Unclogging Pipes

My house is one hundred years old in 2012. For one hundred years it has served several families as a place of rest and comfort from the storms of life. 

Needless to say there are little quirks from one hundred years of gravity pulling downward on the balloon-framed house. But I don’t see them as quirks, but rather as character that makes our house unique. And so I take pride in our old house and am grateful for how the Lord has blessed us. 

And so I say a hearty “Happy Birthday” to my one hundred year old house!    

One of the downsides of an old house is that there are also one hundred year old plumbing pipes in some areas of the house that I have not yet replaced. And old drain pipes mean that occasionally they plug up and need to be unclogged so that once again they can flow freely.  And when they back up, a homeowner needs to deal with them immediately before further damage is done to the rest of the house. 

One of the unfortunate things about this is that the pipes never seem to clog up at a “convenient” time. They seem to clog up when the washing machine is discharging during a rinse cycle, or when I try to drain a kitchen or bathroom sink just before heading out to a meeting. They also seem to clog up when it is really, really cold outside and unclogging the pipes involves frequent trips to the garage to get a tool or to a store to get a drain cleaning product.

To unclog pipes I have used a plunger and flushing the drains with hot water, and sometimes nothing seems to work. So, I resort to home remedy drain cleaners, handheld and electric drain augers, air burst drain cleaners, and, eventually, chemical drain cleaners like “Drano” or “Liquid Plumber”.

It can REALLY be inconvenient when we need to use sulfuric acid; a highly corrosive strong mineral acid that cleans the pipes really well, but leaves the whole house smelling like "rotten-eggs". Ah, the joys of owning an old house!

Occasionally, even our hearts will “plug up” and compassion stops flowing freely and we respond unkindly to those around us (and even to ourselves). 

One of the unfortunate things about our hearts is that, unlike a drain pipe, we may not see or understand that they are clogged until our tongues lash out at others who look to us for kindness and we leave the place where we are at smelling like "rotten-eggs" instead of like the fragrance of Jesus.  

Just like natural water pipes, we need to “unclog” our hearts as soon as we see that they are backing up; whether it is a convenient time to do so or not. The Lord wants to unclog  the pipes of our heart. 

To do this we need to stop wherever we are and to cry out to the Lord asking Him to: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10

The Lord wants us to come to Him to unclog our hearts. He said in the Bible: “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.” (Isaiah 1:18)

The Lord promises to give us a clean heart that is new: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26)

Jesus wants rivers of living waters to flow out of our hearts. Jesus said: “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:38) 

Are you ready to get your heart cleaned up? Have you tried to clean up your life with no success? Are you tired of trying to do it your way? Call 1-888-NEED –HIM; someone is waiting to talk with you.

 "Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved."