Category: patience

Posted in Grace, life, love, patience, prayer, Scripture
Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

Be joyful, pray always, be thankful. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

They call it a z-pack.  It is called that because nobody can pronounce azithromycin.  Whatever it is called it–it works.  You know the story.  You are humming along, life is good and then you throat feels a little scratchy, your nose is a little stuffy and before long you feel awful.

Now let me explain awful.  If you are a man that means it is pretty much terminal.  It is only a matter of minutes before the end comes.  Someone call 911.  If you are a woman it means that life just became a little more challenging but hey people are counting on you, so you will push through.

Man or woman–terminal or not–you will probably call and make an appointment to see the doctor.  He will determine, much to the man’s surprise, that it is not terminal.  It is an upper respiratory infection.  Then he may prescribe our friend azithromycin or a z-pack.

A z-pack is a course of five pills, often two are taken the first day and one per day for the next three.  If you are a man, you take the first two and go to bed.  If you are woman, and in in particular a mother, you take the first two and go on with life.  The good news is everybody generally survives.

I find too often in life this happens to me on another level. I am humming along and life is good.  The mild speed bumps and occasional pot holes of life are navigated with little or no trouble.  But then it happens. The smallest of infractions and I find myself going off–losing it.  Something doesn’t go just according to plan and I am seething.  I don’t get my way and so everyone better stay out of my way.  I’ve been infected.

No doctor is needed for this one.  It is called selfish-itis.  Let me say that again…selfish–itis.  Yup…for some reason it all becomes about me–or you.  While it’s caused by several things it often find’s it source in a little virus called “why me.”  I mean I understand why the neighbor deserves bad things; he is mean as a snake.  And my brother-in-law hasn’t worked for months.  Of course, then there is cousin Eddie, never mind, we won’t even go there.

Well, the good news is there’s a z-pack for it and it is fast and effective.  Take three “pills” and before long you will be humming again.  The z-pack is found in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 and consists of three powerful truths that will kick the “inselfishitis” bug in no time.  Here’s the z-pack. “Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances.” There you go–be joyful, pray always and be thankful.”  Bye-bye blues and hello cancel the 911 call. Three simple truths, three simple practices.

A while back I got ahold of a great definition for Biblical joy.  It is “a deep sense of well-being based on my faith in God and trust in His sovereign will.”  Now that’s powerful. Boom.  It is what we close everyday with, “He’s got this.”  It’s true and He does.

Praying always is simply like breathing.  It becomes second nature and an essential part of life.  You don’t even need your knees to pray.  You don’t need to close your eyes–especially if you are driving.  It is a whisper to God as needed, when needed.  And it works.

The last one is gratitude.  It is learning to be thankful for the smallest detail in your life.  News flash–God is a God of the details.  That little deal you are concerned about is not little to Him.  He loves His kids and wants them to know He will be there.  Now that doesn’t mean you get every toy in the toy store.  It does mean that He will be there whenever, forever.

The last part of verse 18 is huge.  It says, “For this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”  He wants you to do this not for three days but every day.  He wants you to be fulfilled and at rest and these simple truths will put you on the right road.

So, men, put on your big boy socks and push on.  Ladies–remember we men struggle with the small things, so be sure and show a little mercy when we are terminal–or at least think we are.  God does and He does it not only for the men but for all of us.  He invites us to crawl up in His lap and rest in Him.  And listen close, He’s whispering, “I’ve got this.”  Bro. Dewayne

Posted in fear, gratitude, life, patience, Scripture, travel, Trials

Consistently Inconsistent

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Hebrews 13:8

That whole COVID thing was one giant learning experience! After the world was shutdown, Judy and I were able to get away and break away from home.   After church one Sunday we loaded up our car and headed on the great adventure.  Soon, the routine of the last several months was in the rearview mirror and we were looking out the windshield at different. The only problem was that different turned out to look a lot like home.

Our journey would take us through three states…Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina.  The one thing I quickly discovered is the fact that consistently, and I do mean consistently, everything was inconsistent.  Now I have to admit we didn’t have a lot of interaction with Kentucky.  Going we were just getting started and coming we were almost home.   However, Kentucky had already become our get away place when we wanted to run away from home.

Our first real stop in the journey was in Tennessee.  We stayed in Pigeon Forge for three nights just to catch our breath.  We arrived at our hotel which was a Hilton Tru.  It was a new branding for Hilton and was designed to reach out to millennials.  Ok, if there was a doubt, I discovered I am not one.  The hotel boasted that the rooms were intentionally spartan and smaller.  I am more the bigger and plush kinda guy.  And then there were the corona differences.

