Category: communication

Posted in communication, food, priorities, Scripture, spiritual battles

American Idols

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

 “Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us.” Hebrews 12:1a

He was preaching…but was I listening? It is a funny thought but I listen to more sermons now that I am retired than I have over the last forty years. Quite a thought isn’t it? But the truth is on any given Sunday I wasn’t listening…I was talking. So the last year or so, I’m doing more listening…or at least hearing. I discovered fresh and anew just how easy it is to let your mind wander while the preacher guy is up there preaching. It happens so subtlety…one moment you are there and the next you are somewhere else. While I am confessing I might as well let you know that I have even occasionally found myself nodding off.

You might say I have a new found appreciation for just how hard listening can be…especially on Sunday mornings. Well, my wife Judy and I were recently visiting another church in another town and the preacher was preaching…and doing a good job I might add. He was talking about authentic faith and how it is important that we be singularly focused, sold-out on Jesus. He then went to meddling about people with idols in their lives. Now my first response, which lasted just a few moments, was “I don’t have any idols in my life.  I’m a Jesus guy with no room for idols.” It was just about then that he said it.

What he said was this, “We don’t know what our idols are until they are threatened or taken away.” Whoa, wait–that got my attention in a hurry. I realized what he had just given to me and now to us, is a great litmus for recognizing things in our life that just might be idols. You see, idols aren’t just things that are in front of God in our lives, they are anything that we worship other than God—even if they are at the back of line. And trust me–they can and do come in many different shapes and sizes. We can drive them, live in them, eat them, smoke them, look at them and about a million others them’s. And like the preacher said, they become painfully obvious when they are threatened.

So, what is it in your life that if it was suddenly threatened or taken away would fill your world with anxiety? If we can find a way to be painfully honest, the not so obvious will suddenly become apparent. One of my constant battles is food related. No, it’s not food in general, it is, drumroll please–SUGAR. I am addicted to sugar and apparently it is not just me. The medical world tells us that sugar is one of the most addictive substances there is. And, so if the truth is told, that’s one thing I need to examine carefully.

So there you go. Thank you preacher man for giving us something that can make a difference in our lives. I believe that is one of the hallmarks of good preaching–that we preach to make a difference. So why not today sit down and make a list of the things that if they were snatched away from you would mess with your world. Then take a few more minutes and ask God to help you with whatever it is. Thankfully in my case that may not mean giving up sugar totally but it will mean adjusting my priorities. If you need more help, just ask your Dearest Daddy because you know, “He’s got this.”  Bro. Dewayne

Posted in communication, food, life, priorities, Scripture

Here to Help–Not to Hurt!

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever.”  John 14:15-16

Ok…just one more…I promise.  This week I wrote a story about a new adventure I had with a company that helps people like me reverse their diabetes.  If you haven’t read the first two, why not wander over to http://www.gritswithgrace.com and check them out.  You will find out there were some highs and lows.  A couple of times, within the first couple of minutes, I was ready to chuck the whole thing out the window. But then, when I had a few minutes to think about it, it began to make at least some sense. 

I wrote about all the cool gadgets that this company gave me to help monitor where I was in the journey.  I have access to the information but so do they…and they are watching.  So far…they must have liked what they’ve seen because they said I am doing very well. One of the reasons for that is this gadget called a Dextron G6.  It is a continuous glucose (or blood sugar) monitor.  Every five minutes it tells the wearer their sugar level.  When you eat, you can see in just a little while what that meal did to your blood sugar levels.

It is interesting to eat, wait, and watch for the results.  You eat some bad stuff (usually bad for your sugar level but good for your tongue) and before long your sugar level is up where it doesn’t belong.  You see it and so do the folks at this company.  When I see it, my response is, “Wow, I guess I shouldn’t have eaten that…or at least not so much of that.” Usually that leads to a second response that asks the question, “Was is worth it?”  When my coach at the company saw it, she would gently nudge me in a better direction.  The goal is to make a better decision next time…and that sounds fair to me.

