35 or so years ago, this book was read to me as a child.
My sister Shannon and I, to this day, can still recite this simple children's book word for word not having cracked it open since our childhood days. (We did it this morning, 150 miles apart over the phone...true story!) It was our favorite. Some things just stick with you, this book is one of those things.
This is the House Where Jack Lives is a story about a little innocent boy named Jack, who, without realizing, it started a chain reaction of chaos that affected so many others in his building. You see, (SPOILER ALERT!!!) Jack just wanted to take a bath. He was enjoying his bubbles when he let the water spill over and drown the floor, causing the apartment below to leak from the ceiling. This leak caused the woman in 7A trouble because she was having a party and called for her cook, who tripped over the cat, who scared the maid, who dropped her dirty mop on the man washing the windows...well it just kind of snowballs from there, ending with some poor kid on the sidewalk getting whacked in the head with a pail!
Why am writing about this book? Why is this book the one that stuck in my head all these years? Why is this book so important to me? Let me explain.
While I personally found this book funny as a child, as an adult I find it painfully spot on as to how our lives go some times. How many times have we all watched some thing that seemed so simple grow into a huge issue? How many times have our actions caused trouble for others? How many times have we been caught up in drama caused by others? Daily, I would venture to guess. I know that's how things normally go for me.
Some times what we think is a great idea, just what we need, turns out to be anything but. We also have a hard time seeing how something so tiny could possibly hurt anyone. Like Jack we think, its just a bath, right?
The truth is, we hurt people every day. We get hurt every day. Some days we are a little boy in a bathtub on the top floor and other days we are the boy on the sidewalk getting smacked by a rouge pail!
I often wonder how Jack's mother handled his bath time antics. I imagine upon finding her son, in a tub full of uh oh, she reached and turned the faucet off first thing. I'm sure she got a hold of him and dried him off, then helped him clean his mess. And I am quite sure she still loved her Jack in spite of his childhood foolishness!
God does the same thing for us when we are neck deep in bad choices. He turns the faucet off. He picks us up and helps us fix our messes. If we ask Him for His help, we get it. And He still loves us when we act foolishly. He also helps us up when someone else knocks us to the ground. He comforts us in times of trouble, self inflicted or otherwise. He loves us so much!
2 Corinthians 1:10 tells us; He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.
Life is full of overflowing bathtubs, struggles, mean people, & just very bad days. God promises to be there through it all. I am so thankful for that promise. I cling to that promise every day y'all, every day! I am so grateful that when I'm a Jack or hurt by one, I'm still loved!
Have a great weekend and go read a book! I think I'm gonna crack open Jack's story one more time...you know, just because I can!
