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.

I Love My Family

We just spent a few days with my sister and brother and family. How fun to be able to surprise them for a five day visit. Interestingly - they were on the road at the same time we were. I called and spoke to my brother for an hour - only a couple hours away from each other. One of my last comments was: "I wish we could just be able to chat in the same room!" We arrived about 20 minutes before they did and were waiting for them upstairs at Christen's parents home where they are living. When they showed up - they were extremely surprised and we were very excited! James and Christen are headed to Brazil soon, and we wanted to spend some well needed time with them. Our intention was to show up and do whatever we could with them and that's what we did. James and I spent some time at the consulate taking a stab at getting some visas. The trip there gave us an opportunity to have good spiritual conversation. What a blessing to have talks like this with my own brother. That evening we went for a 6 mile jog - something we have done individually, but rarely together. The next day we took off to the beach in Galveston. This was a fun time all around. Feeding birds and ... well that's mostly what I remember about that. On (Wed - nes -day: inside joke) we watched "The Last Sin Eater" - an excellent Christian new release! That afternoon in talking with Rachel a bit - we decided we needed to stay in Texas another day and help her purchase a laptop as she was in desperate need of one. We were successful and Rachel is the proud owner of a laptop computer. These events stand out in my mind, but not as much as just the simple times on the couch or around the table talking and fellowshipping. This is a gift from heaven that I'm sure many families would covet. I love my family and I love God for drawing our hearts to Him which has produced edifying and encouraging conversation and fellowship. I thank God for Rachel, James, Christen, Daniel, Hannah, and little Jeremiah, as well Christen's Godly parents - Albert and Patty Armitage. They treated us as family and we are grateful for their hospitality - something that cannot be repaid.

A Journey to Victorious Praying - Bill Thrasher

I was reading through this book given to me by my friend Josh.

The following thoughts were helpful:

"Thy typical evangelistic prayer focuses on praying for the lost. This is certainly appropriate, but the clear emphasis in Scripture is to pray in a different direction. Jesus' burden for the lost multitude resulted in His instruction to pray that the Lord would send laborers into the harvest field (Matthew 9:38). In His deep burden for the unsaved He commanded prayer for the saints instead of the sinner. Likewise Paul requested prayer for both the opportunity to witness (Colossians 4:3) and the courage to present the gospel (Ephesians 6:19-20). To pray for our lost friends is a naturally loving instinct, but it is God's Word that guides us how to do so."

Good Observation!