Tag: bike trail

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

Concrete Desert

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” 1 John 4:10

They were all heading straight for disaster, and they didn’t have a clue.  One day, I was walking on our local bike path.  It was early morning but not so early that the sun wasn’t already hot.  It was going to be warm one—especially for Spring.  As I walked, I looked down and saw several, no many, earthworms on the bike trail. They were trying to make it across.

I know, you’re thinking, “Why did the earthworm cross the bike path?”  The answer is “I don’t know but it sure wasn’t going well.”  Some had already bit the bullet and others were in the struggle of their wormy lives.  Most were squirming…doing everything they could to make it to the other side.  The only thing is, I could see what they could not.  They were a long way from home.

I can just imagine one of the worms with the gift of leadership shouting to his friends, “Keep going guys.  You can make it.  Just a little further.”  The trouble is he just didn’t have the whole picture…the view from above.  From his perspective the end was right over there.  From his perspective just a few more inches and they would be home free. Perspectives from ground level are often like that.  That is why we need someone with a better view.

One of the things I love about believing in God is knowing that He has a higher, better view. He can see things that you just can’t see at ground level.  And when He speaks…He speaks true encouragement because He knows what is around the bend or a few days down the road.  God is really good at helping His kids do life.  If only we would learn to listen.  If only…

See, I talked to some of the earthworms as I walked.  I would say things like, “It’s not looking good, partner.”  Or maybe, “Dude, you’re not gonna make it squirming like that.” Then, “Hey, why are you crossing the bike path anyway?”  I just had to ask. Well, no one listened and on they squirmed.  It was going to be a hard day for most of them.

And then, and this is the truth, I would sometimes stop and pitch one or two of them into the cool, wet grass.  It was a random thing that I would do.  I would stop, pick one out, and chuck them to the side.  While not one of them said “thanks” it was enough for me to save him or her from the dreaded concrete desert. It just felt good to save a life—even if it was just an earthworm.  I just hope it wasn’t his cousin I put on a hook last week.

When I thought about this whole perspective and rescue thing I just naturally thought about God.  Along with His great perspective, He cares enough to rescue us.  He wants to rescue every person from an eternity without Him.  I mean He loves us so much…and He loved us before we even thought about loving Him.  The Bible says that we love Him because He first loved us.  He saw all our warts, all our imperfections, all our bad choices and chose to love us anyway.  He loved us before we even promised to try and do things right.  A promise that we could never keep anyway.

Oh, and one more thing.  As I said, I would pick an earthworm to save for no apparent reason.  I just picked one.  God said, “That will never do.” And do you know what, He loved the whole world…everybody…everyone.  Now we still must choose to repent, choose to follow, choose to believe.  But when we do…well, the welcome sign is out.  Welcome home, son.  Welcome home, daughter. And this is the best part.  Should we wander back onto the concrete desert, He doesn’t say, “Good grief or good luck.”  No, He just reaches out, takes us by the hand and pulls us back into the cool, green grass called His presence.  You gotta love that.

Well, I don’t know if you will ever feel compelled to rescue an earthworm or not.  But the next time you see one on the sidewalk on a too warm Spring Day, just remember the time He rescued you.  Remember the time He didn’t leave you out in the heat to become a crispy critter.  No, He reached down and picked you up.  Isn’t it great to have a God that cares? That you can rest in?  That’s got this. Yup…I know it’s so. Bro. Dewayne

Posted in Family, friends, Grace, gratitude, life, loving others, priorities, Scripture, sovereignty of God, thankful

Divine Appointments

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, come and give it.” Acts 13:15b

It was a divine appointment.  I love when things happen—things that you can spot a mile away as a Divine appointment.  Yesterday I had one and it literally changed the trajectory of my day.  So, I got out of bed, had some coffee and Jesus time and then headed downstairs.  It was a pretty good Jesus time and I could tell. It helped me decide to do the right thing and exercise and make my wife’s day by playing pickle ball. By the way, in case you are wondering, that part was fun even though my body thought otherwise.  Now, back to the God appointment.

I chatted with my wife Judy for a while and told her that I was going walking. She thought that was a good idea.  So, I put on my walking clothes and prepared to head out the door.  I was going to walk to the park, make a lap around the lake and come back. It’s one of my standard and favorite treks. But then it happened. I paused and told Judy, “I think I will walk out on the bike trail and check out the repairs they did on the bridge.” Trust me, the repairs were a good thing—some of the holes were big enough for a small elephant to fall through.  Anyway…so I did. I walked out to the bridge (great job repair guys) and then headed back toward the car and that is where the God moment happened.

As I neared my car, a guy in a truck stopped and rolled down his window. I walked over to the truck, and he began to tell me that he was a regular reader of Grits and how much he appreciated them.  That made my day…but then it got better.  He talked about how he and his girlfriend did devotions together and she would read a devotional and then they would read Grits together.  He was amazed at how often the devotion and Grits would work together to help them through the day.  How cool is that?  But wait…the story went on.  He shared how that he was on a journey to get closer to God and how he often wanted to fix life himself and how hard that was.  I was just nodding my head because that is something I know personally to be true.

You see, I am a fixer too and often, despite my best intentions—I fail, and I was able to share that with my friend. Getting it right can be hard—but then, there is my Dearest Daddy, my Best Friend and the Holy Spirit and they are all helping me, helping us and nudging me and us in the right direction.  I love that.  God (Father, Son Spirit—the Three in One) is working on my behalf.  So quickly, the Divine appointment was over and I’m pretty sure I can say two things.  First, my friend the Grits reader left a little more encouraged. Check.  Second, this Grits writer felt the same.  It made my day…not just that he was a reader, but that Grits was helping him on his journey.  That was incredible.

So, there you go.  A simple decision to walk, to choose the repaired bridge over the park and to walk at the exact time my friend was driving by, they all led to God doing His sweet work.  All of that just confirms what you and I probably know—that no matter what—no matter when—He’s got this.  Bro. Dewayne