In 1995 our family moved to Changuinola, Panama; a banana plantation town near the border of Costa Rica. There were two grocery stores and the truck carrying supplies arrived every Friday to restock. It began it’s journey on Mondays and we were the last stop en route. Often, by the time the truck arrived, the milk would be spoilt, and even if it was still good, it never lasted until the next Friday.
That was when we discovered longlife milk. We purchased it in boxes and it remained good until we opened the box. My children were very young at this point and developed a taste for this milk, never to acquire a taste until for fresh milk.
In writing this, I wonder what my blogger friend, Anita, Busy Hands Busy Minds would think as she writes of living on a farm and producing her own milk. Check out her blog. Got Milk? Need Recipies.
I researched longlife milk so to discover what ingredients I had been putting into my children and was surprised to find it had all the vitamins and minerals of fresh milk. The only difference is the method of processing. Fresh milk is heated to 165 degrees F for fifteen seconds. Long life is heated to 284 degrees F for two seconds then packaged immediately. The increased temperature results in a greater reduction in bacterial and heat resistant enzymes, thereby giving it an extended shelf life.
The purification produced by the extreme heat gives it a ‘long life’.
Purification of gold is made by the ore being plunged into the hottest part of the fire: the part where the color turns blue. It is kept there until that which is impure is stripped away. When removed from the fire, the gold is molded into the shape it’s creator desires.
Isn’t that how our walk with God is?
I Peter 1:5-9 says, “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of you faith, the salvation of your souls.”
It is in going through the trials of life, and remaining steadfast, that we are purified. It is in confessing our sin that God forgives us and purifies us from all unrighteousness, (1 John 1:9). The extreme heat is painful, but produces a life of eternity with Christ. This eternity long outlasts the long life of milk!
Today, I thank God for the longlife milk that sustained the physical bodies of my family for many years. I'm not sure it givens us a longer life expectancy but it served a purpose at the time.
Even more so, I thank God for the Life Eternal that we are promised if we remain faithful to Him. Press on, my Friends!