25,000; Twenty-Five Thousand; 25K; 25 Large!

August 1, 2015August 1, 2015 / Andy R Taylor / 2 Comments

That’s how many “Views” I’ve received on my blog, “The Way I See It”, since January 1 (25,145 as of this post!). I’ve posted 130 times. Whoever you are, where ever you are….I appreciate you taking the time to read the blogs! It’s my deepest desire that the blog has blessed you in some way. Give me some feedback! What are your favorite blogs? Mention two or three that have helped you in some way. Hit the “Share” button on FaceBook so your FB friends can access the blog.

Listed below are the Top-Ten Blog Posts ranked by how many times they’ve been read. If you haven’t read them….do it now! If you have….you might want to read them again. I’ve also included a few that are some of my very favorite. *By clicking on the red link you can go straight to that blog. I’d like to grow the, “The Way I See It”, family so I’m asking you to “Share” when you like a post and recommend that your friends become “Followers”.

Lady Gaga, Little Monsters & Jesus!

All I Know is God Loved John Very, Very Much!

VIP #4 – Paul Luchsinger

VIP #1 – Booger Bryant

Quit Telling Me What the Problem Is!

Bless the Lloyd!

“Keith” – It Was a Short Friendship….But a Good One!

Branson to Cherokee – The Longest Night I Ever Spent

Maybe You Should Quit Whippin’ Your Own A#$!

You’re Not Welcome Here!

………..and a few of my very favorite ones.

“Obviously, I’m God’s Favorite”!

You May Not Know This, But I’m Kind of a Big Deal!

It Ain’t Grace’s Fault!

Tee-Ball…..The #1, Undisputed, Very Best Team Sport of ‘Em All!!

How Gunnar Payne Changed the World!

……….or if you just need a good laugh!

The ‘Baddest’ Dang Turkey in Arkansas!

That Whole, “Greet the Brethren With a Holy Kiss” Thing, is Waaay Overrated!!

Just Some Friendly Advice: Always Approach a Possum With Extreme Caution!!

Thanks again for reading the blogs!! Weigh in on your favorites and spread the word!!

THANKS!!

The Very Least We Can Do Is Have a “Day” For Them!!

May 10, 2015May 10, 2015 / Andy R Taylor / Leave a comment

Mother’s Day! Heck yeah! That’s a holiday we should all get behind. The value of a mother could never be over-communicated. Moms deserve to be recognized, honored and maybe even pampered a little. After all, they’ve spent a good deal of their life carrying, feeding, doctoring, nurturing, grooming, cuddling, cleaning up after, dressing, giving, shopping for, honoring, supporting, interceding for, building up, caring for, educating, fiercely protecting, taxiing to all kinds of activities, sacrificing for, encouraging, instructing, defending, gently correcting and most important of all……loving us and our children!

I’ve had the incredible blessing to have the greatest Mom in the world! She did all those things I listed above…and a whole lot more for my brother and me. As Mom’s go, she never missed a single thing in our growing up and has continued to be a voice of stability and encouragement in our adult years as well. She has always been extremely supportive in anything we’ve ever done and would fight a grizzly bear for us, even to this day! The older I get, the more I realize how important she has been to me in my life. I’m beyond grateful!

I would bet that nobody on earth could come close to being as good a Mom as mine, that is, until I married Julie and we had Clint after just being married a year! Then I saw her in action as a Mom and, I’ll be danged, she was just as good with our kids as Mom was with us. She put her own dreams on the back-burner and never wavered as an awesome Mom! Her whole life has been devoted to doing all those things listed above, and more, for our kids….for the past 37 years. There couldn’t have been a better one anywhere on the planet for our bunch. I don’t even have the words to adequately communicate how grateful I am for Julie, and the stability she’s brought to our home as a Mom! Don’t be surprised if you happen to look in the dictionary, under “mother”, and see a picture of Charlene Taylor and Julie Taylor. Because they embody, and exemplify, every single thing that an authentic Mother should be.

So to just have a ‘day’ to honor our Moms seems kind of like a ‘rip-off’ to me! We ought to have a Mother’s Month…..but if you can’t see your way to do that, be sure and make Today a great day for Mom! She deserves it!

