Hot Doughnuts Now

              HOT... NOW (Photo credit: Kevin H.)

My favorite Krispy Kreme, the only one in our city when I was a child, has closed.  This both saddens me and relieves me.  It relieves me because our car seems to have a tractor beam to that doughnut shop whenever the red "Hot Doughnuts Now" sign is lit.  No matter how strong our reserve, it is not strong enough to resist the temptation of gooey balls of dough cooked in hot grease and covered in a shower of sugar.

It saddens me because I can remember as a child, and as an adult standing with my own children, watching the progression from ball of gooey dough to finished doughnut.  This transformation held a fascination for young and older eyes alike.

It is not a quick process for the would-be doughnut.  First the formed circle of dough is extruded onto a shelf which travels up and down and up and down in a proof box.  Inside the proof box, heat and humidity are set at precise levels to provide for perfect rising of the doughnuts.

Once the twenty minutes of rising has finished, the doughnuts are plunged into hot oil to cook.  The doughnuts bobble and float on one side in their 350° bath of oil.  Then they are flipped onto their other side.

After coming out of the oil bath, the doughnuts ride underneath the sugar glaze waterfall becoming completely coated with sugar.  If the "Hot Doughnuts Now" sign is on, this is the point in the ride where the Krispy Kreme employee uses a wooden stick to remove your hot doughnuts from the line into your box, the glaze still wet and dripping.

It is a long ride for the doughnuts, but it is worth every second.  There is nothing like putting a hot Krispy Kreme glazed doughnut into your mouth.  In fact, my husband and I have often joked about having a contest to see who could cram the most hot doughnuts into their mouth at once.

We are a lot like those Krispy Kreme doughnuts.  Once we have trusted in the Lord Jesus, we are shaped in the perfect shape, but we have a long ride to go toward perfection.  The Lord lets us ride up and down and up and down the shelf of the proofing box, where it is hot and humid, to affect the perfect "rise" in us.  Just when we might have thought it was time for a good pat on the back and a time of rest, we are plunged into a hot oil bath to cook for awhile.

When we think we just can't stand the trial of being cooked any longer, we are flipped over and cooked on the other side.  It's only after we pass to the other side of the oil bath, that we can see ourselves fully enrobed in His righteousness and His perfect work of conforming us to the image of His Son has been completed.

As we face our trials and tribulations of each day, whether big or small, let us remember these are the things the Lord is using in our lives to make us more and more like His Son.  Let us, like the Apostle Paul, proclaim:


 "And He said unto me, 'My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. " 2 Corinthians 12:9,10


You can watch how the doughnuts are made here.