I guess we will never lose our wonder over things people invent. 

Yesterday I experienced what I think is a relatively new invention. 

I was on my way to our cottage, it was getting past dinner time and I was a little peckish. But I had a destination in mind and was willing to stave off the urge to steer my car towards one of the numerous fast food spots along the way. 

The last few times Lily and I have driven up to the cottage we have seen these big boxes with a picture of a pizza on it. Some of these boxes are tucked beside a restaurant or a store. Some of them are just by themselves. 

We’ve seen five or six of them on our travels this year.

I wondered what they were, so one time I pulled up to one of these boxes and discovered they are a pizza dispensing machine.

The crazy thing is that they don’t just dispense cold pizza. They offer hot, ready to eat, on the spot pizza as well. 

Well I tucked that thought back into my brain, knowing there would come a time when I was going to try it. 

Yesterday was the day. 

It may be just another gimmick but I was intrigued.

… I’m sure when they came out with the first pop or sofa dispensing machine people went “wow”. You just dropped your coins into a slot, pressed a button and – boom – the pop of your choice came out. 

We don’t even think about that now, but back when they first came out it would have been a wonder.

This trip up to the cottage I was by myself and was set on trying this pizza. 

How could this huge box spit out hot pizza and do it in three minutes? Come on!

I pulled in and there was a family just finishing a pizza. When they saw me heading for the machine the mom said, “It’s pretty good.” 

Back in the early nineties, we had a Chrysler New Yorker. It would talk to us. If the door wasn’t quite shut, a voice would say, “a door is ajar” … to which we would all reply in unison, “The door is not a jar; it’s a door!” 

One day when our son was about two or three, I was driving with him in our other car. He asked me very seriously, “Daddy, why doesn’t this car have a little man in it?”

I laughed and thought, “Boy, the wheels are really turning in Mike’s head over this one.” 

Well, to be honest, how do you get a pizza in three minutes out of a box that’s about 7 feet by 8 feet by 4 feet? 

The obvious answer is that there’s got to be a little man in it. I’m sure I’ve seen a little man selling frozen pizzas on TV before. 

Well, this box pumped out my pizza … Hawaiian, of course. And though I’m not a connoisseur of fine pizza, it was not horrible.

Chock one up for new inventions. 

Here’s the thing: There are time we are filled with wonder about what we see, hear or experience. If we took time to think, time to ponder, we would always be filled with wonder at mountains so high, grass so green, minds so creative, newborn babies so intricate and small. All that wonder should be directed to God who made everything. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What has filled you with wonder recently? Leave your comments and questions below.

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