{"id":2658,"date":"2023-05-30T07:57:22","date_gmt":"2023-05-30T11:57:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=2658"},"modified":"2023-05-30T07:57:22","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T11:57:22","slug":"transformers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2023\/05\/30\/transformers\/","title":{"rendered":"Transformers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


To listen to this reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a>.
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Have you ever wondered what\u2019s happening inside those gray canisters hanging near the tops of utility poles?
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Those are transformers \u2013 not to be confused with Autobots and Decepticons, the shape-shifting robots who used to be mere toys but now wage war in exceedingly loud movies.
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A transformer is a specialized device that converts electricity of one voltage into another voltage.\u00a0 Voltage, as you perhaps once learned in order to pass a test back in high school, is a measure of the electric force that \u201cpushes\u201d electrons around a circuit.
\u00a0
Power plants send out electricity at extremely high \u201cpressure\u201d \u2013 up to 765,000 volts \u2013 so it can travel hundreds of miles along wires.\u00a0 But that\u2019s way too \u201chot\u201d for your coffee maker, which would quickly be dispatched to Appliance Heaven if you plugged it into such a raging stream of power.
\u00a0
Therefore the voltage needs to be \u201cstepped-down\u201d through a series of transformers.
\u00a0
At a power substation, the current travels through coils wrapped around an iron core. \u00a0Magnetic force drops the energy to about 7,200 volts.
\u00a0
By the time the current reaches your neighborhood, it needs to be stepped-down again.\u00a0 Up on a pole in one of those gray boxes \u2013 or perhaps in a big box on the ground \u2013 the electricity is transformed to 220 volts for major appliances or 110 volts for almost everything else.
\u00a0
In short, a transformer takes a dangerous torrent of energy and converts it into something helpful and productive.
\u00a0
Which is the very reason God calls all of us to be transformers.
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Relying on our own strength and wits, we\u2019re no better than bare electric wires.\u00a0 Whatever comes into us is what pours out of us.
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Someone snipes at me; I snipe back.\u00a0 Someone calls me a name; I call them a more clever name.\u00a0 Someone hits me with a wall of anger; I push it right back into their face.\u00a0 Or worse:\u00a0 I pass it on to the next person I meet or my family members when I get home.
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Father Richard Rohr points out that if we do not transform our pain, we will always transmit it.\u00a0 We will pass on whatever level of negative energy has been thrust upon us.
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Whenever you feel a surge of irritation welling up inside you, or experience the overwhelming need to judge someone or put them in their place, it\u2019s likely you\u2019re being a transmitter of pain and not a transformer.
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So what does relational transforming look like?\u00a0
\u00a0
You\u2019re on the receiving end of a neighbor\u2019s high-voltage anger; you internalize it and respond with kindness.\u00a0 You work in the hearing of a team member\u2019s endless complaining; you refuse to let it unhinge your day and offer encouragement instead.\u00a0 God\u2019s call is that we \u201cstep-down\u201d the anxiety that comes our way and transform it into grace.
\u00a0
Easy to say.\u00a0 Hard to do.\u00a0
\u00a0
In fact, the only way we can become transformers is if we ourselves are transformed.\u00a0 And the only way that will happen is if we yield our hearts to ongoing renovation by the primary Transformer.
\u00a0
Christians believe that Jesus of Nazareth has embodied that role like no one else in history.\u00a0
\u00a0
Jesus took everything thrown at him \u2013 misunderstanding, betrayal, cynicism, abandonment, torture, and execution \u2013 and transformed it.\u00a0 \u201cBehold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world\u201d (John 1:29).\u00a0 The high voltage of human anger, hatred, and sin were stepped-down into the grace and forgiveness that are at the heart of the Good News.
\u00a0
That\u2019s something to remember the next time you catch sight of one of those gray transformer cannisters.
\u00a0
And notice that the utility pole supporting it sure looks like a cross.

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To listen to this reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here.\u00a0Have you ever wondered what\u2019s happening inside those gray canisters hanging near the tops of utility poles?\u00a0Those are transformers \u2013 not to be confused with Autobots and Decepticons, the shape-shifting robots who used to be mere toys but now wage war in exceedingly loud movies.\u00a0A transformer is a specialized device that converts… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2659,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[236],"class_list":["post-2658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-transformation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2658"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2660,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2658\/revisions\/2660"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}