Pop Secret...

Orville Redenbacher. Act II. Jolly Time. And my personal favorite - Pop Secret. 

Yes, it's popcorn. That delicious, fluffy, sit-on-the-couch-and-watch-a-movie, snack.

Preparing popcorn has gotten easier over the years. Back when I was a kid, we melted butter in a pan over the open flame of our gas stove. We added popcorn kernels, shook the pan back and forth and waited patiently. We had a big aluminum lid for the pan and as the kernels popped, the lid would raise higher and higher. After we transferred the popcorn into a gigantic bowl, we melted more butter and drizzled that over the popcorn.  Mm good.

Then came the Jiffy Pop days. These one-use disposable aluminum pans were pre-packaged with popcorn and stove ready, but the heating procedure was the same. Jiffy Pop was a luxury for our family, because it was way more expensive than bags of popcorn kernels, so we rarely enjoyed this treat.

Air poppers made their arrival on the scene when my hubby and I were newlyweds. Making popcorn using this method was entertaining and messy. I recall watching popcorn fly not only into a strategically placed bowl underneath, but also everywhere else, littering counter and floor.

When microwave popcorn arrived on the scene, the stress and mess of popcorn was over. Simply placing a bag "this side up" and heating in the microwave yielded delicious, no mess popcorn in a variety of buttery flavors. Butter. Double Butter. Movie Theater Butter. No fat added. Ha!

The aroma of popcorn is unmistakable. The saltiness undeniable. The flavor remarkable.

The other night as I enjoyed my Pop Secret Movie Theater Butter popcorn, I pondered popcorn. Weird? Yes. But ponder I did nonetheless. I wondered how something so hard, so tough and so ordinary, could turn into something so soft, so fluffy and so spectacular. Naturally, I searched on my favorite's website and here's what I found under their FAQs:

A combination of heat and steam is needed to make the popcorn “pop”. The inside of a popcorn kernel has a small amount of moisture that is surrounded by a hard coating. When the Pop Secret bag is heated in the microwave and the temperature reaches around 450°F, the moisture in the kernel turns to steam and the kernel explodes or pops.

Popcorn has an uncanny likeness to becoming a Christian. Our hard, tough, ordinary hearts contain small amounts of moisture. When heated either by the tough circumstances of life, or by the simple knowledge of knowing there is more to life than ourselves, we find ourselves ripe for change. Our appliance for change is Jesus. Jesus transforms our tough, hard hearts into soft, pliable ones. He adds his aroma and saltiness to each of us. We are changed in an instant.

We are the salt of the earth. We are the aroma of Christ. Our flavor can make a remarkable difference in the world.

As far as God is concerned there is a sweet, wholesome fragrance in our lives. It is the fragrance of Christ within us, an aroma to both the saved and the unsaved all around us. 2 Corinthians 2:15 (Living Bible)

 “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage." Matthew 5:13 (The Message)

God pause...

I've learned a lot in the past thirty years. I've learned a lot about myself. I've learned a whole lot more about God. Thirty years ago, I believed in coincidence. When I was twenty five, I thought that chance encounters were just that. Thirty years ago, I would smile when an out-of-touch friend called "just because" when I was having a bad day and I would think, "What are the odds of that?"

In the years since, I have learned to look for God in the circumstances of my everyday life.  I realize his intimate care in orchestrating and protecting me in my day to day activities. I no longer see interruptions and unexpected delays as inconveniences and irritants. I see these events as, what I like to call, God pauses.

Yesterday, I encountered a dual purpose God pause.

First, a brief history. Over the past year and a half, I've spent a lot of time doing what many fifty-somethings are doing:  caring for an aging parent. Over the last eighteen months, my mom has endured two back surgeries, two foot surgeries and suffered multiple mini-strokes. These health issues demanded endless doctor's visits, daily phone calls and hours spent running errands. Last week, my sisters and I discussed talking with my mom about the possibility of moving to a senior independent living community. We decided if the opportunity arose, any one of us would broach the subject with mom, otherwise we would talk to her together as a group this summer.

Yesterday, I met my mom at her podiatrist for what was yet to be another setback. The latest infection needed an antibiotic for which the doctor called in a prescription. Mom would need to stay home bound for the remainder of the week. As we exited the doctor's office, I spotted a bench in the lobby area of the main building. I felt compelled to sit there with my mom. Shaking off the feeling, I continued to walk with my mom toward the exit. Yet again I felt drawn to the bench. This time, I gave in and invited my mom to sit and have a chat.

"This is my opportunity to talk to mom about independent living," I thought. We sat on that bench and had a great conversation about this new housing possibility. But it turns out that while God afforded us the time for our chat, he also had another plan for this fifteen minute interruption. His plan was to keep my mom out of harm's way. As it turns out, if mom had left immediately following her appointment, she would have arrived at and would have been waiting for her prescription at precisely the same time that a robbery was taking place at that exact location.

Coincidence? Hardly. God pause? Exactly.

The next time you receive an unexpected phone call at just the right time; the next time you're angry at being delayed by a long line or that long coal train or your child taking forever to tie his shoes; the next time you're passed up for the new job or promotion; thank God for his God pause. 

He's got you covered.

2 Samuel 22: 31-32

“As for God, his way is perfect:
    The Lord’s word is flawless;
    he shields all who take refuge in him.
For who is God besides the Lord?
    And who is the Rock except our God?