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

June 30, 2015June 30, 2015 / Andy R Taylor / 14 Comments

Sitting in a local truck-stop about midnight with some friends when a guy from another table came over to ours’. Keith was a truck driver from a town about an hour away. He said, “I could tell from overhearing you guys that you believe in God.” He went on to say, “I’m in a bad way, I need help.” He then began to pour his heart out to us. Turned out that his wife had left him for his best friend and he was about a low as a man could be. We talked with him for an hour or so, then prayed with him to receive Jesus.

I made it a point to call Keith at least once a week, which I did for a couple of months. He’d have a lot of bad days and a good one here and there. Then one week he called me. I vividly remember the call. He said, “You know you’re always calling me to check in and cheer me up, but today I’m having a really good day….and I just wanted to call and say thank you. I think I’m going to be OK.”

Tried to call him a couple weeks later, but no answer. I tried to call him at least a dozen times over the next month. I bumped into a longtime friend from Keith’s hometown and asked him if he knew Keith. He said that he did and then told me that Keith had been found dead in his truck about a month before of an apparent heart attack. My friend told me about his funeral and said that Keith’s folks had no idea of his decision to receive Jesus.

It was really rewarding to be able to call Keith’s mom and tell her about our midnight truck-stop meeting. You can imagine the peace that it gave her. I also got the opportunity to meet his son a few months later and tell him that his Dad belonged to the Lord….and would be waiting for him in heaven. I think of Keith often and how blessed I was to know him….even if it was just for a short time.

Are You A ‘Kingdom’ Person? Part 6 – Go to God First

June 25, 2015June 25, 2015 / Andy R Taylor / Leave a comment

Kingdom people understand that they’re sons and daughters to the Father and their lives are being profoundly transformed as a result of that revelation. They’re people who are ‘growing up’ into their true identity. It’s a lifelong process of evolving into our ‘sonship’…..and we’re becoming more like Him all the time!

Another distinguishing characteristic of a ‘kingdom’ person is the resolve to ‘go to God first’ with the issues of our life. I learned this one the hard way. It’s so easy to decide to do something and then ask God to bless it. And, if you’ve never consulted with Him before about the details of your life….it’s sure better than nothing. But there’s definitely a better way. If it’s true that the Father has an intricate, detailed plan for our life it just makes sense to go to Him first and see what’s in His heart for us. We shouldn’t get in too big a hurry and jump the gun, so to speak. Remember, we’re learning to be led by His Spirit.…and there’s something to be said for ‘waiting on the Lord’.

I totally agree that there’s a delicate balance between waiting on the Lord….and moving out by faith. I sincerely believe that whatever you do with the right heart….God will bless. You’re His kid and He wants to see you do good. But if you want the ‘full blessing’ of the Father on the things you do, we should go to Him first.

Kingdom people do that!

Are You A ‘Kingdom’ Person? Part 2 – Communication With The Father

June 18, 2015June 18, 2015 / Andy R Taylor / 4 Comments

It’s an important question and how you answer it will decide how fruitful your spiritual life will be. A ‘kingdom’ person is keenly aware of the ‘moving’ of the Lord in his/her generation. And they’re willing to accept their place in the Body of Christ to make a difference with their life.

Kingdom people have a genuine relationship with the Father and they communicate with Him on a regular basis. The Bible says that we didn’t choose God….He chose us! That’s pretty amazing if you think about it. God could be anything He wanted to be…..and His choice was to be a Father to us. Jesus came to reveal Him, as Father, to us. Even when the disciples asked Jesus how to pray He answered, “Pray like this…..our Father……” That’s Jesus, God’s only begotten Son, giving you and I permission to relate to, and interact with, God exactly like He did! If we don’t wake up to that reality we’ll miss much of what life’s about.

It seems that some people think it’s the Pastor’s job to communicate with God for them….but that’s not true. In fact, it’s ludicrous! Father’s have a driving desire to communicate with their children. Now, think about it; God invented this ‘Father’ stuff and He’s a lot better at it than we are. I’m a dad to 5 awesome kids. They’re all pretty much grown up now but I still love to communicate with them. I like to hear what they’re interested in; I’m concerned when they’re going through trials; I care about every area of their life. I don’t want to intrude but I do want to help them and their families in any way I can. Well as much as you can agree with those things….God’s more interested than I could possibly be! Your pastor is important but remember, your Father wants to talk to you! Kingdom people communicate with their Father!

