Alive and Well

Despite the popular belief that we dropped off the face of the planet, we are alive, well, and very grateful for many things.

First and foremost - the blood of Jesus Christ that has removed the wrath of God toward us and imputed to us the righteousness of Christ. This gift alone makes all others seem insignificant!

Second, we thank the Lord for our son! He is growing like a weed and is teaching us many lessons about how selfish and impatient we can be. The joy that comes from parenting is indescribable, though sometimes difficult to find in the midst of all the chaos. As of late however, the responsive smile has brought the most joy to our lives.

Third, we are grateful for the gift of friendships! This past weekend, we took off for a meeting in Asheville, NC and then decided to go up to Louisville, KY to visit our friends Josh and Gretchen. It is hard to communicate exactly what happens in our hearts when we see these friends. Sharon and I were commenting on our time with them in the car on the way home, so here are some of our thoughts - so as to avoid an actual thank you card!

Josh and Gret - you encourage us in ways that no one else can. Your zeal for the Lord is unmatched in that of any other friends we have. You know the Scripture and theology in a way that confuses and excites us - only because we are ignorant of the many facets of some of those truths. Our conversation simply stimulates us to get back home and search truth in a deeper way. Thank you for your obedience to Christ and your friendship with us. We eagerly anticipate the way the Lord will glorify Himself through you in ministry.

The fourth thing is in fact one of the greatest worship experiences in my life. We joined Josh and Gret at Clifton Baptist Church this past Sunday. Josh and Gret help in the Junior High Sunday School class- so that's where we went for S.S. - and I know what you may be thinking. What could be learned by two adult Christians during a time such as this devoted to kids - and out of the book of Judges? The teacher actually read through the entire first chapter and went through an excellent exposition of the text. The kids followed along and interacted in a very real way. The teaching methods included a simple white board, an atlas, and God's Word. The teachers careful preparation was visible and at the very least extremely helpful. If I return to Clifton - I believe I'll join the junior high class.
After an hour of good teaching and application we progress to the auditorium just in time for the service. The choir begins with a piece directing thanks to God. This piece is sung several times woven with lengthy portions of Scripture that are read from the pulpit. We sang a hymn and were followed by a church member who prayed at length with great gratitude. We sang a couple choruses mixed with some congregational sentence prayers of thanksgiving. In conclusion we were blessed with some expositional thoughts from I Corinthians 10 on grumbling. Bruce Ware turned our attention to the Israelites and their grumbling by using several Old Testament passages as sub-texts. What a challenge as thanksgiving is up on us. At least 1/3 of the congregation stuck around in the auditorium simply to fellowship even though it was now 12:15. My heart was so stirred and uplifted. Why you might ask! Scripture reading, corporate prayer, thankful worship, and Biblical expositional preaching. May all our churches be characterized with these indispensable elements.

WEHADABABYIT'SABOY!

Gabriel David Taylor

Born: September 23, 2007 at 7:52 P.M.

7 pounds 9 ounces

21 1/4 inches long

3 1/2 inch long feet

dark hair, dark eyes

Healthy

Glory to God!

2 Simple Joys

In the past week a couple things have happened that brought great joy. You might think these are rediculous and that's fine if you do. I felt blessed and encouraged through these circumstances.

First - I quit my job at Papa Johns! You might think that the joy is in quitting my job. Certainly that is a small part of it. But there was greater joy in resigning my work there. God has given me an opportunity to be a light at work. Many co-workers heard the good news of the gospel. God allowed me to have good friendship with both of the head managers during my time there. God provided an income for us in the midst of deputation. The greatest joy though came in my explanation to co-workers as to why I was leaving! Everyone was curious. "You are having a baby and you don't have another job lined up - why quit now?" The response is obvious but makes no sense to someone who is lost in their sin. My response: "I am quitting trusting God to provide for our needs and our support level." The looks on people's faces - priceless! Hopefully this would draw their minds to think: "who is this God?". You will not be suprised to know that the day I quit my work - we received news of an increase in our support. God is faithful!

Second - The soccer team I coach won their first game of the season yesterday! You may be thinking: so what! To put things into perspective - this is the team who lost every game and tied one game last season. The look on those guys faces at the end of the game - again - priceless! We started the game down one goal and I was getting that feeling I had the whole season last year. By the end of the first half though - we had tied the game. It was neck and neck for most of the game until there was about 4 minutes left and one of there players slapped the ball with his hand in their box! Penalty Kick! Sam shot and scored the winning goal! We barely held them off until the end of the game, but we won! We lined up to shake hands with the opposing team and for the first time coaching we shook hands as the winning team!

