From:Ben Kelley
Subject: Making chocolate pie

(Try to bear with me as you read this e-message)

Chocolate Meringue Pie
3/4 c. sugar
3 tbsp. cornstarch
3 tbsp. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 c. milk
2 squares chocolate
2 egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla

Grate or cut chocolate into 2 cups milk, place over hot water to melt. Combine first 4 ingredients and blend with 1/2 cup milk. When chocolate is melted and milk is scalded, add to egg yolks well beaten. Stir constantly. Add flour and sugar mixture. Cook over boiling water stirring constantly until thick, add vanilla. Cool.

Place in pastry shells and top with meringue made of 3 egg whites and 6 tablespoons sugar. Beat egg whites until stiff then add sugar gradually. Spread on pie. Bake in oven at 300 degrees for 7 minutes.

As you glance at the ingredients and method of preparation for this, you will recognize that the final product would be gooooodddd! especially if you've done much baking in the past (not many people bake from scratch anymore). Delicious, mouth-watering, it will definitely satisfy your cravings for something sweet, in other words; it is something you would enjoy ending up with, but let's look at its individual ingredients and some of the steps of preparing.

SUGAR- sweet, but try downing 3/4 cup of it. There are not very many people who would look forward to it, or enjoy it as it went down their throat.

CORNSTARCH- if you've never tasted it alone, trust me, it would not be one of your favorite meals.

FLOUR- bland, by itself. Like cornstarch, it wouldn't be a meal I would hurry home to.

SALT- what comment is needed? Swallow a 1/2 tsp of it and you will go looking for a large glass of water.

MILK- Good tasting when cold and fresh, but remember, our recipe calls for it to be scalded. Scalded milk wouldn't be my choice to wash down a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

CHOCOLATE- ah, you think; finally, something that is good by itself. Have you ever tried unsweetened chocolate? There's a reason why you will always see sugar or some other sweetener in the ingredients of chocolate bars, pies, cakes, etc. Chocolate is bitter.

EGG YOLKS- some people allegedly use raw egg yolks in "health" concoctions and as part of their "hangover" remedies. I can think of no other sane reason (if indeed these 2 are sane reasons) to want to consume raw egg yolks.

EGG WHITES- even less desirable than the yolks.

VANILLA- sweetened, it's okay in small amounts, but small amounts only. It also has a nice aroma.

Variously, these ingredients are cut up, melted over hot water, scalded, beaten, spread out, and cooked in a hot oven. These steps of preparation sound brutal. Neither the ingredients nor the preparations, though, sound bad, indeed, they are known to be good, to the one who is the chef. The one running the kitchen, not the pie, is in charge and in control. He/she knows what he/she is doing and why and how it all goes together and the desired end result

Now, think about our lives. Can you begin to see that, in many ways, they are like this pie?

-cornstarch and flour. We often feel like our lives would be better if the small, seemingly inconsequential ingredients, like prayer and Bible study, were taken away and replaced with bigger, more important things. We don't realize these ingredients help to hold all the others together.

-The parts of our lives which seem bland, such as our "small" acts of service and obedience to Him, like the plain old egg whites, can be given into the Master's hand, Who can mix in a few little things, whip the breath of His Spirit into it, and make a covering over our lives which will draw others attention to us and allow us to be a witness to them.

-sugar. We sometimes feel the life of purity and godliness is "sweet," as if that's old-fashioned or passé, as in "who wants sweet when you can have spicy?" We think it's somehow okay to mix in some of the "excitement" found in the world's style of life, such as sex outside of marriage, "social" drinking, gambling, etc. The fact is, purity and godliness, or the striving toward them, keeps us aware of our relationship with the Sovereign God and serves to sweeten the "bitter things in our lives.

-salt. Godly Christian lives around us and the pure holiness of our God both act like salt to us. Both of them can bring tears to our eyes when we consider our own actions as compared to them. They can also make us feel the dryness of our souls. God's intended purpose for these "salts" is to cause us to hunger and thirst after righteousness and the water of God's Word, to the point that we will take action to quench those thirsts.

-scalded milk. Scripture (Paul's writings) talk about the basic teachings of the Bible as being like milk, as opposed to the deeper things of God. Sometimes, in our spiritual immaturity, we feel as if we have ruined our chances of serving God by not paying close enough attention to our walk, or spending too much time "playing with fire," i.e.., we've "scalded the milk." Our Father God can use our "scalded milk," though, to cause the other ingredients to jell together into a consistency of life that will keep us on the right path later, by reminding us and convicting us..

-chocolate. The dark things happening in our lives are those things which could make us become bitter, unless we are careful to see them as sweetened by the promises of God, such as His always being there with us, and, that He will not allow us to be tested beyond what we are able to bear.

-vanilla. The Holy Spirit working in our lives can seem overpowering, like vanilla, but as we yield to His leading, we learn He really wants to empower us to live lives that glorify the Father and the Son. His Presence adds an aroma to us that attracts others, giving us opportunities to minister.

-pastry shells or pie shells. Sometimes we believe God has "fenced us in" too tightly. The job, ministry, circle of influence, neighborhood, etc. where God has us seems too restrictive. Trust God to put you where He can make the most of the talents and gifts. He may have you in a small "pastry shell" because He wants to focus you on a particular person or group. How valuable in God's plan do you believe the person was who led Billy Sunday, D.L. Moody, Billy Graham, or other "greatly used by God" persons? These witnesses had (supposedly) very small area of ministries, but look at the difference those "little people" made by being faithful where they were.

Neither you nor I know fully what God wants to make with our lives. That's one of the reasons we think wrongly about what He's doing. We either complain about the ingredient He's adding, or, we complain about the amounts. One of the ways we do this is in the area of gifts and talents He has mixed in to our being. God is very precise in measuring. Whereas I may think I need another or more of a gifting, He knows that more of a particular "favor" would change everything, like if you put in too much vanilla, you wouldn't end up with a chocolate pie. We rarely recognize the individual ingredients as He adds them in, usually because of the "package" they're in, nor do we often appreciate the methods of preparation He uses. Just remember, the pie might not like the separating, beating, scalding, cooking in a hot oven, etc., but the chef knows what He's doing and each of those steps are necessary. God is The Chef working in and through our lives. Acknowledge that to Him, vocally give Him permission to work as He knows best in and through you, and then believe that He will make you into a masterpiece creation, by and of His perfect design.

May God grant you the grace to hear Him,

                    Ben