The Unstoppable Cook

If you are a salt, you are not expected to be sweet.

The Unstoppable Cook

Psalm 119:71, 73 & 75

71) It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy ways. 73) Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn from thy commandments.  75) I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right. and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.

     I just think I did a good job for preparing a roasted chicken for my nephew's 20th birthday, yesterday. That's the reason why, after spending time with God, in prayers, reading and meditating with the Holy Word, I was not able to put everything into writing. It was a real tiring day for me, and until now, I think, I still feel exhausted. Oh, how I wish to rest more, and sleep more! But I just can't, not until I'm done unloading everything, all the voices hovering within me.

     I can't help myself from associating everything I did in  cooking with the Word of God. It seems to me that I am hearing the sound of the Spirit everywhere, and in everything I do. It sticks and penetrates to my skin, bone, and marrow, that if left unreleased, I'll be breathless, and sadly end my day paralyzed. 

     I made two desserts for the celebration, the homemade mango ice cream, and the maja blanca. However, it's in the preparation of the three main course that caused my brain to ignite: the stewed noodle, pork adobo, and the roasted chicken; I incidentally realized, that these three recipes shared ingredients in common: bulb onion, onion leaf, green chili, bell pepper, soy sauce, vinegar/calamansi,  and the seasoning granules. Each ingredient has its own unique flavor, but all the ingredients has to complement with each other, to serve a common goal; it's to make the dish more palatable to satisfy the cook and the eater. Each one may land to different processes of cooking or recipe, but for as long as it is used in moderation, and according to how it should be used, then, justice is served on the table: but if not, O what a waste in the pocket!

         The water must be checked whether it flaws from a clean source before you start to wash (No one likes to eat your food if it's dirty). So, wash everything with your bare hands, and double check each corner of the object, to make sure that you remove all the particles of dust, mud, or maybe some insects and worms; crumple and squeeze if you must, or shake it off to get rid from all the unnecessary substance. Make sure the peeler is good enough, to avoid too much removal of the essential flesh, and the knife is sharp enough to meet the desired shape for the presentation purposes: everything has to be cut according to its purpose. There are certain recipes which require certain direction and amount of stirring, if you'll mess it up, or overdo it, it will surely affect the texture, even the taste; also in frying, there's a correct way of turning, if it's incorrectly and untimely done, it could ruin the whole appearance and shape. In addition, some ingredients must be hardly beaten and crushed, and some has to undergo the melting process by setting it on fire, and there are some that must be put into a boiling pot of water to soften its hardness, before they can be used perfectly.

        
       To meet the desired outcome, the cook has to make sure that each step is strictly and carefully followed. The way of washing, peeling, slicing, squeezing, stirring, and frying (if you must), it matters a lot! The result really depends on how circumspect the cook is, in implementing all the proceedings.

       At some point in life, we are like one of the ingredients. Each one of us, we need to undergo a certain process of cleansing, peeling, cutting, shaping, stirring, crumpling, shaking, beating, crushing, melting, and boiling, so that we could be used according to God's own heart and design. Before we learn and discover our own purpose in life, someone took an effort to go out from His comfort zone to go to a stinky and a noisy marketplace, or maybe from an expensive air-conditioned grocery store, yet, the place makes no difference at all, where you came from, doesn't really matter; no place can offer a guarantee of a lasting freshness, everything shall come to spoil and rot: when the expiration date comes, and still, no one dares to buy, it has to be removed from the shelf and be replaced. The trash bin is always  ready to welcome and to keep you. But the good thing is, we don't have to end up this way, because someone chose to pick and purchase us. He counted the cost and paid the price for His very own purpose: it is to please and satisfy Himself. Yes, He bought us for His own pleasure. He washed us with His own blood. He removed all the dirt in us (for before He bought us, those sorts of hands which tried to touch and pick us are simply unimaginable). The Sword of the Spirit cut all the unnecessary things in our lives, to shape us into the kind of person He wants us to become; The rod of life stirred our circumstances, to direct us into His eternal glory. He took us from our comfort zone and turned our lives upside down, to bring us into the place where He wants us to  be. He squeezed our lives to make us more beneficial to Him, and to others, so that through us, He could bring and offer some refreshment to the weary and thirsty soul. 

        Indeed, God is in the business of cooking. Yes, cooking is His passion too! He is the Purchaser, the Cook, and most of all, the Master Chef, and we are the ingredients.  He uses us to satisfy His own passion. He can do whatever He likes. He could beat, crush, set us on fire, and put us into a burning situation just to fulfill his plan, will, and purpose in our lives. It's all up to Him, how He wants to use us. It's not about what kind of dish we are mixed with, but it's all about the Master Chef's desired taste to come out from a certain dish which He wants to accomplish through us.

         Let us trust that the Master Chef knows how to use us. It is Him who measures all things. It is Him who puts all the boundaries and limitations. He will not use us beyond what we could give. He knows what's too much, and what's lacking in us. He uses us according to who and what we are, not who and what others are. If you are a salt, you're not expected to be sweet, sour or bitter, just be salty; that's it! If something is missing, He also know what to pick to substitute whatever is missing. Like, if there's a lack of vinegar, he could get some sour from calamansi. If there's no sugar, He could replace it with honey: this is how resourceful the Master Chef is! If something is not available, then, He could still use something else. There's no way that the Cook shall feel desperate in finding the ingredients for His desired recipe. He could even create a certain ingredient out of His own creativity. He never get discouraged; If He wants to cook, He cooks! Yes, He is the unstoppable Cook!