Post-it Notes, Paint Balls And Mysteries Of Life

In response to my recent post about Post-it Notes, a friend of mine shared this video with me. 

If you wanna see something cool, watch it.

Amazing, mesmerizing, so satisfying to watch! 

 I also noticed something very interesting. In the first few seconds of this video, the camera pans across a woman sitting at her desk, watching a video on her computer which she promptly closes when her boss appears.

The video she was watching was that one where the guys do all the stunts with Diet Coke and Mentos. Remember? It was super popular a few years ago, and for good reason. It was awesome. 

I double-checked, and sure enough, the same guys made both videos. They call themselves Eepybird.com.

They made a few different Diet Coke and Mentos videos but I think this one is my favorite.

All this deliberate construction and infinitely timed perfection got me thinking about two other videos I love, both Rube Goldberg inventions. 

The first one uses only parts from a Honda Accord. The construction is elegant and pristine; I hold my breath as I watch it.

And this one, my very favorite one of all, is wild and crazy. The materials used range from a swinging teakettle to a crashing television; I love the anything-goes, built-from-spare-parts energy and the rambunctious ending that packs a colorful punch.

Watch it. You WILL be entertained.

I will admit to a certain obsession with these sorts of domino projects and Rube Goldberg machines, and I've often wondered why I feel such a sense of satisfaction when I watch them. 

While watching these videos today, it came to me, clear as a bell.

In our lives on this earth, we often feel like we are one of the balls or marbles that travel through a Rube Goldberg machine. We move along, responding to different situations and events as they happen to us, as best we can. And usually, we see no rhyme or reason, no deeper purpose to those events - it all seems fairly random. We often feel like we are in chaos, or at least a cloud of confusion, as we navigate through our lives, one crazy day at a time.

But maybe, just maybe, if we could only see our lives from another perspective, as the camera shows us the Rube Goldberg machine from a different perspective, we would notice things differently. We would see the split-second timing, the infinitely precise, carefully calibrated circumstances that allow our lives to go in one direction, rather than any other. 

If we could see ourselves in this way, we might realize that the seemingly random events of our lives are not random at all, but designed to lead us down a specific path that will bring us to a greater purpose. And when we see how all the details have come together perfectly, we will experience deep satisfaction in a journey well traveled. 

Amen.

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