Sudden Temperature Change Causes Shattering

Assumptions get us into trouble Every. Single. Time.

Anytime I “plan ahead” I feel as if I’ve achieved something just short of miraculous.

Especially when it comes to persona/household things.

With work – I’m all about “planning” and I live by my calendar. (Albeit sometimes not very well). Yet oftentimes I am so driven around plans for work that I take for granted that personal things, such as cooking and cleaning, require planning too!

I was quite proud of myself. Dinner was “complete,” in the refrigerator and I knew once I returned home from my errand, all I had to do was transfer it to the oven, bake it, and the meal would be “home free!” I assumed that immediate transfer from cold to hot would be ok!

A loud noise erupted behind me, I turned to check on the rice that was boiling, and no major catastrophes were happening. I did a quick oven check and all seemed to be well inside, so I returned to my other tasks.

A few minutes later many waves of smoke started coming out of various openings on the oven. I looked inside again, quite afraid of what I was going to find. Truly, I expected to see large red/orange flames.

No flames were found, but the smoke was overwhelming. I went to pull the dish out to try to assess the situation, and then the realization occurred.

The nice 9×13 glass dish was no longer 9×13.

More like 2×3.  6×9.  1×1.  1×1.  1×1.

The 9×13 dish was in TONS of pieces! It had shattered and the dinner was completely ALL OVER the oven. The bottom, the sides . . .  it seemed like a small catastrophe. I got out what I could, then covered up the rest so no one would know what had happened. Clean up would have to come later.

I really thought you could put a cold dish in the oven.

Since then I’ve googled. Various “googles” provide various results.

One, however, resonates.

“Sudden temperature change causes shattering and breaking.”

The same seems so true in life, too.

We are moving along, on our journey, and suddenly something happens and it alters everything. A phone call, a text, a result of something we are waiting for.

It’s when these sudden occurrences happen that we find ourselves feeling “hit,” beaten down, and if the occurrence is big enough, we feel shattered or as if we are breaking.

Jesus encountered a man who’d been ostracized from the community for years, as he was possessed by demons. Jesus cast out the demons, cast them into a herd of pigs that ultimately jumped over a cliff, and then had the man stay in his home community so that he could be a visible witness to how spiritual encounters with the Son of God transform us and give us power over shattering and breaking.

But that all happened in steps . . .  conversation, a process. Jesus didn’t just wave a magic wand, heal him, and head on his merry way.

Transformation isn’t a light switch. It takes time, thought, prayer, and great intentionality.

What steps are you taking towards transformation today?

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If you missed the Sunday message, here is a link.

The Old Way vs. The New Way