Did you know we Jesus followers have something like this when it comes to doing life? Yup…we sure do.  You see, our monitor that tells us how we are doing is called the Word of God, or the Bible. This marvelous Book is not a book of rules but rather a guidebook, a roadmap for doing life.  And, if we are wise, we will read and then follow it.  It really helps (and this is just like the monitor thingy) to see the Bible as a friend and not an enemy—not just rules but helps. So, when we decide to go down a path that is not good for us, what we know and what we can know, will help us make better decisions.  It gets better.

You see not only do we have the Book, we have a Coach to help us and encourage us and He is called the Holy Spirit. One of His jobs is to help us see our sin as sin and point us in a better direction. And, by the way, we must not see Him as an enemy but rather a friend, a dear friend who never wants to hurt but always wants to help us.  Jesus described it like this, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever.”  What a great word…Helper. So, from where I sit, two of the best decisions we can make as Jesus’ people is to know, trust, and follow God’s Word and then listen, obey, and trust the Holy Spirit.

When we start to believe that God is for us and not against us, when we start to believe that God’s Word can be trusted, and when we start to believe that the Holy Spirit is here to help and not to hurt, well, I think life is just about to get better…a lot better.  I saw some pretty cool results from my diabetes wellness adventure, and it all began when I started watching and trusting the gadgets they gave me and believing my coach was my friend.  It is true with them, and it is true with God. He is worthy of our trust, and He will be there for us…always.  Don’t you doubt it for a minute—He’s got this.  Bro. Dewayne

Posted in communication, gratitude, life, priorities, Scripture, wisdom

Blood, Sweat and Tears

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

 “But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his own face in a mirror. For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he was. But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who works—this person will be blessed in what he does.” James 1:22-25

It just didn’t seem right. So the other morning I was up and at ’em early trying to do some yard work before it got incredibly hot. We have a lot of flower beds and a lot of flowers but along with those flower beds come a whole lot of weed things. Now these are not the standard “pull ’em up” weeds. These things are tangly vine and small tree-like things that like to grow into long vines and big tree-things. All of that means it is an on going battle–man vs weed things.

My main weapons of choice in dealing with these evil green things are a pair of hedge clippers and a pair of lobbers. Again, the goal is not to dig them up but rather to cut them off as close as possible to the ground. So, I dive in and start whacking here and whacking there–lobbing here and lobbing there. Before long I had several piles and at least I could tell I was making progress. But it came with a price. The longer I whacked and lobbed, the hot I got and before long two things were very apparent.  First, I was sweating up a storm–if storms sweat. Second, I was literally exhausted. All that bending over and whacking and lobbing made me feel ever one of my years.

Well, eventually, the job was mostly done–or at least as done as it was going to be that day. Now I wear one of those know-all, tell-all Apple watches. It has three rings that measure my movement, my exercise and how many times I stand.  The goal is to close all three rings by the end of the day. If you don’t, it is kind enough to remind you of what a loser you were that day. So, I decided to take a glance at my watch and my three rings to see how close I was to closing them–especially the exercise one.  Well, guess what?

Believe it or not, after all that work, after all that sweating, after all that whacking and lobbing, it gave me credit for a grand total of three minutes of exercise. Now folks, that is just wrong. I just about died from heat exhaustion and hard labor and all I got was a lousy three minutes. Talk about injustice. After pouting a while, I came to a conclusion. You see, the watch’s definition of exercise and my definition of exercise were totally different. In order to get credit–I had to exercise according to the watch’s rules. Fair or not–that is the deal.

Somewhere along the road of discovery, I thought about how that is like when I read the Bible–God’s Word. You see, sometimes some people think as long as they read the Bible they get some sort of credit. As long as they are reading, it is supposed to magically change them. In fact–that’s mostly just not true. You see for the Bible to change us we have to apply what we read.  Application is the change agent not just reading. 

