I woke up the kids, and we had the basement room emptied in about an hour and started trying to ShopVac the carpet. Now, five days later, the old ceiling has been removed, the carpet pad has been pulled up and discarded, the carpet is dry, and best of all - the mildew smell is gone! Terry is a great do-it-yourselfer, so we may even come out ahead when the insurance pays up!
This is just another opportunity to ponder Matthew 6:19-21:
"Do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
This is the verse that kept coming to mind when I accidentally erased my computer hard drive in June and then dropped my external hard drive (with all the back-up data) just a few weeks later. I realized that so much of the treasures of my life are stored in photos, video, and documents of various kinds. These things are important, but I realized that I had too much of my time and effort stored in something that was not eternal. It was a good reality check.