The little town I grew up in was a hoot. 6,700 people 23 churches and 29 bars. Oh, it also had 4 or 5 grain elevators, was home to the “Famous XIT Ranch and Rodeo,” had 2 major highways pass through it and a very modest bunch of volunteer firefighters. Dad was the chaplain and it was cool to go to the firehouse from the church because it was just around the corner. They had a pool table and I might say that was a big deal.

Once a year the volunteers would go the other end of the country of Texas to Brownsville for training. I guess it was just after dad had gotten this nice brown 1967 two door Impala that he took it down to the training for a week or so. Several other gents went with him and they had a good time. While they were there they discover some HUGE, TEXAS HUGE, gulf shrimp and decided to bring home a trunk-sized cooler full of them for some future shindig.

Well, they filled the cooler up with ice and shrimp and headed home. Somewhere along the way they stopped to drain the cooler and repack it with ice. They were driving straight through so there was cool night-driving involved. The only problem was that when they put the cooler back into the trunk, nobody checked the drain plug. As they drove through the night no one noticed the shrimpy smell until they open the trunk the next day to unpack

There the cooler was, sort of floating in the trunk full of shrimpy water. Try as the did, the shrimpy smell lingered…………….. We had that car for a while longer, but it was never far from memory that something BAD had happened. Isn’t it a lot like us to do the same with our own lives?

We grow up in a culture that say we are all basically good, the car was basically a good car, but is had a hidden flaw. It smelled like shrimp. You would never know it just by looking at it or even driving it on a cold day. It looked normal from a distance, but… If you got close to me you’d soon see I am full of flaws and they smell way worse than rotting shrimp. Try as I may, there is just one thing that will cover that smell of sin that lingers. The precious blood of Jesus that washes me white as snow.

Just a closing thought. If you have a universal solvent, what would you store it in? The answer to follow in another Inside Out. E-mail me by clicking on the “Contact Us” tab at the top of the page or use the “Leave a Reply” box below!

Your fellow servant in HIS service, Tim Meyer