Month: February 2024

Posted in Family, fear, food, forgiveness, Grace, gratitude, life, love, loving others, school days, Scripture, Southern born, travel, Trials

Self-Made Messes

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

For the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then, My faithful love for you will remain. My covenant of blessing will never be broken,” says the Lord, who has mercy on you.” Isaiah 54:10

We were somewhere in Texas.  It was probably in the early sixties, somewhere around 1962 or three.  We were on vacation, which meant we were going to see my brother who lived in Texas. We are driving in our 1957 Plymouth, no air conditioning with Momma and Daddy up front and the “three little ones” spanning and filling the backseat.  It was very early in the morning and best I can remember we had driven all night—probably to save time and probably to save the cost of a hotel.  Well, in the very early morning, right when the darkness is fleeing, Leslie told Alston that we should stop and eat breakfast. So…we did.

It was a “mom and pop” place. Places like McDonald’s and the like didn’t exist and if they did, they were rare.  However, this was a roadside diner and for the Taylor tribe it was a treat.  Momma turned around and stirred us into some sort of consciousness as Daddy pulled into the parking lot.  We were soon settled into a large booth and breakfast was ordered.  I was going to write how I had the traditional breakfast of eggs and bacon, but I think I remember that Momma had given me a choice and I chose pancakes.

Soon our food came and still a bit sleepy, I drowned the pancakes in sweet, sticky syrup. And it was right about then it happened.  In my mostly still asleep state, I tried to cut the pancakes with my fork when quickly and promptly the whole plate fell in my lap.  Pancakes and syrup filled my lap…and I began to cry.  It really wasn’t as much about the loss of the pancakes, as it was about the loss of my dignity. Even at that young age I knew I had made a big mess and it felt like every person in the restaurant was looking at the kid who had messed up.

Of course, that wasn’t true.  The ones in the booth knew and I can’t remember their response.  The other two little ones, my sisters, weren’t known for being generous with kindness so I, and perhaps unfairly, assumed they had something to say about their baby brother.  And Daddy, well, he probably was like a lot of other Daddy’s and wondered what happened, how it happened and most of all, why it happened.  But then there was Momma.  As I remember, there were no words of condemnation for this mess I had made but rather a helping hand to begin cleaning up the mess. It seems I remember kindness when I deserved a “shaking down.” In other words, it seems she showed grace when I deserved none. It seems she showed mercy when I didn’t deserve that either.

Looking back, that seems like one of those times when Momma was a whole lot like God. Her child had made a mess and rather than judge she extended kindness. Now to be fair, Momma’s don’t always get it right…and neither do we. But that time…she did.  And guess what? We have a Dearest Daddy, who gets it right every time.  When we make a mess, He doesn’t chasten or belittle…no, He loves and gently helps us clean up the mess…a mess of our own making.  So today or tomorrow when you find yourself with a lap full of pancakes and sticky syrup, just remember the Father sitting by you is waiting to help.  You can rest assured that, “He’s got this.” Bro. Dewayne

Posted in Family, fear, friends, Grace, gratitude, life, love, loving others, Military memories, prayer, priorities, Scripture, sovereignty of God, thankful

A Leap of Faith

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

Once I was young, and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the godly abandoned or their children begging for bread.” Psalm 37:25

It was a one and only, life changing, Valentine’s Day. It was 1982…forty-two years ago.  My wife Judy and I were enjoying life and enjoying our still “new to us” daughter who had just turned one.  And that isn’t all.  My wife Judy was expecting our second child due that August.  As Gomer Pyle used to say, “Surprise, surprise, surprise.”  But there was more…a lot more.  You see, about a month before that Valentine’s Day, the pastor where we attended church had asked me to speak on Men’s Day.  In case you’re wondering, Men’s Day in a Baptist Church is where the men step and do something.  It could be singing in the choir or, like me, speaking.  Yup, the pastor asked me to speak that day and I said yes.

