Tag: Psalm 34:8

Posted in Family, food, forgiveness, friends, Grace, gratitude, life, priorities, Scripture, sovereignty of God, thankful

Taste & See

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!” Psalm 34:8

Bring on the deep dish.  My wife Judy really prefers thin crust pizza.  For the sake of family unity, I like thin crust pizza…sorta.  But deep, down inside, if the truth was brought to the surface, I am a deep-dish kind of guy.  In fact, if we were honest, I would choose deep dish anything and everything.  Take lasagna as an example.  Some folks make theirs, oh, about two inches deep and that is totally fine.  Invite me over for some Italian fare and I am on.  But ask my preference and I will order a deep dish every time.

Remember that pizza thing? Well, give me a thick crust, deep dish slice just about the size of the state of New Hampshire.  Oh, and can we talk about pie and cobbler?  Bring on the deep dish.  Imagine layers of apples, blackberries, peaches, or cherries… all cooked to perfection along with layers, and I mean layers, of flaky crust.  Hmmmm. Can I have a witness? I can taste it right now.  And here’s the reason why I chose deep dish.  It’s not that it means you always get more…I mean if it was about more – I could, and would, just get seconds.  Nope.  The reason is when you go deep, you get more of the good stuff.

With pizza it is more cheese and every other ingredient under the sun.  With pies and cobblers, it is more fruit, more crust, and more sugar. Oh yes…bring on the sugar.  Lasagna….layers upon layers of pasta and gobs and gobs of melted cheese all smothered in a rich red sauce.  More of the good stuff…it is that simple.  It is true with food, and it is true with life.

Too often we do life by simply just getting by.  I think we sometimes forget that the best things in life aren’t available at Wal-Mart or Target but are the things that we enjoy and experience in life.  A beautiful sunrise or sunset…check.  A beautiful fall or spring morning in the garden as flowers show off their glory. Check.  Sharing a good meal with family and friends…all deep dish of course. Check. My oldest granddaughter and I started a tradition when she was three.  We will get a bag of ginger snaps and a big glass of cold milk and start dunking. Now that is one special memory…a deep-dish memory.

And, honestly, many of the deep-dish things in life for me come from above…way above…like from God.  I have been a Jesus follower now for about 57 years and I call Him Dearest Daddy and He calls me His child.  Now all that has nothing to do with who I am, and it has nothing to do with my performance.  Nope. It has everything to do with His deep-dish love for me and Whose I am.  Check this out.  The Bible says that God loves us, all of us, so much He sent His Son Jesus to die on a Roman cross to pay the price for our sins and failures.  It also says that if we believe that, and Him, He will forgive us…no strings attached. Believe and start following… and you’ve got deep dish love.

And just like with pizza, lasagna, pie and cobbler, deep dish means you just get more of the good stuff and the good stuff from God just keeps coming.  All those sunrises and sunsets, all those flowers, all the moments with friends and family…even the air that we breath…they are all deep-dish blessings from the One who made it all.  I know the press on God these days, even by those who say they know Him, isn’t always true or good. Too often we fumble the ball in life, but I hope you will look past our mistakes and give Him a try.

In the Jewish and Christian book of Psalms, the author says we should taste and see to discover just how good God is.  I hope you will take that advice.  After all, why settle for the thin crust of religion, or maybe just nothing, when you can have the deep dish of His love and calling Him Father.  I think you will discover He is Someone worth knowing…especially when things get hard.  He’s the kind of God that will let you know, “I’ve got this.”  And…He always does. Bro. Dewayne

Posted in Family, food, friends, gratitude, Integrity, life, prayer, Scripture, thankful, Trials

Oh, Sweet Gravy

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

Taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the person who takes refuge in Him!” Psalm 34:8

My eyes said “gravy”, but my mouth said “sweet.” I’m just not much of a cook.  In fact, if cook was a bigger word, I probably wouldn’t even be able to spell it. With that said, every once in a while, I am forced to venture into the kitchen. I do manage to cook my own breakfast but occasionally I even manage to mess that up. Such was the case a couple of weeks ago.

It was Saturday and My wife Judy had a teaching thing in a town about an hour away, so I was on my own. She had cooked some sausage gravy the day before, so I looked in the refrigerator to see if there was any left.  There was some sausage but no gravy.  I did find a small container that looked like the milk and flour beginnings of gravy, so I grabbed that and poured it into the frying pan.

