The Spark of a Strange Combination

Yesterday, after a little hiking in the woods of Wildcat Hills, we stopped at the drive through to get a drink and I saw what may be the strangest combination I’ve ever seen. The current fadish addition of bacon to just about everything doesn’t really bother me. I think about any meat sandwich is around 47% better with bacon on it. I get the concept of the bacon topped maple long johns at the bakery. And I have to admit that bacon flavored popcorn at least poses an intriguing possibility. But I was completely unprepared for what I saw staring at me from the Sonic menu…

Peanut Butter Bacon Milkshake

Don’t let that sink in too deeply because this isn’t really about cold and disgusting ice cream treats.

I read a lot, but I usually don’t start a book until I’ve finished the last one. I know other people who read 5 or 6 books at a time, but I like this method of reading books one at a time. I think it helps me sink into the whole of the book a little better. But the last couple weeks, I’ve done a little book mixing that’s sparked some interesting reaction in my mind. I found myself reading Steven Pressfield’s War of Art (about overcoming the resistance to your inner creativity) at the same time as Madelaine L’Engle’s A Swiftly Tilting Planet (about a boy who rides a talking unicorn around space and time in order to ensure that a egomaniacal South American dictator doesn’t bring about the nuclear devastation of all of humanity). It was strange how these two dissonant voices danced around some eerily similar etherealities (which I suspect is not actually a word, but if you read enough L’Engle you’re allowed to make up a few of your own).

A couple weeks ago, I read Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game at the same time I was reading Dan Kimball’s Adventures in Churchland. In Ender’s Game, a bunch of children are trained to fight an alien race that threatens to wipe out mankind. Adventures in Churchland is about helping people find Jesus in the mess we sometimes make of His church.  The two have nothing to do with each other, but I kept asking myself, “What if the church’s best hope to reach our culture with His life is in our ability to unleash the potential of our next generation to creatively engage the enemy who is seeking to end that life?” As these books mash together in my mind, I can’t help but feel that it really is.

Is there someone in the next generation that you could be investing in, to help them make the most of what God has placed in their lives? Whose gift could you “fan into flame” by sharing a little of your own fuel?

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Share your own story in the comments: What’s the strangest combination you’ve encountered (foods, thoughts, people, etc.) and did it spark anything new in you?

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