That wasn’t a total surprise.  The previous year he had asked me to share my Jesus story…how I met and responded to faith in Jesus.  Shortly after that he asked me a curious question.  “Dewayne,” he said, “have you ever thought about becoming a pastor?”  Well, the truth was it had crossed my mind, but not seriously. After all, I had a great career going in the Air Force and with another baby on the way, well, it wasn’t on my radar. So, I sat down and wrote something that I thought would work and I guess it did. But from that moment on, something was restless in my soul.  I was afraid if I ever tried this speaking thing it might start something and it did.

For the next couple of weeks, things kinda rolled around in my soul. Something was stirring but even I was surprised by what that thing was.  So, that Valentine’s Day, Judy and I did what we always did on Sunday…go to church. I’m sure there were cards exchanged and most likely a gift or two, but it was a normal, “get up and go to church” Sunday.  We went to our Bible study class (which remains one of our favorite memories…great friends getting together).

After class we headed to worship.  We were sitting in our “normal” spot…center section, five or six rows back.  We sang, we prayed, we gave, and then we sat down to listen…and apparently, God was talking…to me.  At the end of the service, we always had a time for people to go forward and pray or perhaps make some sort of commitment. Well, without any warning (God does that sometimes), an unexpected passion or urgency came over me and I found myself leaving my seat and heading toward my pastor.  I took him by the hand and told him God was calling me to be a vocational pastor.  I don’t believe he was shocked, but I can tell you I was.  I knew this meant a total life change and career change.  It still amazes me as I think about it.

Well, there’s a lot to the story but that decision led me to leave the Air Force after 12 years of service and jump headlong into the pool of faith and trusting God.  Today, February 14th, marks that day forty-two years ago.  You might be wondering, “So, Dewayne, how did that work for you?”  Well, there have been bumps, but I want to tell you that God has been so faithful to us. We have had the ride of our lives, and it has been incredible. There’s a verse in the Bible where the author says that he had never seen someone who followed God forsaken or begging for bread.  Well, that’s a broad statement and it is certainly needs to be taken as a principle and not a promise, but I can tell you God has watched over us these four plus  decades.

Valentine’s Day is and should be a special day.  I know it was probably a ploy by Hallmark to make a ton of money.  I know it can be a blessing for those who remember and a bane for those who forget.  But for me, it is a time to remember the day I jumped…and God caught me. You might know that in the military if you serve 20 years you can retire handsomely. You may have done the math and concluded that if I had served eight more years, I would have been “fixed” for life.  You ask, “Do you every regret getting out and losing “all of that?”  My brother-in-law asked that one time and my answer was, “Absolutely, 100%, no.”  I wouldn’t have missed this story for the world. Oh, and the best part is…my story and yours are still being written.  You might wonder why I can end each story with, “He’s got this.” Well, the truth is, He’s proved it over and over again.  Bro. Dewayne

Posted in forgiveness, Grace, gratitude, life, prayer, Scripture, thankful, Trials

Who’s Leading Who?

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

“I know, Lord, that a person’s way of life is not his own; no one who walks determines his own steps.” Jeremiah 10:23

It was a nice prayer.  I don’t know if you pray or not…I mean more than the emergency kind. It seems everyone, sometimes even so-called atheists, become prayer warriors in an emergency. Let a bad medical report, a near fatal accident, the total financial collapse of our world or the loss of a close loved one come and we all tend to cry out to the God we hope or believe is listening.  They say there are no atheists in foxholes, and they are right. So back to the point, I was praying the other day.  It wasn’t an emergency; it was an early morning chat with my Dearest Daddy.

As I was talking with Him, and that is what prayer is, I said something that prompted two things.  First, it caused me to pause and second it caused me to write this Grits.  I said sometime along the line of, “God, please walk with me today.”  Now on the surface, doesn’t that sound nice? Doesn’t that sound appropriate? Doesn’t that sound like something we all should pray?  And, on the surface, the answer would be yes, yes, and yes. But almost instantly that morning, as soon as the words left my lips, something, maybe Someone, said, “Wait, I shouldn’t ask Him to follow me…I should ask Him to help me follow Him.