So, the first day, no one came to clean our room.  Well, obviously somehow, we were skipped. I stopped by the front desk to let them know of the oversight.  She, politely, told me it was not an oversight but intentional.  What?  “Didn’t you read the little card” she asked? Well, no…we had got in late the night before and I am a guy.  Do I look like I read little cards?  Anyway, the little card said they would not be cleaning our room until we checked out and that if I wanted fresh towels I needed to ask for them at the from desk. What? Excuse me?  Oh, and breakfast was scaled back to a yogurt bread (whatever that is) and a breakfast cereal bar…all courtesy of the corona virus.  Of course all this was ok because they there able to cut the price on the room with all the money they saved from not cleaning our room or serving us breakfast.  Not! No! Nada!  That will be full price, sir, and thanks for staying.

And then there were the restaurants.  One was operating at full capacity, one at 50%, one at 25%.  All the fast food chains were still drive-thru only.  It felt amazingly like home. We went to one restaurant with about seven cars in their large parking lot. “Oh good, no wait” I said.  “Not so” Judy said.  Sorry, there will be a 25 minute wait.  So three days later, I went into the largely empty restaurant and discovered anew the joy of social distancing.  I had to communicate with the closest table with smoke signals.  All of this was from an open state.  Yup…consistently inconsistent.

Well we moved on to North Carolina…a largely closed state.  We checked into our hotel, a Holiday Inn, and I tentatively asked the polite desk person about what restrictions might be in place.  “Will you be cleaning our room?” I asked. She gave me a quizzical look and said, “Why yes, of course.”  “Do we get clean towels by any chance?” I asked.  Her look said “This guy must be from Mars. Of course we will be providing towels.” So the closed state acted like an open state and the open state acted like a closed state and I am slowly going crazy. Our meals were provided at the conference we were attending so we didn’t try any off-campus restaurants.  But Judy did want to go to a couple of boutiques.  In case you are wondering, boutiques are little stores with big prices.  Anyway, most were simply closed and the few she (and notice she) went in required masks to shop in their empty shops. Oh the bliss of being consistently inconsistent.

I am a guy of routine.  I love consistency so you can imagine this was quite a challenge for me.  It amazes me how the rules were always different in this corona world and the enforcement of those rules were also different.  And that is why I like God.  He is the Rock of Gibraltar when it comes to consistency.  The Word says that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  The Jesus you have today is the one you will have ten thousand years from now. The love you have from God today will be the love you have tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.  As a song says His love is “sure as a steady rain.”  I like that.

If you are just a little tentative about this consistently inconsistent world I have a great recommendation. Try God.  He doesn’t change the rules midstream, He won’t change His mind about you tomorrow and His Book remains the constant of constants.  Rock solid…that is God.

We had a great time on our little trip and I came back realizing that the crazy rules aren’t just in Illinois.  We found a pretty fair sprinkling of them everywhere.  I also came home with a deep appreciation for my island of normalcy…my family and my church family.  Both groups are a bit crazy at times, but they are mine and I feel secure around them both.  I came home and found the God on the road was the same God at 217 W. Poplar Street and I can rest in Him at both places and all places.  I also found that the God on the road was big enough to handle it all. He’s got this.  Bro. Dewayne 

Posted in life, patience, Scripture, spring

Sigh…It’s Happening Again

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

 “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” Philippians 4:8b

Sigh…It’s happening again.  Well, twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall, they do it. They are whoever is in charge and the what is messing with our clocks and minds. They call it “daylight savings time” or DST but they ought to call it “time to mess with your mind.” You know the drill.  On the second Sunday in March they (whoever they are) tell us to set our clocks forward one hour.  That means several things.  First, it means no matter what you try and do you are going to lose an hour of sleep.  It also means that just when sunrise was going to occur at a decent hour, it doesn’t.  And finally, it also means that a bunch of people are either late for church or miss it entirely.  Like I said, “Sigh.”

Part two of all of this occurs in the fall…in November.  It used to be in October but to further confuse everyone they moved it to November.  Now I must admit that coming off of DST is easier than going on.  In the fall, we gain an hour of sleep though by this time we are so used to the new time, the old time seems more like a nasty neighbor than an old friend.  I know, I know—we have more daylight in the evening with DST and besides all that—who gets up that early anyway?  Pause. I’m raising my hand.

