Spontaneous Combustion!

"Oh my!"  Kim said, as she took a bite of her burger.  Immediately she began to drink water and to fan her mouth.

"That's hot!" She said.  "I'm really hungry, but I can't eat this, it's too spicy."

"What did you get?"  I asked.

"Some buffalo burger from The Grill," she told me, as she stepped over to the fridge for a refill on her water.

"But which buffalo burger?"  I asked.  "Buffalo meat doesn't taste spicy.  It's just like lean hamburger."

"I got some burger called Spontaneous Combustion," Kim said.  "But I told them to leave off the jalapenos."  She was scraping the cheese and toppings off the burger as she spoke.  "Here, you try a little bit of this sauce and see what you think."

I took a sample of the cheese and sauce.  I immediately broke into a sweat and felt as though flames were erupting from my mouth.  Spontaneous Combustion was too mild a name for it.

I too, began to guzzle water as though I had just returned from a hike through Death Valley.  "You're right," I said.  "That's sauce really has some zip to it.  Of course, I'm not sure what you expected getting a burger called 'Spontaneous Combustion' either."

Most of us value truth in advertising.  Some things are tough to test.  If your laundry detergent says its ten percent better than before, how do you really know?  My deodorant proclaims on the label that it "provides protection for seventy-two hours," but since I shower more often than every seventy-two hours (and plan to continue doing so), I have never figured out if that is true.

I guess technically speaking, the Spontaneous Combustion Burger has false advertising since neither Kim, or I burst into flames while tasting it.  It still did convey the idea that it was really, really spicy.

In a sense, the name 'Christian' advertises something.  It says that the one who claims that title is a follower of Jesus.  It is a name that should speak of a person who does and behaves certain ways -- a person whose life is filled with things like Love, Joy, Peace, and Patience.

It is a challenge for me that people do know that I am a Christian.  If my actions don't line up with who I claim to be,

There are probably a lot of things that are worse than having your mouth set up for the flames of a Spontaneous Combustion Burger just to end up with a normal bison burger and ketchup, but little can compare with the disappointment others feel when a "Christian" doesn't act like one.