You see, that’s the big truth.  I realized that morning that God is not a cute little puppy that I put on leash and then lead, pull, and drag through my day. You know the picture.  A person is walking down the sidewalk, and this cute little puppy dog is along for the ride—sometimes willingly and sometimes not.  Regardless, the puppy is going to go where the owner takes him. Well, that is great for puppies, but it is not great, not proper nor a lot of other things when it comes to God.  There is no doubt about it—He should be leading us.  There is no doubt about it—He is owner not us; He is God, and we are not.  He should be doing the leading and we should be doing the following.

Now there is some great news when this happens.  If we allow God to lead and we are willing to follow, we will never be led astray.  Our bad turns and bad pathways are eliminated, and our day, and even our life, is suddenly better, much better.  While we all have difficult circumstances, even if we can’t avoid them, we can better navigate them. And that usually leads to fewer regrets and that is always a good thing.

So, today, when you pray, if you pray, why not go ahead and surrender to your proper place. Go ahead and let God be the leader and you be the follower.  Go ahead and be the puppy willingly following the Master.  It is something that you will not regret.  Deep inside, even in our moments of resistance when we are pulling against the leash, we know that He knows best.  We know that no matter what, “He’s got this.”  Bro. Dewayne

Posted in Family, fear, forgiveness, friends, Grace, gratitude, Integrity, life, pride, school days, Scripture, thankful, Trials

The Antlion

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8

Where I lived growing up, I could go fishing and lion hunting every day. It was such an adventure living at 6008 Carlton Road.  All the people who lived in the new subdivision being built across the street had no idea.  Imagine…lion hunting and fishing every day, any day, and it wasn’t my imagination.  You see, our house, like many older houses in northeast Florida was placed on blocks leaving a couple of feet of space between the house and the ground.  And that space was where lions lived, and fishing happened.

No, I wasn’t hunting the king of the jungle, and my fishing didn’t involve a pole or water…for that matter. Living under our house were the fierce larva of the predatory antlion…and they were just waiting for me to come along and challenge them.  You see the antlion lives in and loves soft sand…just like we had under our house at 6008. They had a tricky way to catch their food.  They would burrow in the sand and make a cone shaped pit and then hide in the bottom.  Ants or other insects would come along, fall into the pit, and the antlion would reach up from beneath the sand and grab them with their long pinchers and…well, it was game over.  Rarely did an insect survive the pit or antlion. And rarely did an antlion escape from Dewayne, the lion hunter.

To catch an antlion, you simply found a spider web, and trust me there were plenty, and twist it into a sort of thread thingy.  You would then attach that to a small stick and then…just go fishing.  I would crawl under the porch (one of my favorite spots) and look for the cone shaped pits of the antlion. After finding a good one—the bigger the pit, the bigger the prey—I would take my stick and ever so gently, and slowly, drag the spider web around the bottom of the pit.  The old antlion would think it was a poor, trapped insect and latch hold of the spider web and I would “reel” him in by raising the stick and out would come the antlion. Now what’s cool is that they would put up a pretty good fight.  Some of these guys were a half-inch long so it was very exciting!

What was kind of funny was that even after I pulled the antlion from out of the sand, he just kept hanging on. I’m not sure if he was just hungry or half blind but rare was the day that he just let go of the spider web.  Now, the story does have a happy ending.  This was strictly a “catch and release” thing. I would study him for a while and let him dangle a while before putting him back in the sand. If you are a regular Grits reader you know not everyone got off so easy. Many a “love bug” and ant suffered very different fates.

I was always amazed how easily these fierce hunters became “the hunted” and fell for the same old trick but then I realized how often we do the same thing.  Every day, or at least it seems that way, we are tempted to do something that just isn’t good for us or wise and yet time and again we fall for it.  Whether it is a food choice, a decision to put something in our brain that doesn’t need to be there, or to say something that is covered with barbs, we simply seem to fall for it time and again. Like I was intentional in my fishing for antlions, the Bible tells us someone, something is intentionally tracking us…hunting for us.

It was Peter (not Pan but the guy in the Bible) who talked about the devil being like a “roaring lion” and his mission is simple…find lunch.  Peter says that he prowls around “seeking someone to devour.”  No, he doesn’t actually eat us, but he does devour our character, our integrity, our legacy, our marriages, our careers, and that is just the short list.  The good news is that there is a lion hunter who wants to be on our side…and His name is Jesus.  Lions can be scary, but fear quickly flees with your Lion Hunter, never loses, and never misses, walks by your side.

