However, this surplus of food did not get the normal leftover treatment. It wasn't destined for the refrigerator nor would it be eaten in the next week. You see, Mom perfected a process we liked to call 'suspended animation'. The excess food would be placed on microwavable-safe plates and covered with plastic lids. It was then marched downstairs into the laundry room where we had an enormous deep freeze. There were no tears shed or ceremonial words said. There was no trumpet fanfare or 21-gun salute. There was no missing man formation flown over the house for these leftovers. They would surely be forgotten forever.
The food went into deep hibernation like Sigourney Weaver in Aliens. It may be in the deep freeze for a month, a year, or even a decade. But verily I say unto you, the time would eventually come when there is nothing else in the house to eat and you're left to fend for yourself. That plate of kilbossi & sauerkraut would come out of its suspended animation state and find its way to the microwave. Like the door of a cryogenic hyperspace sleep chamber, the lid and plate were encrusted with a thick layer of freezer ice. The contents had been freezer burned beyond recognition. Was it animal, vegetable or mineral? Or had it evolved into another life-form altogether? Sometimes we were willing to take a chance depending on how hungry we were (in the famous words of Austin Powers, "I too like to live dangerously").
It's funny that suspended animation is not only reserved for food. There are humans who wish to preserve their lives in a cryonic, frozen state; however, the process is currently not reversible (uh ... big drawback if you ask me). In the United States, cryonics can only be legally performed on humans after clinical death, and a legal determination that further medical care is not appropriate (legal death). The rationale for cryonics is that the process may be reversible in the future if performed soon enough, and that cryopreserved people may not really be dead by standards of future medicine.
Can you believe the extreme we as a society are willing to go for everlasting "life" (if you can even call it that). I've got an alternative for you which is far less likely to incur freezer burn. In John 6:47-51, Jesus reveals the real secret to eternal life. He breaks it down by explaining, "I'm telling you the most solemn and sober truth now: Whoever believes in me has real life, eternal life. I am the Bread of Life. Your ancestors ate the manna bread in the desert and died. But now here is Bread that truly comes down out of heaven. Anyone eating this Bread will not die, ever. I am the Bread—living Bread!—who came down out of heaven. Anyone who eats this Bread will live forever ..." (MSG). Believe and receive Jesus as your personal Saviour and we need not fear death. For as it is written in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, "... but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed." The apostle Paul reiterates the promise Jesus offers us all. Christ took our place on the cross; He conquered sin, He conquered death so that we could choose to believe in Him, follow Him, and live forever with Him. Hmmm ... suspended animation or Jesus Christ ... you choose.
Stay the course, finish the race ... AB
(Next Week: The Parable of the Hermit Crab)
