SPAM

My oldest son likes SPAM. I do not understand his fascination with the canned meat product, but being the good mother that I am (HA!), I do occasionally buy it for him and even took him to the SPAM museum in Austin, MN last summer.

SPAM actually got its name when an employee suggested it at a company party. It is shortened for SPiced hAM. Those of us who do not like the product often have other names for it. My favorite is “Something Posing As Meat.” SPAM reminds me too much of the canned ham product that my parents would get when we were kids. It tastes nothing like ham, but it provided an affordable meal for the family that was different than the hamburgers we eat 300 days a year in the family truck stop. Somewhere in the canned ham and in the SPAM, there is actual ham, but it is hard to tell that by the taste. In actuality, SPAM is not something posing as meat, but meat posing as something, though we are not sure what.

Sometimes I wonder if my life is the same way. Is it obvious in my life that I am a Christian? When others see me, can they see the fruit of my Christianity, or do they see just another product of the world? Have I lost the flavor of what it means to be a follower in Christ in this world?

The SPAM museum in Austin is a great tribute to what SPAM is and its place in history. Despite my opinion of the product, it has a very interesting and important history in our nation. Many families during WWII were able to obtain and afford meat because they ate SPAM. Many soldiers of the same time period learned to appreciate the convenience of SPAM while in the field and asked Hormel to not stop making it when they pulled it off the market after the war.

My history and importance as a Christian is no less remarkable. It is my desire to live that legacy out loud so that the world may know what Christ has done for me.