So, if you find yourself like the ant who wandered around under my house and slipped into the pit, just know help is nearby.  Whisper a prayer or shout one out and the great Lion Hunter will be there.  He is never far away and always one step ahead of the antlions in our life.  Yup, you can rest assured, “He’s got this.” Bro. Dewayne

Posted in Family, food, friends, Grace, gratitude, life, love, loving others, Scripture, thankful

My Friend Charlie

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength. Proverbs 17:22

Say “Charlie” and some people think “Brown” but not me. I have a friend named Charlie, and he made life fun. Over the years, I’ve encountered a kaleidoscope of people, each contributing to life’s vibrant display. As I reminisce about this, my memories often drift back to Charlie.

Our paths crossed when I became the pastor of Cobden First Baptist Church in Southern Illinois. Those 14 years in Cobden were an incredible chapter of our lives, and leaving was no easy feat. The relationships and friendships we built there, especially among the families raising kids, created a vibrant and enjoyable community. If church is about fostering community, we certainly had it. Imperfect but deeply connected, we loved our way through the bumps.

Charlie and I hit it off from the start. One of our initial adventures involved him giving me a tour of the community, highlighting where different members lived and, more importantly, where people who hadn’t encountered Jesus resided. Charlie had a heart for both Jesus and people. Our families bonded quickly, and naturally, food became a significant part of our friendship. Charlie and his wife Cheryl welcomed us with a Dixie BBQ supper, instantly making it a cherished spot. Thank you, Charlie, and Cheryl, for that warm welcome.

Charlie was a practical joker extraordinaire. At a deacons’ Christmas party, held in an old mansion by the Ohio River, we expressly requested the bar to remain closed. However, during the festivities, our server presented me with an ice-cold Budweiser. Charlie had orchestrated the prank, and laughter ensued.

On another occasion, Charlie decided to up the ante. During a sermon, as I prayed with heads bowed, I opened my eyes to find the congregation holding up newspapers, obscuring their faces. Instead of friendly faces, I saw last week’s headlines. It was a hilarious moment that left us laughing until it hurt.

But there was a time when Charlie pushed the boundaries. During a post-church fellowship, he pied me in the face with a large vanilla cream pie. While I found it amusing, not everyone did—especially Charlie’s mom, Veda, who thought it was disrespectful. It took a while for Charlie to get out of the doghouse, but at least we salvaged some of the pie.

Those were just a few snapshots of the precious memories I share with Charlie. His smiling face is etched in my mind, a reminder of the joy he brought to those Cobden years. People like him made church feel like a community, filled with laughter and shared moments. I believe church should be fun, and Jesus, despite our challenges in picturing it, must have smiled and laughed. How could one brim with so much joy and not express it?

Yes, there’s a time to be serious, but there’s also a time to laugh, and we should embrace both. A sour expression doesn’t equate to spirituality; it might just mean you’re a tad sour. Proverbs 17:22 wisely notes, “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.” So, when things go wacky and life gets crossways, let’s not forget to laugh. Always be grateful for a God with a sense of humor—after all, He created you and me. Smile, and remember, no matter what—He’s got this. Bro. Dewayne

Posted in fear, forgiveness, Grace, gratitude, Integrity, life, prayer, pride, Scripture, thankful, Trials, wisdom

Barnacles

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

For all that is secret will eventually be brought into the open, and everything that is concealed will be brought to light and made known to all.” Luke 8:17

Got any barnacles on your boat?  It seems I am always learning something new and that is a good thing.  I believe when you stop learning…well, you stop growing. If we just look around, we will soon discover that there is always more to learn. Someone said, “Develop a passion for learning.  If you do, you will never cease to grow.”  I think that is spot on. I was recently at a leadership conference and one of the speakers used an illustration to teach a point and I learned something.

