Well, what could the be all over my dash board? Can you guess.......? I doubt it! After a very busy morning trying to get the material ready for my class on this last Sunday and finishing only five minutes from class time .....I had quite a surprise getting into my car. There was a man in the drivers seat of our van. He had been sleeping there for part of the night and when I got there he was just leaning back listening to the Radio. He had pulled my fuse block cover off and had messed with it a bit. It turns out that he was a homeless man that normally sleeps by the dumpster near our apartment. He really is in bad shape and although he has most of his mental capacities some are simply NOT there. He promptly got out of the seat. I was a little disgusted with him but mainly with myself for forgetting to lock the van the night before. (I was distracted by my Jewish neighbor who wanted a Bible for his friend. )So anyway he promptly got out of the car, leaving all his trinkets on the dash board. A little piece of a radio, a broken clock with the Lord's supper as a back plate, a couple of transitors ect. He was extremely "ripe" if you know what I mean! Probably had not taken a bath in several months and he also sort of left a"mess behind" in the drivers seat. To top all this off he also accidently set the fire extinguisher off. Yes, on top of the smell resembling "a thousand pig pens" was the smell of the "powder" from the fire extinguisher. It sort of smelled like "rotten eggs" and what a potent combination. It would literally make your eyes water!
Well, I just got in the car, went to church, carried that smell right into the church and then began to teach. This of course after I explained to them why I stunk! After class, I couldn't even attend church I stunk so bad. My family, who normally comes to church later in a taxi, not knowing the extent of the problem actually decided to walk home instead.
Almost one week later... we have tried going to the professional car cleaners twice, I have personally scrubbed with a foam specifically made for fabrics, letting it air out for an entire day, vacuuming it along with buying three aroma devices we are just now starting to "smell" some progress.
The moral of the story could go several different directions as you could only imagine. I have several different scriptures that come to mind and also some very strong spiritual illustrations that I could muster up ...but the real moral of this story is ......LOCK YOUR CAR AT NIGHT!
