“Pray that the Lord your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do.” Jeremiah 42:3
Last week I went to the church to set up for a group. Upon opening the door into the back of the building, the smell hit my nose, causing me to sigh, “Oh no… not again!” The smell screamed, “dead rat!” Having been here many times before, I was NOT excited to begin the process that I have learned to call…”e-RAT-ication!”
You may not believe this, but I actually prayed! “O Lord, please help me to find this nasty thing quickly. I could use a lot of help here!” Finding a dead rat in an attic can be a long, slow, stinky, hot process. Unlike finding a needle in a haystack, the major sense required is smell. Which means deliberately smelling the disgust over and over again, until it gets stronger. No fun!
Several men did a preliminary search-look on Sunday, but nothing was found. Brother Larry came to help, and our search moved SLOWLY from the attic, to the wall, then “PEEEEEEEEUUUUUU” to particular spot on the wall where a light switch was located. Grabbing a saw I started cutting drywall. NOTHIN! Outside the wall was an electric box connecting wiring to our light our big cross out front. Taking off the plate, Larry and I found a rather large dead snake coiled inside! 4 days of searching, digging and cleaning as we went. Had God had let me down!
Remember the prayer I prayed? The key word was “QUICKLY!” To me, 4 days did NOT fit that description. In retrospect, there was no need to cut out drywall INSIDE when 2 screws would have revealed the problem on the OUTSIDE! My initial thought was, “all that extra work… for NOTHIN!” I’m used to that kind of stinking thinking in my flesh. So I started reflecting BACKWARD on the PROCESS. Here is what I found.
Two closets are now very clean. The attic has a LOT less junk lying around up there. Two other rooms have been purged. And the BEST part was I got to spend some good time, AND make a memory, with Brother Larry! To top it off… it wasn’t a rat but a snake! Not inside but outside. And it is now gone! The path to success was longer, but it certainly produced a LOT more benefits THIS way!
Sometimes we are not certain that God is there, that He cares, that He is WITH us this time, or that we will even be successful in the long run. But I have learned something over the years. Each time I start down a road, with my attention focused on God, the JOURNEY becomes as fruitful as reaching the final destination.
If life is long, tiring, hot and stinky, it pays for me to look backward and remind myself of what I KNOW. That God has come through my uncertainty before, over and over again, and He promises to be with me again. From there it simply becomes a matter of following my “knows.”
Life is FULL of stinky things… Get Jesus!