He told us that when you have a ship that is constantly in the water, it is very important to occasionally (about once a year) take it out of the water.  That, by the way, is called putting it in dry dock. That seems logical but the thing I didn’t know and the thing that taught me a great lesson is this.  Even with the ship moving, barnacles can and will grow on the bottom of the ship.  Barnacles are small crustaceans (or sea creatures) that love to attach themselves to something in the water…like our ship.

Over time, these barnacles grow and multiply, grow and multiply, and grow and multiply.  Well, before you know it, two things happen.  First, those little fellas can add a ton of weight (pun intended) to the ship and that can drastically affect how the ship works.  Second, as the bottom of the ship becomes less and less smooth, it takes more and more to push the ship through the water resulting in less and less profit.

The cure is simple.  You must take the ship out of the water so what is hidden beneath can be exposed and removed.  The result is higher efficiency and smoother sailing.  Well, guess what?  What is true about the bottom of ships is also true about the bottom or hidden things of our lives.  You probably know that some ugly things can grow in the dark and you also probably know that some ugly things can grow in our lives. And I bet you probably know that if those things aren’t taken care of there can be some big consequences and more regrets.  So, what is the solution?

Well, remember how the ship owners had to take the ship out of the water to get to the problem?  Well, we must do the same.  We must allow the Word of God and the Holy Spirit to get a good look at what is going on.  Oh, and honestly, the only one we are hiding it from anyway is ourselves since God sees and knows everything.  But this is one thing I know for sure.  Every time I give God free access, every time I allow Him to remove the “barnacles” from my life—every time it is a win. I’ve learned that the best thing to do is to be sure and go into dry dock spiritually.  That probably looks like some Jesus time every morning and some church time every week.

Does that take time? Sure does.  But remember this.  The ship owners are willing to take the ship out of service (meaning it is not making money) so that afterwards it can make more money. And the time we spend in dry dock with God always results in a better and more purposeful life.  So go ahead…take the first step.  Let God take a close look at your life…even the hidden things and don’t worry…He can take care of whatever He finds.  He’s got this.  Bro. Dewayne

Posted in Family, Grace, gratitude, life, prayer, Scripture, thankful, Trials

Habits and Me

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” Proverbs 23:7a

I’m a creature of habit. I love a good adventure, but routines hold a special place in my heart. Each morning unfolds with a series of rituals starting with comforting sips of coffee paired with a quick glance at the local weather. This is followed by a more extended coffee session, my time with God, moments with my wife Judy, some exercise (well, at least on some days), breakfast, a refreshing shower, and getting dressed to embark on the day. Any deviation from this routine, and the delicate balance of the morning can be thrown off course.

Habits, I’ve come to realize, can be either a force for good or a source of trouble. A good habit keeps us on track, guiding us toward the right choices. Likewise, a bad habit can lead to a cascade of consequences, turning a day or even an entire life into a series of regrets. One, many can relate to, is our eating habits. A lifetime of poor eating choices can result in significant consequences as we age. Smoking, drinking, and drug abuse are other habits capable of wreaking havoc on our lives…and that’s just the short list.

The redeeming factor about habits is their capacity for change. It’s said that after consistently doing something for 30 days, it becomes a habit. In essence, persevere with an activity for 30 days, and it becomes ingrained enough to continue. Whether it’s adopting a new exercise routine or reducing sugar intake, this 30-day principle is believed to make the habit stick. While there may be some truth to this, it’s also important to recognize that habits require ongoing maintenance; otherwise, they may fade into the abyss of forgotten habits.

The most effective way to uphold a habit is to simply do it. Yet, often maintaining a habit seems like an uphill battle. Allow me to share an ongoing battle I’ve faced for years – one with no resolution in sight. I spend a considerable amount of time at the keyboard, typing out sermons and blogs. When naming my sermon files in Pages, an Apple word processing program, I habitually include the scripture reference using a colon, as in “Sermon – John 3:16.” However, Pages staunchly refuses to accept a colon as part of the file name, replacing it with a dash. Despite my best efforts, I cannot remember to make the change, leading to a recurring clash with Pages—one it doggedly wins.