Oh, and then there is the other deal.  I know I’m a bit different, but I have a zillion clocks in my house and each one has to be reset when the time changes. Now this is when springing forward (that is supposed to make the losing an hour of sleep more fun) is better than falling back.  The bottom line is it is easier to move the hands forward one hour than to stop each clock and then wait for the old time to catch up with the new. I think we might just be better if they would just make up their minds one way or the other and leave things alone.

One time I was watching the Weather Channel Saturday morning before “time to mess with your mind” day and they did a feature on what happens when you disrupt people’s sleep.  Well, they had this expert lady on the show, and she flat out said all this clock changing is a bad idea. She said it can cause several kinds of social disruptions including car accidents and other end of the world scenarios.  Well, she didn’t actually say that part, but I thought I would add it in.  But I think we do need to make up our minds and let that sleeping dog lie.  And speaking of sleeping dogs, I wonder if DST messes with them too.  She did say it affected pets. Hmmm.

Well, there is a lesson mixed up in all of this.  While it is true when changing the time on our clocks, it is definitely true in life too. Moving forward in life is always better than falling back…you know, falling back into bad habits…falling back into bad relationships…falling back into bad attitudes…well, you get the idea.  As we do life, we need to intentionally choose to move forward.  If you have one of those older clocks that still has hands, there is usually a small knob on the back.  To move the hands forward, you simply turn that knob.  To move life forward, we simply need to keep making the next right decision.

That also means to keep doing what we have been doing that was moving us in the right direction. That might include restarting good habits, reestablishing good relationships, and thinking about how we think. Minding our mind is one of the best habits we can have.  Paul, the guy in the Bible, said so in a letter he wrote to the folks in Philippi.  He said, “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” Boom…what great advice.

Well, since I am posting this a week or so ahead of time, I’m going to go ahead and practice getting my nap that I’m going to need on time change Sunday. Smile. I’m sure glad my Dearest Daddy doesn’t do this “mess with your mind” thing.  He is steady like clockwork—no pun intended.  Don’t worry…He’s got this. Bro. Dewayne

Posted in food, Integrity, life, patience, Scripture, spiritual battles

Bread, Potatoes and Pecan Pie

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

 “The One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4b

It was several years ago and it came in the mail.  It was an advertisement, an offer really, to join a program that would not only help me control my diabetes but to reverse it.  If everything went according to plan, I could come off both of my diabetic meds and lose the “I’m diabetic” label.  There were two more things.  First, thanks to my insurance program, it would be provided to me at absolutely no cost to me.  I’m sure it is costing my insurance plenty, but the price for me was paid in full…hmmm, can someone else besides me see a parallel there.  Can someone say, grace, mercy, and Jesus?

The second thing was that the program would provide several things they called sensors…I call them gadgets.  First, there was one of those totally cool glucose monitors that you wear and through your smartphone it tells you on the fly what your sugar level is.  Second, was a Garmin activity tracker that tells you all kind of stuff…more on that in a later story.  Third, was a scale that not only tells you your weight but also how much body fat you have.  This one, for obvious reasons, was not one of my favorites. Number four on the list was a meter that tells me if I have too many ketones.  I’m not sure what they do or what they are but I know you don’t want too many of them.  Finally, there was a blood pressure “taker thinger” and it does just what it says.  What also made the cool list is the fact that all of these things talk to an application on my phone and all that information is compiled and it tells me, and them, if I am failing or succeeding.

So, there you go.  No diabetes, no cost, lots of gadgets and only one problem.  When I talked to the nice lady on the phone, she told me there wouldn’t be a lot of weird food like tofu or jellyfish eggs.  What she didn’t tell me was that there wouldn’t be any really good food on the program either.  Well, to be fair, that is not totally true.  In fact, there are a lot of foods that I can eat and some a southern boy like me even like but there was no bread, no potatoes, no anything that had carbohydrates in them—and that is about every good thing besides meat and eggs.  Hmmm…we have a problem.

Now all this was made worse by the fact that I had my sugar 100% under control.  I turned the sweets thing almost totally off and cut way back on the starchy stuff and my sugar quickly plummeted.  Thank you, sir…mission accomplished…but not quite.  You see, if you remember my new friends want me to get off medicine. However to get off the medicine, I have to give up a whole category of stuff that I love and have loved all my life.  The problem is I am quite content to take a couple of pills if they will allow me to eat some of my favorites.  I am quite willing to let the two, my self-control and my medicine, work together.  Honestly, it would probably be better for me to ditch the medicines but no bread, no potatoes, and worst of all, no, none, never pecan pie.  What?

