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The Simple Fix

by Jerry Ousley  
1/19/2008 / Christian Living

"Gurgle, gurgle, pop, pop," was the sound coming from the drain in our kitchen. We have a sump pump in our basement which was very quiet this past summer given all the dry weather we had (as well as many of you). But so far this winter it has been very wet and with the leaks which we thought we had fixed, the trickling water down there keeps the sump pump busy. The problem is that when it kicks off and all the water left in the pipes flows back down through the pump this horrific noise comes back up through the sink. It's loud and annoying if you aren't used to it. Deb and I had gotten used to it with just the two of us at home but when company comes it is embarrassing. Sometimes it is funny to see the looks on their faces when this offensive sound comes bursting forth from the pipes but then their look turns from surprise to one that says, "Can't you get that fixed?"

I have tried several things over the past few years to alleviate the situation but none had turned out to be successful. This led me to the final fix. I had been dreading it because, well I just don't enjoy reaching over my head and sawing plastic pipe in two. Even though you're expecting it you're never prepared for that cold, yucky water that has who knows how many germs floating around in it to come pouring out on you once you've cut through the pipe. But I was determined once and for all to get rid of that offensive sound. I surveyed the situation and made my plan of where to re-route the drain from the sump pump and made my trip to the hardware store to get what I needed. This was going to be relatively simple or so I thought.

I began cutting pipe. I managed to fix the line where the sump drain had joined with the sink drain. Now all I had to do was to move the sump drain further down the line. This should do the trick. Running pipe through several curves I finally got it to the section where it would re-enter the drain system. I made my cuts, put in the "T" and got it all glued together. This was not easy work mind you for an overweight, under-exercised man. I was tired and frankly glad the job was done. But it wasn't. When I plugged in the pump it leaked to say the least. There was only one thing to do cut out that joint and re-do it. I did. To make a long story short it still leaked. It meant another trip to the hardware store and cutting out that joint one more time. I did and finally after three hours the water flowed without leaking. Great! But there was just one problem. The noise had not disappeared. It was still there.

Feeling like I had done all that work for nothing I put the tools away and went back upstairs. Looking into the sink it dawned on me to simply put the drain plugs in. I did and guess what? Yep; the noise all but disappeared. Problem solved. I wished I had tried that three hours ago!

There are times when we go the long route to get somewhere. We fail to see the simple fixes and insist on doing things the hard way only to have to come back to the simple fix that we should have done to begin with.

It's the same with our souls. We try to live up to a standard that is impossible. We want to please God and we live as best as we can. We try to give generously hoping God will credit it against our account. Don't get me wrong, He does see all those good works that we do. But none of them will fix our souls. What we need to do is see the simple fix to begin with. Now it might be a simple fix to us but it cost the very life of Jesus Christ the Son of God. He sacrificed Himself in our place. It was a very costly fix but it made it possible for each and every human soul to have salvation if we will only turn to Him, admit our sin, and accept Him as our Savior. The Bible tells us, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord." (Romans 6:23). We work hard to live a clean moral life. Again, don't get me wrong; we need more morals in this world. But without Christ we are working hard to be paid with death. But if we'll accept Christ as our Savior, accept His free gift of grace, and let Him guide in the fixes of life, then we can enjoy the simple fix and save ourselves a whole lot of work.

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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