Critics……..There’s One On Every Corner

It doesn’t matter if you’re the soccer coach for 5-year-olds, a member of the city council, or the Pope….you’re going to have critics. I’m not talking about the professional critic that writes his assessment of a Broadway play for a newspaper, or one who publicly talks about the latest Brad Pitt movie. No, I’m talking about the ‘amateur’ critic; you know, the ones you and I encounter almost every day.

It’s just one of those, kind of, unpleasant facts of life. It just seems inevitable that if you’re doing anything that’s public or anything that really matters that there’s going to be someone ‘standing around’ criticizing either, what you’re doing…..or how you’re doing it. These criticisms can come in many forms and some of them can be quite vicious.

I know, in doing what I do, that character is extremely important. And the criticisms that come my way that strike at my character are the hardest to deal with for me. I learned years ago that anyone can make any kind of accusation toward you. The accusation might not have a single shred of truth to it…..but there always seems to be those out there who want to believe the worst about you. Below are some things I’ve learned in over 25 + years of being a target of criticism:

  1. I’ve learned to look at myself and see if there’s any validity to their accusations. If so, I’ll need to adjust!
  2. It’s taken a while but I don’t get as upset as I used to when I’m criticized. It’s just part of the ‘deal’!
  3. I’ve learned to pray for my persecutors; Very hard at first, but I know it’s ‘right’! This helps me….more than them!
  4. I’ve resolved to not get too stirred up by someone who talks ‘about’ me…..but won’t talk ‘to’ me!
  5. These criticisms seek to distract us from what’s important. I try to get my focus back ‘on’!

As much practice as I’ve had……I’m still far from perfect. We should look to Jesus; He’s the perfect example when it comes to enduring criticism and persecution!

One of my very favorite quotes about criticism:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”  Teddy Roosevelt

 

It Still Ain’t Over!

“It Ain’t Over Til’ It’s Over”; Nearly all of us have heard that quote. We know it’s from Yogi! Yogi Berra  (click on the highlighted link for full biography) died yesterday at age 90. To youngsters today he’s mostly known for his ingenious  and witty quotes….like the one above. But for a ’53 model like myself he stands for a whole lot more. As a kid I was an avid New York Yankees fan. I knew all the players names for the Yankees in those days. I’d call those the “Golden Years of Baseball’. That’s just my own opinion of course but I’ve never been as enthused about the sport since those days. Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle were in a race for the most home runs. Two great athletes on the same ball club. For me, it was unforgettable. It was an era marked by….if you started with a ball club, in most cases you finished with the same club. Not a lot of trading around like there is these days. I liked it better.

Yogi was the catcher in all those great years for the Yanks. Not only was he a great catcher, he was a slugger as well. Five different times in his career he had more home runs than strikeouts (Thanks R Bea). Stop and think about that one for a minute! And get this: Besides being a Professional Baseball Hall of Famer, Yogi was a 3-time American League MVP…..and 10 times World Series Winner (played in 14)! At 5′ 7″ and 185 lbs Yogi hit 358 home runs and drove in 1430 runs in his stellar 18 year career! 

I thought it would be especially fitting on this day to post some of Yogi’s quotes:

“Baseball is 90% mental, the other half is physical”

“All pitchers are liars, or crybabies”IMG_0668

“He hits from both sides of the plate, he’s amphibious”

“Everybody pair up in threes”

“It gets late early out here”

“I usually take a 2 hour nap from 1 to 4”

“You can’t think and hit at the same time”

“It’s deja vu all over again”

“You can observe a lot by just watching”

“Even Napolean had his Watergate”

“Cut my pizza in 4 pieces, I don’t think I can eat 8”

“Never answer an anonymous letter”

“When you come to a fork in the road, take it”

“If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up someplace else”

“Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded”

“The future ain’t what it used to be”“A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore”

“I never said most of the things I said”

“Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t go to yours'”

………and…….“It ain’t over ’til it’s over”

And in your case, Yogi…..it’ll never be over! A few of us’ll never forget!

Well done!

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God Loves You, And There’s Nothing You Can Do About It!

