Sometimes the news is handed to you on a plate.  Frederic J. Baur died several days ago, and as he requested, part of his cremated remains were placed in a Pringles can.  No, this wasn’t his only option; it was his decision. Baur, a Ph.D. Presbyterian, held the patent on the popular plastic-topped potato chip container. You might say he poured himself into his work.  In fact there are voluminous Web sites that use the good doctor’s creation as raw material for arts and crafts designs.  It may rank up there with the Popsicle stick as having attended more Vacation Bible Schools than a crocheted cross.

There is nothing funny about the fact that Dr. Baur passed on.  He left behind children and grandchildren who will miss him greatly.  And all of us should be saddened that one so bright will no longer enlighten the oft-blank monitors of time. He was a man of focus who, you might say, refused to let the chips fall where they may.  Hooray for those who look for a better way to package the world’s goods!  Let’s hear it for the few and far between who are willing to stand on the ledges of life and take a flying leap into the unknown!  Who knows, there could be a Pringles can in your mind.  A thought or deed that might reflect the creative genius of the One who crafted the planets. The patent is gone on the Pringles can, but there are other causes into which you may pour your life.  Quick, before you grow stale! Believe, conceive, achieve.

Romans 4:17 (NLT), “Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing.”