Just like my watch will only give me credit if I am working according to the rules, so God’s Word can make a difference in our lives only if we are willing to apply what we read. So, let me encourage you to take the next step in your Bible time. Let’s move from just reading to applying the powerful truths of His Word. It is a game changer. Your Father in heaven is just waiting to help you so don’t worry.  He’s got this. Bro. Dewayne

Posted in communication, Grace, life, love, Scripture, thankful

What’s Your Worth?

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

Well, it happens every fall and that year was no exception…we got to pay the first installment on our property taxes. There is a first installment because there is a second installment and there is a second installment because taxes are well, really steep. All this reminds me of something that came in the mail a couple of years or so ago and it was from the tax guy—the assessor to be specific.

They told me they had driven by my house, and they really liked it—a lot.  And, since they liked it so much, they thought it was worth a lot more than they had previously thought.  A whole lot more.  They blessed me with a reassessment and the grand prize was I got to pay more property taxes. Yay.  Well, not really but it did give me a great opportunity to learn about how much God loves me.  Here’s what happened.

If you have been here before you probably know that for forty-two years my day job was being a pastor. It is something that I really enjoyed.  My favorite thing was sharing THE story but also sharing stories.  I love to take big truths and present them in a way that anyone can grasp them.  I think that is what Jesus did and I figure if He did it I should too.

A while back I was sharing the story from the Bible how four guys took this paralyzed guy to see Jesus.  When they got there, the house was stuffed with people.  There was no way they were going to get in.  So, they decided to take this guy up on the roof, dig a hole in the roof and then lower him right in front of Jesus.  It was crazy, it was radical, and it was different, but they believed two things.  They believe that Jesus could heal their friend and that the friend was worth the effort.  We all could use friends like that.

They began to haul this guy up the ladder to the roof.  Can you even imagine how difficult and challenging that was?  I mean how do you keep a paralyzed guy from falling off his mat while climbing a ladder?  Well, somehow, they pulled it off.  When they got to the top, they began to remove the thatch first and then break apart the mud and tiles.  After they had made a hole big enough to get this guy through—they lowered him down and He landed right in front of Jesus. I bet there was more than one person who wondered what in the world was going on. I bet too some people were grumbling about tearing up a perfectly good roof to get some poor, paralyzed guy in front of Jesus. I mean if he had been some rich guy maybe, but a nobody? And that’s what rang my bell.

You see to those four guys and to Jesus—this guy wasn’t a nobody—he was a somebody.  He was worth way more than a hole in the roof.  In fact, through the eyes of Jesus every soul if incredibly valuable, including yours.  And that’s when the reassessment thing came into focus. Remember, when the tax folks drove by my house they liked what they saw and they increased my assessment.  Their assessment really only means I get to pay more taxes.  It really doesn’t tell me what my house is really worth.

You see, I learned a while back that anything you or I own—our house, our car, is worth only what someone is willing to pay for it. That’s the bottom line.  So, here’s the deal.  God drove by your soul, my soul and assigned a value to it—what it was worth to Him and what He was willing to pay to redeem it.  Do you know what that was?  Well, we find it in the Bible.  It says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  Get that—everlasting (as in eternal) life.  God’s assessment of our value to Him was the life of His very own Son.  He allowed His Son to die on a Roman cross because He counted us as somehow worth it.  He just loved us that much.

Well, the end of the story for the paralyzed guy was pretty amazing too.  Jesus first calls him Son—not worthless, not broken, but Son. Then He forgives the guy’s sin—not what he wanted but what he needed—and finally, He tells him to stand up, take his mat, and go home.  Three seemingly impossible things but with Jesus, as you can probably guess, nothing is impossible when He shows up. The guy jumps up, takes his mat and leaves as the crowd is standing in disbelief.  They said they have never seen anything like that—and they hadn’t. The key thing is that the guy had to not only believe but also act on what he believed and each one of us must do the same.  We must believe that Jesus is Who He says He is and can do what He says He can do.  When we believe that—we are forgiven, and God becomes our Father.