There’s not a truer statement! But there are millions out there who, for some odd reason, think differently. And to compound the problem there’s the over religious, self-righteous, doctrinal police, church guy telling everyone that God’s mad at them. That’s the result when people read their Bible but have no actual relationship with the Father. That person has no understanding of the grace of God.

I was just talking to a friend a day or two ago that I hadn’t seen in 4 or 5 years. He said that he’d been in a hard place. Upon the death of his father several years ago he blamed God for it and turned his back on Him. His exact words were, “God, just leave me alone.” But what he found after a few years of being mad at God…….was that the Father just loved him more! And somehow He loved my friend back into relationship with Himself! ……..that’s the God that I know!

Have you been mad at God? I know a lot of people who have been mad at Him at one time or another. It’s understandable. Some of them have been mad at Him for years. And for the most part, their anger has resulted from something that they believed God mishandled. There’s everything from, “God, why did you let my mom die?” to “Why do you make my life like it is?”  What would you think if I told you that God can ‘take’ that….He really can. And, in some strange way, I think He understands. After all, ….He made us! But what’s amazing is that He never, ever lets that affect His love for you in an adverse way. Much to the contrary; I think it’s like my friend experienced….He’ll just end up loving you more. 

There’s nothing you can do to diminish the Father’s love for you…..not one degree! You can be mad at Him, you can cuss Him, you can even tell Him you hate Him and turn your back on Him. But He’ll still keep on loving you……and there’s nothing you can do about it!

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“Opportunism” Is Not a Good Thing – But Have You Thought About It From This Perspective??

Opportunism is not a positive word; not a positive thing. Wikipedia’s definition: the conscious policy and practice of taking selfish advantage of circumstances – with little regard for principles, or with what the consequences are for others. Therefore, an opportunist is someone who takes advantage of someone else’s misfortune….and for their own gain. That’s not nice!

But I have another perspective to think about. In fact, we’ve been practicing it to some degree for 20+ years. An ‘opportunist’ sees someone going through a bad time and they lurk around to see how they can personally capitalize, benefit or profit from their calamity. But what if we were to take a more positive position?? What if, when we see someone going through a bad time, we were to reach out to those people and, rather than take advantage of them, do whatever we could do to help them in their dilemma?

At one time we actually had a person at Trinity on a part-time salary to do just that. He was very good at it too. His name was James Daniels, or JD as we all called him. He had an uncanny knack for noticing people who were going through trials in their lives. He could quickly discern what their actual needs were and did whatever he could, whenever he could, , with whatever resources we had, to help. (JD passed away a few years ago) Instead of just waiting around for people to come our way for help we were actually being aggressive in searching those people/families out. It seems like just something that the church should naturally do!

Of course, it was a huge ‘difference maker’ in the lives of the affected families.….but more than that it gave them a ‘good taste’ of church and even more important, the kingdom of God. Oh, and we’d supply the help that we could with absolutely no strings attached. We think that’s how Jesus would do it.

Imagine how different the world would look if we would all think that way!! And maybe, just maybe the world would change how they think about the church….and it’s people!

I say, “Let’s all be opportunists”.…..but from a kingdom perspective!

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VIP #7 – Rick Hudson

I first met Rick Hudson in the office of the Sayre, Oklahoma City Manager, Jack McKennon. Jack had invited me down to meet the newly hired Prison Warden. Jack, being a part of out Trinity Family, knew that we’d been praying for several years about the new prison here. We had also been praying that the upper-level management personnel would be born-again believers. So to me it was a big deal to meet up with the new warden.

I remember vividly that meeting that day. After we did our introductions, handshakes, etc., I told Rick, ‘I’ve been praying for you for three years.” After I left the office that day I wished that I hadn’t said that to him. I thought….that’ll probably scare him off…..but it didn’t. It wasn’t long after Rick moved here that his entire family began to come to church with us. Rick’s family consisted of his wife, Jan; two daughters, Kealan and Taylor, and a son, Cooper.

