taste and see

Sturgis, MI

I enjoyed praying Psalm 34 this morning, sitting in a shady meadow, dew still clinging to the long grass:

My soul makes its boast in the LORD;
let the afflicted hear and be glad.
O magnify the LORD with me,
and let us exalt his name together!

This poor man cried,
and the LORD heard him,
and saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him,
and delivers them.

O taste and see that the LORD is good!
Happy are those who take refuge in him!

It looks like I'll be meeting Heather (and some interns from Reba Place) tomorrow night. She sent me a cell phone number to contact them on their way and arrange our meeting place. I'm excited.

Heather is doing a scripture study this summer, on "the kingdom of God." I was thinking of that this morning as I walked. Probably my favorite kingdom sayings of Jesus are these:

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand..." (Mk 1.14-15)

And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: "Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God." (Lk 6.20)

"Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you; heal the sick in it and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, 'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off against you; nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.'" (Lk 10.8-11)

"The kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened." (Mt 13.33)