Have you ever set out to dispose of food that has been sitting in your refrigerator for weeks? You know, the containers of left-overs that never got eaten and were pushed further and further to the back until you couldn't see them.  Once you finally got them out they were fuzzy and green.  Well, this is how my afternoon began one beautiful sunny Friday.  The day had been busy with teaching, business calls and grocery shopping.  The time for preparing dinner for my family was drawing nigh and I just wanted to dispose of those few small containers of yucky fuzz before I started cooking.

The containers were all of rotini pasta,  three small ones each holding about 4 oz.  Surely not too much for the Insinkerator!  Well, I thought I'd go the extra mile and clean the blades since I'd just fed the disposal moldy noodles.  I squirted a tiny bit of dish soap on the blades, like I do monthly to keep them clean, turned on the water, and flipped the switch.  Normally when I clean the blades, it all runs down smoothly and the smell is greatly improved.  Suddenly and to my horror, up comes this nasty, stinky, foamy froth from both sink drains.  It oozed up into both sinks  to about a 3 inch depth.   I nearly gagged and decided the best course of action would be to remove the mess in the sinks and dispose of it, rather than trying to get it down the drain.  So, I scooped it up in pitchers and dumped it in our handy little "Doggy Dooly", which was intended for uhhhhh...well, dog poop.  But, we use it for compost.  It is a very handy gadget, as long as I don't hit the door with the lawn mower and chop it into a million pieces.  Yes!  I did!  But that is another story for the upcoming Colleene's Bloopers Blog.  Anyway, I made about 10 trips to the Doggie Dooly and had the sinks nearly empty, gagging all the way.  Maybe it was the 98 degree temperature and the high humidity that seemed to ferment this soup in a matter of seconds.   Whatever the reason, the smell was unreal!  I thought to myself, "Surely this thing will drain if I just run a little warm water through it."  NOT!

I turned on the faucet and immediately the same frothy mess started backing up again!  So, I went to the internet.  Where would the world be without Google?  (Keep in mind, I still had not prayed at this point.  I left God completely out of the picture and relied on my resourcefulness and ability--or should I say inability?)  The internet was full of fix-it-yourself articles about clogged garbage disposals and Roto-Rooter offers.  I tried everything they suggested.  I let it sit for an hour and came back to it later.  No change.  I poured half a bottle of drano down the right side and waited 30 minutes.  No change.  Only stinkier and highly toxic when it spewed at the flip of the switch.  Finally, I resorted to the last suggestion.  The one I'd been dreading.  Could I really do that?  Use a plunger in my kitchen sink?  The only one in the house is meant for the toilet.  I can't do that, can I?  Okay...so I disinfected my plunger and into the sink it went.  I tried that plunger for nearly 40 minutes.  By then, I was frustrated, snapping at my son,  and my lower back was screaming at me.  Then I said, "God, please help me unstop this garbage disposal" and turned on the water expecting to do more plunging.  As soon as I turned on the water, the drains on both sides of the sink were perfectly clear.  Up to that point, no water had been able to run freely down either side.  I'd been fighting with these sinks for over 2 hours.  I'd consulted my own ideas, Google, I'd broken my back and allowed myself to become frustrated and rude to my little boy.  I thought my garbage disposal was something God would leave to me.  Friend, God doesn't leave anything to us!  Immediately the praise went up to Him and I happily returned the plunger to its rightful location.

So what are the 3 things God taught me with a clogged garbage disposal?
   1.  I should be praying all the time, about everything and seeking wisdom from God, not Google.   God may lead me to Google for information, but He should be sought first -- even when it comes to a clogged garbage disposal.
   2.  My expectation to do more work after turning the problem over to God was proof of my unbelief and lack of focus.  Yet, God loved me enough to show Himself in such a way that it would be completely obvious that He had fixed this apparatus.  This way, the glory went to Him alone, not to me or to Google, or my disinfected plunger.
   3.  I have no ability in and of myself to do anything---nothing, nada, zilch!  A simple little machine can drive me to frustration but  God keeps the entire universe running smoothly, all the time.  Isn't He able to make right my clogged Insinkerator. 

Praise God that He teaches me through my sin and brings glory to Himself even in situations like a clogged garbage disposal.