EPHESIANS 5:1 Become, then, followers of God, as children beloved, (2) and walk in love, as also the Christ did love us, and did give himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odour of a sweet smell,
It was about 2 AM and very dark. My robust Blue Tick Hound, Zeke, was quite agitated and dancing to go out. Almost as soon as I had closed the door he began howling, barking and running back and forth along the fence line. Then I smelled it – a burning rubber sort of smell overwhelmed the bedroom.
The first thing I thought of was the chicken coop that we had run an electrical line to. I looked out the open bedroom window, but the coop was dark – no sign of fire. I started searching the house, the smell was strongest in our bedroom. Where could the fire be?
Zeke was still raising a ruckus, which I figured was because he could smell the smoke too. By now I had my husband and boys awake, helping me check outlets, appliances, the front yard, the back yard, even scan the neighborhood for flames.
I let Zeke in to quiet him down – the smell intensified. My eyes were tearing and my asthma began kicking up. Ole Zeke was running from one end of the house to the other end, back and forth, knocking things flying – the other dogs joining in. The smell kept getting stronger.
The boys reported back that they had searched everywhere, in the coop, neighbors, in the garage, around the yards, and although you could smell it some outside by the fence, it was by far the strongest in my room – then traveling down the hallway.
By now I have disassembled every piece of electrical equipment that had been running, unplugged every air freshener, every light in the house is turned on and still there’s no sign of smoke.
We all agreed that the smell must be coming from outside. We put all the dogs out, closed the doors and windows, turned off the lights and went back to bed. 6 AM came quickly.
As soon as it was light enough, we began searching around the house. The smell was incredibly strong – especially about 8 feet down the fence line from my bedroom window. We called the neighbor over and asked if she’d had a fire in the night – if she was okay. She laughed. It wasn’t a “that’s cute” kind of chuckle, it was an outright “You City People” kind of laugh. We didn’t get it.
“There’s no fire,” she said laughing. “You’ve been skunked!”
Well, that one hit home hard. Not only was Zeke skunked, but I let the well “perfumed” critter run back and forth in the house while I looked for smoke, eyes running and lungs swelling. Good grief! Consequently we were the first customers at the grocery store, stocking up on tomato juice. Bath Day!!
It took several days for all the smell to completely go away. We scrubbed the dogs, scrubbed the carpet (especially where Zeke had been running), kicked the air purifiers to full blast and we waited. I doubt I’ll ever get the full respect back from the neighbor, she probably still snickers every time she looks across the fence.
This series of events makes me wonder if I don’t handle my faith and my Christian walk the same way. I spend my time worrying about possible fires when it’s a musky fragrance that’s following me because of unkind words and non-fruitful behavior. I wonder if Jesus watches me running back and forth from faith to doubt, trying to figure out where the answers to my daily problem are, when all along Jesus just wants me to stop and listen and realize that following Him turns my musky walk into a sweet fragrance that draws others near.
Jesus, help me to hear your call and stop my running to and fro. Help me to remember that my trust in You is a sweet fragrance of love.
By Linda J. Humes
Written 8-21-2000
Linda J. Humes 