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It was 11:00 pm, my dog Nili, banished from my house, stared at me from the back door as I typed this article freshly showered, HAZMAT suit and rubber gloves only a funny memory. While waiting for Nili to dry from our late night adventure and subsequent baths, God used our little, stinky event to bring to mind a verse from the Bible. What does 2 Cor. 2:14-16 say about our aroma?

Let me back up and tell you Nili’s smelly late night story.

It was 97°at 9:30 on a steamy, hot, Texas night in August.

This unfortunate event occurred after a brief summer shower that lasted only long enough to humidify already saturated air and hold in the fragrances of summer. In other words, it felt like hot, dog breath outside.

I opened the door to let the cat in and send my Border collie, Nili, outside for one final time for the night. The cat ran in and I fed him but when I opened the door to let Nili back in…there IT was!! A thick, palpable entity was so powerful, so profuse; it burned my eyes and nose and clung to every surface in its unfortunate proximity.

IT is a characteristic unique to only one small, black and white creature. My last coherent thought before the chaos that ensued was, “OH NOOOO…A SKUNK!”

Then, as we say in the south, I lost my everlovin’ mind.

My Nili’s poor black and white face was wet with a yellowish, green gunk. I knew she couldn’t see well by the way she was rubbing her face on the grass and by the yellow mark around her eye and down the white side of face. Her eyes must have been burning because IT was burning my eyes just by being close to her.

I ran into the house and closed her outside. I hate to admit it but I thought long and hard about releasing her into the wild and getting a whole new dog! (Not really, but yeah…kinda…) I mean it was almost 10:00 pm and I was tired and well…Yuk. Leave the judgin’ to Jesus, people!

Running into the house and shutting her outside, I called out in a panic to my husband, “Nili was sprayed by a skunk. What do I do?”

Now, to understand the scene you need to know my husband. He is a retired EMT/Firefighter with 33 years of experience serving a major metropolitan city. He doesn’t get rattled in ANY emergency. In fact, he didn’t see IT as the melt down, crisis sort of situation I did.

When everyone else’s blood pressure is rising, he goes into a Zen mode. It’s weird but soothing at the same time. He is pretty handy to have around. Unless the kids or animals vomit, then I’m on my own. Vomit is my superhero’s kryptonite.

While Mr. Calm went out to check on the dog and assess the situation, I did what any girl would do, I ran in to Google what to do with dog/skunk nastiness and of course, chose the appropriate outfit for the situation.

Some kind, compassionate person on vetinfo.com wrote step-by-step instructions for people in the toxic waste dump that is skunk spray. They tell you exactly what to do because they know people searching for this topic are freaking out.

Step one said:  “Don’t reach for tomato juice.”

Which is exactly what my husband and I had first thought to do.  I didn’t have any tomato juice anyway and…ugh, can you imagine trying to clean tomato juice off of a white dog?

Step two:  (cracked me up)

The article actually said, skunk oil is potent and its removal requires close contact with “a very bad smell” (no duh!).  “Dress accordingly.”

So, I proceeded to my closet to find some sort of HAZMAT suit, or the closest I could find that would be disposable.

My husband, Mr. Calm, did not think the situation was as funny as I did.  I wish I had a picture now that it’s over.  It was quite hysterical.

While I ran around acting like Armageddon was upon us, my husband gathered the afflicted dog and water hose for me.

Step three: Here is the skunk removal recipe from vetinfo.com…

• Mix 1 quart hydrogen peroxide with 1/4 cupbaking soda, 2 tsp. Blue Dawn® liquid soap and 1 gallon of warm water.
• Wet your dog thoroughly.
• Work into the fur and leave the solution on for five to ten minutes and rinse.
• Repeat if needed.
• Do notstore this mixture in a closed container.

The dog/skunk fonk recipe had a fizzy sound, which scared the dog.

My poor dog, on a leash, tried to escape from the fizzy stuff and ran circles around me. All the while, I chased her around while decked out in my HAZMAT suit of giant rubber boots and elbow length orange gloves. In pitch black darkness, I juggled dog, leash, bucket of fizzy stuff and water hose while attempting to avoid getting that yellow skunk gunk on me. Determined to get the dog clean despite the the fact that the water kept spraying back in my face, I chased on.

The most Mr. Calm did was crack a rare smile during all of this. Well, no, that’s not true. He did hold a flashlight on us. I have to give him credit for that.

To say the least, that is not how I wanted to spend my evening.

After the chaos of the dog/skunk adventure was over, God brought something to mind.

What Does 2 Cor. 2:14-16 Say About Our Aroma?

2 Corinthians 2:14-16  (NLT)

¹⁴ … He (God) uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. ¹⁵ Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. ¹⁶ To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume…

One commentary on this scripture said Paul is comparing the aroma of a person who has a relationship with Christ to the celebration of the Roman army after a successful war. To give honor to the winning military leader in Biblical times, they would burn incense to celebrate his victory.

To the people on the winning side, the smell was beautiful and brought joy. On the other hand, to their enemies it was a stench that they hated because it symbolized defeat and death.

Paul compares the hope a Believer has in Christ to that sweet celebratory smell of incense from the past. To the Christ follower it is a reason for great joy and celebration. However, to people who refuse to believe in Jesus as their Lord, God’s judgment is against them and they face certain death and permanent separation from God. They have no hope in this world. Our hope in Christ is the smell of death for them.

What Does 2 Cor. 2:14-16 Say About Our Aroma?

Through Christ we are a sweet aroma to God. On the other hand, we can be a stench (like skunk fonk) to those perishing in their unbelief.

We are a polarized society today.

Unbelievers will go out of their way to avoid being around Christians, similar to my reaction to Nili covered in skunk spray.  It is as if we are, “the stench of death to them.” They don’t want to hear about Jesus. It is a sad choice they make not to believe The One True God who cannot lie.

I pray as we follow in Jesus’ triumphal procession, we can spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere like a sweet perfume. If you are NOT a believer in Christ, please pick up a Bible and read the book of John. Become a Christ-like fragrance, don’t walk around being stinky to God.

I sure hope I don’t smell like skunk fonk? That’s some nasty stuff.  😉

Love ya,

P.S. the recipe worked pretty well.  Although, when Nili gets hot there is still a lingering memory from our skunk adventure about her.

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