Stuck in a Hole

I have never actually seen a sinkhole, that is, until recently. We still had the old cistern that people once used to catch rain water to use for cooking, laundry, and drinking. It was covered by what looked like a table on our deck. Well, long story short, the cistern was made of metal instead of concrete and it rusted through apparently a while back. When we tried to weed the iris bed that surrounds our deck, the earth just collapsed. As we kept testing, we found that we had about a ten-foot round sink hole in our back yard caused by the water leaking out of the cistern underground. The main problem was that the cistern and surrounding area was about twelve feet deep. It was scary to say the least.

It took three dump truck loads of river sand to fill in the cistern and the surround area. About half of one load was needed to fill in the tracks left in the backyard by the front end loader. See, it was during our little rainy season where it was raining about every other day and at times we would get 2-3" at one time. That left us with the sand on the driveway and a front end loader digging holes in the back yard trying to keep from getting stuck in the mud, which, by the way, it did about three times.

In life, sometimes I become the victim of a sinkhole. I think I am doing fine and on solid ground, then, whoosh, I find myself at the bottom of a deep hole with no way out. It is strange how sin can just creep up on me like that. I think I am so close to God not even a piece of paper could get between me and Him. Then He, or someone He sends, confronts me about a sin I wasn't even aware of. Down the sinkhole I go.

I'm in too deep to get out by myself and I am in danger. Not too long ago, there was another house in the area that had a cistern that they were using for trash. The son lost a ball in the cistern, went after it, and was overcome by the methane gas. The father finds him in the cistern, goes after him, can't get out, and is also a victim of the methane. Two people died just because they couldn't get out. I will die if I don't get out. But it's too deep.

So I start to cry out for help. Along comes my Heavenly Father, hearing my cries for help and my pleas for forgiveness, and He comes to not only get out of the hole, but also fill up the hole so I don't fall in again. Sometimes that gets messy and we get stuck in the mud while we are filling up the hole, but we do eventually get it filled in.

I have just come up out of a sinkhole, both literally and figuratively. I have done what was necessary to correct the problem and am now desperately working to fill the whole. It is messy, but with God's help, I will fill in the whole no matter how painful things become.

Remember...great pride comes before a great fall. A lesson that is painfully learned.