“Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.” 1 Corinthians 15:33
It smelled like a bacon farm before it becomes bacon. Yup, that’s right. Judy came home the other day and was pretty certain that a pig farm had moved into the neighborhood. Now since we live in middle of town that was pretty unlikely. She sniffed and smelled and finally determined that the pig farm was somewhere in the garage or on our car. She came into the house and told me she thought we had a problem.
I slipped on my shoes and followed her out to the garage. We started with the rear wheel on the driver’s side and quickly found out that was the source of the odor–that did indeed smell like a pig farm. Well, a short time later my daughter Sarah and her husband Blake stopped by and I asked them to take a sniff and they did. We opened the garage door and they played odor detective. After a few moments, Sarah said, “Mom, I think you ran through some garbage juice. And you are asking, “What is garbage juice?” Well, let me tell you.
Garbage juice happens when a garbage truck stops and needs to compress the garbage he is carrying. As the garbage is compressed, all those nasty, stinking, gross juices are pressed out and find their way out of the truck and onto the ground. And, take my word for it, it smells like a pig farm. If you drive through it, that nasty, stinking, gross juice splashes on your tires and on your car and you, dear friend, carry that stench where you go. Apparently, that is what happened to Judy.
So, guess what? A garbage truck is not the only source of garbage juice. Sometimes life, sometimes enemies, sometimes friends, and sometimes we are the source of garbage juice. If we are not careful we can allow that vile mess to splash on us and we find ourselves in a stinking mess. Remember that old saying, “A pound of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” So we need to learn to avoid bad circumstances and stinky people and perhaps most of all our own wrong attitudes.
Here’s the deal. If you see what even looks like some garbage juice on the road–carefully but aggressively swerve to avoid it. Do whatever you can to miss the mess. And, if you see a mess in the making in your life, do whatever you can to make sure you don’t run into it. It might means avoiding certain places and people and it will probably mean a change in our own stinking thinking. Regardless–do what is necessary.
Now if you do run into some garbage juice, do what we did…get the hose and wash it down. In other words, talk to your Dearest Daddy and confess if there is something to confess, repent if there is something to repent of and if it involves someone, well apologize if that is needed. Remember this. The hose of God’s grace will absolutely washing away the stench–no matter how bad it is. Mark it down–He’s got this. Bro. Dewayne
Grits with Grace 