I think this is just a human nature thing and as you know our human nature can get us in trouble.  Another name for our human nature is our sinful nature and our sinful nature wants us to sin—maybe not a whole lot but at least some of our favorites.  We usually think the price is worth it.  So, we control this and control that but often refuse to take the giant leap into total surrender.  I know there is a difference between indulging in bread and lust or potatoes and anger but the principle is the same.  We want what we want—even if the price is high and it is.

Well, the bottom line is the program did work…even with my compromising attitude. I know that wasn’t the best solution but regardless that was where I landed.  But hear me clearly—that does not work with sin.  With sin the best thing you can do is run fast and hard in the opposite direction.  Remember this…sin will always win, and it will take you further and cost you more than you think.  That is why our Father sent His Son, that is why the Son died and resurrected and that is why we need Him to rescue and save us.

Listen, all the cool sin gadgets in the world aren’t worth what they cost in the end.  It will cost you a whole lot more than a pile of mashed potatoes.  Just remember, what you can’t do on your own, you can do with Him. 1 John 4:4b says, “The One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”  In other words, “He’s got this.”  Bro. Dewayne 

Posted in communication, food, friends, gratitude, life, patience, Scripture, Valentine's Day

Patience 101 – Repeating the Class

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

 “Finishing is better than starting. Patience is better than pride.” Ecclesiastes 7:8

And I thought I was just going out to eat! A couple of years ago, a couple of good friends invited my wife Judy and I to go out and eat.  It sounded like a special gig.  A restaurant located in a small town, oh, about 15 miles from our small town, had invited a renowned chef to come in and cook that evening.  My friend had received an invitation right from the owner’s lips to come and experience it and he invited us.  Now I am not much of a gourmet nor is gourmet food my deal.  To ring my bell, all you need to do is serve up some meat and mashed potatoes and another starch or two and I’m in.  Even so, it was chance to spend some time with these good friends…so we made a date.

They said they would make some reservations which for Southern Illinois (SI) is kinda unusual.  All we SI people do is show up and eat.  But I can be partial to reservations…especially if it keeps me from waiting.  So, with the idea this was a special thing for a small group of special people and with the safeguard of reservations, I was looking forward to our Friday night gig.  Oh, and a bonus was the fact this was Friday night of Valentine’s weekend and Judy said this could count as “date night.”  Sweet.  Can’t fail. In the bag. And then…the school bell rang.

As we drove from our small town to the other small town, the car was filled with chatty talk. Nice and easy…just the way I like it.  As we approached the restaurant, I noticed there were quite a few cars but that wasn’t totally unusual.  It was when we got to the door that usual went out the window. The small foyer, the area around the check-in stand and the restaurant was packed to the gills.  At that brief moment, my countenance may have sagged just a little. But since we had reservations…it was no deal.  And then the school bell rang.

One of my friends checked us in and came back with the news—forty-five minutes to an hour.  Wait. “What?”  I said, “But don’t we have reservations?”  Well, no.  It turns out only parties of eight can get those cherished promises of a quicker sit-down.  So, that is how God enrolled me, once again, into the school of patience.  So, there I sat in the small foyer with what seemed like a thousand other people. Some were there to enjoy the gourmet chef, and some were there for a fish dinner.  It didn’t matter. I was in the school of patience. My Dearest Daddy knew I had some learning to do in the patience department and He had enrolled me.

Well, our time in class turned into about two and half hours and when we finally ate almost all of the gourmet food was gone and I had a hamburger…which by the way was just fine with me. At the end of the evening, an unseen hand handed me my test.  There at the top of the page was a well-earned, unqualified, no doubt about it—F.  Yup I had failed again.  And the bad news is, this is required curriculum…which meant there would be other classes…other opportunities…for me to learn and get tested.  Rats.  I should have studied more.  I should have prepared more. I should have done something or anything, but I didn’t. Class dismissed.  See you next time, pal.

Now with all that said, it was a good evening.  I still got to be with my wife and friends.  I did occasionally smile and engage in conversation.  Oh, and the burger was really pretty good and, wait for it, my friend paid the tab.  I think he did it out of sympathy and compassion.  Regardless, it was kind. So, when we got home, I sat down and relaxed, confessed my failing grade to my Father and vowed to do better.  We will see.  We will see.  This is one area that this Jesus journeyman is a little slow to learn and God ain’t gonna let it go. Solomon, one of the smart guys from the Old Testament Bible said, “Finishing is better than starting. Patience is better than pride.” Boy, he hit that one on the head.  Looking back, I should have remembered, I should have believed that thing that I write every time I write, “He’s got this,” because…He does. Bro. Dewayne