Day 5 - Wednesday, October 5, 2011 - The Stinky Stomp

When I was a little girl, something awful started stinkin' up my bedroom.  At first, it started out as an unusual odor.  Then, with each passing day, the smell got stronger and stronger.  It didn't take my parents long to realize something, like an animal, must have died outside near my part of the house.  My dad ventured outside to claim the smelly prize and came back empty handed.  Since our house was raised off of the ground, he came quickly to the conclusion that the dead animal must be under the house.  My instructions were simple.  My dad told me to go to the spot in my room where the stinky smell was the strongest.  And then I was to stomp my foot as loud as I could at that very spot.  He would then follow the sound of my stomp and hopefully find the smelly culprit.  It worked!  After stomping VERY loudly (you can imagine how a 6-year-old would love this daddy-given task), he found it...a cat.  You would think a deceased kitten would upset me, but I was thrilled.  Not because the cat was dead, but because the smell was finally gone.  I felt like I had been given a gift.  My room quickly smelled again of my mom's favorite cinnamon potpourri.  It smelled like home again.

And then it occurred to me.  Every bad decision I have made, every example of defiance, every act of disobedience has created an unbearable odor in my heart.  At first, when the path to destruction is slow and gradual, the consequences of our decisions don't seem as bad.  In fact, some of them are quite bearable.  But overtime, just like the stench of a dead animal under a house, the consequences become too much.  For some of us, we get in over our head.  We start to drown in a sea of destruction and despair.  And because our God loves us beyond comprehension, He does just like I did for my dad.  He stands over us, stomping His foot.  In our hearts, He goes to the worst spot He can find and stomps VERY loudly until we hear Him.  That's how He reveals Himself.  But do we actually hear Him?  Do you hear His stomping in your life?  Or have you put your fingers in your ears like a child and refused to listen to His voice?  His stomping foot, His voice is not there to reprimand you.  He just wants you back.  Just like a child playing a silly game of hide-and-seek with dad, He's waiting for you to jump out of your hiding place and run to Him with arms open.  Go, friend.  It's time.  Get your fingers out of your ears, come out of your hiding place, and run.  Run to Him.  He's there.  Waiting and wanting you.