After a few moments, I realized whatever this was needed some help. Despite my best efforts, it simply wasn’t becoming gravy. I went to the pantry and found seasoned flour and shoveled in several tablespoons.  Well, that did the trick, in fact so much, that I had to add some milk to loosen it up some. Before long it at least looked like gravy.  Well, about that time a piece of sausage went over the side of pan and onto the stove. I picked it up and, being the frugal guy that I am, popped it in my mouth.  “Hmmm, not bad, but sweet.  How strange” I said out loud to myself.

Well, I put the gravy in a bowl and, since we were out of bread, got a spoon and proceeded to dig in.  To my surprise, the “gravy” was indeed sweet and yes, I did go ahead and eat it.  How strange indeed. Well, I pondered and pondered how I ended up with sweet gravy and I finally figured it out.  You see, Judy had put some of her Italian sweet cream creamer into a container to take on our trip to Georgia.  She had forgotten to take it and the container was still in the refrigerator. It turns out that what I thought was the makings of gravy was in fact coffee creamer.

You know, it sure looked right and it even kind of cooked right, but the bottom line was regardless of how it looked or cooked—it was not what I thought it was. And I learned that coffee creamer just doesn’t make gravy.  I’m not sure what it makes—but it doesn’t make gravy. I learned there and then to make sure I knew what was going in the pan before I started cooking.

That is a great lesson for making gravy and it is a great lesson for doing life with God. There are some things in this world that can look like God.  Religion is one of them. And there are plenty of things that can take the place of God and in the process become a god. So, it is important we make sure we are loving and serving Creator God and not some sort of substitute.  And remember, nothing, and I mean nothing, can take the place of the real deal. Whether it is in the kitchen or on the streets—make sure you have what is real. If you find yourself a little confused, don’t worry, just ask Him and He will let you know what’s real and what’s not.  He’s got this.  Bro. Dewayne

Posted in Family, Grace, gratitude, life, prayer, Scripture, sovereignty of God, thankful, travel

Divine Rescue

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

Taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the person who takes refuge in Him! (Psalm 34:8)

It was a close call.  It all started a while back when I received an email from a website called “Travelzoo.”  Each Wednesday they send out a “Top 20” list of their best travel deals.  Well, in June that list included a really, good deal at a really nice hotel in Naples. Now you probably ought to know that one thing trumps all else when it comes to me and hotels:  PRICE. I love a good deal.  But this one had a great price along with a nice pool, hot tub, great decor, good location and a free shuttle to the beach. I talked it over with Judy and we began making plans for a trip to Southwest Florida.

Well, as time went by, I arranged our flight to and from Naples and of course the now famous car rental—a Mustang convertible.  Well, as the days got closer, and for a reason I don’t remember, I just started wondering if we should look at another place to stay—something with more space, perhaps a kitchen—you know, a small condo.  So, we started looking and low and behold we found one—actually me, Mr. Price Trumps Everything, found one.  Yes, it was a bit more expensive and it wasn’t in Naples but rather Fort Myers Beach.  But it seemed to be saying, “Rent me.”  We did.

Now there are lots of ways I can tell this story but perhaps the shorter version is the best version.  I apply this often to my sermons—NOT.  As we got to Fort Myers, we found this condo was a home-run, grand slam.  It overlooks this large, beautiful bay with a fabulous view from the seventh floor.  It had a large balcony and the living room wall was floor to ceiling glass.  It really was amazing.  Fish and dolphins were jumping in the bay, birds were everywhere, boats zipped up and down the channel, and each morning a beautiful sunrise greeted us.  Paradise.

Ok, so now, fast forward.  We left there on Wednesday and drove down to the keys in our Mustang convertible (can someone say, “cool”) and stayed for a couple of days before returning to Naples on Friday, to spend the night and fly home on Saturday morning.  So…we spend Friday night in the hotel we had originally booked for the first six nights of vacation.  Now, it was nice, but there were no restaurants nearby, the beach was several, and I do mean several, miles away.  The room was small with no fish or dolphins jumping anywhere, no birds, no boats, and no morning sunrise to say “Hi.”

Now that was fine for one night.  However, I looked at Judy and she looked at me and we both realized we had been blessed and rescued.  That small room could have been our home not for one night but six nights and every meal would have meant a hunt for a restaurant.  And anytime, and I mean anytime, we were outside our room and in the building, a mask was required.  The whole tenor of the vacation would have changed. It would have been away but that was just about it.  Away.

Let me tell you that we firmly believe that our Dearest Father acted on our behalf.  He knew we would not have been happy for six nights in that hotel and He whispered and nudged at just the right time and gently moved us in another direction…a direction that exceeded our needs and expectations.  It occurred to both of us that God had sent us a love note.  God knew what we needed better than we did.  He knew that saving a few bucks paled in comparison to what He had picked for us!  It was so cool.

