The Art of Pressure Cooking

If you weren’t aware of it, black beans and rice are probably the most common food that’s eaten here in Brazil. They’re eaten with almost every meal or as the meal. I can remember getting totally wore-out on them (black beans and rice) when we adopted our kids back in 08’. I actually began to loathe black beans and rice and we were eating them so much that the very thought of black beans and rice actually made me angry... for real. When we got back to the States one of the kids had a birthday and we decided to make black beans and rice for them. MJ soaked raw black beans overnight then she put them in a crock pot to cook all day. Later in the evening, right before dinner, we tried the beans to see if they were done and they were still raw! Hard as little rocks. They had soaked all night, cooked all day in the crock pot and they were still raw. What’s up with that? Then we found out that we were suppose to “pressure cook” them. Only problem with that is we didn’t have a pressure cooker. So we punted and went to McDonald’s and hit the dollar menu. Happy Birthday!

Well, now that we live in Brazil, we figured we ought to figure out the whole pressure cooker thing. We actually have a pressure cooker now and it’s huge! I have no idea where it came from or why it’s so big, but we have one none-the-less. Seriously... it’s so big we could probably fit one of our kids in it! Or if we were cooking Chinese food, a whole cat... lol! jk. (Totally different subject, but as I’m sitting here writing, I just heard one of our kids yelling from outside that they see a snake in the pond where they’re playing... just a little FYI. Back to the story...)

MJ has been cooking black beans and rice almost every day since we’ve been here and I’ve actually really been enjoying them. She has a routine she follows every day. She makes breakfast, then she immediately starts preparing lunch (black beans and rice). She’s like a Brazilian master chef when it comes to black beans now. And the secret is in the pressure cooker. She can do in 45 minutes (in the pressure cooker) what she wasn’t even able to do in 2 days (soaking beans overnight then 1 whole day cooking in a crock pot). You just add the beans, water, onion, salt, garlic and oil, lock the lid in place and the “pressure” and the heat take care of the rest. The secret is in the “pressure” that the pressure cooker applies to the beans. It’s cooks everything inside the pot with intense heat/pressure and it slowly releases all the pressure from this regulator thing that sits on top of the lid (it’s that loud obnoxious thing making all the racket) as all the water is turned into steam and released out of the regulator. It’s a pretty cool thing if you think about it (obviously I’ve got too much free time on my hands that I’m actually thinking about the intricacies of pressure cooking, ha!). But there’s a point. Let me explain...

Over the last several weeks it feels like our family has been in a “spiritual pressure cooker.” There’s been such intense heat and pressure applied to us that it’s almost unbearable. And it’s been constant with no relief. Have you ever felt that way? Where you literally felt like there was so much pressure on you that you were gonna explode (or have a total breakdown) because you couldn’t take anymore? That’s the way it’s been for us. And the temptation is to quit. The temptation is to “turn the heat off” and “unlock the lid” and go back to the whole slow cooking of the crock pot ( I’m speaking figuratively, of course). But we can’t. We must allow the process of what we’re going through to run it’s course.

That’s where the whole pressure cooker illustration comes in. By isolating the beans and applying heat/pressure to them it allows them to cook perfectly every time. It’s the same with us as christians, by isolating us (at least we feel isolated) and applying the heat of temptations, testings and trials into our lives, it allows all the negative stuff in us to be burned-out of us. And the work that’s being done in us couldn’t happen unless there was pressure. The work being done in us couldn’t happen unless we were pushed to the brink of collapse- to the end of “us.” Because that’s really the point... getting more of “us” out of “us.” That’s why character is never developed on the mountaintop. It’s always developed in the valley. Anyone can do great when things are good.

That’s why James 1:2 says to, “count it all joy when we fall into diverse temptations, testings and trials.” And I Peter 4:12 says, “don’t be surprised by the fiery trial when it comes on you like something strange is happening but rather rejoice...” and in I Peter 1:6-7 it tells us to rejoice in the trial because we’re just being tested and the genuineness of our faith is being shown. What the enemy is trying to do to destroy us, God is flipping on him and using it to make us stronger. So, “in your face devil!” As uncomfortable as the pressure is, it’s just making us stronger: )

It’s the same with you. Don’t be discouraged by that thing that keeps happening to you... embrace it. Let it run it’s course through your life so that your life will bring praise, glory and honor to God (I Peter 1:7) too. Because that’s what this is suppose to be all about... glorifying God.

Sitting In this Pressure Cooker Called Brazil,

Jim