I’ve never really understood that phrase. Anyway, Sunday was our first water volleyball event. Having never owned a pool or set up a water volleyball net, I wasn’t quite familiar with the technique or the net that we had borrowed from a friend. I didn’t even know if I’d bought the right kind of ball. Wanting to set up the net before anyone was at the pool, I stopped there after work that morning to get started. I was tired, really tired, after getting up early on Saturday afternoon for another CARES event and then working Saturday night. All I wanted to do was crawl into bed, but first I had to outsmart the net.

Unfortunately, it was a lot more difficult than I thought. Our community pool is much wider than our friends’ pool and didn’t have good posts to which I could attach the net. I would have to stretch rope between the net and the side poles and somehow attach the poles to something sturdy. I also know embarrassingly little about knots. I can tie a bow and a double knot, but that’s it. I wandered back and forth and thought and thought. Suddenly I noticed a resident opening the gate to the pool area and walking over. In my mind a beam of light from heaven appeared over him and angels sang, but I think I just made that part up. He had finished his workout and was walking home when he noticed me floundering beside the pool and offered to help. I can’t fully explain how thankful I was to have his help. He had set up nets like this before and used to have his own pool, and he did most of the engineering work for me. It seemed like God had pity on me and sent this guy just when I needed help most. Thanks to him, I was in bed by 9:00, and the water volleyball event was a success.