Rick made it possible for us to take a team into the prison and pray over the entire facility. It’s a great story….but it’s for another time. Rick and I quickly became the best of friends. I had a Friday afternoon small group consisting of Jack, the City Manager, a retired executive banker of one of largest banks in Oklahoma, a young man who secured oil leases, a farmer……and Rick. Rick would often stay after our meetings and we’d have some great talks. I remember one day our meeting subject was prayer; Rick stayed after the meeting that day and said, “Andy, I want you to teach me how to pray.”. I encouraged him to start coming to our regular Wednesday morning prayer time, which he did. In fact, he hardly ever missed after that day. I remember telling him that this prayer thing is more “caught”, than “taught”. And he caught it! A month or two after that conversation I asked him to pray at one of our small group meetings and he prayed as if he’d been doing it for years……and it was ‘real’, not just a bunch of words.

We spent a lot of time together and I really got to know Rick. HIs job as Warden, of the largest prison in the state up to that point, was not ‘just a job’ to Rick. He put his whole heart and soul into it, always believing he could make a difference in the lives of the, better than 1500, inmates in the North Fork Correctional Facility. Some of the first inmates to arrive were from Wisconsin. And there was one of them who was infamous for causing trouble. He’d been locked up most of his adult life and had caused problems in every facility he’d been in, including inciting riots. We’d pray for this guy every week….because Rick believed that he was salvageable and ‘worth it’! He cared about the future of this lifelong troublemaker. 

In my whole life I’ve never seen anyone in a leadership position that received as much respect, honor and loyalty as Rick did from his employees. They all knew that he was deeply concerned about them, and he would often invite me to meet with him and someone who was going through a rough time. Simply put….his employees loved him and they knew that they could trust him.

Rick left us about 14 years ago as a result of a brain tumor and it left a huge ‘gap’ for all of us here…….me especially. It’s hard for me, even today, to write through the tears. I do take solace in the assurance that I’ll see him again soon. I just don’t ‘get it’ sometimes…..how those who have such a knack of making the world a better place have to go so soon. But again, I take comfort in knowing that the Father has it all well in hand.

Rick Hudson…..I wish you could have known him like I did. You’d totally agree that he was a VIP; and not just with me…..He was a VIP with every person who ever came in contact with him!

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**If you enjoyed this post…..you’ll surely like this one too: “Party at the Prison”  (click on red print)

PS-There’s a lot of my regular blog readers that knew Rick. I know that your comments and feedback would be treasured by Jan, Kealan, Taylor and Coop.

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“To Err is Human, To Forgive is Div………Well, It’s Just Flat Out Hard Sometimes”!

Do you want to be a good ‘forgiver’?? Most people would answer, “Yes”, to that question. But the reality is that we only get better at it when we practice it! And you know what that means, right? Somebody has offended you; someone has betrayed you, someone has wounded you. These offenses that come our way might be trivial in nature or they may have left some very deep wounds and if not ‘tended’ to in a positive way, carry the possibility of being permanent. Either way, when forgiveness is required, it’s just kinda hard.

It’s just a fact of life that we’re going to get offended……..and we’re going to offend others, as well. Jesus, in the training of the Twelve told them that “offenses must come”. The kingdom of God is really all about relationships…..that’s why they’re so hard. The greatest blessings and rewards in life are relational…….and the greatest frustrations are relational, as well.

There was a guy years ago that was a complete ‘thorn in my flesh’. His mission in life was to torment me and make me as miserable as he could. He was actually being fairly successful at it, although I never did get in the flesh with him…..but man, I wanted to!! It was way back when the church was small and I was working another job. I sat at my lunch break and wrote down 18 things that I needed to confront him about. These were 18 legitimate things too…..not ‘trumped up’ things; for instance, after one of our conversations he peeled out with his car throwing dirt and gravel all over me. Yep…..that kind of stuff! My plan was to go to him and confront him about these 18 things….and just being candid, here…..he really did need to be confronted of some of those things….and in love, of course, which just makes it harder. On my drive home that day the Lord started showing me all the things that He’d forgiven me for. It really made my ‘little list’ of 18 seem kind of trivial. I often think of some of those things and realize, again, that the Lord was allowing the testing, and giving us the opportunity to behave and react like He would.

