THE SINK IS STOPPED UP AGAIN!" Most people who enjoy the benefits of indoor plumbing have occasionally experienced the inconvenience of a stopped-up sink or drain. It really shouldn’t surprise us when it happens, considering all the dirt, gook, hair, and unmentionables that sinks and showers receive. But have you noticed how sinks and drains seem to stop up at the most inconvenient times, like when we are in a rush to go some place or when the house is filled with company? Almost everything comes to a standstill until the problem is corrected. Attending to the problem can be a nasty and smelly mess, and especially if the main drain’s contents have backed up in the bath tubs. Short-term remedies usually include caustic drain-opening liquids, which may penetrate and make small openings for a while, and a plunger or "plumber’s friend," a standard household device for breaking loose clogged drains. Sometimes these are the only things necessary to get drains flowing, but we know that worse conditions can mean that someone, which is me at our house, has to plunge head over heels into the unpleasantness until there is a normalization of drainage flow. Clean-out rods and garden hoses may loosen the clogged drain, if you can get to the clean-out plugs under the house or in the yard. Ugh! Messy! It’s definitely not the right time for such activity if you are dressed for work, company, or church. And if these first and second echelon efforts fail then the services of a plumber might be secured sometime today, tomorrow, or soon, who with better equipment and experience, such as a long-enough clean-out rod, a Roto-rooter, or some other method, may get the pipes open. However, he may give the bad news that the underground pipes in the yard are hopelessly clogged with roots, resulting from trees whose roots have entered the smallest of pipe openings in search of water and nutrients. And even worse, if you can imagine it, he may relate the unwelcome news that the pipe is ruptured, necessitating the unearthing and replacement of the entire drain line. Too bad! And too expensive! But it’s just one of the grim realities of domestic life. The whole ordeal is usually preceded by ominous gurgling sounds and possibly several days of noticed but unremedied sluggish out-flows, until finally a desperate cry for help rings out, "Honey, the sink’s stopped up again!" Or someone may tell another person, "My sink stopped up yesterday." But did the sink stop up yesterday? No way! The truth of the matter is that on yesterday it was discovered that the sink was stopped up, but it is not true that the "the sink stopped up yesterday." The time when the final small opening closed over might have been yesterday, but the sink had been in the process of stopping up for months and even years. You see, the inside of drain pipes are not always smooth. And there are turns through elbows and tees and low places in pipes where particles flowing through them are caught and begin to build barriers to the flow. Bits of food, grease, hair, vegetables, and who knows what else may be stopped at a rough spot, and while clinging there during times of the drain’s inactivity may dry out, building up a larger drainage impediment. Over weeks and months of successive blockages and drying out the pipe may become completely clogged. No! It definitely did not stop up yesterday! Only when the final hole was closed or if recent drainage sluggishness was detected was it realized that there was a problem. Now there must be a point or moral hidden some place in this earthy account! Actually, there are many, all of which are based on the principle that some unpleasant result experienced today did not occur today, but had been in the making for a long time. It was only on today that many passing days of neglect, failure, or error finally came to a head, as when a conclusive breakdown in a courtship, a marriage, a relationship, or a health condition may culminate many days or years of deteriorating circumstances. For example, no person ever became addicted to alcohol "today" or "yesterday." A person may have admitted to being an alcoholic today or yesterday, but the enslaving condition and long chain of revealing symptoms have been a long time in the making. People don’t became addicted to drugs "today." Close examination may reveal several factors over a long time leading to addiction which might include some psychological weakness, being frequently in an environment of drugs, experimentation with lesser drugs like marijuana, and poor family supervision. Perhaps the disclosure of the moving out of the house or the running off of a spouse with another person "yesterday" or "today" came like a sudden bolt of lightning to some, but it is more likely there had been numerous smaller strikes for some time, either unnoticed, unannounced, or uncorrected. Consider how a parent may understandably try to alibi for the bad behavior of a son or daughter by saying they went to college or the military and "got with the wrong crowd." On closer examination, however, it might become apparent that the son or daughter had exhibited a pattern of low self-esteem and vulnerability to peer pressure, had earlier made unwise choices in their "hanging out" friends, or there had been a pattern of poor parental supervision. A daughter or son might have brought shame to themselves and their family because of one or several immoral or criminal acts which became publicly known, but closer scrutiny may reveal that their misdeeds were preceded by questionable behavior over many months or years or because of inadequate home training. Any person can be involved in a highway wreck, caused by the fault of yourself or someone else. When speed and alcohol are factors in the wreck, it is likely that for the one charged this was not the first speeding or drinking incident. The wreck may have happened yesterday or today, but that person’s tendency to speed, drink, or drive recklessly finally culminated in tragedy because of a lengthy pattern of uncorrected behavior. He or she may have been a wreck just waiting for a place to happen. Perhaps you know of someone who left his church or seemed to abandon his faith. It’s highly unlikely that it happened "today" or "yesterday," although that’s when the word got out or some action was taken. The situation might have been building for a long time because of his drifting away from church, his indulgence in questionable things he once considered wrong, or associations with people who exercised no religious faith. There are examples aplenty, of course, but the bottom line is that most of these things do not happen "yesterday" or "today." In reality they were in the making during many yesterdays. Is there a remedy to any of this? Keeping drains open can be accomplished best by being careful each day what is poured into them and by occasional measures to stimulate their flow. Likewise, marriages, personal relationships, personal health, personal habits, and religious faith can be greatly helped by guarding what is ingested and by regularly dispensing with what might be detrimental. Taking proper care "today" may assure more pleasant and less-troubled tomorrows.
The address of my website, HODGEPODGE PUBLICATIONS, is www.rayhodge.com. Books of mine available for ordering are posted there, as well as other information and access to free articles of mine, formerly published in The Smithfield Herald. A listing of books by Ray Hodge can be found and ordered from his website. They are also available at the Smithfield's Heritage Center, Quick Print Solutions, and The Kenly News.
|
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY OF RAY K. HODGE Ray K. Hodge is a native of Kenly, North Carolina. After graduation from High School and World War II US Army Air Corps service, he attended and graduated from Mars Hill College, Wake Forest University, and earned two degrees from Southeastern Baptist Seminary. During graduate study he taught Church Administration at Southeastern. He was a pastor for forty years, retiring in 1988 after 15 ½ years at FBC, Kinston. He served for 2 1/2 years as an Associate Director of the Seminary Extension Department of the Southern Baptist Convention. He is a retired US Army Colonel, having served as a Chaplain in the NC National Guard and the US Army Reserve. Ray Hodge served on or chaired numerous committees in the North Carolina Baptist State Convention, including 2 ½ terms as President of the General Board. He has been a Biblical Recorder Director, a Trustee Meredith College, a Trustee of Wake Forest University, and a member and Chairman of the Board of Ministers of Campbell University. Ray wrote the Sunday School Lesson commentary for the Biblical Recorder for nineteen years and was a teacher for the Baptist State Convention Sunday School Department's televised Sunday School lessons, 1981-1993. Ray Hodge has traveled in Canada, Mexico, Central America, the Middle East, Europe, and all of the fifty United States. |