Pepe le Pew

Christopher takes the kitchen trash out each night. So, at about 10pm he rounded up the garbage, replaced the bag and headed out the door. A few moments later he returned, somewhat shell-shocked and staring oddly at me.

"There was a skunk at our garbage bin! He was sitting right there when I went to throw the bag away. (long pause) He sprayed..."

"He sprayed!? Did he spray you?"

"I don't know. I don't think so. Can you smell me?"

"Hmmm... no. Wait a minute. Oh golly, you did get sprayed!! Go upstairs and jump in the shower right away!"

I followed Christopher upstairs to retrieve his clothing using methods employed by nuclear testing facilities. Christopher scrubbed so vigorously it would have put Silkwood to shame. All in all we scraped by relatively free from disaster. The clothes came out fine. And after a day of open windows and highly sophisticated means of odor removal (read frufy candles) our house is home only to the toxic smells produced by little children.

But it did get me thinking. What if people could spray their "scent" so potently you could smell it and never wonder, "Was Bob here?" You would just know. You know? And then I thought even harder (this is where it started to hurt). We do leave our mark, and we leave it so profoundly that anyone walking by can immediately notice it. We all know people that are a joy to be around. Like fresh baked bread they just smell wonderful. No one could refuse their sweetness and gentle spirit. I know of a dear woman, Sharon Jackson, that has this down. She even has churned butter! The real thing too.

And we can all think of the person that smells like spoiled milk, the kind that has lumps from sitting outside in a sippy cup for three days. Or the back-of-the-refrigerator-leftovers that have become more closely related to extra terrestrial life forms than Chinese take out. Yep, these people leave you gagging from their sour spirits, frustrated lives and inevitable issues they seem so prone towards.

From musky cologne to mothballs we all have a scent we leave - like skunks. God genetically allowed the skunk to stink. It isn't his fault. But God didn't design us to stink. In Genesis 8:21 God says the sacrifice of Noah is a pleasing aroma. What sacrifice? For Noah it would have been burnt offerings. But in Hebrews 13:15 the New Covenant tells us what will make our pleasing aroma. It reads, Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. I hope you are encouraged to acknowledge Christ with your lips today. Besides eternal salvation... it makes you smell good!