Here are a few things that’ll make you a good forgiver:

  1. Just know that offenses are coming; it really does help to come to that realization.
  2. Set your mind/heart now to forgive anyone who offends/betrays you.
  3. Put the ‘value’ on your relationships…..like the Father has! It’ll change everything!
  4. Pray for the people that hurt you! It does as much, or more, for you than it does them!

Here’s a few of my own quotes about forgiveness:

“Forgive somebody, you’ll both be glad you did!”

“It’s never wrong to forgive……it’s always right!”

“Forgiveness is not a ‘feeling’ you have….it’s a ‘choice’ you make” 

“Anytime we forgive, a minimum of two people are set free!”

“Unforgiveness puts you in prison…..but the ‘key’ to the cell door is always in your possession!”

“Of everyone in the picture of woundedness and betrayal….no one has has much to gain as ‘the forgiver’!!”

(*Feel free to use any of those quotes (in fact, please do)….but I’d appreciate it if you’d credit me with them)

So, to finish the title quote, “To err is human, to forgive, divine!” 

To forgive and to become a ‘good forgiver’ is proof that we’re becoming like Jesus!

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8378 Zulu ….. and the Flight That Was Almost the Last One!

8378Z; That was the ‘call letters’ on my dad’s airplane. It was a great plane, Cessna 205, 6-seats, long-range tanks, STOL Kit (equipped for ‘short takeoffs and landings’), and a real ‘workhorse’ of a plane. By that I mean that you could load it down with weight and fly a long ways. That comes in handy when you’re traveling from rodeo to rodeo in the summertime with several guys and all their gear, and going to two rodeos a day (one in the afternoon/one at night). *(Over the 4th of July we went to 3 rodeos in one day! Cody, Wyoming, Red Lodge and Livingston, Montana)

The year was 1981. I was on track to make the NFR (National Finals Rodeo where the Top 15 in the World compete) in Oklahoma City. I had caught a ride with PRCA World All-Around Champ, Paul Tierney. Paul had leased a twin-engine plane and hired a pilot for the rigorous rodeo run through July and August. We flew to Custer and Aberdeen, South Dakota where I’d won the bull riding at both places. I had left our plane in Sturgis, South Dakota. I’d be back to Sturgis late that night where I’d meet my traveling partners, Gary Toole and Ricky Bolin. We’d leave there about noon-ish the next day for Hill City, Kansas.

The day before one of my main instruments had stopped working in our plane. The ‘attitude gyro’ just quit working. The ‘attitude’ instrument tells you if you’re climbing…or descending, or turning left or right. It’s an extremely important instrument. I had asked the pilot of Paul Tierney’s plane about it. He told me that, as an alternative, I should watch the compass….and that anytime the compass was moving…I was turning. I did not have an instrument rating but was fairly proficient in using my instruments in flying.

I was a good, safe pilot…..unless you ask Julie! Earlier in the year Julie and I, and Denny Flynn were flying to Del Rio, Texas to the Super Bull, the George Paul Memorial Bull Riding…which was the largest, highest paying Bull Riding event in those days. In making my landing approach I came in ‘a little hot’, had to make a fly around and then made a perfect landing. Julie tried every way in the world to get another ride home from Del Rio…but to no avail….she was forced to ride back home with me in the plane. We made it home fine but she was pretty hard to get loaded up in the plane after that!

I made it back to Sturgis sometime after midnight. The next morning the weather around Sturgis and Rapid City was overcast with some thunderstorms and low cloud covering. We were ready to head out for Hill City but I wasn’t going to ‘chance it’ with the marginal weather…and the faulty instrument. The weather reports were telling us that the clouds were moving out and we should be able to fly ‘clear skies’ all the way to Kansas. As soon as we got the good report we were taking off and headed for Hill City.

