O TASTE...AND SEE

O taste and see that the Lord
is good: blessed is the man that
trusteth in Him.
Psalm 34:8

All of our physical senses are important. If asked to give even on of them up, it would be an almost impossible decision....sight, hearing, touch, sight and taste. Looming ahead of us are some special days (Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years), all days that involve something we dearly love...EATING. In those days and days leading up to them, there will be a lot of eating going on. It's mouth-watering just thinking about all the social events we will take part in that will present us with some of the most delightful foods and aromas that will prove to be irrestible.

There is one thing, though, that might prevent us from making utter gorging fools of ourselves and that is TASTE. I don't care how good a kitchen or dining room smells or how well presented the foods are, put a fried pork chop in front of me and I will gag to no end. Pork chops used to be one of my favorite things but not anymore. You see, our ability to taste isn't something that is a norm for some of us. For me, an accident with a head injury changed my taste in some foods for the rest of my life. Before, there wasn't anything in the way of food I didn't like but now it's different. Our taste in foods can be altered by a physical event, medications, or physical conditions.

Over the next few weeks, we will do a lot of tasting. Some things we will spoon onto our plates with great gusto while some other things, we will politely avoid. We know what tastes good and what doesn't whether it be regular entree's, desserts or things we drink. We will do all to satisfy the tastes we crave. Sometimes, certain foods may not look good just in their presentation. Thus, another sense, our sight may take over that may discourge our eating something.

The Psalmist suggests in the above verse that we taste and see. This time, food isn't even a part of our scenerio. Tasting is something we do when first approaching a food product. Tasting is something we do to first see if a dish is agreeable. Tasting is often a test as the Psalmist is suggesting to a reader. We are encouraged to taste AND see the goodness of the Lord. My question is, “What's not to like?” Our culture tells us that the Lord doesn't look good or even taste good. They come to such conclusions without having done either because Jesus isn't someone they would even invite to a Christmas party because to them, He just doesn't fit in.

For many of us, one taste and view of Jesus was all we needed. Some may have done some tasting for a good while before deciding how really “delicious” Jesus is. Delicious is another definition for something that tastes good. When we find something that tastes good, we usually want more and more of it. As I read this verse, I recall how good the Lord has been in my own life. I have seen and tasted His goodness toward me when I least deserved His loving kindness. Sweet fellowship with Him can't be surpassed and the rest of the verse indicates such. When we taste of Him and see Him and how good He is, the process brings about a trust in Him we can't explain. Our trust in others is often flawed because of our humanity, but our trust in Him is safe and secure. Our tasting Him should be every moment thing.

In coming days, we'll do a lot of eating and fellowshiping with family and friends. My prayer for all of us is that we won't leave our Heavenly Father out of all our celebrating. Tasting of Him will mean approaching Him with a grateful heart for all His goodness in our lives. Hopefully we will make time to really SEE Him as we meet with Him through His Word, in prayer and in serving others in His name through all the holiday festivities.

I am personally so grateful for each friend it's my joy to share with on a weekly basis. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement. My prayer is that we will continue to taste and see Jesus in all His glory. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving day.

Dear Father God, I can't sufficiently express my gratitude to You for what You mean to me...for Your presence in the good times and Your faithfulness and guidance in the difficult ones. Without Jesus, we wouldn't even have one iota of understanding what true gratitude is. I pray these things in His precious name....Amen

ABOVE THE STORM

Peace I leave with you; My peace
I give to you; not as the world gives
do I give to you. Do not let your
heart be troubled, nor let it be
fearful.
John 14:27 (NASB)

It was my first flight and I was scared to death. I shook as I stepped onto the plane and even when I sat down. I had purchased a first class ticket thinking that would be the safest place to be “just in case.” Little did I realize in dire circumstances, the best place to be was as far back in the plane as I could be. To top off my fright, it was a stormy day. I didn't know if the plane would even take off, but during a lull, we headed up through the clouds.

Not thinking with any kind of a mechanical or scientific mind, I was shocked to see, as we soared through those dark, and foreboding clouds, that they were changing color from very dark to various shades of gray that were getting lighter and lighter. As if a miracle took place, we were flying above the clouds with only blue skies, fluffy white clouds and sunshine in abundance. Through the window, I looked down and could see gray clouds but it seemed we were leaving those behind. I had never seen anything like this. I was in my 20's and didn't really know anyone who flew with any regularity. I had friends tell me how wonderful flying was and some of them had never set foot in a plane.

I saw the following quote on my Facebook, but it didn't have a name with it. It was that quote that reminded me of that trip. The author said:

“Remember in the storm what
God taught us in the sunshine.
The storm will pass.”

