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You've rented the movie Shrek like for about the fourth time, and you're all settling in the family room to watch -- popcorn at hand.

The problem with eating popcorn in the family room is that inevitably, some of those puffy, odd little munchables will slip out of your grasp and on to your lap and then to the couch, down between the cushions, insinuating themselves into the crack between the cushion and the wall of the couch, and some pieces will hit the carpet, so that after every movie, you know you're going to need to vacuum the rug and clean up the mess.

Popcorn is a problem.

Not any more, according to Don Sothman. Several years ago, as Sothman was eating popcorn at a movie theater, he was thinking that, although we can put a man on the moon, we're still eating popcorn with our hands. He watched as people used a pile of napkins to wipe their hands, and saw others wipe their hands on the theater seats. He knew that about a billion pounds of popcorn is consumed annually.

He started to think: "What if there was a simple way to pick up odd-shaped food? We could reduce the spread of germs, cut down on cleaning bills, eliminate smudges on office documents, and have clean computer keyboards. What's more, we could save hectares of forests we cut down and turn into napkins. What a concept!"

Don Sothman went on to invent the popcorn fork and has sold over 100,000 of them through his website (popcornfork.com). These are people he likes to call the Popcorn Pioneers. We don't eat mashed potatoes and gravy with our hands, he notes. Why do we persist in eating popcorn with our fingers?

The popcorn fork is a tong-like device that has a built in salt shaker. Sounds like a good idea. But I'm not sold on it. I'm not sure that this tong-like fork is going to keep the popcorn off the carpet. I suppose I should try it before voicing my skepticism.

What I find interesting is how the invention itself tells me something about the inventor. What kind of a person could think of something like a "popcorn fork"? This Don Sothman has got to be a creative, unique, thinking-outside-the-popcorn-bag kind of guy. His rationale for the fork goes further: "It is well known that napkins are made out of trees and that trees produce the oxygen that we breathe. This means that we are snacking ourselves out of oxygen if we keep this up!"

You see? This guy's a little quirky I think, but I love it. I love the way he thinks, and where his thinking leads.

Now the same thing was happening in this little village, Cana, where Jesus and his family had been invited to attend a wedding and reception. When Jesus comes up with a new wine appellation that no one knows about, everyone is astounded, including, no doubt, his mother whom Jesus had apparently brushed off when she was bugging him about the lack of wine at the reception.

Jesus' sign, the text says, "revealed his glory" (John 2:11). Jesus' behavior, his actions, his life revealed his glory. From this point on, his disciples believed in him.

I can go three ways with this. First, I can locate myself with the disciples, and like them, believe. "Truly you are the Son of God!" Second, I can understand myself to be one of Jesus' "signs" that bring glory or dishonor to Jesus. Third, I understand in a better way that my actions, my "inventions" -- if you please -- are the signs or the signals that reveal to others who I am.

So what miracles shall I perform today? What inventions will I create today that will change someone's experience of life? Have I remembered today to encounter the living Christ, and to drink of the new wine he offers?