This trivial example sheds light on a profound truth. The cause of this unyielding habit lies in the reinforcement of the wrong action. Every other instance of typing scripture references involves using a colon, engraining the wrong behavior into my brain. It’s a battle between my ingrained habit and the software’s limitation. In this case, finding a solution remains elusive. Do I persist in my futile attempts to defy the software or adapt to a new way of writing scripture references? It’s a typing mess.

While my struggle with file names is mildly exasperating, there are likely destructive or unproductive habits in our lives that need our attention. Are there habits, either consciously or subconsciously, that you reinforce, leading to unproductive or even harmful outcomes? Are late-night TV binges affecting your ability to wake up early for exercise or quiet time? Do destructive reading or viewing habits contribute to destructive behavior patterns?

The truth is, if we consistently sow negative thoughts or actions, we will reap negative consequences. A small yet powerful verse tells us, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” Our thought patterns, reinforced over time, shape our actions, and ultimately define who we are. If we desire different results, we must introduce change into our habits. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results and they are right.

Here’s the good news – God is ready to lend a helping hand. His Word serves as a handbook for life, offering guidance and wisdom. By reading and heeding His Word, we can, with His assistance, effect positive change in our habits. Signs on the road warning of a sharp curve can indeed lead to better days. And when the going gets tough, remind yourself of two fundamental truths: why you embarked on the journey in the first place and the reassuring fact that, “He’s got this.” Bro. Dewayne

Posted in birthday, Family, forgiveness, friends, Grace, gratitude, life, loving others, Scripture, sovereignty of God, thankful, Trials

Lego’s Mania

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

For nothing is impossible with God.” Luke 1:37

Legos—not my cup of tea.  Legos are one of the hottest things going on. As I write this, part of my tribe consists of my daughter and her husband and three of my grandsons are in Atlanta. They are celebrating the middle one of the grandsons’ birthdays.  You see, there is a place called Legoland in Atlanta and it is a place where you can buy Legos. You can actually buy them just about anywhere, but this is the Mecca of Legos—Legos on steroids. In case you don’t know Legos are little pieces of plastic that snap together.  Now you have two options.  First, you can just buy a bunch of the little pieces and then put them together however you see fit.  Second, you can buy a Legos kit where they provide all the pieces you will need to build something with some instructions to boot. Trust me there are some amazing kits out there…sometimes consisting of thousands of pieces.

I recently celebrated my birthday and my friend and fellow staff member at the church where I serve bought me a Mustang (smile) made from Legos.  It was a kit and fortunately for me he had already assembled it.  It had 544 pieces of frustration—I mean Legos—in the box.  First, I thought it was so cool that he gave it to me, and I thought it was very cool that he put it together.  How incredible.

Well, recently, my wife Judy and I were down in Murray at the home of another part of our tribe. Before we left, I happened to notice that there was a Legos kit box on the dining room table.  This one was a spacecraft from one of the Star Wars movies. Their son, another of my grandsons, is into Star Wars and really into Legos so they were putting this kit together as a father and son thing.  I guess that was so they could go crazy together.  Anyway, I asked my son-in-law if it was hard to put this thing together and he assured me it wasn’t.  He said, “They give you instructions.” At this point I wanted to say, “And your point is?”  I mean all the instructions in the world wouldn’t help me complete this mammoth project.  You see, from where I sit, I know instructions can make something easier, but it can still be hard. I told him that too.

I shared with him how God gives me a great set of instructions, but I still manage to struggle in figuring them out. Sometimes I get it right and sometimes I get it wrong.  I’ve been on this Jesus journey now for 53 years and I try to read the instructions real regularly but, well, it can still be a challenge.  But here is the good news, the big news.  No matter how I struggle with it…He never gives up on me, never gets mad and never get inpatient.  Like the great Father that He is, He just patiently leads me along…sometimes clarifying, somethings explaining and sometimes even stepping into the mess I’ve made.

