A look to the right, and no one,
A look to the left—the same.
Your life’s a solo journey;
Or so some seem to claim.

Then, perhaps you think they speak the truth,
As you feel your life careen.
And you think you really are alone,
For what cannot be seen.

But if you had the eyes to see,
This truth would then be found:
You, my friend, are not alone—
There are angels all around.

---

If I was to give it a name, it would be called: ‘The Case of the Exploding Churros.’ 

Now, explosions can be a lot of fun.  Think of a candy cannon.  Who doesn’t love candy raining down little bits of happiness upon an eager crowd.  Think of fireworks closing out a day of festivities—their vibrant bursts of color illuminating the night sky.  Think of water balloons on a hot summer day during a spontaneous water fight.  They explode, sending their contents flying over the friendly foe.  The difference, though, is that churros are not supposed to explode.  But, lest we get ahead of ourselves, let me start at the beginning.

My little sister had to do an assignment for her Spanish language class where they got into groups and went to someone’s house and made a Spanish recipe which would later be presented to everyone.  Her group decided to make churros.  It was a success! They had such a great time doing it, she later wanted to try it with the family.  So, a group of us got together one family night to make churros.

We mixed flour with some of this and a dash of that and got a pan of oil heating on the stove.  Being churro novices, we did not have a churro press to extrude the dough into the star shape that churros are usually seen in.  So, we began making random shapes by hand.  Somehow, I became the designated churro cooker.  While the family was at the kitchen counter making shapes, I was standing over the stove and the hot oil flipping the frying contents. 

We had fried several batches, rolled them in cinnamon and sugar, and eaten most of them.  Feeling proud of our success, I was half way through another batch on the hot stove when my cell phone began to ring.  It was an unknown number.  I rarely answer unknown numbers and virtually never answer when I am with other people.  However, for some reason I thought I should answer this one.  The churros were going to need another minute in the hot oil anyway, so I stepped out of the noisy kitchen and answered the call.

No one was there.

I hung up the phone, somewhat confused, and took two steps toward the kitchen again when it happened.  BOOM!!!  Now, I am not talking a little pop, not even a bang, but a full-on churro explosion.  The result was so violent it created a twenty-foot kill zone of scalding oil and churro shrapnel in every direction around the stove.  There was even oil and churro stuck to and dripping from the ceiling. 

Everyone in the kitchen froze.  I dove in and turned off the stove to prevent a fire as oil was now all over everything.  We all decided our churro-making days were over.  While we were cleaning, someone looked up ‘exploding churros’ online and, come to find out, it is pretty common.  When you make them incorrectly, they cook unevenly and steam builds up pressure inside and then violently escapes in an explosion. 

But here is the thing, no one was seriously hurt.  I, who should have been in the direct path to take the explosion in the face, was not there because I uncharacteristically felt I should answer some seemingly random call at some seemingly random time from some seemingly random number.

Coincidence?  Perhaps some would say so.  There will always be those who say that God is not close and not involved in the details of our lives.  They insist that heaven is not around us.  But I disagree.  I have proof, you see.  I got a perfectly timed call from heaven just the other night.

And, in case you are wondering, it was a local number.

Written: April 29, 2018