As I begin this Saturday, it means walking the dog and drinking coffee. This is the same almost every day. It’s also listening to the Bible readings for the day. It’s wondering how the strawberries in the produce aisle will look, and how much they will cost this week.

Early in the pandemic, I went into a store with my son. It was a Saturday errand. He wanted to buy some deodorant. It was close enough to home we could’ve walked, but we didn’t. We drove.

What about this one? I asked.

I don’t know what that one smells like, he said.

I pulled off the cap and held it over for him to smell.

“Oh, no!” a salesperson from store approached us and snatched the product out of my hand. “You ruined it. We aren’t allowing anyone to do that right now.”

“Do what?” I asked.

“You aren’t supposed to open and smell things like that. You should bring it to us.”

But you can’t smell it for us, I thought but didn’t say.

There were no signs posted. We weren’t going to use the product, just smell it. How were we supposed to know that?

No smelling allowed.

We left a little embarrassed, a little angry, confused.

Remember when touch was a good thing? In some ways, it still is. I was thinking about that around the same time as the smelling incident, how overnight I seemed to have lost permission to shake the hand of another person. Hand-to-hand contact was out of the question because of concerns about spreading the virus.

But there’s research that physical human contact has many benefits. It seems to have the ability to lower blood pressure, lower heart rate, lessen depression and anxiety, boost the immune system. One article published in Psychology Today commented that “It’s ironic that during a highly contagious pandemic where our immune systems are being the most stressed, we are being deprived of something (human touch) that is so essential to its function.”

I supposed I'm far enough away from those incidents that I can write about them now.

Modern life changes what is acceptable. One area of research can call something good. Another can say it’s life-threatening. And somehow both might be true at the same time.

The examples come from COVID and the physical self, but what about our souls and fallen life and our modern world?

Are we losing our ability to taste and see that the Lord is good? Are we trading down moment by moment, day by day?

There is a longing in our souls to be with God.

Even for unbelievers with no faith, the longing echoes from Creator to created one. Walk with me. We don’t have to put the longing there. God already did that. All the unbelieving people around us, who seem just like us in so many ways, it’s inside of them, too, even though they probably don’t know it yet.

Walk with me.

We resist. I’m too busy. My to-do list is long today. I’m under the weather. I have to get ready for the party. There’s too much hurt in me, too much sin, too much pain. I must bury my dead.

The real problem is my environment. I need a new house. Maybe a new state or even a new country. At the very least a new car. This Jesus thing, it’s just too much. I don’t know.

I’m just so tired.

Walk with me.

A few weeks back, our Bible lesson with the kids was about rebuilding the wall. How great it was with everyone working together in harmony. And when it was done, what great celebration.

“Have you ever moved into a new home?” I asked the children and was surprised by the number of hands that went up. “I mean a brand-new home, no one had ever lived in it before you?” A few of the hands went down. Then I asked them, “Did that new house, as great as it was, make you sin less?” In unison the kids all said “no.” Simple question.

What about our stuff? The toys and things we love—do they make us holy? Do we sin less because we have them?

Another unison “no” and then one honest boy added, “No, but they sure do make me happy.”

Material happiness, though, doesn’t smell or taste as good as it seems, at least, not over time. And when we let that stuff take over, we lose the most important things of all.

When we wouldn’t walk with God, he decided to walk with us.

Walk with me.

We should be trading up, not down. In his Word and by his Spirit, God calls us to touch, to smell, to taste that he is good. One of Jesus' disciples wrote that "which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning,"--and this is what is astounding, the writer didn't write "concerning Jesus," he wrote "concerning the word of life." (1 John 1:1)

The Word of life who came to us and told us things. He did things no one else could or would do.

I am the bread of life.
I am the light of the world.
I am the door of the sheep.
I am the good shepherd.
I am the resurrection and the life.
I am the way, the truth and the life.
I am the true vine.

This is the person. The One. He is closer than we can imagine. Waiting.

Walk with me.

So, go ahead and eat the strawberry. Drink the coffee. Live your day. But also see the nail marks in his hand. Serve the people. Put your finger where the nails were. Love the people. Put your hand into his side. Tell the people. Give yourself away. Believe.

Praise God that we can walk with him today.