How Stupid the rebel Washing Machine taught me a very valuable lesson.
It’s early Sunday morning and I have about a half an hour of quiet until the family wakes up and I want to share something with you, so I’m going to hurry.
It’s about Stupid Washing Machine and Stupid Washing Machine II.
About three days into our Christmas vacation the ladies of the family were out doing their holiday shopping (I encourage this heartily because my kindness may be remembered when it comes to choice purchases for my personal gifts) and I was home in quiet solitude. I decided to throw in a load of laundry and then do some book research while I kept washing and drying a couple of loads throughout the morning.
This is a matter of trust because Stupid, our clothes washing machine, has been acting unnaturally since we moved to Oak Ridge. He’s done dumb things before, hence his name. This time, though, as I typed away on the laptop, I couldn’t help but feel that Stupid was in a stage of outright rebellion. Perhaps it’s his protest in being relocated.
So Stupid stopped running, right in the first cycle.
I thought that the power had gone out; perhaps the breaker had flipped? It didn’t take me long to find out that Stupid had gone to the Kenmore Warehouse in the Sky.
I had to start shopping for a new washer, but I wanted to cut corners, you know, save a few bucks. I decided to go on the internet to one of the local shopping sites and, instead of buying a new clothes washer, I would get one of the local handymen who keeps a whole garage full of used washers and get a nice used model.
Hey, it started off okay. The fellow came in, set up the machine, and gave me a three day guarantee. Seemed good, and the price was right.
Until I did the first load.
Oh, the load came through okay. Everything inside the washing tub was fine.
It was outside of the washer.
I was walking in inch-deep water.
For the next couple of hours I searched and looked and did a second load trying to see what was wrong. I scoured and inspected as only a layman with no appliance experience whatsoever can do, but could not get to the problem. And my feet were wet.
I finally called the handyman-used-washer guy back. He sent an apprentice.
“I can’t figure it from here,” he said, puzzling over the machine the way those guys do. You know the face. “Could be a hose, but I don’t think so.” He looked at me. “Let’s turn it over and take a look inside, get serious about finding this.”
So we did. We flipped over Stupid II and searched. And searched. I finally had to go back to the laptop – I had a deadline – and after fifteen minutes I heard a noise from the utility room. I heard the Apprentice Guy groan.
“I found it,” he said, pointing to a small hole in the bottom of the tub. He shook his head. “I told my boss you can’t keep these washers out in an unheated garage. That’ll crack these tubs every time.”

Queen Mary on her maiden voyage.
They were nice about it and gave me a full refund. Guess what: we bought a brand new washer. She can handle a massive load. I have dubbed her the Queen Mary.
My point is that I had no idea what was wrong, and needed to do a deeper inspection in order to get to the root of the whole situation. This carries over into my Bible studies.
And here is where I found something HUGE.
I was reading through Genesis 29 and came upon the narrative of the life of Jacob and Esau – always good stuff if you want adventure, intrigue and a inspection of a man’s personal dealing with guilt and God. I was following along at a brisk pace but stopped when I came upon this memorable clip in the middle of the story line. If you remember the passage, it is at this point that Jacob has suggested that the shepherds take their flocks, water them, and head back out to the field. Small story. It doesn’t seem like much until you look for the Lesson.