I am grateful for the simple joys God brings into our life. Joys that point to Him and magnify Him. I'm certainly not saying that we prayed to win the game and we won -so praise the Lord. But I am thankful for the simple joys that God allows us to experience.

Hang tight - in 2-3 weeks you'll be hearing about an astronomic joy - Baby Taylor.

Teen Girls Camp

Praise God for a wonderful week at Mt. View Bible Camp in Virginia. We had the missionary time each morning which proved to be an excellent time. We spent some time sharing about Brazil, teaching a song in portuguese and most importantly sharing what is at the center of missions - namely the glory of God!

We were responsible for an activity every day - so I enjoyed using some of my games from years past as an activity director! They seemed to be a hit!

Thursday night there was a camp fire service. I took the opportunity to challenge the girls on the public confessed commitments they made. All to often I remember making decisions at camp that fizzled about as quick as that fire. That evening as I read from II Cor.3:18 (conformity into God's image) my encouragement for them was that they might stand and give testimony in 2008 of how God had given them grace to be faithful the entire year and not waver. I know it is difficult, but I believe we need to hear more testimonies of victorious Christian living. May God help us!

Thankfully, Sharon has felt very good throughout the whole pregnancy with the exception of some swollen feet. She was a great help to me this week and I thank God for her. On Thursday Sharon shared her testimony and a brief challenge with the girls and it was quite encouraging - especially since I rarely get a chance hear my wife speak.

Please pray for us this next week as we have missions conference locally.

Be sure to thank the Lord for an additional 7% of support - putting us at 57%!

Thank you all for praying - God bless

About Grandpa Mac

My grandfather died last week. He was 89 years old and had been anxiously waiting his turn to go to heaven for years. If funerals can be good, Grandpa's definitely fell into that category. Of course there were tears and sadness as Grandpa's six surviving children mourned the loss of their father, but overall, his funeral was a celebration of a life that pleased God, a life not wasted.

When Grandpa was a teenager, he hitchhiked across the US during the Depression in search of a job. He made it out to California from North Carolina by hopping trains and had many adventures along the way. He wrote a book about it, and if anyone is interested in having a copy, let me know and I will send one to you. Grandpa wrote several books after he retired and would give them out as a personal ministry.

In his early twenties, he married my grandmother and the two of them prepared for ministry at Moody Bible Institute. He missed serving in the war because of this, but he was preparing for battle to be waged in a different war. He and Grandma served in the West Indies for forty years as missionaries. I don't know how many churches were started under their ministry, but I know some of them are still thriving today.

My grandparents may have retired from the mission field in the Caribbean, but they definitely did not retire from serving God. Their pastor who spoke at Grandpa's funeral said that if a church were filled with people like my grandparents, the pastor of that church would be like the Maytag repairman -- nothing to do. After Grandma died in 2005, Grandpa moved into a retirement home. He said that God had placed him in another mission field, and he was very open and vocal about his testimony and about the Gospel. In fact, because he was known as Gene and his room number was 316, he earned the nickname of Gene 3:16.

As I grew older and got to know Grandpa better, I was reminded of the rich spiritual heritage God has blessed me with. Grandpa loved God and His Word, and this fact defined his life. He loved to study and there are boxes of books from his library that he left behind. My dad mentioned that some of the books were dated after my grandparents' retirement, and he was challenged by the fact that Grandpa never stopped growing spiritually and studying God's Word.

My sisters and I liked to take Grandpa out when he was living at the retirement home. He loved good food and ice cream and we loved to laugh at his very blunt statements. One thing that was said about him at his funeral was that he understood the balance between being a missionary, a husband and a father. He definitely loved his family dearly and he liked to tell people how many grands and great-grands he had. My baby will be great grandchild number 26, and a couple of my aunts told me that they watched Grandpa get a smile on his face when he saw me and my growing tummy the last time he was at a family function, just two weeks before he died. I think he was happy that his family would go on after he left. As part of the family he left behind, I pray that I will honor his legacy by telling my children of this great man who was their great grandfather, who loved God with all of his heart, who was always kind and humble, who longed to be with God in heaven and lived his whole life as a testimony to that truth.

My mom found this statement written in one of Grandpa's Bibles, and David and I were both challenged by it: "I have no personal plans for the future except to teach and preach the Gospel to more people in more places, villages and islands." That he did to the very end of his life.