Rapid Rise Yeast and Renegade Hot Air Balloons

“Hope is like yeast, you know, rising under warmth.”― Leif Enger, Peace Like a River

Being fixated as I am on the bread/leaven theme of this blog, I was reading up on yeast science the other day. (Yes, I know, I need to get a life.) I learned that yeast produces gases when activated, and it's those gases--carbon dioxide and ethanol--that cause the dough to balloon and rise before baking.

Too much yeast makes the bread holey.

Gases are sneaky substances and can be unpredictable sometimes. An experienced baker knows the difference between the types of yeast--fresh, active, instant or rapid rise--and how to manage its rising action by controlling factors such as exact measurement and temperature in order to produce a perfectly-textured and and tasty loaf of bread.

This is a scientific process that can be daunting in the hands of a novice baker but intuitive to a veteran baker.

Thinking of ballooning and rising, then, brings to mind how temperature and control over the correct mixture of oxygen with liquid propane is also a scientific process that can be daunting to an inexperienced hot air balloon operator but intuitive to a seasoned pilot.

Yes, my mind just jumped onto that track. It's a good thing I'm not a train engineer...

...Or a hot air balloon pilot.

Let me explain.

*****

Many years ago, while driving absentmindedly on my way to my Saturday substitute mail carrier job at the post office in town, I rounded a bend in the little country road and a completely astonishing sight appeared just ahead.

It was unbelievable. I blinked a couple times and almost drove off the road, thinking that it couldn’t possibly be what it looked like. There was no way I could have ever imagined I’d run into something like that when I left my house that morning.

But first, a little background.

We live in rural North Idaho. We are so rural that the closest Walmart is thirty-five miles away and the closest Costco is eighty-five. The state highway department removed the only stop light within our town’s city limits a few years ago because all it did was unnecessarily tie up traffic. And our county is so remote that we aren’t even under any commercial airline flight paths. Contrails in the clear sky above us are rare.

Even more remote within a remote county, our home is about six miles from town and tucked inside eight wooded acres at the base of a mountain.

Anything that doesn’t require a long drive becomes our hardy community’s recreation of choice. Hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, gardening, and off-roading take the place of leisure activities that urban dwellers take for granted; e.g., pro sports game attendance or theme parks or mall shopping or…hot air ballooning.

Yes, hot air ballooning is in this list because it might not be such a big deal to someone who lives where these are occasionally spotted. But not to me.

When I rounded the bend on our road that day and spotted a hot air balloon lightly bouncing up and down on the Y intersection just ahead, I was astounded.

This was not expected. I saw a mountain lion there once, but that wasn’t astounding. Not like this.

The balloon’s passengers appeared to be a traditionally-garbed Mennonite family. A man was on the ground, hanging on for dear life to a thick rope attached to the balloon’s passenger box. I saw a pickup truck pulled over at the other side of the intersection and realized this guy must have stopped to help.

As I neared, the family started waving and yelling at me to stop as well. I pulled up and rolled down my window.

The rope-holding man shouted, “Please—grab that rope and help me hold this down!”

I parked the car, jumped out, and grabbed a dangling rope, feeling reluctant and weird about the strangeness of this task.

Maintaining a grip on the rope wasn’t easy. That balloon was fighting to rise.

“Keep hanging on!” The pilot yelled as he held a burner valve open to keep the flame high. It was hard to hear him above the roar of the burner.

I know pretty much nothing about hot air ballooning, yet it appeared that the pilot must have made an emergency landing on the road when the parachute lost inflation and threatened to crash the family into surrounding trees. It needed to stayed grounded for as long as it took to completely refill the balloon.

I grasped the rope with both hands. I might as well have been handed a multiple dog leash coupler with a dozen poorly-trained Mastiffs on the other end as a rabbit ran by. It pulled painfully on my arms and shoulders.

I remained in a dazed, auto-pilot state, as I strained to hold the rope. I knew I was going to be late for work and figured that no one there would believe my excuse.

Sorry I’m late, guys—I had to stop and help hold down a hot balloon at the Y. Heh, heh. Stop looking at me like that, really, it’s true!

After only a few minutes, thankfully, another pickup stopped and two more men--probably the balloon's ground crew--jumped out to help.

I was able to give my rope over and resume my trip to the post office. And, yes, it took some convincing on my part for my coworkers to buy my excuse.

*****

Maintaining our grip on political matters within the Christian sphere is no easy task in this day and age. Our nation's rapid transformation into a 21st century Post Christian era caught us older folks off guard and triggered panic among many in our churches.

