security – Grits with Grace

communication, Grace, life, Scripture, spiritual battles

No Hoops–Just Believe

Posted on December 3, 2024December 2, 2024 by Dewayne Taylor

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” John 10:27

How can something so simple be so complicated. I don’t really do Facebook but my wife Judy told me I needed to check in and see if there are any comments from our faithful Grits readers. So I sat down at my computer…determined to check in on Facebook. Gathering my courage, I gave it a shot. I started with the usual process: username, password, the whole nine yards. But what I didn’t expect was the complexity of hoops Facebook was about to make me jump through.

I clicked on the Facebook icon, ready to breeze through the login page. But no, it wasn’t going to be that simple. The first hurdle appeared: “We need to confirm your identity.” Oh, great. Apparently, Facebook didn’t trust that I was really me. I mean, I get it; security is important, especially with all the hacks and data breaches that have made us all a little more paranoid. But still, this was a little over the top.

I was prompted to enter my phone number to receive a code via text. Fine, no problem, I thought. I punched in my digits, waited for the text, and then typed in the verification code. But that wasn’t the end of it. I’ve even heard sometimes they want a photo to verify your identity. The mere thought of that caused me to get even more frustrated. A photo? Seriously? I couldn’t help but think, “when did logging into a social media site become such a high-stakes, high-tech operation?”

But wait—there was more! I could choose to answer security questions. One of them was, “What is the name of your first pet?” I typed in the answer, hit the key, and waited. No dice. The system still wasn’t convinced. I felt like I was trying to crack a vault, not just get into Facebook. I eventually gave up, deciding to log in later, but the whole experience left me exasperated. I just wanted to read some of the comments some of you left on our Grits page. That’s it. Instead, I was stuck feeling like I was a thief trying to break into my own account.

Then, as I sat there fuming, it hit me. All of this made me so grateful that there is no login process like this for God. You don’t have to jump through hoops or submit forms to get His attention or talk with Him. No selfies, no verification codes, no waiting for a text message. All you need to do is believe that His Son Jesus is who He said He was and that He did what He said He did. No hurdles to clear, no forms to fill out. Just simple faith in Him, and that’s enough. How about that!

So now you know why I rarely comment on your comments on Facebook. While logging into Facebook had become a frustrating ordeal I am so grateful my relationship with God isn’t bound by any complicated process—never was and never will be. It is simple—believe and you are known. No hoops to jump through, just grace to receive. I am so glad that my Dearest Daddy knows me and tells me that no matter what—He’s got this. Bro. Dewayne

Family, Grace, gratitude, life, prayer, priorities, Scripture, Southern born, sovereignty of God, thankful, Trials

A Bad Idea–But God

Posted on May 18, 2022May 17, 2022 by Dewayne Taylor

I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous abandoned or his children begging for bread.” Psalm 37:25

It seemed like a really, bad idea. Right after high school graduation I jumped into the Air Force, and it turned out to be a really good idea. Back in those days, or so it seemed, college wasn’t pushed for everyone, and I was pretty uncertain about what I wanted to do. So, through a strange set of circumstances, I found myself in the military. I loved it. Raised as a good southern boy, the discipline required for a life in the service came naturally. I was taught to respect others and especially those appointed over me. “Yes sir” and “Yes ma’am” were part of my vocabulary long before the Air Force taught me to say it.

By 1980, I had been stationed in Minot, North Dakota, Valdosta, Georgia (where I met and married the best wife a guy could ask for), spent three years in Germany and finally landed in Knob Noster, Missouri. Like I said, I liked the Air Force, and it seemed the Air Force liked me. I was picked for several key assignments and was on track promotion wise. With a young family, the security the Air Force provided was an added benefit and while I wasn’t going to get rich in the Air Force, the pay provided a good life. Yup…life was good.

Then God spoke. No, it wasn’t an audible voice, but it was one clear enough that I knew He had a change of plans in mind. I felt, I knew that He was calling me to become a pastor but that wasn’t all. I also knew for me that meant leaving the Air Force. I think that was probably for a couple of reasons. First, I knew that as long as I was in the Air Force, I would be tempted to lean on that for security and not God. Second, I also knew that the Air Force would be calling the shots about my future. Well, that led up to me making one of the biggest changes in my life…after 12 years…leaving the lifestyle and security of the Air Force and jumping into the secure arms of faith and the life of a pastor.

When I went public with this it seemed that everyone had an opinion and a lot of those opinions followed one school thought—you are nuts. Certainly, the military thought it was a bad idea. After all, they liked me, and I liked them. I was on track for a good career and great retirement. You see, with the military, you can retire with 20 years and draw a pension equal to half of your base pay. You also get other benefits for the rest of your life. All that led to the “you are nuts” thing and this is really not good idea. But then…there was God.