Very often in our lives, there can be some things that hide God's intended sunshine He bestows on us. There are times I walk out on my front porch and can't see the mountains that were so clearly seen the day before. Out of nowhere, a heavy mist can cover our mountains and it doesn't take a hard rain to do that. The miracle of it all is that the mist usually disappears when the sun comes out full force and dissipates the mist. The beauty of the mountains were hidden for a brief time...the sun, however, was stronger.

There are things you and I have learned in the sunshine we can stake our lives on, such as:
God can be trusted no matter the circumstances
God does everything in our lives in our best interest
The Word of God can be trusted.
God is as near in our difficult times as in our sunshine days..
God loves us beyond any love we can ever imagine
God is still on His throne and is sovereign.

Those are just a few things that should be etched on our hearts with no questions asked. Satan will do all to bring doubt into our minds when things get rough, but every positive quality of God we can remember stays in place no matter our circumstances. We believe these things...we remember them...by faith.

When the storms come, it's not the best time to prepare for the storm. Maybe some have just come through a storm or are in the middle of one. Be sure if neither have happened to you, there is a storm lurking around a corner of your life. That's just the way life is. We Christians are not insured from difficulties and struggles. CPR classes are to train people for future emergencies. Firefighters train in anticipation of using their training to put out fires and save lives. Both situations require pre-training.

As God's children I pray we will be faithful in remembering and trusting in God's love and care He has consistently provided in our lives. God never says “oops” no matter the storm we find ourselves in. Storms bring clouds, rain and noise. Our spirits can be lifted above those clouds to sunshine and blue skies. This can happen even during our storms because of who God is.

Thank You Father, for Your sunshine, but I thank You even more for Your presence and peace during the storms of my life. I thank You for Your sovereignty and ever-present love for me. Thank You, that despite storm clouds, I can rise above them into Your Son-shine. In Jesus' precious name....Amen

A MOTTO FOR LIFE

Let the words of my mouth,

and the meditation of my heart,

be acceptable in thy sight,

O Lord, my strength, and

my redeemer.

Psalm 19:14

One of the great regrets in walking with the Lord these many years is that I have never memorized Scripture like I should. The older I get, the more I join others my age using the “age” excuse. However, I have come to know that I memorize things I really want to memorize. I have memorized words to hymns that I can sing word perfect. There are recipes I have by heart right down to ¼ tsp of salt. I also know of things I memorized when a child that I can still recall and so can you.

There are so many things we have memorized through the years that is amazing. The first verse I ever memorized as a little girl was John 3:16 and it may have been the same for you. In Vacation Bible School, I memorized many verses that mostly went by the wayside mostly because they didn't seem to apply to life so didn't repeat them very much.

Our small church had just one youth group. When I went into seventh grade, I thought I was as big as the world. Margie and Gerald Randolph were our youth group leaders. I think their encouragement was that they had two sons in the group. Through those six years, our youth group members became very close. I think we were closer than most we were with others at school. We met every Sunday night before the service. We went on outings and the Randolph home was always open to us on weekends.

With all of the variety there was for us as a group, there was one thing that never changed from week to week. It was standard, expected and carried out faithfully every Sunday night when our youth meeting was over. At the end of our meeting, we stood in a large circle, holding hands and repeated Psalm 19:14 and putting an “Amen” on the end of the verse. I must admit that it became routine, almost a ritual that didn't have as much meaning for me most of the time. However, little did I know that Psalm 19:14 was so etched in my mind and heart that I could never forget that verse. It's a verse with great meaning if we choose to regard it that way. I can't tell you how often, even in my “grown up” days that I find myself repeating that verse to myself. There's no one around to hold hands with, no group but that's okay.

As I often do, I'd like to pick that verse apart. Perhaps you would like to memorize it for those days when frustration sets in.

Let the words of my mouth,

Words are so common to us that we think very little about them as they roll off of our tongues. The ability to just speak anything is such a blessing. There are those who are handicapped, who don't have the gift of speech. I think of so many times I have abused the privilege of being able to have the privilege of utterance.

And the meditations of my heart,

This is where those words begin...in the heart. Whatever is in the heart is going to come out through the mouth. Jesus spoke of how a fountain doesn't give off salty and fresh water at once. If we desire purity of speech, we must desire purity of heart first. Meditation occurs when we ponder, think about things. More of that goes on that our speaking if there was a way to measure it. What we meditate upon becomes a part of us; it sinks very deeply into our very spirits. This verse would be a good one to recite when our thought life is troubling.