We Oughta Get Our Ducks in a Row!! Part 3 – Parenting Our Children

May 5, 2015May 5, 2015 / Andy R Taylor / 2 Comments

Getting our ducks in a row involves setting our priorities in proper order. #1 on that list is to give our spiritual life the attention that it needs. #2 is making your relationship with our spouse as important as it’s really supposed to be. It just makes sense that #3 would be to work on our responsibility as parents.

Being a parent is one of the greatest blessings that we can experience in our lifetime. Children are a ‘gift’ of the Lord. I’ve often said, and I totally believe it’s true that the love we have for our children is exactly like the love the Father has for us. We don’t love our children because we’re supposed to; we don’t love them because it’s the ‘noble’ thing to do; we don’t love them because it’s right; No, while all those things may be somewhat true…..we love our children just exactly like the Father loves us…..because He can’t help it!!

This is not a conclusive treatise and I’m far from an expert on parenting but I have learned a few things in my 38 years of being a dad. Some of those things I’ve learned the hard way….by doing them wrong first. Maybe I can pass along a few tips so you won’t have to learn them that way.

Everything we’ve done down through the years, we’ve done as a family…..I mean the ‘whole crew’! That’s one of the things that I think we really got right! We hardly ever missed any activities that our kids were involved in. That’s quite a challenge when you have as many kids as we had! There were a lot of days I’d come home from work to find a note from Julie that she had gone to one of the kid’s soccer games. I’d head out and make a baseball game of one of the the others. Those things, I think, are really important!

We all have to work for a living but our jobs are never more important than our children. It’s a challenge but we need to learn to adjust our lives so we’re able to spend quality time with our kids. We’ve done a good job in showing and telling our kids that they’re loved. We’ve disciplined them. We’ve tried to release them so they could each be the person the Lord wants them to be. All those things say loud and clear, “I love you”!

You May Not Know This, But I’m Kind of a Big Deal!

March 11, 2015January 23, 2022 / Andy R Taylor / 4 Comments

True statement! But, probably not a ‘big deal’ in the way you were thinking. I receive speaking invitations fairly often. Most of them I say, “No” to because I believe I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing by being at my own church every week. But occasionally and ‘invite’ will come along that I just can’t say “No” to.

It happened again a couple of weeks ago; an invitation came my way that’s my ‘dream speaking engagement’! Yep, it did! I got invited for about the fourth time to do the Sayre Public Schools Kindergarten Graduation! I must’ve done a good job the other few times or they wouldn’t have me back, huh? Well, the truth be known….I have another grandchild that’s graduating Kindergarten, and that’s why, and only why, I get invited to do it. It’s Calli this time and I can’t wait for the day.

The ‘wonder’ on the faces of every one of these little kids never ceases to amaze me. Their little eyes are full of excitement and expectation, to the degree that makes me wonder, “What happened to the rest of us?”. Why, ….and how did we lose that sense of excitement and expectation? We had it……but for the most part, it’s gone now. Life, if we’re not really, really careful can, and will, take it all out of us.

My favorite part of the ceremony is when each of them comes to the mic and tells the audience what they want to be when they grow up. They say everything from being a ‘monster truck driver’, to being president. I love their approach to life….they believe they can do it.

Being the “Keynote Speaker” at the Kindergarten graduation is another great reminder for me to somehow try and regain the excitement that life can bring. And me,….. no….I’m no ‘big deal’ at all. But I do know what I want to be when I grow up……….I want to be just like these little Kindergarteners!

“The Way I See It”

February 5, 2015February 5, 2015 / Andy R Taylor / 2 Comments

Hoping that the “Reflect & Refocus” Blogs were a blessing to you! There’ll be some new blogs headed your way. I’m going to mix it up some. I’m starting with the first of a series that I call “VIP”; It’s about a rodeo friend that left a mark on my life years ago. You’ll like the Blog! There’s a good number of people who have had a profound influence on my life, some directly and some indirectly, and some that I just admire. There’ll be some rodeo stories coming up too, from that part of my life. I’ll be writing about relationships, some leadership issues, things I’ve learned about being a pastor, a dad, a grandfather and just some issues of life things!

I hope you’ll take the time to go to the Blog Page @ http://www.andyrtaylor.com and click the “Follow” link. You’ll get an email every time I make a post. If you find some that you especially like, “Share” them and pass them along to your friends and family. I’d really appreciate your feedback so add your comments if you have the time!

Thank you so much for joining me on the ‘journey’!!