I learned long ago that it is best if I call a plumber when the faucet is dripping or an electrician when the lights are flickering. My attempts at do-it-yourself fixits have not typically ended well. Ask Becky about the last time I changed the oil and filter on our car. Hint: it was 1985. So, yes, thank goodness for Jiffy Lube.

When you are mechanically challenged, as I am, it is best to put the wrench down slowly, turn around, pick up the phone, and call someone who knows what they are doing.

I have been thinking about fixits and calling the experts as several situations are unfolding in areas of my life where I may have some responsibility. There are several, and the details don’t matter, other than to say these are situations where wires may be sparking, trust is slowly dripping away, and the check engine light has begun to flash.

I am tempted to pick up my wrench and try to fix what needs to be fixed.

In fact, each of these several situations is the kind of situation where I may have some experience. In each case someone has called and asked for my thoughts if not my advice. Like a moth irresistibly drawn to the flame, the allure of problem solving is hard for me to resist. But each of these situations is a human situation, and the problems they represent are not to be solved by using just the right wrench or the correct screwdriver. My experience and the tools in my toolbox may not be suited to the solutions these situations demand.

As we “experts” who are attending to these situations have consulted with one another, some who I respect greatly have concluded we might best stand back and let things play out as they will, perhaps not for the good.

“I think I have a socket wrench that might work,” I say to myself, knowing there is no socket wrench capable of loosening that rusted bolt. Besides, if there were such a socket wrench, I would not know how to use it.

“Let go and let God,” some will say. “God helps those who help themselves,” Poor Richard advises. But God’s sovereignty and human responsibility cannot be reduced to pithy sayings or clever memes.

The complicated situations with which I am involved may not submit to easy or even difficult solutions. Should they remain unresolved, sparks will continue to fly and someone may get hurt. Trust will leak away until there is no more. The unchecked engine will sputter to a halt in a dry and weary land.

I am no good at plumbing, things electric, or auto mechanics. Thank goodness for Jiffy Lube.

I have some experience, even skill, at helping resolve difficult human and organizational problems. I believe God helps those who are willing to pick up the tools he has given them, and, as he guides the use of those tools, help themselves. Sometimes it is best to let go and let God. He often surprises us with solutions we never imagined. And sometimes in this “already and not yet” world, people are hurt, trust is lost, and once healthy organizations, even churches, sputter to an ignoble halt.

We are called to pray without ceasing.