Be acceptable in thy sight,

If something is acceptable, it's good and meets a positive standard. For God to accept our meditation, it must be pure and yes, holy.

O Lord, my strength and my redeemer...help me to never forget the meaning of this precious verse, to honor you in my words and thoughts, seeking to please you in everything I say and do. In Jesus' precious name....Amen

DIVINE APPOINTMENTS

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who
receives whomever I send receives
Me; and he who receives Me receives
Him who sent me.
John 13:20

Several years ago, having not been in the church very long at the time, and new even to the area because of our move from another city, everything was new to me. It wasn't long until I was asked to teach a Sunday school class in the church we had joined. The teacher of the class was a staff wife and that family was going to be moving to another pastorate. Taking the place of a very loved women's teacher can be difficult and this one proved to be tense. We were strangers in one room and it would take the Lord to warm things up. His plan in a situation can be very unique.

On one particular Sunday, I was taking prayer requests when a lady walked in the door that was at the back of the room. I knew from class response that folks didn't seem to know her. The lady looked very professional in her dress and physical presence. Most visitors when they come into a new setting like that quickly take a chair on the back row. That wasn't happening with this lady. She walked around the group (chairs in about five rows) and came straight to the front row. There was no one seated on the front row so she sat down in a chair right in front of me.

I stopped what I was doing and turned my attention to her. I'll call her Grace for now. I asked her name and was shocked at what happened next...a first for me. She stood, gave her name and began listing some things. She told me she the very professional career she had with a local university, was a single mom to two teenage girls who were out of control, her husband had left her for another woman and she was recently divorced. To top it off she was just finishing treatments for breast cancer and wasn't sure if the treatments were working. After all of the information, she looked at me and firmly said with tears in her eyes, “And I need a hug.” I went to her and just held her for a longer hug than usual. I stood in utter shock. After it all, she sat down and got her Bible out of her purse and we went on with the class.

After class, I needed to get to choir, but didn't want to leave her hanging. I asked her if she read music and she said she did. I invited her to come with me to the choir and we would sit on the back row together. Our choir was quite large at the time. I didn't know if she would agree to it or not but she did. In fact, she became a faithful member of the choir and of our class. Within several weeks, Grace became the president of our Sunday school class.

We were very good friends for several months, having lunch together along with phone calls I would make feeling she needed encouragement. With one phone call, she let me know her cancer was back with a vengeance.

Several weeks later, I went on a trip for a week or so. When I came home from the trip, I had a call waiting for me from Grace's mother. Grace was in the hospital and the situation looked dire. She asked me to come to the hospital as soon as I could get there. I had met Grace's mother one time when she visited our class so recognized her right away. She told me that Grace wanted to see me privately and she honored that.

Grace took hold of both my hands and said she had one request. Her mother was going to move from another city to live with the two teenage daughters. She simply said, “Will you please be a friend to my mother?” I assured her I would do that. While holding both my hands she began kissing the backs of them. I felt awkward but said nothing about it. I leaned down, kissed her on the forehead, assured her of my love. After praying with her, I left the room. Her mother had observed things from the door and told me that Grace was telling me goodbye.

Grace lingered for another few days, and then peacefully went to Heaven from a hospice where she had been moved. Within several months, Grace's mother had to move to be with other children because of her own health issues. Up until that time, she and I went to lunch every Wednesday. She became a dear friend and could see so many special things in her she had contributed to her daughter.

We all have had “divine appointments” arranged by God alone that have been life changing. Those divine appointments almost always involve having a person walk into our lives seemingly out of no where. The person may be a person from the past we haven't seen in years. It might be a new lady coming to our Sunday school class or that we meet at work. No matter how the person comes, it usually takes us off guard and we wonder, “What's going on here?” God usually brings such folks into our lives with insistence...we can't get away from them. There may seem to be an instant “click” or feeling of trust or acceptance. However it happens, such divine appointments are life changing. The appointment may not last a lifetime, but something God intends for certain days. That person may be “Jesus with skin on” that God brings our way to minister in our lives for a time.

I'm spending some time these days thinking of those walking blessings God has chosen to send my way. From them I've learned so many things, been encouraged and blessed and have come to know Jesus so much better. What divine appointments (folks of blessing), has God sent your way, seemingly out of nowhere, but you knew at the time they had come into your life for purpose. Stop and think with gratitude for those folks who changed your life for good and God
.

Thank You Father for bringing Jesus into my life. No one has changed everything about me like He has and like He continues to do. Jesus was, by far, my most precious Divine Appointment and I thank You for that ongoing relationship with Him and I pray these things in His name....Amen