thoughts on the news of the day: smells

hmmm…..

            There is a small town in California that is suffering from a horrible stench from a neighboring landfill.  Turns out that Mecca, California is not such a Mecca after all.  School children have suffered from nosebleeds, stomach aches and headaches because of the strong odor that seems to be coming from a waste facility about two miles from the school.  The problem is a sticky one because the facility is on tribal lands and authority to do much about it is cloudy.

            We have our own odor problems at our church.  For several years now, on random Sunday mornings, we have come into the sanctuary to the smell of rotten eggs.  The odor is not there all the time, it comes and goes.  One expert determined it was because of damp, moldy vents in our concrete floor, so we filled in the vents and installed a new heating and cooling system.  It wasn’t cheap, but we were expecting it to solve the problem.  Unfortunately, the smell came back, almost stronger than ever.   Resolving the problem has been the top priority for our Building and Grounds Committee, but the smell continues to baffle us.  I have jokingly said that perhaps it is an evil spirit and we need an exorcist!

            Smells can’t be seen; they can’t be heard and can’t be touched. Like the spirit, they waft in and out of our lives.  So once again, as smells come and go, we are reminded of how much is out of our reach, out of our control.  And once again, we lean on our Maker to make it all right.

            hmmm…..