We had a great time.  And over and over, throughout the time we were there, we kept saying, “God rescued us” and we knew it was true.  And here’s the best part—while we got to recognize this one, I wonder just how many times and how many ways does He do it over and over again?  He works behind the scenes, silently changing plans and directing our steps towards His blessings and away from our disasters.  I believe when we get to heaven it is going to be crazy good. We will see Jesus and our loved ones who knew Jesus and have gone before us. It’s gonna be awesome. But until then the Psalmist says we should just keep tasting, keep discovering just how good God is and that will keep us busy for a long time.

I think one of my favorite things about heaven is going to be the fact that we will finally see all the ways that God acted on in our behalf.  I can imagine the walls of heaven covered with sticky notes—love notes from my Dearest Daddy to me and you—all saying in a million different ways, “I love you.”  Oh, I know it won’t be exactly like that but I also know in heaven I will see all the things He did for me.  I can’t wait.  Till then I’m going to have to be satisfied with the times I see them and the times we get to sit together and rest in our love…especially His for me.  Oh, and then there are the times when I realize, I know, that He’s got this.  And that is in everything and every day.  How about that? Bro. Dewayne

Posted in Family, food, forgiveness, Grace, gratitude, life, love, Scripture, thankful, wisdom

Deep Dish

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!” Psalm 34:8

Bring on the deep dish.  My wife Judy really prefers thin crust pizza.  For the sake of family unity, I like thin crust pizza…sorta.  But deep, down inside, if the truth was brought to the surface, I am a deep dish kind of guy.  In fact, if we are being honest, I would choose deep dish anything and everything.  Take lasagna as an example.  Some folks make theirs, oh, about two inches deep and that is totally fine.  Invite me over for some Italian fare and I am on.  But ask my preference and I will order deep dish every time.

Remember that pizza thing? Well, give me a thick crust, deep dish slice just about the size of the state of New Hampshire.  Oh, and can we talk about pie and cobbler?  Bring on the deep dish.  Imagine layers of apples, blackberries, peaches, or cherries… all cooked to perfection along with layers, and I mean layers, of flaky crust.  Hmmmm. Can I have a witness? I can taste it right now.  And here’s the reason why I chose deep dish.  It not that it means you always get more…I mean if it was about more – I could, and would, just get seconds.  Nope.  The reason is when you go deep, you get more of the good stuff.

With pizza it is more cheese and every other ingredient under the sun.  With pies and cobblers, it is more fruit, more crust, and more sugar. Oh yes…bring on the sugar.  Lasagna….layers upon layers of pasta and gobs and gobs of melted cheese all smothered in a rich red sauce.  More of the good stuff…it is that simple.  It is true with food, and it is true with life.

Too often we do life by simply just getting by.  I think we sometimes forget that the best things in life aren’t available at Wal-Mart or Target but are the things that we enjoy and experience in life.  A beautiful sunrise or sunset…check.  A beautiful fall or spring morning in the garden as flowers show off their glory. Check.  Sharing a good meal with family and friends…all deep dish of course. Check. My oldest granddaughter and I started a tradition when she was three.  We will get a bag of ginger snaps and a big glass of cold milk and start dunking. Now that is one special memory…a deep-dish memory.

And, honestly, many of the deep dish things in life for me come from above…way above…like from God.  I have been a Jesus follower now for about 45 years and I call Him Dearest Daddy and He calls me His child.  Now all that has nothing to do with who I am, and it has nothing to do with my performance.  Nope. It has everything to do with His deep dish love for me and Whose I am.  Check this out.  The Bible says that God loves us, all of us, so much He sent His Son Jesus to die on a Roman cross to pay the price for our sins and failures.  It also says that if we believe that, and Him, He will forgive us…no strings attached. Believe and start following… and you’ve got deep dish love.

And just like with pizza, lasagna, pie and cobbler, deep dish means you just get more of the good stuff and the good stuff from God just keeps coming.  All those sunrises and sunsets, all those flowers, all the moments with friends and family…even the air that we breath…they are all deep dish blessings from the One who made it all.  I know the press on God these days by those who say we know Him isn’t always true or good. Too often we fumble the ball in life, but I hope you will look past our mistakes and give Him a try.

In the Jewish and Christian book of Psalms, the author says we should taste and see to discover just how good God is.  I hope you will take that advice.  After all, while settle for the thin crust of religion, or maybe just nothing, when you can have the deep dish of His love and calling Him Father.  I think you will discover He is Someone worth knowing…especially when things get hard.  He’s the kind of God that will let you know, “I’ve got this.”  And…He always does. Bro. Dewayne