“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.” –Genesis 1:31
This last summer, my family spent some vacation time on the road. Along the way we had some great pizza at one of our favorite locations, The Mellow Mushroom. It is a great pizza chain and this one was in a great location, right by the ocean.
This first time we had pizza at a Mellow Mushroom I was not excited! It is important for you to know that I do not like mushrooms. I don’t order them on my pizza. I don’t like them in my spaghetti sauce. I don’t even like them fried and dipped in ranch. I know it sounds like I am a little kid refusing to eat his vegetables, but I just don’t like them. Yuck!
I don’t try to keep my feelings about mushrooms a secret and that is why I was surprised when my wife made an off-the-wall dinner suggestion. We were in Arlington, TX when my Aimee spotted a restaurant and suggested that we try it for dinner. The name of the restaurant, the Mellow Mushroom, immediately caught my attention, and not in a good way. My upper lip quivered, and my face puckered up.
My family was persistent, and I reluctantly agreed to try this new restaurant with a terrible name. I was told that I would like it because it was a restaurant that specialized in pizza, but the only image I could conjure up in my mind was a slab of dough covered in sliced mushrooms being dropped on our table.
When we sat down at our table and opened our menu, I was pleasantly surprised. The food options were great, and our pizza was fantastic. We had a great dinner!
It seems that I prejudged the whole restaurant because of one word in the restaurant title. As soon as I heard the restaurant name, I made up my mind I would not like what they had to offer. My preconceived notions could have not been more wrong. It was a great place, and we had a great time there.
I wonder how many great experiences we miss in life because we allow one small factor to develop our opinion. This is true for food, but it applies to other areas of our lives. We prejudge restaurants and we prejudge movies, books, events, and even people. If we truly want to live life to the fullest, we must be a people who are willing to move past our initial thoughts, worries, and fears. It will open a whole new world of great experiences for each of us.
– Keith King, Pastor of Worship