If feels like boatloads of secular madness have sailed into both sides of our country's coastal harbors and are unloading toxic social practices to be mainstreamed and normalized as we speak. Maybe that sentiment is what led to the rapid rise of the Tea Party movement in 2009.

Remember the Tea Party? We don't hear so much about it anymore, do we? Its grassroots effort to recapture the spirit of the Boston Tea Party in 1773 was a big deal for a decade or so, but then--what is the right word here? Was it absorbed, or was it eclipsed by the blazing ascension of the Trump Machine? I'm ambivalent concerning the correct descriptor, but nevertheless, the spawn of the marriage between Republican conservatism and the Religious Right roared onto our nation's political scene in 2016 and demanded loyalty from Christians and secularists alike.

MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN became an empowering battle cry that mobilized the weary 21st century Christians who felt battered and bullied by the escalation of radical left-wing policies and their big media outlets that out-voiced all other perspectives.

Yet, is it possible that many Christians, growing impatient with God's invisible but powerful plan for our nation, fell prey to a false messiah?

*****

Yes, there--false messiah. I've just said that.

Please bear with me as I flesh this cheeky statement out through a series of questions.

Can we at least visit the thought that the bullied ones took matters into their own hands, discarded their own rules regarding the necessity of moral character in leadership, pooled their resources, and hired their own bully? A brash public figure with a booming voice loud enough to finally be heard over the top of the left-wing "lies?"

And did this leader rush in to pilot our nation with so much fiery, blinding, human ambition that he convinced Christians to pull their hopes from the long line of WAIT ON GOD and place them instead into his flashy MAGA basket?

And did that leader's fervent hot air exploit the winds of conservatism to become a flawed replacement for the breath of the Holy Spirit in the hearts and minds of Christian voters?

So, then, did the left-wing secularists, scoffing as they did at the wild antics of the pilot, call on one of their own to replace him? And did this new leader guide our balloon onto an even more dangerous flight path? One that is soaring way too high, causing us to be swept into the throes of the unpredictable global trade winds that bounce us around in deadly patterns of turbulence? Is BUILDING BACK BETTER no more effective than MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN when both parties' pilots have completely lost their ever-lovin' minds?

Maybe it's time to call on those still grounded in the Truth to grab onto the balloon's ropes and hold it down for as long as it takes to find a humble and skilled pilot. One who knows how to correctly handle the flame of the Spirit and allow the balloon to fill to capacity before embarking on our country's journey into the future. Surely there is a qualified person waiting in the wings who will follow God's leading to pick a sensible course--one that is neither too high, nor too low.

If we truly believe that Christians are our nation's ground crew, then we must take our job seriously. Hanging on to the straining, pulling rope of Truth is exhausting business and takes a lot of faith muscle. Yet, our nation's spiritual health requires us as individuals and churches to do just that--to stay on the ground, not to jump in the basket with the pilot.

So what ground should Christians stay planted in, then? What is the wisest grassroots movement from which our resource investment will yield the healthiest harvest for our entire nation?

Comparing our hearts to soil and the gospel message to seeds, Jesus answered this question a couple thousand years ago :

Luke 8:11-15: The seeds that fell among the thorns represent those who hear the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And so they never grow into maturity. And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God’s word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest. (NLT)

May our churches all stay out of the thorny business of politics, and may we all keep our faith rooted in the the fertile soil of worship and study and prayer to grow strong enough, and patient enough, to hold our political balloon in check as we wait for God's direction before proceeding.

We might be really surprised by what is waiting for us just around the corner.

*****

In 27 AD in Jerusalem, the elite Jewish leaders were traveling along their prescribed religious path when one day, boom, around a bend, there was Jesus, their long-awaited Messiah.

But he didn't look anything at all like the leader they were expecting. He wasn't flashy or loud or brash, and his rag-tag retinue was even less impressive.

Furthermore, as an everyday walker along the Roman road system, Jesus didn't even try to utilize a more showy form of transportation. The leaders would certainly have placed more confidence in Jesus' messiahship if he had upped his game by hiring a wagon or chariot to drive him around in.

No thank-you, the religious Jews said as they skirted the group gathered around Jesus and continued moving forward on their campaign to attract just the right bold commander--one with the material means and chutzpah to rise above the Roman oppressors.

Little did the Pharisees know they had passed by their only chance to witness the mind-blowing ascension of God's perfect Messiah into the stratosphere--into the heavenly kingdom, the safe place above the radar of the enemy...

...the place where those who worship him are powered by the Holy Spirit winds to carry his life-giving bread of love and justice right over the top of locked and unlocked ballot boxes alike...

...and directly to the individual hearts of their neighbors.