Category: patience

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