When Life Stinks

Don’t! Don’t! Don’t let the skunk out of the bag! That’s what I wanted to say but my tongue seemed tied and I could only point at the teacher. Then pandemonium broke out in the class.

During my second year in college, the zoology teacher was trying to collect a pelt of each animal specie in Iowa. He enlisted my help since I trapped so my trap line was not only earning me some needed money but providing the school with a great collection of native specimens. It was January and I took the last of my hides to a fur buyer and was planning on calling it a season when the guy asked if I could supply him with some spotted skunks. These miniature skunks pack a powerful aroma. My mother would make me change clothes in the garage in January, talk about goose bumps.

I could not turn down the opportunity since the fur buyer told me he would pay twenty dollars for each skunk and I didn’t have to skin them. That was good money in 1965 and they were easy to catch. When the zoology teacher heard I was trapping, he asked if I would donate one for the collection. I was glad to oblige as long as I didn’t have to skin the stinky critter. One very cold January morning, I caught a nice spotted skunk which I placed in a bread wrapper, tied the end shut, and placed that in a brown bag. After lunch I grabbed the bag and headed for the school. I walked to the teacher’s room and knocked on the door. He seemed surprised to see me and I held up the bag which had a faint odor emitting from it. The bag was grabbed out of my hand fast and he took it over to his desk at the front of the class. The room was full of students wondering about his sudden joy. I thought he would wait until after school to investigate the prize but no, he opened the brown bag and dumped the skunk out on the desk still tied up in the bread wrapper. Not able to contain the excitement like a child on Christmas morning, he tore open the plastic wrapper and the stinky little skunk plopped onto the desk. A strong pungent aroma immediately filled the classroom. Students started coughing and gagging! The odor was overwhelming! Some guys started throwing open the windows even though it was barely above zero outside. Luckily, the bell rang and students were able to escape the confines of the classroom. Their fortune didn’t last long as the forced air system picked up the scent and spread it through the entire school.

I wasn’t the most popular guy in school for a while. The principle was not someone to fall in disfavor. He ruled with an iron hand and didn’t take any pranks or disobedience without heavy discipline, yet he never said anything to me. Not sure how the teacher faired with the episode.

Sometimes we are going about living, working hard, dreaming of new accomplishments, planning the future and life drops a big stink into our laps. We can’t always avoid those times, yet sometimes we cause them to happen. Stinks can be broken relationships, financial crisis, health challenges, job losses, drugs; the list goes on and on. Each person has had at least one. How we handle them is important and determines if we grow through them. God doesn’t cause them, yet we are quick to blame Him. He wants to help us with life when the going is good and bad. Turning problems over to Him is hard for us.

Jesus said he came to carry our burdens so let Him do it; you will feel better. Get personal with Jesus about your problem, even though He knows all about it. He will reach down and touch your heart and comfort your soul. Go to Him in earnest and continuous prayer as He is waiting to listen. Also enlist some people close to you that can be your prayer warriors. Remember you are in a battle so you need a platoon of soldiers covering your back and attacking the problem with you. Confront the attack with the help of God. Losing is not in God’s vocabulary. Don’t let it be in yours.