Only about 15-20 minutes into the flight the weather changed dramatically……for the worse! Heavy, dark clouds moved in and the ‘ceiling’ was only 300 ft. We stayed below the cloud covering, which is pretty dangerous considering that there are communications towers taller that that! The clouds appeared to be about 50 ft thick. We’d see huge gaps in the clouds of blue sky. The clouds were dropping even lower and I knew I had to try to go above the clouds. I told Gary, who was flying the right-hand seat, to keep an eye on the ground and I’d try to take it up through one of those patches of blue sky. Almost immediately we were encased in clouds….couldn’t see up, couldn’t see down. It sounds crazy but when you’re in the clouds like that you can be flying upside down and can’t tell it. It’s like being inside a paper bag.

I remember my flight instructor teaching me that you can just turn an airplane loose and it’ll fly by itself. That’s great if you’re several thousand feet up, but we’re 300 ft above the ground. That wouldn’t work! I looked at the compass and it was moving (which meant we were turning). I turned the yoke (the wheel) loose and the compass turned even faster. Not good! We were all in panic mode when Gary grabbed the yoke and pulled it straight into his chest. A No-No in most conditions…..and if the plane happened to be upside down…it’d fly us right into the ground!

Well, that didn’t happen; within a few seconds we cleared the clouds and our wings were vertical to the ground and we were climbing. I grabbed the yoke and brought it back to a horizontal, straight and level position. We were all exhausted from the stress of those few minutes. In 5 more minutes we were flying south with nothing but blue skies ahead.

I look back at that day often and it seems obvious to me now that the Lord had everything to do with preserving us that day…..and saving our lives.

8378 Zulu made it safely into Hill City, Kansas!

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There’s Just So Much of This Stuff in Life We’re Gonna Have to Learn the ‘Hard Way’!

It seems like it’s just a universal trait of humanity; this learning stuff the hard way. I was re-reminded of this a few days ago when my littlest grandson, Maverick, got his most recent knot on the head. He’s a year and a half old and the cutest little guy you’ve ever seen. (a little partiality here, but you understand!) He had two wrecks in the span of about 4 days that put two good-sized nicks in the ‘ol noggin’! The first one happened when he tried climbing up on a big heavy chair made from a old style tractor seat. You can imagine how heavy that was. Well, he got up about one step and the chair tipped over backwards with him and the edge of the heavy seat caught him right under the left eye. Miraculously, it missed his eye or it could’ve been really bad. Off to the ER they went to get him tended to. We were out of town when it happened but I “Face-Timed” Cole & Kelly (his dad & mom) later and got to talk to Maverick, himself. It was just an hour or so after they got home from the hospital. His eye was swelled shut but he was already in a good mood. 

The other wreck happened as he was playing with the front yard gate at his house. It’s just a little 4′ gate made out of inch and a half square tubing. He was just having fun pushing it all the way around one way….then all the way around the other way. He built up a little confidence and got a pretty good run at it pushing it around. Well, you know, every swinging gate has a ‘stopping place’…..and Maverick found it…with his little forehead! I saw it coming from 30′ away but no way to get there before it happened. Immediate tears and a fifty cent piece size knot on his forehead reminded me again of how our lives go sometimes. Five minutes later he was running and playing again!

As much as we try and help our kids and grandkids avoid those kinds of things…it just seems like a fact of life that quite a few of our lessons are going to be learned that way. We could only wish those kinds of hard lessons ended with our childhood….but not to be true. It even seems that as adults we’re determined to defy logic, intuition and common sense, sometimes, to learn those lessons.

The good news is that “experience is a great teacher”!! Nothing like a hard lesson to help us not to do it again! And, you know, the Lord will let us just run past the wisdom, foresight and instruction of the Holy Spirit if we’re determined to. I’m trying to do better. I’ve had all the “lessons learned the hard way” that I really want. I think I’ll spend more time trying to listen to the Lord….and pay attention to what He’s saying to me!

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**Disclaimer: Being a ‘Taylor’ might make one have to learn more than their fair share of ‘hard lessons’!!

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Gem City, Texas…….and the Prayer That Should’ve Never Been!

