A few days ago I walked on water. Not literally. I don’t particularly like water. I didn’t learn to swim until I married Emily. She broke swimming records growing up. I played golf. No, I didn’t break any golf records, but I did frequently hit balls into the water. So I’m familiar with water. I just don’t like to spend time in it…or on it.
This story began a couple of weeks ago when I noticed my weed-eater wasn’t functioning properly. I was engaging the trigger to increase the throttle, but nothing was happening. I shut off the engine, unscrewed the casing around the trigger, and found that it was broken. And, unfortunately, the throttle cable was connected to the plastic trigger. No amount of duct tape in the world was going to fix this problem. I was stuck.
You need to know—I’m not very mechanically inclined. OK, I’m not at all mechanically inclined. Both my parents were music majors. There aren’t many mechanical repairs in music education. Because of that, I never really learned how to fix anything. Instead, I learned how to pay the fix-it people to fix things.
I don’t know what prompted me, but I decided to tackle this repair on my own. I called the nice people at Sears and ordered the replacement part. After the part arrived, I started taking apart my weed-eater. This was quite a moment. I don’t normally step out of the boat like this.
At one point, my son walked by the garage and saw all the screws and weed-eater parts strewn over the garage floor and he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. I can assure you he had never seen anything like this before at our house. For some reason, he’s not impressed that I know how many sharps there are in the key of “D.” But, seeing me hunched over a toolbox and various small-engine parts–that catches his attention.
Jacob was so surprised by the unlikely occurrence that he ran in to get Emily. A short time later, Emily came out to see what once was a weed-eater. She smiled at me, shook her head and returned inside. Remember, Emily is an expert swimmer. Because of that, she knows signs of drowning when she sees them.
This story, however, has a happening ending. After several attempts at reassembly, I was able to put the weed-eater back together again. I’m proud to say I accomplished this while making sure there weren’t any left over screws and absolutely no duct tape was used. After laying hands on my weed-eater and saying a brief but Spirit-filled prayer, I attempted to start the weed-eater.
People say that first step out of the boat is the hardest. For me, I’ve found that when I feel like I’m drowning, the next step is always the hardest. It’s pretty easy for me to turn around and get back in the boat. I don’t like that about myself. I wish I could take steps of faith without fear. Then again, maybe it’s the fear that leads me to faith. Either way, I’m trying to spend more time out on the water.
The weed-eater started. The new trigger and throttle cable worked to perfection. I was able to whack a lot of weeds. You may read this account and think, Tony needs to get out more—people repair weed-eaters everyday. But, Tony doesn’t repair weed-eaters everyday. This was uncharted territory for me. I was cutting (or at least trimming) a completely new path. For one brief moment, I was walking on water.
Now, if you’ll excuse me. I need to Google “furnace maintenance.” Sometime between now and the time I get home, I need to figure out how to replace the furnace filter. A handyman’s work is never done.
Congratulations on a job well done! And without directions like you had for the grill assembly even. You had me roaring reading this, nearly a coffee out the nose score first thing in the morning. Thanks for sharing!
Awesome….can I now send you Home Depot gift cards?
I feel your pain. My dad fixed everything with a phone instead of a screw driver.