Hi, all! Just a thought to help start your weekend.

My wife and I have been empty-nesters for a little while now, and we’ve slowly adjusted to our new normal of a very quiet house, laundry only on the weekends, and cooking for just two of us. That last one is tough, and many of you will understand that. I like to cook, but when I do, there is usually much more than just two of us can eat. And after a day or two of leftovers, I’m done with it. So we have taken to eating out usually once a week, just to have something different.

Last week, I had one of those weeks where I ate out more than usual. On Monday, I pigged out at a local place for lunch. My wife came in after a long day of work and suggested we get Mexican for supper, so we did. On Tuesday, we took advantage of the Presbyterian’s pancake supper and picked up to-go plates. On Wednesday, I enjoyed lunch with our church’s senior adult group, took home a plate of leftovers, and we split it for supper. On Thursday, we were invited to join another church’s senior group on a trip to a fish camp for supper, so of course, we jumped at that chance. On Friday, I joined my wife and some of our church ladies for another lunch gathering.

By Saturday, I was miserable. We ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that day so that we could take a break before Sunday’s church spaghetti lunch and that evening’s choir program and, you guessed it, sandwich fellowship supper! We had lots of yummy choices over those several days.

This picture is of a partial menu from a place called “The Redeye Diner” in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina. When my wife has out-of-town meetings, I do a lot of walking around the area and scout out the local eating joints. This was a good one. Just look at those food choices. And you’re only seeing a small portion of the four-page menu.

When you read the Scriptures, you probably are choosing one particular passage. Maybe you’re using devotional material that points you toward one certain verse or paragraph. You then focus only on that. You’ve chosen to partake of only one small portion of the giant menu.

The Bible offers to us 66 books split across the Old and New Testaments. Every single word is God-breathed and inspired by Him alone. It’s all good meat for our hungry souls. And yet, we only nibble at the familiar parts or the ones we think “taste” better than others. By doing so, we are doing ourselves a grave injustice.

I challenge you to pick up your Bible this week as if it’s the biggest menu from the greatest diner you’ve ever walked into. Prepare your palate for food from the greatest Chef of all. And partake of the Word. Chew it up, let it digest, and go back for more.

Yes, at the end of this past week, I was absolutely stuffed to capacity with all the food I had enjoyed. What if we took in the Word as eagerly — Oh how full it would make us!

Just a thought. ’Til later.

Brad Campbell can be reached at mastah.pastah@yahoo.com.