Rotten Rocker

 

I have a dear friend who had a rocking chair with a broken rocker on one side.  He brought it to me to repair it.  I used three pieces of an oak pallet glued up into a single block to cut a new rocker.  But when I turned the rocking chair over, I discovered that the rotten rocker wasn’t the real problem.  The rotten rocker was only the result of the real problem.  When the original owner of the rocking chair painted it, they didn’t bother to paint the underside of the rocking chair.  I suppose that they thought that the paint was only decorative and only needed to be applied to the top part - to the visible part.  But paint protects the wood from the elements.  And when rain hits the top of the rocker parts, it runs around to the bottom of those parts where it soaks in causing rot.  The bottom of the rocking chair actually needs more protection than the top of the rocking chair.  And an outdoor rocking chair is like a boat: it only takes one leak in the whole thing for water to get in!  Rainwater hit the rocking chair, ran down the legs, and caused rot on the bottom rocker.  Hey, are there any secret dangers in your life?  Are there any secret flaws in your character that no one sees?  No one but God?  Oh, you know that there are areas of your life that are unprotected, but these secret areas are known only by you … and by the Lord.  Solomon said it in Proverbs 28:13, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”  Did you get that?!  The key is to confess and forsake.  Like the rocking chair, don’t just make it look good; make it be good!  Come clean with the dear Lord.  You’ll be glad that you did.