We enjoy watching Guy Fieri on Diner’s, Drive Ins and Dives.  They go to out of the way, unique eateries where people love to gather.  Whenever we are in a new location we look for restaurants that have been Featured on “Triple D.”  We have been to diners and dives (no drive ins) in Texas, Colorado, New Jersey and  Massachusetts.  Guy is a little whacky, has a lot energy and plays to the camera . He now has his 21 year old son Hunter training for the family business and shooting episodes with his dad.

     I have always been a picky eater and have a limited repertoire.  I don’t like cheese, I don’t like fish, I have a limited number of vegetables that I like and I don’t venture far off my standard food choices.  I am not sure if I even like certain foods but I don’t like to venture beyond my comfort zone so I likely would not even try them.  Guy, on the other hand, will eat everything.  I have never seen him refuse anything.  I guess to be a chef you need to have an expansive palate and to have a T.V. show promoting different restaurants you have to try their food! (even if its fish eyes).

     Psalm 34:8 says:  “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”  The Psalmist is not talking about eating actual foods.  He is not promoting Jewish dishes or writing a review in a food column.  He does not have a hit T.V. show.  He simply invites us to receive what the Lord has to offer us.  And what He has to offer us is not a limited menu.   The invitation is to take a deep dive, a Guy Fieri approach to receiving all that the Lord has to offer.

     I am pretty sure I am missing out on some amazing food but I just can’t bring myself to eat what I don’t think I like or try new things.  I am happy with what I have.  And that is o.k. when it comes to food but not so o.k. when it comes to the Lord.  He invites us to expand our horizons and experience the Lord’s goodness in all walks of life with all kinds of people.  He invites us to be open and receive the goodness that comes from various traditions and ways of worship.  It is easy to throw the baby out with the bathwater, to demean or diminish other forms or expressions of worship because it is not what we are use to or have previously experienced.  It is far too easy to dismiss other people who don’t look like, act like or believe like we do.  I know some people who will not pray written prayers, who will not attend a Catholic mass, who will ridicule the liturgy and who will not participate in ecumenical services.  If its not Christian based then they don’t want to know anything about it.  It’s as if it doesn’t fit and align with their beliefs and their experience then it cannot be true, good or beneficial.  God is placed in a box and can’t get out!

    Several months ago  I met a man who sells cell phones in Oakland, N.J.  He has been there for over 20 years.  I forget his first name but his last name is Singh.  But that doesn’t help much because he a follower of the Sikh religion.  He explained to me that everyone in that religion takes on the surname Singh.  That is to show that we share all things in common and are more the same then we are different from one another.  It goes along with their mode of worship.  They sit on the floor so everybody is on the same level, nobody is above or below anyone else.  I learned a lot in a short 20 minute conversation with him.  I learned that my world is very small and God is at work in ways that I could never imagine.   Now some people might argue that and even might be offended that I could say that God was at work.  But He was and although I am not ready to remove all the chairs in the sanctuary or have everyone in the church take the same last name, I can appreciate the truths that are revealed.

     So don’t be afraid of things, traditions, denominations, doctrines, beliefs or people that are different than you.  Do not dismiss somebody or something because your experience is different.  God is big.  God is good.  He is a a good,  good Father.  “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”