Truth be known, I wasn’t too happy about my reassessment, but I was glad it taught me a new way to look at how much God loves me…and you.  When we are down on ourselves, when all I can see are failures and warts, when I want to give up and quit, I remind myself that my Heavenly Father thinks I am worth a lot. You see, I’m also learning that His opinion is the only one that matters. So why not take a rest in Him today.  Because you know—He’s got this. Bro. Dewayne

Posted in communication, life, priorities, sovereignty of God, travel, wisdom

The Harbor Pilot

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

 “Make Your ways known to me, Lord; teach me Your paths. Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation.” Psalm 25:4-5

 We waited patiently outside the harbor for him to arrive. One thing my wife Judy and I have observed over and over again during our adventures while cruising is the necessity of a harbor pilot. The bottom line seems to be that no harbor pilot means no entry into the harbor. Now this might seem a little unnecessary or odd because our ship is already captained by a very experienced captain. He or she always has many years, and often decades, of experience navigating their ship around. Surely in all their years of captaining they have encountered every contingency.  But wait there is more.

Not only do they have all this experience, most of them have plotted the same course over and over again. That means that they have sailed into the same harbors over and over again. Surely they know more about the harbor than anyone. I guess you could argue that surely the captain of the ship doesn’t need a harbor pilot but you would be wrong. You see, no one knows the harbor like the harbor pilot. He knows every nook and cranny of the harbor. He knows every current and even how the wind blows and affects the ships inside the harbor. He is the definitive expert.

I suppose that is how it is with us and God. Let’s be honest.  Don’t we often think we know enough…and dare I say more…than God? After all, we would argue, who knows us better than ourselves. Who knows our paths better than us since we sail it–walk it– every day all of our lives. But trust me on this one–the One who created us knows our in’s and out’s better than we ever could. Having Him as our “Harbor Pilot” is not only a great idea–it the absolute best idea.

As much as we think we know it all–we don’t. Like harbors have hidden dangers so our lives, even our walk about daily lives, have dangers we cannot see and therefore are not prepared for. So why not invite God to board your vessel and guide you into the harbors of your life. There is no situation He cannot handle, no harbor He does not know. He is patiently waiting to guide you. Like the captain of the ship has to surrender control of his vessel so we must be willing to surrender our lives. It’s a great thing to know that no matter what, “He’s got this.” Bro. Dewayne

Posted in communication, life, priorities, Scripture

Not Visiting–But Moving In

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

 “Let the Word of Christ dwell richly among you.” Colossians 3:16a

I once read a story about a seminary professor who was studying in the Holy Land and met a man who claimed to have memorized the entire Old Testament in Hebrew. Knowing that would be quite a feat, the professor asked the man if he could give a demonstration. The man agreed, and the two met at the man’s home.

The professor took out his Hebrew Old Testament and the man asked, “Where shall we begin?” The professor loved the Psalms, so he suggested “Psalm 1.”  And beginning with Psalm 1, the man began to recite from memory while the professor followed along. For two hours, the man continued without a single mistake. Needless to say, the professor sat very impressed.

Well, when the demonstration was over, the professor discovered something about the man that shocked him. He wasn’t a Jew nor a Christian and in fact was an atheist. He knew the Scriptures better than many Jews and most Christians and yet they had done nothing to change his life. The reason why? He simply didn’t believe them.

What a tragedy…to know the most precious truth in the world so thoroughly and not allow it to touch you.  But I wonder if that tragedy hits closer to home than we want to admit?  How many of us listen week after week as teacher after teacher shares from the Word of God and yet fail to allow it to change our lives?  You see, it really isn’t enough just to be present and hear…we need to hear with the intent to allow it to change us.