You see, I was, oh, somewhere beyond probably and just shy of absolutely certain that God was asking me, telling me to do this. And somehow, some way, Judy and I with two toddlers under three were able to believe and jump. And now, forty years later, I am able to say that God took that “really not a good idea” and turned it into a really good idea. He has faithfully and completely cared for us over these four decades. I’m sure if I had stayed in the Air Force, I would have had a nice, secure life. I’m sure things would have turned out just fine. But God’s idea went somewhere beyond nice and secure and somewhere beyond just fine.

If I’ve learned anything from all of this, it is that God’s ideas are always, and I do mean always, better than mine. I have learned and I am learning that faith beats fine every time. The adventure, the challenges, the “mysterious ways of God” that we have experienced together trumps a nice retirement and manmade security. There’s a verse, and I’m really not sure all that it means, but it sure seems to ring true with me. The author says that he had never seen the righteous forsaken or his family begging for bread. Like I said, I’m not sure what that means entirely but looking back from where I sit, it says, “God is good, God is faithful, and God can be trusted.”

God is good, God is faithful, and God can be trusted. Period. Your story is probably a lot different than mine but if you are a God follower let’s all agree on that part. He really is good, He really is faithful, and yes, He can be trusted. So, in these days of uncertainty and in these days when up is down and down is up—listen carefully for the still small voice of your Dearest Daddy. Let Him whisper His better idea…and then trust. Don’t worry, you are not nuts—you’re a man, a woman and child of faith. And that is always best because, “He’s got this.” Bro. Dewayne

Family, fear, life, loving others, priorities, Scripture, sovereignty of God, wisdom

Faith

Posted on October 28, 2020October 28, 2020 by Dewayne Taylor

When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food, and here I am dying of hunger! I’ll get up, go to my father…” Luke 15:17-18a

Houston, we have a problem. The words rambled around the silent control center. There was trouble in space and men’s lives were hanging in the balance. It wasn’t as bad as they thought. It was worse—much worse. The command module of Apollo 13 was damaged beyond use and their only hope was a frail lifeboat called the lunar module. They were off course, a long way from home, and running out of oxygen. Their prospects were beyond bleak. The morale breaker was, as the crew commander said, “We just lost the moon.” Perhaps, just perhaps, you can identify with them. Our world is laden with things that might cause some of us to doubt our survivability. But don’t lose hope because help is on the way. More on that later.

The plan was to bring the spacecraft around the moon and slingshot it back on its way to earth. They passed within twenty-five miles of the moon. Twenty-five miles. The explosion had made the possibility of a moon landing an impossibility. They could look but not touch. The thing they had planned for, trained for and risked their lives for, slipped silently between their fingers. Crises can do that, you know. As COVID circled the globe, we lost the moon…we lost our purpose…we lost our dreams. Businesses were closed, churches were closed and families were left jobless and isolated. But don’t lose hope because help is on the way. More on that later.

As they rounded the moon they were slung by the moon’s gravity toward the earth. Still problem after problem arose and had to be overcome. They were literally running out of oxygen. Unless they found a way to “scrub” the air and make it more breathable, they would die. Amazingly, the guys on the ground literally created a way to do that, and then shared with the crew how to do it there. The ground guys had one rule. They could only use what the guys in space had to use. So with some scraps, a roll of duct tape and a hose or two they made it happen. Their situation probably seemed a little like your situation. Pretty hard, pretty difficult, nearly impossible, but don’t lose hope because help is on the way. More on that later.

As they neared the earth they grew ever closer to the most dangerous obstacle of all—reentry. If they were just a fraction of a degree off, if the heat shield didn’t hold, if there were any of a thousand things not quite right—they would burn up in the super heated friction of our atmosphere. Their back was against the wall and their chances were slanted in the wrong direction. So many people feel the same way today. I know because I see it and sometimes I feel it. Mine is caused by frustration…frustration that there are too many things that I can’t control. I want to fix it and I can’t—neither one of us can. We have a choice—we can lose hope and “burn up on reentry” or we can refuse to lose hope and believe because—help is on the way.

Remember the “more on that later”—well later is now. You see, those astronauts had to believe—they had to have faith. They had to choose to believe. They did and miraculously they had a near perfect entry and landing. It was amazing. And just like when the guys landed on the moon just a few months earlier—the crowds went wild again. They needed some good news and they got it. Their world was racked by division over the Vietnam War, mistrust in the government, crazy economics, racial divide and a thousand other things. That one miraculous victory helped, at least for the moment, to pull their world back together.

That’s what we need now…that one miraculous victory. And as much as we need a cure for the virus, or the right political victory or some other “deal,” we need to regain our spiritual equilibrium. In every major crisis, this nation somehow righted itself and somehow managed to find enough faith to believe—in God. Some who knew Him rediscovered Him. Some who had walked away—walked straight back home into His arms. Some who had never believed found the faith to start. Miracles do happen…everyday.

Maybe, just maybe, the safety, the security, the hope you are looking for is not in a piece of cloth or a vaccine or a political victory. Maybe, just maybe, it is in a God who wants to be your Father. Why not take a moment and take a rest—in Him? And then, ask Him to help you believe that—He’s got this.