Prayer is an important ingredient of the Christian life. It’s at least one way that we’re able to communicate with the Father. I pray a lot these days. It’s probably not prayer like you might classify it, but it’s prayer, nonetheless. It’s mostly (but not limited to) just a one liner here and there. A lot of times I’ll just say, “Help me Lord”, or I’ll just speak a healing prayer over someone that comes to mind. I pray for Julie every morning when I put my wedding ring on, have for years. Anyway, my point is, prayer is a priority for me and I try to simply follow the lead of the Holy Spirit in doing it.

But there was a time in my life that I didn’t pray much. I mean, I prayed back during my rodeo career…..and daily, when I was getting on bulls every day. There’s just something about climbing down on an 1800 lb bull that makes you want to pray….if you know what I mean. But other than that prayer wasn’t a huge priority in my life. Should’ve been…..just wasn’t.

Life on the ranch was good. One of the yearly events was a little Christmas get-together at Gem City. Now, Gem City ain’t no ‘city’ at all. Matter of fact, all that Gem City consisted of was one house….and a little one room church house that had no regular services. Our nearest neighbors lived in that house. Homer and Georgia Thomas, an elderly….and very sweet couple, lived there. Every Christmas, a few days before, a lot of the ranch families would meet at the little church, sing a few Christmas carols, hear a little Christmas story preachin; and have a little something for the kids. There might be 40-50 people there and it was always a pleasant time.

Well, one year, and long before I’d started going to church, we went to the little program at Gem City. The carols had been sung, the preachin’ about Baby Jesus had happened and it was about time to wind it all up with a prayer when the preacher started lookin’ around the room. Everyone else had their head bowed and eyes closed but me and he made eye contact with me. I immediately thought, “This can’t be good!”. …..and get this!! Out of his mouth he says, “Andy Taylor….would you please lead us in prayer.” I ’bout gagged!! My blood pressure spiked! I broke out in a cold sweat! My whole life flashed in front of me! My hands got ‘clammy’! My mouth went dry! Julie and I looked at each other at exactly the same time….and as scared as I was…..she was scared – er!!! Neither one of us had any idea what I might say!

I have no idea what I prayed that night; maybe something like, “Lord, four-score and seven years ago” or “I pledge allegiance, Lord”  ….Who knows what I might’ve said? I somehow made it through some kind of prayer….and without cussin too’!

We got in the car and let out a huge sigh of relief. We had a good laugh (I bet the Lord even laughed on that one!)….but I was secretly planning what I could be doing next year on that night instead of going to the Christmas program in Gem City!

PS- I’ll bet, if you can find those church pews, you can still find mine and Julie’s ‘claw marks’ on ’em!!

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Zombie Update – Day 12

If you didn’t read my blog day before yesterday…..this one won’t make much sense. I’ve been dealing with an eye problem for, now, twelve days. Hence the blog title…..I look like a Zombie!! It came on, totally out of the blue, first in my right eye then in a few days….both eyes. I’ve never in all my years had anything quite like it. Started on antibiotic drops early on but it just kept getting worse. Then started taking an oral antibiotic…..still kept getting worse. No way to go to the doc through the weekend….then Labor Day. So the earliest I could get to the doc was on Tuesday. Met with my regular doc Tuesday morning and then with an eye specialist later that day.

The eye specialist identified it immediately as a virus (no idea where/how I got it). She said she hadn’t seen one like this in a long time….and this was one of the worst she’d ever seen. She said the virus had ‘set up camp’ in my eyes and under my upper eyelids. It had developed a ‘membrane’, kinda like a film over my entire eyeball and under my eyelids, as well. She put some deadening drops in my eyes, cut the membrane on one side and peeled it off like you’d peel a sheet back off a bed. It was a little painful but I was ready for anything to get a little relief. I could immediately see better. I could only see with a great deal of blurriness for the few days before.

This past Sunday was the most miserable day that I can remember. There was just no way to get away from the discomfort. I could only sleep when my need for it rose above the uncomfortable factor. I really do appreciate the prayers! I know it helped. My eyes are still red and somewhat swollen but I think I’m on the mend. Still lookin’ a little Zombie-like but I’m sure a lot better than I was a day or two ago. Thanks again!

Here’s a pic from Sunday…..my worst day!

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