In Jonah 3 we read that the king of Nineveh heard the message of God that Jonah preached. It so impacted his life that he led the citizens of that city to repent and turn from their sin.  And that impact changed God’s mind about their impending doom.  Remember it isn’t enough to hear…we need to hear with the intent to apply and change. Paul said it this way, “Let the Word of Christ dwell richly among you.” That simply means we don’t need to allow the Word of God to pay our lives a visit…we need to allow it to move in.  I know sometimes truth can make us just a little uncomfortable but don’t worry.  The God who wrote it and gave it to us is the God who wants us to know, “I’ve got this.”  Bro. Dewayne

Posted in communication, Family, life, marriage, prayer, Scripture

Smart Pants

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

 “Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?” Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. John 6:67-68

“I’m sorry.  I’m having trouble understanding you right now.”  Now if you are married that is something you just might hear occasionally.  My wife Judy and I have been married for 49 years and it has been a great adventure.  They say after you have been with someone for so long you start completing each other’s sentences and can almost read their mind.  I think that is true.  But every once in a while…well…I miss it or she misses it and we look at each other like a “calf at a new gate.”  That means like a young calf who has never gone through a particular gate and says, “I’m not sure I like this or understand this.”  Calf.At.A.New.Gate.

Well, the other woman who lives in our house is named Alexa.  Actually, we have several of them and we can tell her what to do and she does it.  We have several items in our home that are wirelessly controlled.  For example, our thermostat can be controlled from anywhere we can get an internet signal.  I can tell Alexa, “Alexa set upstairs thermostat to 80” and she does it.  Boom.  I also have some of the lights in our home that have a “thingy” that will allow me to control them with Alexa.  I just say, “Alexa, turn on the lights” and all the lights in the room come on.  That is especially good at night when you are getting into bed, and you don’t want to catch your toes on the corner of something because you can’t see.

A while back we “cut the cord” and started streaming our TV through the internet.  It is definitely cheaper and cleaner…if you follow my drift.  All this is just great until…wait for it…the internet goes down.  That happened recently.  I woke up and groggily walked into my home office and asked Alexa to turn on the lights.  She said, “I’m sorry. I’m having trouble understanding you right now.” That is code for there is no internet.  That also means that I can’t watch the weather or anything else.  Oh, and I also can’t control the thermostat…I have to actually walk over and turn it up or down.  Then you add to that list that you can’t check or send email, can’t check the news, can’t, can’t, can’t—it almost sounds like 2020 all over again. No. No. And No.

The deal with all this cool smart stuff is if the internet connection goes down…things come to a screeching halt and you quickly find yourself wondering if smart is so smart after all.  I know this is true for me and almost eight billion of my closest friends.  We often think we have it all figured out and that we don’t need God directing our lives or telling us this or that.  What we often discover is that without Him…well, we can make a mess pretty quickly.

What we write off as life being crazy and messy is what life becomes without faith and believing. I’m not sure I can imagine what life would be like if we decide we don’t need God anymore, but I am sure I don’t want to find out. Oh, we can get by without religion…no problem there…but God…I don’t think so.

Well, it turned out the internet was down all that day and the next.  Rumor was someone hit a pole somewhere and knocked out one of the main lines.  I learned that day that all that smart stuff wasn’t worth anything without the thing that made it smart.  And in the process of learning that, I was reminded that when we think we are really smart and that we have it all figured out…well, we are not much without the One who made us.  Take Him out of the equation and things can grind to a halt pretty quickly. As I waited to for the internet to come back online, I think I heard a whisper from the Whisperer.  He seemed to be saying, “Don’t worry. I’ve got this.” Bro. Dewayne

Posted in communication, friends, Integrity, life, priorities, Scripture

Nip It in the Bud!

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

 “Everyone who commits sin practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.” 1 John 3:4 

  

Leave it to Barney.  Some of you might remember Barney Fife from the old television show, “The Andy Griffith Show.” He was one of the iconic characters and played the town deputy under Sheriff Andy Taylor.  Barney was a little off-center most of the time.  One of my favorite memories was that they only trusted him with one bullet, and he had to keep it in his pocket. He may have been a bit off-center but every once-on-a-while he would come up with something insightful.  One of those was his saying that we should “nip it, nip it in the bud.”

