Tag: path of life

Posted in Grace, gratitude, life, patience, Scripture

Near or Far–He’s the Light

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Psalm 119:105

I love a good deal. If you know me…you know I love to find a good deal. Back in the old days finding those deals involved going to a brick and mortar store and walking the aisles. These days…well things have changed. Every morning, after getting my cup of coffee and spending some time with Jesus, I check my email. I have several emails that come every morning and they tell me about deals offered by various sellers. Two of my favorites are Amazon and Walmart.

Well, the other day, Amazon was offering a way cool flashlight. It was rechargeable and insanely bright and best of all they had it on sale for $9.99–one third the regular price. What a deal. Well, I ordered one and in a few days it was delivered to my door step and guess what? It was everything they said it would be. One of the features that I really liked was you could choose between spotlight mode or wide-angle mode. The spotlight mode could light up a tree over a hundred yards away. On the other hand, the wide-angle mode was perfect for walking. The beam was at least six feet wide and made walking at night a breeze.

Yup…the choice was mine…long distance or closeup. It would seem that every flashlight would offer such a feature…but they don’t. But wait…shouldn’t, or why wouldn’t…God do the same through His Word? Well, in His wisdom God decided to let His Word light up our path only a few hours or maybe a days ahead. In Psalm 119:105 we read, “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Have you ever wondered why He choose that way of doing business?

Well, I can share at least two reasons. First, it helps us to learn to depend on Him. If I am walking at night, I have to constantly redirect the beam as I walk my path. That is what God does with His Word. We have to depend on Him to light the path to keep us safe. The second reason is He knows if we know too much we will become overwhelmed. You see sometimes too much is just too much so He shows us only as much as we can handle.

So there you go! To walk physically at night…get yourself a great flashlight. But to walk the path of life, be sure and allow the Word of God and the God of the Word to light your path. Oh, and don’t get ahead of the light. Walk patiently and wait for Him to reveal the way to go. You can trust Him to reveal what needs to be revealed when it needs to be revealed. After all, He’s got this.  Bro. Dewayne

Posted in Family, food, friends, Grace, gratitude, heaven, life, loving others, prayer, Scripture, sovereignty of God, thankful

Just Follow the Recipe

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

It sounds morbid but it’s not…I think.  My wife Judy and I have been married forever and that means we are not quite as young as we used to be.  Sometimes, to pass the time, we joke around and sometimes that includes what would happen if one of us was to uh, well, you know, pass.  So, I’ve always told her if she was to go first, I wouldn’t remarry…I would just get a dog.  I laugh and she laughs but then she always assures me that would never work.  She and I both know just how much I depend on her to do life.  I can clean house…kinda.  I can wash clothes…sorta…you know, all in one big load but there is one thing that I can’t do.  I can’t cook.

When she leaves town to babysit or whatever, the menu at the Taylor house changes dramatically.  If it is anything more than grits in the microwave, a sandwich, or a frozen dinner…we are in deep weeds.  So, the other day, when my friend David began talking about cooking, I started listening.  He is a great cook. On that particular day it was a smoked Boston butt with the fixings and a homemade, handmade peach cobbler with homemade ice cream.  Like I said…he can cook.

As we were talking about cooking, he mentioned that he had a food scale and instead of measuring all the ingredients, he weighed all the ingredients (in grams). So instead of a cup of flour you might have 283 grams of flour. He said that most recipes give the amounts in grams too. And, if you do this, it becomes easy to follow a recipe and if I could follow a recipe, I should be able to cook. Boom! The cooking problem solved, and I could still get a dog.

The big thing about the scale is that it is just more accurate.  A packed cup of flour is probably a lot more than a cup of flour loosely put in the cup.  Well, the more accurate the measurements are, the better the end result.  Are you tracking with me?  The scale is a game changer and guess what?  So is God. Just like the scale would help me stay on track with the recipe, so God can and will help me walk the path of life.  With Him, life isn’t perfect, but it is better…so much better.

The reason I am a terrible cook isn’t that I can’t read, it is that I want to change the recipe. I always figure if one cup of sugar is good…two would certainly be better.  If a teaspoon of cinnamon is good in an apple pie…well, two should be twice as good.  But if I had a scale and was willing to follow the scale…I could make a perfect pie every time.  And when I, when we, are willing to follow God in the recipe of life…we can cook up some good pies…trust me.

 I have grown to love something that is recorded in one of the Old Testament books.  In Jeremiah 29:11 God says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” I know that is written to the nation of Israel, but I also know the truth is written for every one of God’s kids.  So, as you are whipping up days and experiences in the kitchen of life, be sure and invite God to come along.  Follow Him and the disasters are fewer and farther apart.  When the dust from the flour clears, you can be assured that, “He’s got this.” Bro. Dewayne