The Case of the deceased Kangaroo
11 October 2006
Hi guys, Fred here again.
The Case of the deceased Kangaroo
Some years ago we were driving on a gravel road up in the northwest of West Australia. Out in the sticks. At one point we saw an object on the road in the distance. Closer to it we saw it was a dead kangaroo and it was in the middle of the road. A snap decision was made that the best and safest way to go was straight over the top of it, rather than around the side on the loose gravel.
Thunk, Thunk, Whack, Bang, Thunk. That was the sound as the bottom of the car tumbled that dead roo underneath it. Hadn’t realised that a dead roo, left in the sun, begins to bloat, to expand and swell. Don’t know if you’ve ever been in such a situation. Motor okay, brakes okay, all systems go – didn’t stop. Needed to get somewhere in a hurry.
About 100 kms further along we pulled up for fuel at an isolated Roadhouse. The guy coming to handle the fuel got hit by the foulest ever smell at exactly the same time as I opened the door. “Run over a roo, did you?” he asked. “The first month is the worst”. It transpired that there were bits of that Kangaroo all over the bottom of our car, wherever there were gaps, sharp edges, blunt steel, nuts and bolts, nooks and crannies. And every piece of decaying roo flesh stunk to high heaven, and no way could your nose get used to it.
Pleasant huh! We got to our camp ground for that night and realised we had a problem. We simply couldn’t be within 50 metres of the car. So we unloaded our stuff and parked it a good distance away, down wind. (It wasn’t our fault that someone arrived late that night and set up tent next to it!).
Next morning was no better so yours truly did his best by getting under the car with a screw driver and brush to try and remove it. Got most of it and the rest faded over the next four weeks.
Why mention this? Most of us have, at some point in our lives, encountered our own dead kangaroo. We have accidentally, deliberately, or carelessly, got caught up in something that is so shameful, so out of character, so horrible, so bad, that we just can’t live with it. And we do what we must do to survive – we find a way to ‘park it’ away from us – try to expunge it from our memories, refuse ourselves permission to think of it ever again, must never mention it, etc etc.
Now there’s two things we must note here.
1. The only way we know to ‘park the shameful’ in our lives is to stuff it away, deep inside. We bury it within our own hearts! It’s not like us and the car which we could physically separate. No, the stinking mess is hidden internally, sometimes so deeply we lose memory of it, sometimes so painfully that we almost create a separate personality within ourselves to safely store that burden.
2. The business of burying within ourselves what we can’t live with consciously doesn’t mean the problem goes away. It doesn’t. It simply sits inside and festers away, affecting almost every single thing we do or say, reducing the colour and flairs of our lives. And all the while we get progressively more exhausted because a lot of energy goes into keeping it all in storage rather than out in the open.
A Remedy
Now listen to what David, King David, discovered about situations like this from his own shameful excursion into adultery, cover-up, arranging an assassination, and the like.
Psalm 32: 3-5
“When I refused to confess my sin,
I was weak and miserable,
and I groaned all day long.
Day and night your hand of discipline was
heavy on me.
My strength evaporated like water in
the summer heat.
Finally, I confessed all my sins to you
and stopped trying to hide them.
I said to myself, “I will confess my
Rebellion to the Lord”.
And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.
A smashed man finds hope in the action of God. It is God who so weighs him down that the rotting truth oozes out of the cracks. It is God who hears his confession and forgives the guilt, and cleans David’s record!
Psalm 32: 1-2
“Oh, what joy for those
whose rebellion is forgiven,
whose sin is put out of sight!
Yes, what joy for those
whose record the Lord has cleared of sin,
whose lives are lived in complete honesty!
So we’re not stuck. We know God’s mercy because we know Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So lets unload the decaying kangaroos of the heart and trust that the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
Have a good week
Pastor Fred
Just a reminder, that you are free to use this material, send it on to anyone else.
Hi guys, Fred here again.
The Case of the deceased Kangaroo
Some years ago we were driving on a gravel road up in the northwest of West Australia. Out in the sticks. At one point we saw an object on the road in the distance. Closer to it we saw it was a dead kangaroo and it was in the middle of the road. A snap decision was made that the best and safest way to go was straight over the top of it, rather than around the side on the loose gravel.
Thunk, Thunk, Whack, Bang, Thunk. That was the sound as the bottom of the car tumbled that dead roo underneath it. Hadn’t realised that a dead roo, left in the sun, begins to bloat, to expand and swell. Don’t know if you’ve ever been in such a situation. Motor okay, brakes okay, all systems go – didn’t stop. Needed to get somewhere in a hurry.
About 100 kms further along we pulled up for fuel at an isolated Roadhouse. The guy coming to handle the fuel got hit by the foulest ever smell at exactly the same time as I opened the door. “Run over a roo, did you?” he asked. “The first month is the worst”. It transpired that there were bits of that Kangaroo all over the bottom of our car, wherever there were gaps, sharp edges, blunt steel, nuts and bolts, nooks and crannies. And every piece of decaying roo flesh stunk to high heaven, and no way could your nose get used to it.
Pleasant huh! We got to our camp ground for that night and realised we had a problem. We simply couldn’t be within 50 metres of the car. So we unloaded our stuff and parked it a good distance away, down wind. (It wasn’t our fault that someone arrived late that night and set up tent next to it!).
Next morning was no better so yours truly did his best by getting under the car with a screw driver and brush to try and remove it. Got most of it and the rest faded over the next four weeks.
Why mention this? Most of us have, at some point in our lives, encountered our own dead kangaroo. We have accidentally, deliberately, or carelessly, got caught up in something that is so shameful, so out of character, so horrible, so bad, that we just can’t live with it. And we do what we must do to survive – we find a way to ‘park it’ away from us – try to expunge it from our memories, refuse ourselves permission to think of it ever again, must never mention it, etc etc.
Now there’s two things we must note here.
1. The only way we know to ‘park the shameful’ in our lives is to stuff it away, deep inside. We bury it within our own hearts! It’s not like us and the car which we could physically separate. No, the stinking mess is hidden internally, sometimes so deeply we lose memory of it, sometimes so painfully that we almost create a separate personality within ourselves to safely store that burden.
2. The business of burying within ourselves what we can’t live with consciously doesn’t mean the problem goes away. It doesn’t. It simply sits inside and festers away, affecting almost every single thing we do or say, reducing the colour and flairs of our lives. And all the while we get progressively more exhausted because a lot of energy goes into keeping it all in storage rather than out in the open.
A Remedy
Now listen to what David, King David, discovered about situations like this from his own shameful excursion into adultery, cover-up, arranging an assassination, and the like.
Psalm 32: 3-5
“When I refused to confess my sin,
I was weak and miserable,
and I groaned all day long.
Day and night your hand of discipline was
heavy on me.
My strength evaporated like water in
the summer heat.
Finally, I confessed all my sins to you
and stopped trying to hide them.
I said to myself, “I will confess my
Rebellion to the Lord”.
And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.
A smashed man finds hope in the action of God. It is God who so weighs him down that the rotting truth oozes out of the cracks. It is God who hears his confession and forgives the guilt, and cleans David’s record!
Psalm 32: 1-2
“Oh, what joy for those
whose rebellion is forgiven,
whose sin is put out of sight!
Yes, what joy for those
whose record the Lord has cleared of sin,
whose lives are lived in complete honesty!
So we’re not stuck. We know God’s mercy because we know Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So lets unload the decaying kangaroos of the heart and trust that the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
Have a good week
Pastor Fred
Just a reminder, that you are free to use this material, send it on to anyone else.
posted by PastorFredVeerhuis at 3:16 PM
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