He knew (at least every once in a while) that an ounce of prevention was better than a pound of cure. Now he didn’t always follow his own good advice but who does? Truth is we would all be better off if we did, “nip it, nip it in the bud.”  A while back I went to the skin doctor for my semi-annual skin check.  Twice a year I have them look and make sure something isn’t growing on my skin that shouldn’t be. Some of that skin stuff can get pretty nasty.  Like I’ve said before I’m ok with dying…I just don’t want to die stupid.

So usually, I am an A+ patient. Besides the usual assortment of old people stuff, she always tells me I have good skin.  Well, that didn’t quite happen this time. As she checked my forehead, she found two spots that were kinda rough and she said, “Dewayne, these might be pre-cancers so it would be best if we burned them off.”  So, she wasn’t sure if they were but, in her opinion, it was better to be safe than sorry—and I agreed with her.  Let’s “nip it, nip it in the bud”. So, she got out her handy burner-off thing and just like that they were frozen.

“Wait,” you say, “I thought you she was burning them off?”  Yup that’s right but she burns them off by hitting them with something so cold it literally burns them off.  Ever heard of, “freezer burn?”  Same sort of idea.  Anyway, it was all over after a little bit of stinging and a few days of everyone asking, “What happened to your forehead?”  And guess what?  Because we nipped it in the bud, I don’t have to worry about it turning into something a little nastier.

This “nip it, nip it in the bud” thing is good advice. Imagine how many regrets a little nipping could save us! And what about when we nip a “pre-sin” in the bud before it becomes a disaster in our lives? Yup, the more I think about it the more I am sure we owe old Barney a debt of gratitude.  So, let me suggest a semi-annual visit to the skin doctor and a daily visit with the Great Physician just to check and see if there needs to be a little nipping on those nasty “pre-sins.” It might sting a little but hey, don’t worry, He’s got this.  Bro. Dewayne

Posted in communication, friends, life, loving others, prayer, Scripture, spiritual battles, Trials

His World–Their World!

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

 “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in His love.” 1 John 4:16

It’s like traveling around the world. I never cease to be amazed at the world that God has created for us. My wife Judy and I love to travel, and I have found a way to kinda, sorta travel while sitting right in my living room chair.  It all happens courtesy of YouTube. I’m not sure why or how but one day, I stumbled upon a video of sorts that would take a part of the world and set pictures of it to relaxing music.  It may be England or Africa or Germany or maybe Utah.  Regardless, it is amazing and marvelous. I truly enjoy it and perhaps you should try it.  And then…it got better.

So, while I was trying to pick a place to visit, I found a feature that showed live webcams from all over the world.  Every few seconds, a different live video of a different part of the world would appear along with the current weather for that location.  Ok…this is way cool.  Imagine all these different places, all being shown live.  People are walking, visiting, or perhaps sleeping.  Cars are driving up and down the streets and trucks are making deliveries. It might be raining or snowing, warm or cold, sunny, or cloudy.  It is a world tour of the…world.

Recently, I was watching, and a video showed up showing early morning Philadelphia.  The sky was blue, and it was a beautiful spring morning.  God was showing off.  And then, just like that, I found myself looking at a place high in the Austrian Alps and even though it was mid-May it was snowing to beat the band.  For all intents and purposes, it was still midwinter. And it was just about then that it hit me.

All those videos were just like snapshots of our lives…each one different and each one unique.  As we look around some folks’ lives are like a beautiful spring morning—things couldn’t be better.  Look over there and there is someone enduring the beating rain of a severe storm and finally, glance over there and someone is locked in the midst of winter.  We sometimes forget that our lives, our experience may not be the experience of the person standing next to us.  While our lives are neat and orderly, theirs might be filled with gale force winds and pounding hail.  For us things couldn’t be better—for them things couldn’t be worse.

Can I encourage us to remember that?  Can I encourage us to be sensitive to the fact that our world may not be someone else’s?  Can I encourage us to be more understanding when someone seems to be rude and huffy when perhaps, just perhaps, they are doing everything they can just to stay afloat.  Jesus was so good at this.  He could read someone and respond and it wasn’t just because He was God in the flesh but also because He was determined to love others.  We can, and should, do the same thing.