Does your life sometimes seem like an overwhelming Legos kit?  Do you sometimes seem overwhelmed, confused, or lost?  Don’t worry, your Dearest Daddy is a Legos Master, and nothing is too big or confusing for Him. Go ahead and ask and you two can sit down together and figure it all out.  After all, He’s got this.  Bro. Dewayne

Posted in Family, friends, Grace, gratitude, prayer, priorities, Scripture, sovereignty of God, thankful, Trials

This is the Day

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

If we are unfaithful, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny who He is.” 2 Timothy 2:13

It was Saturday morning.  I like Saturdays…especially early in the morning.  I usually get up somewhere between 4.30am and 5.00am.  There is no alarm and no reason…it is just something that I do and have done for years.  I immediately head to my trusty Keurig for a cup of inspiration and then watch a few minutes of the Weather Channel before heading over to the farm show.  I know, I am not a farmer but for some reason it is part of my Saturday routine.  They do have a weather report that is like the old fashion days…you know, not a lot of fancy stuff just some weather maps and a few graphics. After that comes some time with God. I read, we talk and well, it’s just a great way to start any day but especially…Saturday.

So, this past Saturday, after the normal routines were done, I decided to make another cup of coffee and take it outside. It was still early…you know that time when night is still lingering but it is on the run. It’s a mixture of grays with just a hint of promise starting to peek in the East.  As I walked out onto our driveway, I looked to my left, to the east, and saw a bit of that promise.  From where I was standing, I could see the Christian Church that sits over on the next block.  They have those frosted, glass block windows that were all the rage in the 1940’s. One of those windows was capturing the first rays of that day’s sun…and it was beautiful.

Reflecting on the window and filling the whole window, was a radiant color that can only be described as brilliant orange.  It was that morning’s sun, just rising above the horizon, saying, “Good Morning.”  As I looked, a verse from the Old Testament part of the Jewish and Christian Bibles, came to my mind.  It says, “This is the day that the Lord has made…I will…that is, I choose…to rejoice and be glad in it.  And, honestly, given the reflection in the glass, that might not be too difficult.

Well, I wondered if I walked north to my front yard, could I see more of the impending sunrise. So, I started walking, carefully avoiding all the small rocks on the sidewalk that could hurt my bare feet and spoil the moment.  When I got to the front yard, there was indeed a small glimpse and this time it was the Methodist Church’s turn to be a part of the show.  This church sits just down the street from our house.  It is a majestic, old building made of brick with large columns. It could easily be a church planted on a city square somewhere down south.

And there it was…the early morning sun.  Sandwiched between two massive columns, that same brilliant orange, pierced the gray…and it was beautiful. It was so beautiful; I spoke out loud the words that had earlier come to my mind.  “This is the day that the Lord has made…I will…that is, I choose…to rejoice and be glad in it.”  It was a declaration, but it also was a celebration.  I was celebrating the faithfulness of my Dearest Daddy who had blessed me with a brilliant taste of the new day.  It.Was.Good.

It was about then that I made a connection.  It was good and so is He.  I mean, I had no idea what the day was going to hold, but if He is good then I just believed that regardless of what came, He was going to bring good from it. There is another verse that says that in the Bible, but that morning, I owned it…I believed it…by faith.  I was deciding that, regardless of that day’s circumstances, they were not going to dictate my opinion of God.  Instead, my faith in the God Who caused the sun to rise would.

Another verse popped up on my radar and it was one that I had decided to use when I shared at church on Sunday.  It was written by Paul, a guy God used to write a chunk of the New Testament and he said, “If we are unfaithful, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny who He is.” Even when I am not faithful, even when I blow it—He will be faithful.  Why? It’s just who He is, and He cannot deny Who He is.

So, today, regardless of what comes, I hope you will remember that no matter what, God is going to be faithful.  You have His word on it.  It doesn’t mean the day is guaranteed to be perfect.  It doesn’t mean that there won’t be a bump or a tragedy.  It just means that no matter what…no.matter.what…He will be there, He will be faithful and, oh yes, He’s got this. Bro. Dewayne

Posted in Family, friends, Grace, gratitude, life, love, loving others, prayer, priorities, Scripture, Southern born, thankful, Trials

Backyard Cars

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

But Peter said, “I don’t have silver or gold, but what I do have, I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!” Acts 3:6

Sometimes it seemed like a parking lot.  We have all seen it, but I experienced it.  As I have often said, there were certain benefits to growing up in an urban county.  We weren’t country like horses and cows, but we were country like room to run, places to play and cars in the backyard.  What?  Yup. I know we have all seen yards where there are old cars hanging around the yard.  I know each time I drive to Paducah down Route 145 in Southern Illinois I pass a house with an old Capri parked in the yard…permanently.  Over the years that I have seen it, weeds and green algae have slowly grown over it.  I’m not sure about the story behind the old Capri, but it is there year after year.

