SOURCE!

Eleven days ago, BP’s Transocean Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, 130 miles off the Louisiana coast, sank after a fiery explosion. Of the 126 workers on board, eleven people were killed, and about 20 injured. And the catastrophe continues. Crude oil has been leaking into the Gulf of Mexico, threatening an environmental disaster of massive proportions, risking beaches, fragile marshes, oyster beds, marine mammals, fishing grounds …. Earlier estimates put the leak at at least 1.6 million gallons of oil—promising to eclipse the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster. The slick has continued to grow, tripling in size, fed from the sea depths; at least 5,000 barrels (about 200,000 gallons) are leaking out daily. The messy stuff is slowly moving towards the coasts of Lousiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. Not surprisingly, last week BP’s stock dropped 12%, a gigantic wipe-out of over $20 billion of the energy titan’s value. President Obama is visiting the region today.

Over 2,000 personnel and volunteers are involved in the response effort. About 300,000 feet of booms have been laid to contain the spill. To date, 25,000 barrels of the oil-water sludge has been recovered. Sixty-odd response vessels, including skimmers, tugs, barges, etc., have been deployed. Over 150,000 gallons of dispersant have been thrown at the oil.

Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, appointed by the federal government to lead the oil spill response, agreed yesterday that it was impossible to give an accurate estimate of the volume of oil leaking from the ruptured well—located about a mile underwater. As bad as the oil spill looks on the surface, it may be only half the problem, said University of California Berkeley engineering professor Robert Bea, who serves on a National Academy of Engineering panel on oil pipeline safety. “There’s an equal amount that could be subsurface too,” said Bea. And that oil below the surface “is *&$# near impossible to track.”

To stop that surge at its source, Adm. Allen maintained, was their top priority. Underwater robots are now trying to shoot dispersants right into the site of the leak, even as other remote devices attempt to cap the origin. No progress has been made so far, he admitted.

Getting the leak at its source. No amount of buring off the oil on the surface or scattering dispersants on the sea water will control the gush. It’s source must be cut off deep down.

That’s true of the evil in our lives as well, isn’t it? Jesus would agree:

“For from within,
out of the heart of men,
proceed the evil thoughts,
immoralities, thefts,
murders, adulteries,
deeds of coveting, wickedness,
deceit, sensuality, envy, slander,
pride and foolishness.
All these evil things
proceed from within
and defile the person.”
Mark 7:21–23

The prophet Jeremiah moaned that …

“The heart is more deceitful
than all else
and is desperately sick.”
Jeremiah 17:9

And so the Psalmist prayed …

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10

Get it at its source! And may all the rubbish that is in the depths of our deceitful hearts be replaced by the Word of God. For then, …

I delight to do Your will,
O my God;
Your Law is within my heart."
Psalm 40:8

And we become, and remain …

… slaves of Christ,
doing the will of God from the heart.
Ephesians 6:6

Get it at its source!

Now flee from youthful lusts
and pursue righteousness,
faith, love and peace, with those
who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
2 Timothy 2:22

Let’s cap that leaky well!