So, if you do the computer thing, check out YouTube and search for relaxing music or videos and enjoy and as you are, remember that those places are places where people are living and maybe struggling.  Then, determine to be like Jesus, who managed to love each person no matter what. A song says that Jesus loves the little children, all the little children, and if He does…we should too. 1 John 4:16 says, “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in His love.” We have come to know and believe that no matter what…He’s got this.  Bro. Dewayne 

Posted in communication, friends, life, loving others, Scripture, spiritual battles, Trials

Ignored

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

 “Get up,” Jesus told him, “pick up your mat and walk.” Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat, and started to walk.” John 5:8-9

No matter how hard I tried…he ignored me.  So, I am a   walker…sometimes more consistent than others… but generally I walk several days a week.  The habit person in me likes the consistency of taking the same route over and over.  The adventure person in me likes to vary the routes that I take.  The bottom line…it is a coin toss every time I walk.  Regardless of which route I take; I see him frequently.

Who is he?  He is one of the homeless guys here in our small town.  Actually, I am only assuming he is homeless.  Like I said, frequently and no matter how early, I see him riding his bike, pushing his bike, and sitting somewhere, anywhere holding onto his bike. When I stroll by, I try to be friendly.  I walk by and give him a wave and a smile with a “good morning,” attached. He doesn’t respond.  If you remember the story of Brier Rabbit and Tar Baby, you know when Tar Baby didn’t respond to Brier Rabbit—he got more than a little upset.  Well, I think Brier Rabbit and I might be distant cousins.  My thought was, “What’s up with this?  Why is he ignoring me?”

Well, there were many attempts after that attempt, and it wasn’t just with him.  I would try to wave, be friendly, and give a “Good morning” if we were in voice range.  Almost without exception…there was nothing just a blank stare.  Well, earlier this week it was the same song, same verse but this time something occurred to me…or more accurately maybe Someone spoke to me.  The thought, the inner voice was this, “Dewayne, he is ignoring you because that is all he knows.”  A bell went off in my head and in my heart.

I realized in that moment that to most people, these folks who live in the streets are ignored because they become invisible. Most people don’t even see them much less acknowledge them.  And, I think, that once you have been ignored for so long…when you are invisible to the world around you…you stop seeing and feeling too. It becomes easy to just look, to stare until the world around disappears.  And, you need to know, that it isn’t always homeless people…it can be just everyday walk-around people who have been bruised and hurt one too many times.  They go to work, they function, but in reality, they stare into nothingness just trying to get by.

What are we to do?  Well, first we don’t stop trying to reach out and touch those around us.  Jesus was so good at seeing the invisible and loving the unlovable and do you know what?  He never gave up.  A story is told about a lame man who laid by a pool forever…or, at least, it seemed forever…38 years to be exact.  The rumor was if you could be the first in the pool when the waters stirred, you would be healed.  It wasn’t true and it really didn’t matter because he could never be first.  And then…Jesus showed up.

Jesus saw him, spoke to him and asked this question, “Do you want to be well?”  The man gave Him the story about him and the waters.  Jesus didn’t quit.  He just said, “Pick up your mat and walk.”  Well, the guy took the gamble, obeyed, and…he was healed…just like that.  Amazing.  Thirty-eight years of suffering ended abruptly. I guess we can’t offer the broken around us that kind of deal, but we can see, we can speak, and we can pray and when we do that…who knows what God will do?

Let me encourage you…and me for that matter…to start seeing again, to start loving again, to start making a difference, no matter how small, again.  If you see someone obviously broken and you are a Jesus follower, just remember how broken you were when you met the Healer and He whispered, “I love you…I forgive you.” And as you remember, take that moment to reach out and let that person know how much God loves them and longs to forgive them. Oh, and let them also know that, “He’s got this.”  Bro. Dewayne