The reeking stench of death

When my first son was born in the mid 1970’s,
I worked for Standard Oil driving a tanker truck.

The various farms & ranches had fuel tanks & my task was delivering fuel.

On some days I would deliver diesel fuel. On other days I’d deliver gas.

My body would reek of fuel fumes by the end of the day.
I did this day after day in 100 degree weather and I became relaxed in
the stench.

When I’d come home, my pregnant wife would become nauseated from the toxic fumes.

It wouldn’t scrub out. It was as if it was exuding out of every pore of my body.

But there was a worse stench to me that I never became comfortable around.
I delivered fuel to 3 different pig ranches.
I delivered to chicken farms.
I delivered to slaughter houses.
Occasionally I’d arrive when an open bed rendering truck was loading dead bloated rotting carcasses into their truck with a front loader.

In the stifling heat of summer the foul putrefy factor was stifling.

There was no escape. The closer you got to the pig ranch the worse the stench.
The nearer I was to the rendering service dump service trucks the grosser it was.

I finally got a better job. I was hired by a hospital lab.
My duties there were to perform tests on body fluids. I also assisted in autopsies.

All these jobs left some gross memories etched on my mind.

We all deal with the stench of death on some level.

It’s reeking aroma chokes us.

Our world is full of festering decaying things.
Death and sorrows are colliding all around us.
We’re caught in the stench of a sinful dying world.
There are situations and ruff conditions of excruciating death everywhere.

Our perfect garden paradise is enclosed by sin.
And the wages of sin is death and death is stifling.

Sin is dreadfully ugly.

Sin is pernicious.

Sin is hideous.

Sin is destructive.

It’s stench just lingers on and it’s aftermath is horrendous.

We long for good solutions. We ache for perfection.

Invariably our solutions are only mediocre. Things go from bad to worse as a result from our proposals.

Sin is too sinful to allow perfection.
Every relationship is devastated and rocked with sins results.
Recovery is not easy.
So people give up in divorce.
Why? Because sin is messy.

Sin surrounds us with stink.
Sin leaves in its wake bloated rotting carcasses.

I asked my barista the other day at Starbucks if he was going to college.
I asked him what he was studying.
He said he was taking courses in undertaking and embalming.
The latte he gave me suddenly had a vivid taint to it.

So how is it we all deal with it?

Some redefine sin changing the goal posts for a more achievable result.

Some embrace sin.

Some blame and accuse others for sin.

Why?

Because sin is so sinful, and the stink lingers as the aftermath destroys life.

There us only one solution.
There is only one healer to the messy condition.

Jesus!

Jesus is the good news and I’m most proud to proclaim,

this extraordinary Message of God’s powerful plan

to rescue everyone who receives and trusts in Christ.

Jesus is the only salvation for everyone!

God’s makes people right in Christ.

He is how we get a right standing before God by trusting in His death for sins and His resurrection for our new life in Him.