Water Pressure Tank Adventure

About once a month something happens at camp that causes the staff to say, “Oh Lord, what are we going to do now?”

That was exactly my response when in the middle of the Pastor and Wives Retreat, one of our maintenance men gave me the news that our water system pressure tank was leaking! The tank holds about 3,500 gallons of water that is placed under pressure to push the water from our reservoir to all parts of camp. It reminded me of a leak I once had in my car’s radiator…only bigger! You could see the water squirting out of a small hole in the tank, and our big fear was that the hole would get worse.

A quick look at our staffs’ faces reminded me that once again we were faced with a situation where none of us had any experience. I mean, how often does a camp have to replace a water pressure tank? After a time of prayer around the tank, we set up a plan to find and install a replacement. Proverbs reminds us that “In a multitude of counselors, there is wisdom”. Once again, we were able to find wisdom through our network of friends of the camp.

I want to thank you for all of your prayers, encouragement and gifts to our camp this past week. The water pressure tank has been replaced, but not without some challenges!

We were able to find and purchase a used tank two days later. We had it delivered for free the following afternoon. We found out that we had to special order a part from Illinois, so we prayed and hosted three guest groups while keeping an eye on the leak. Yes, the leak did get bigger, but it did not affect our guests experience at camp.

Last week, our staff filled up their bathtubs and we turned off the water for 26 hours to change over to the new tank. After the tank was replaced, we were still pressurizing the system when our next guest group arrived. They had low water pressure for about two hours, but they did not allow that to change the focus of their retreat.

We have seen God working in this crisis.

• It happened during our Pastor and Wives Retreat. They were able to pray with us and several churches and a few individuals made contributions to help cover the estimates $15,000 cost of the repair.

• It was a small leak and not a catastrophic failure of the tank.

• Our Waste Water Treatment advisor is a dear brother in Christ who was able to find a used tank for us because of his network of friends and his commitment to us.

• A local contractor who is also a great friend of the camp offered to pick up the tank for free with his semi truck and trailer with only 8 hours notice.

• An unexpected volunteer and his wife came to work at our camp for the month. He is experienced in setting up PVC pipe water systems and was able to assist our staff in building the new water pressure system.

I shared with some friends afterwards that they did not teach this kind of thing in Seminary, but… maybe they did. God using his children to help in a time of crisis!