One summer, my wife and I, along with a few great adult leaders, took a group of teens to a summer convention in Denver, Colorado.

In this group of amazing young people was a young boy who simultaneously frustrated and inspired us.

This boy rarely ever seemed like he was listening to a lesson, but would be able to repeat back everything you said with an almost perfect display of comprehension. He would goof-off in some crazy ways. On this trip to Denver for example, he wore a “Joe Dirt” mullet wig almost 24 hours a day. But to balance out things like this, a few times he would quietly get tissues for other teens who were emotionally moved at the end of a lesson or devotion.

He is an awesome man today, we never doubted that, but it is nice to see the wig has been retired.

On the first day of the trip, the whole group stopped to get something to eat at an area restaurant. This particular young man didn’t finish his chicken strips, so he got a “to-go” container, placed the chicken in it and brought it with him. He placed the container of chicken strips under the bench seat in the rental van. Where it stayed.

For days!

The young man forgot about the chicken, the rest of us never knew the chicken was in the van.

Until around day 4 of the trip, there was an awful smell. We tried to air the van out, we searched for the source of the offensive odor in the seats and in the front of the van. By day 5 the smell was unbearable, the whole group was suffering from the mysterious cloud of spoiled chicken.

Once we found out the cause, we disposed of the chicken and we all were relieved. And I think this young man was kind of proud that he had pulled off an inadvertent prank on the group.

I’ve used this story as an example for years, when speaking about properly dealing with issues in our lives.

An unresolved issue in your life tends to linger and remind you of its presence. Make sure you deal with bitterness, lack of forgiveness, or regret in the right way as soon as you can.

Get that garbage out of your life. Or you may end up with an offensive reminder.

A fowl issue can turn into a foul odor rather quickly.

-Tom Wise