Over the years I lived at 6008 Carlton Road, we had several cars parked in our backyard.  When my granddaddy Taylor died, we inherited his old Pontiac Sedan.  I’m not sure what year it was but it was old…probably the late forties if I were to guess.  I knew at least for a while it was a runner, but later on it became a sitter.  Regardless, it was a great place to play and hide in a good game of hide and seek.  This past week I was converting some old family movies to digital so we could watch them again.  There is one simply titled, Alston and Leslie Taylor and their children – 1960’s.  In the middle of the video there was my daddy, and he was working on the old Pontiac.  It was good to see him again.  It reminded me what a good man he was.

I have a feeling that there was a reason that he was working on granddaddy’s Pontiac.  You see I remember that our main driver, a 1957 Plymouth, blew an engine so it was parked under the tree in the backyard.  So, I think Daddy may have been working on the Pontiac so we would have something that would get us from here to there.  The Plymouth sat there for quite a while.  Motors were expensive and it would be a while before Momma and Daddy could scrape the money together to buy a rebuilt one.  I know they eventually did, but until then it was the old Pontiac.

And then there was the Sunbeam.  My brother Lee bought a car from somebody, and it was quite unusual.  It was a British made car and it almost had that James Bond allure about it.  I was trying to think how to describe it and simply put, it was cool.  Well, it was cool until it quit running.  You see, certain cars, and especially British ones, are hard to work on and expensive to repair.  Well, somewhere along the road (no pun intended) it died.  Rather than bury it, we just parked it in the backyard where it became one of the original storage sheds.  We slowly stuffed it to the gills with—stuff.

Well, eventually the Plymouth got fixed, the Pontiac got hauled off and the Sunbeam went somewhere, and our backyard looked a little less like a small junkyard and more like a garden.  Daddy had a love for growing roses, and I have to admit they looked a lot better than the old cars that adorned our yard for a season.  Thinking back, I wonder what people thought about the old-World War II barracks turned house with a car or two parked in the backyard.  I wonder if they, like me, like you, were tempted to judge the people that lived there?

I wonder if they ever pondered why the house needed painting most of the time or why there were old junk cars sitting in the yard?  I wonder if they thought the people who lived there were lazy or unkept?  Well, in the case of 6008 Carlton Road they would have been wrong in both cases.  My Daddy was a hard worker making sure the folks under his care had food and clothes.  He worked until his heart said no, and even then, he found a job as a security guard.  Momma worked hard taking care of us.  She poured her life into our lives and made sure there was supper on the table and clean clothes to wear.  I would suppose they both were too busy pulling it all together to worry what people thought.

I know this.  When I drive south to Paducah and pass that old house with the overgrown Capri in the front yard, it won’t be thoughts of judgement that pass through my mind. Instead, I will remember two people who worked hard to make life possible for me, and my brothers and sisters.  And then I will remember that until I have walked in someone’s shoes, I have no business looking down on anyone.  Most folks don’t wake up some morning and just decide to have their world go south.  Sometimes it just happens.  But what I do know is that Jesus, the Man a lot of us have committed to follow, wouldn’t cast a rock, rather He would lend a hand. 

One day a couple of Jesus followers were going to church, and they passed by a man who couldn’t walk.  The guy was begging and that was the honorable thing to do given there was no security net for help in those days.  He looked up and the two Jesus guys looked down.  They said, “You know, we don’t have any money, but we do have an answer.  And right there, right then, they reached down and in the name of Jesus they healed the guy.  He got up, did a little dance and they all went to church together. How about that?  So, who can you help today?  What house have you driven by so many times before but perhaps today you need to stop? I know in a world of risks, that can be hard but hey, I know Someone who will help make it happen.  His name is Jesus and He’s got this.  Bro. Dewayne 

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