He Did It ‘HIS’ Way!

June 2, 2015June 2, 2015 / Andy R Taylor / 1 Comment

Frank Sinatra did it ‘his way’. A lot of others have done it their own way and it worked fine. I like that. I admire someone who goes at the world full blast and makes a success of it. There’s definitely something to be said for those who do it like that. But I”m in a vocation where doing it ‘my way’ just won’t work.

I grew up a cowboy; not a wannabe cowboy, a real one. That’s really all I ever wanted to be. But along about 1986 my life took a very unexpected turn. I’d began attending church in my little hometown of Allison, Texas somewhere around 1985 and it wasn’t long after that I felt like I needed to be involved more than just showing up on Sundays. So I did. My first spot was to teach the teenage Sunday School class in the First Baptist Church. There I was, 32 years old, and having not grown up in church trying to teach a dozen or more teenagers who all grew up in church and for the most part from good, committed Christian families. All of them knew a lot more Bible than I did. But it was an incredible place for me to grow. Not once did I show up for that class without studying and preparing. Heck, I knew I had to or I’d be ‘busted’! I grew a lot in those couple of years and nearly all of those teenagers are some amazing, productive kingdom adults today. I’d like to think I had just a little to do with it. That feels good.

The Lord really started dealing with me about ministry. I gave my testimony a time or two at different places and it seemed like the Lord really blessed it. I remember well the day that I ‘knew’ I was called. I went to town from the ranch and talked to my Pastor, Ronnie Chadwick. I told him I felt like the Lord was calling me to ‘preach’. That was the only terminology I had at the time. I remember his advice clearly, “Forget it, Andy”. I said, “What do you mean, forget it?” He said, “Because if you can forget it, it ain’t God!” Great advice! And I couldn’t forget it.

So, here I am today, thirty years later with a great church full of amazing people. The challenges have never stopped, facing some big ones even today. But the Lord is faithful. I mean, really faithful! To bless a guy like me who knew absolutely nothing about the kingdom of God. I say it often….and it’s true; I’m just living proof that the Lord can use anybody!

I hope when I’m done somebody will notice that I didn’t do it ‘my way’! It’d be nice to be remembered as somebody who did it, “HIS Way”!!

PS-I’m still a Cowboy!

VIP #3 – Ronnie Chadwick

April 10, 2015March 1, 2020 / Andy R Taylor / 11 Comments

In writing about VIP’s I’ve considered those who had some kind of influence or impact on my life…or who were just very interesting people to me. When I think of those who have had a profound spiritual influence on me there’s not many I would think of before Ronnie Chadwick.

In 1984 my life made an abrupt turn…..in a good way. I had a lot of things that needed to be fixed in my life but, generally speaking, I was headed in the right direction. I didn’t take a chance on going to church until sometime in 1985. When I did, I went to the First Baptist Church in little Allison, Texas, my hometown. We were a ranch family and none of us went to church at all. My dad would give the preacher in town a half a beef once or twice a year and as far as I was concerned we were ‘good’ with the Lord! So, the only contact I had with any preacher was when I’d deliver the beef to Ronnie Chadwick’s house.

I remember vividly the first time I went to the FBC in Allison….but that’s another story I’ll tell at another time. My life was changing in a positive way; I was trusting in the Lord although I knew nothing about it…..I was just in a desperate place and, blindly, I put my trust in Him. Julie and I decided that we needed to start going to church. So, the Baptist Church seemed to be the logical choice. Although I didn’t know it at the time, It turned out to be the sovereign will of the Father.

Ronnie Chadwick was the pastor there. He took me ‘under his wing’ so to speak, and the things I learned from him have turned out to be some of the most valuable things for me today. He taught me to have a love for the Word of God. I remember many times I’d ask him a question and his reply would be, “Well, let’s see what the Word says.” I still do that today. He taught me the importance of prayer and my life has been forever changed by what he taught me. I saw him not back down from the pressure of people trying to intimidate him, and I’ve had to do that many times in the last 26 years. He taught me to hear the Lord for myself, and I’ve done that and taught hundreds of others to do it as well.

