7day fast of Daniel

The transformation from hard corn kernels to soft popcorn can also be used to describe the transformation that men must go through to become who they should be. The corn kernel is not what it should be. It should be what happens after it pops.

We are the corn kernels: hard, tooth-breakers, inedible.

But the transformation only happens through the power of fire. Corn kernels that do not pass through the fire will continue to be corn kernels forever.

The same happens with us.

Great changes happen when we pass through the fire. Those who do not pass through the fire remain the same way for the rest of their life. They remain poor and will always have the same measly life.

They are the only ones who do not realize it. They think their way is the best way.

Then, all of a sudden, fire comes.

The fire is when life throws us into a situation that we never imagined we would be in. Pain. It may be a fire that comes from the outside: lose a loved one, lose a child, get sick, lose a job, become poor.

It may be a fire that comes from the inside: panic, fear, anxiety, depression, a kind of suffering that we often rather ignore. There is always a remedy. Extinguish the fire. Without fire, the pain is reduced. And with that, the unlikelihood of a great transformation.

Imagine the poor popcorn, closed inside a bag, it begins getting hotter and hotter, and you’re thinking that your time has come: you’re going to die. Inside your hard shell, closed within yourself, you can’t imagine a different future. You can’t imagine the transformation that is being prepared for you. Popcorn can’t imagine what they are capable of. Then, without notice, through the power of fire, a great transformation occurs: BOOM! And it appears as something completely different from what it had ever dreamt of.

Old Maid

The corn kernels that do not pop are called old maids. They are the kind of people who, no matter how hot the fire gets, they refuse to change. They think that there isn’t a better way to be then their marvelous way.

Your presumption and fear are the hard shell that does not let them pop. Their fate is sad. They will remain hard forever. They will not turn into a soft white flower.

They will not bring anyone joy. After the joyous popping of the popcorn, the old maids uselessly remain at the bottom of the bag. They are destined to go to the garbage.

We must decide what we are: popcorn or old maids?

"Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, my Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles," Isaiah 42.1