Our house smells like death.
Not like someone left some food out on the counter too long or didn’t light a match in the bathroom…
It smells like DEATH!
True Story!
Something, most likely a raccoon, opossum, cat, or squirrel (although from the smell, I would say it has to be at least the size of a decent bull elk), has crawled under our house and died.
Now, ordinarily this would be an unpleasant, but quickly resolved problem. Simply, crawl under the house and remove the stinking carcass, clean the affected area, and the stench begins to subside. Unfortunately, this animal (I still say it’s an elk…) decided to make his final resting place under a section of the house that does not have a foundation vent AND does not have crawlspace access!
The weather is hot and the stench is unbearable… and there is no way to remove the carcass… At this point, we just have to wait. We mined all of the golden nuggets of wisdom that the internet has to offer, but to no avail. We have bought two different products that are specifically designed to eliminate odors, several boxes of baking soda, a window fan to pull the air out of the room, and incense to cover it up, but nothing has really worked.
The only consolation is that we can close a door to that part of the house and the smell is contained. We can live a semi-normal life while we wait for the stench of death and decay to slowly subside…
At the prompting of my wife, I have repaired (in a very loose sense of the word…) the crawlspace access, so this will not happen again. Here’s hoping that the rest of the family (or “herd” if it was an elk…) wasn’t still living under there and are now trapped in their tomb. Our house may smell for a year…
Bitterness is Like Unto an Elk
Bitterness is like unto an elk, that crawled under a house and died.
I’m not as good as Jesus at this parable thing and my wife still says it’s an opossum, but bear with me…
I was thinking about the stench of rotting flesh that is permeating our house and it made me think of two things that I want to share with you all.
- How did John Wayne Gacy have 26 human corpses under his house and go home at night, sit down in his La-Z-Boy, and eat a sandwich?!
- This is how bitterness can affect us, if we are not constantly vigilant.
Bitterness is a very real danger to everyone. Even Christians… Even “good” Christians…
If we don’t keep the access to our heart sealed up tight, bitterness will sneak in. It will find a dark, musty corner, clear out of sight, and it will die.
Once it’s there, it will eventually start to decay… and that’s when it starts to stink. Our attitude stinks. We become bitter. No one wants to be around us because of our attitude, which only confirms and justifies our bitterness, causing it to grow.
If we don’t find this bitterness and root it out, it will stink up our entire life until one day it just stops stinking.
Do you know when a body stops stinking? After it has rotted, been eaten by maggots and dermestid beetles, dried up, and no one (not even the maggots) want anything to do with it.
It has become completely useless to everyone and everything around it.
This is bitterness’ endgame. It is a tool of Satan and Satan is seeking whom he may destroy.
Don’t let bitterness into your heart. If it’s already there, crawl under the house and drag it out. Cut out the walls and floors if you have to. It’s that important. Don’t let it rot until your life is a dry, petrified shell of what it could have been. Don’t let it destroy you and your relationships.
“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:” ~ Ephesians 4:31
Bitterness (and jealousy) is what influenced Cain to murder his own brother, created endless tension in the family of Jacob & Esau, and drove Saul to try and kill David, his anointed replacement, several times!
The smell under my house will eventually subside and everything will be back to normal, but there will always be the corpse of an animal (probably an elk) under that floor. You don’t want the bitterness in your life to take up permanent residence and become a part of who you are, so get it under control while you still can.
Oh, and go check your crawlspace access…
