Popcorn--Day 182/Day 2/Day 8/Day 16

There was more than the normal amount of audience participation in Sunday school this morning. A few interesting points, counterpoints, agreements, disagreements, moments of confusion, minutes of explanation, and perfectly placed words were brought up. This did not leave much time left for continuing the series on walking the walk we talk in Ephesians. Nevertheless, no time was really wasted, it was thought provoking as always, and I learned a little bit more about the Trinity.

Pastor Don pleaded with his congregation to pray for our leaders including President Obama, whether we voted for him or not. He believes that what we expect is what we'll get. If we expect him to be the savior of America, then he will be (unless he does horribly bad). If we expect him to not do well whatsoever, we will look for his mistakes almost exclusively and he will not be a good president. He's right.

We enjoyed the after-church fellowship with the Boomers in one of the side rooms because of a lack of space in the main area. I get someting close to the chills every time I'm in that room. I can see myself on my knees at the table against the wall praying for those that had requested prayer and feeling His presence greater than i had ever felt it before. I remember looking at the clock and seeing the time 11:20 exactly. Soon after, I left the room to pray in the sanctuary to pray for another hour, but that room will always feel special to me.

I also remember looking at my phone and seeing exactly 11:00 pm in glowing white numbers before I entered that room. This leads my mind to our bible study workbook's definition of the eternal nature of God. It says:

God has no beginning, and He has no end. He is not confined to the finiteness of time or to man's reckoning of time. He is, in fact, the cause of time.

That last sentence really struck one of the women at our last bible-study class. That whole definition, but especially that last part, is difficult to wrap our finite minds around.

Gabrielle gave me a postcard sized card she had gotten from Kim. It had a heart in the middle of the card with the words "I love my daddy" in the middle. She's so sweet.

I told Kim I hadn't really blogged in almost a week. As she was taking her microwave popcorn out of the microwave, she said I should blog about popcorn. Hmmm. O.k. I can go through almost a whole bucket of the movie popcorn before the trailers are even done. I like it with no butter, but I've had it with butter and it's not too bad. I like it when there are no burnt kernels whatsoever. I don't like burnt. Kim doesn't mind it. I don't like the little pieces that get stuck between my teeth, but it feels like such a relief when it's finally out. Pastor Bob talked about popcorn in one of his last children's sermons and I learned a little something. Popcorn pops because of the very small amount of water inside of the kernel. Once the kernel can no longer contain the steam within it, it explodes and we get popcorn. My heart and mind could no longer hold in all the cynacism and negativity on that fateful day back in April. Although I continue to hold onto those stuck-in-my-teeth irritating, leaving me with a hard shell on the outside concepts, they were replaced with a life-sustaining and delicious faith and optimism.

Thank you, Jesus.