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Stinky Business   Sunday, August 08, 2004

Last week I had the unique opportunity, or should I say responsibility, of getting a dead skunk out of the middle of a buried drain pipe. After a bit of consideration of how to handle the delicate situation, I decided a plumber's snake would be in order. (It would have been nice to have a clothes pin for the nose too). 

My first approach was to use the snake to push the skunk out the other end. It was successful for a bit until the skunk got stuck further down the pipe. Then we, (I acquired two helpers), got a long pipe to shove from the other end but to no avail. One of my helpers decided to tie some cloth on the snake, which we had managed to get to the other end of the pipe, and pull it, with the skunk, back, only to get the snake stuck too. Helper "B", was close to the opening of the front of the pipe when helper "A" yanked on the snake to free it. That only managed to drench helper "B" with putrid skunk water. 

We finally flooded the pipe, while pulling and pushing, and the skunk came "flying" out of the pipe, landing about 5 ft. from the opening. 

We could have left the skunk in the pipe but the stench would have been unbearable, even worse than it was at the time. It had to be dealt with. 

Same thing with sin. If you sin, you need to deal with it or it will just get worse. We all sin, even as Christians. Point is, what do we do about it. 

Christians are forgiven of sin - end of statement! That's good news. But when we mess up as a Christian, even though our position as a child of God doesn't change, our friendship and relationship with our God is hurt. 

I John 1:9 tells us what to do. When we sin, we confess it to God. That means to agree with God that what we did was wrong. We are already forgiven positionally, but then we become forgiven in a friendship way. 

Got any sin in your life today? Confess it, get rid of the problem, (like the skunk), and get on with your wonderful journey with Jesus! Don't let unconfessed sin "stink up" your relationship with your Lord!

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