I remember well the day I felt the Lord calling me into the ministry. I drove the 10 miles from the ranch to his house in town to tell him. I’ll never, ever forget the conversation as long as I live. I told him, “Preacher (which is what I’ve always called him, even to this day), I think the Lord’s calling me to preach.” His reply in his big deep, booming voice, “Andy, just forget it”. It took me by surprise; I asked, “What do you mean, forget it?!” He said, “Cause if you can forget it, it ain’t the Lord!” Great advice….and I couldn’t forget it!

He launched me into the ministry and coached me every step of the way, early on. He’s the only Pastor I’ve ever really had….and he was a dang good ‘un! Ronnie Chadwick is definitely a VIP!

“Known”

March 26, 2015April 13, 2020 / Andy R Taylor / 6 Comments

One of the things that frequently comes my way as a pastor is the performing of funerals. It’s kinda amazing what the Lord has done; when I was a young man I’d avoid going to them at all because of the feeling that it left me with. But soon after I was in the ministry I got my first request to do one. I immediately thought, “There’s no way!” Even though I said yes, I wasn’t sure I could do it. But I found that the Lord had given me grace to do it and I made it through the first one. Since that time I’ve done right at 350 more funerals. It’s always an honor to be asked to do a service but it carries with it a good size load of stress. But I figure, compared to the grieving family….I’ve got the easy part.

I recently got a call from the funeral home to do a service. I didn’t recognize the name of the woman but I said yes, anyway. I was sure that I’d know someone in the family but after reading the obituary I, again, didn’t recognize anyone. I met with the family the next day to plan the service and I was sure I’d know at least one of them. Nope, didn’t know any of them, either. It was apparent that the family didn’t have many resources; the cardboard casket was just more evidence of that. On the day of the funeral, I asked the funeral director if he knew this family, to which he said, “No”. I told him that I didn’t know them either, to which he replied, “Well, they know you!” and “They specifically asked for you!”

I can’t explain in words how that made me feel. It’s one thing to be ‘known’ in the company of the ‘elite’, and I guess I have a few acquaintances in that small crowd. But it’s a totally different thing to be ‘known’ in the community of the downtrodden! I can’t remember when anything left me feeling more honored than that!

“I Yub Oo Too Daddy”

March 5, 2015April 7, 2015 / Andy R Taylor / Leave a comment

I’ve learned so much from my kids about my relationship with the Father but this one is priceless! Saying “I love you” has been a regular, consistent and heartfelt thing around our house since Julie and I were married 38 years ago, …and it still is today. We were only married a year when Clint was born and our lives have been rich, as parents of 5 phenomenal kids.

I’ve found that God is faithful to instruct us in whatever situations we find ourselves in. But being a parent offers, maybe, the best scenario of being in the ‘school of life’ and for learning from Him.

When one of my little boys (I’ll withhold his name so as not to risk any chance of embarrassment) was just beginning to learn to talk I’d catch myself 10-15 times a day telling him “I love you”, to which he’d reply, “I yub oo too, Daddy”. First off, I do love him….but the Lord got me to thinking about it. And it became apparent that the thing that I enjoyed the most about it was that I loved to hear him tell me in his unique little way that he loved me too.

The Lord showed me that my little boy had absolutely no idea, whatsoever, what the word ‘love’ meant. And that for you and I and our understanding of love compared with God’s concept of love is exactly the same. Although we’re learning…there’s still a great distance between our understanding of love…and what love means to Him! He doesn’t just ‘have’ love….He is love!!

Here’s what I learned;

1) When you tell someone that you love them….it means to them what love means to them!

2) So when my little toddler said, “I yub oo too, Daddy”, it meant to me what love means to me! *That’s why I loved hearing it as much as I did. We have a need to be loved….and hearing it is important.

3) So, (It gets better!) when you tell the Father that you love Him…….it means to Him what love means to Him!!

