Taste and See What is Good

Throughout their teenaged years, my children have held a number of summer and after school jobs. Pizza places, two different bakeries, a vet clinic, an amusement park, a temporary agency, fast food...one of the girls even helped deliver telephone books. This summer, afternoons and evenings are being spent at a shaved ice stand, and we come home with fingers stained every color in the rainbow, and stories to tell about who hung out at the picnic tables, or the drunk guy that couldn't walk across the parking lot with weaving and whose breath nearly knocked her over while ordering his cherry cheesecake shaved ice.

Unfortunately, her job is one of my biggest weaknesses. I will undoubtedly spend all of my "mad money" this summer, eating my way through the menu of Summer Snow! Especially when she and her coworkers continue to try and convince me to try the new flavors they've "Created". Most of them are really awful, either in flavor or color...or sometimes both. For instance...the Canteloupe-kiwi-Mango concoction that tasted pretty good but looked like something you would clean out of a baby's diaper. Nope, won't be eating that one any time soon. Though, I understand that it is a favorite of the 13-16 year old set.

Yesterday, when Mike and I stopped by after dinner for dessert, Kristen asked me if I'd let her make me something "special". Uh-oh...I hesitated, but she promised me that I would love it. Mike, being the supportive Dad that he is, urged me to give it a shot. What she handed me was dark green with a circle of brown syrup in the middle. Deciding to be a good sport, I tried a small spoonful. A delicious mixture of chocolate and mint swept along my tongue. The shaved ice tasted like a Girl Scout cookie! "It's chocolate and spearmint mixed together." Kristen announced. I assured her that this one was a hit. "As good as the Root Beer Float you had last week?" they asked. Hmm...that question is still out to the jury. The rootbeer, vanilla and cream combination had definately become one of my favorites.

If I never taste another flavor for the rest of the summer, at least I have chocolate mint and root beer float to fall back on right? But, what would I miss?

David tells us in Psalm 34:8 to "Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man that trusts in him."

He doesn't say read and see or hear and see. That's because just reading or hearing something doesn't give you the full effect. Put it into the persepctive of the shaved ice. I can see it on the menu, and someone can tell me that a certain flavor is good.. but until I taste it for myself, I have no idea if it really is or not.

God's word is just like those sweet frozen drinks. We must dive in, sink our teeth into the scriptures and see what God has for us and then we can be truly satisfied.