4) So, as our understanding of love grows, and even if there’s a vast difference in our concept and His….keep telling the Father you love Him because I believe He really likes to hear it!!

“Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There!!”

February 20, 2015May 10, 2017 / Andy R Taylor / 8 Comments

Oh, I know; common sense, logic and conventional thinking would quickly tell you otherwise. And in some cases the flipside of that title would/could be the case, I agree. The problem is that today there’s a lot of people doing things, and a lot of those things are noble and seemingly important but are they really things that the Lord has initiated?

Here’s an example: You start a business, get it going and then ask the Lord to bless it. That seems logical. But my first question would be, “What did you hear from the Lord about starting this business?” A lot of times, and I’m talking from my own experience in dealing with people on a regular basis, they never asked the Lord at all about what business to start in the first place. And again, it’s the classic, ‘cart in front of the horse’ scenario. Now, don’t get me wrong, if you ask the Lord to bless that business, I believe He will; mainly because He just loves you. But if you want the full blessing of the Father on what you’re doing, it just makes sense to find out, first, what He wants you to do and what He has to say about it.

Jesus’ time was short and His time was valuable *(somewhat like yours!). And He didn’t waste any of it doing ‘random’ things. I used to say, “Jesus was needs oriented; wherever He saw a need He met it.” I don’t say that anymore because I believe it’s as far away from the truth as it can possibly be. Jesus didn’t do anything that He didn’t see the Father doing (at least that’s what the Book says!).

The Father has an incredible plan for your life! Before you jump the gun, why don’t you find out what He’s saying to you!!

VIP #1 Booger Bryant

February 6, 2015October 20, 2020 / Andy R Taylor / 15 Comments

Well, for starters, just the name “Booger” gets your attention, right!? Booger Bryant could be described in a lot of ways; Cowboy, Bull Rider, Bull Rope Maker, Believer…..A Man’s-Man! Booger lived in Hagerman, New Mexico, not far from Roswell. He was probably 8-10 years older than me when I started my professional rodeo career at 18. Back in those days when you were a ‘rookie’ and just starting out most of the older, seasoned cowboys wouldn’t talk to you until you had ‘paid your dues’ and proven yourself. But Booger wasn’t that way at all, at least with me.There’s no telling how tough Booger really was but he didn’t try at all to push that persona. But you could obviously tell that he wouldn’t get pushed around by anyone.

In the mid to late ’70’s there was a surge of Christianity through professional rodeo. And as it often happens with people who first experience salvation, there was a lot more zeal than common sense displayed by a lot of these rodeo people. Many of them were in-your-face with it; they meant well but to be honest it turned me off and I avoided most of them the best I could. I’d gotten saved in a countywide crusade in Wheeler, Texas in 1974, but I pretty much kept it to myself and wasn’t doing a very good job of living it out.

But, Booger Bryant was different than the others. I knew he was a Christian, but it was different, I wanted to be around him. We had quite a few visits about the Lord. He hardly ever initiated them, it was mostly me. I knew he’d be ‘straight-up’ with me; I knew he wouldn’t be pushy about it; he didn’t have some subtle agenda like the rest of them. I knew I could trust him. He knew I wasn’t doing a good job of walking it out but he never, ever mentioned it. He stood his ground between the over-zealous believers and the hard-ass, old-school cowboys who didn’t want any of it, and would dang sure tell you about it if they needed to!

He got cancer but never complained about it; he’d just say he was trusting the Lord with it. He fought the good fight for sure but finally went to his reward. He left behind his wife, Bonnie and a little boy, Blu. He made my bull ropes for several years, he was always a trusted friend, kinda like a big brother I didn’t have. But most of all he showed me what a ‘real’ Christian ought to be like and his impact on my life was deep, even though I didn’t know it at the time.

I never got the chance to talk to Booger after my life had really ‘made the turn’ in ’84, he was already gone. But I did get the chance in the mid-’90’s to tell his son, Blu, who was leading the world bull riding standings at the time, how much I admired him and how much of an impact his dad had on my life. It felt pretty good!

I’ll forever be grateful to Booger Bryant for helping to show me the Way!

“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’!!