First Trip to Calgary!

July 12, 2015July 12, 2015 / Andy R Taylor / 4 Comments

I’ve been seeing different people’s posts on FaceBook this past week about the Calgary Stampede and it brought back a memory of my first trip up there. Very memorable to say the least. I was 19 and about the biggest town I’d ever seen was Amarillo. Well, Calgarys’ just a tad bigger’n Amarillo, if you know what I mean. And the Stampede…..there’s nothing like it. If you’ve never been, you oughta go at least once. It’s more like a Worlds Fair; It’s the biggest thing that happens in Canada, for sure. And, while I was going there for the rodeo, which is one of the biggest on the planet, there’s tons of other things going on besides the rodeo.

It was me and Barney Brehmer and Doug Shipe. We hit the Canadian border about 4 pm the day before I was to ride at the Stampede. When we went in to the border crossing office Clyde Bullard, a calf roper from Comanche, Oklahoma had the border boys as mad as they could possibly be. I mean he had ’em stirred up! They weren’t letting him across for dang sure and maybe not anyone else, for that matter. Well, their argument went on for a while and the crowd of rodeo people was building all the time of people trying to get to Calgary.

We started our drive through the checkpoint and when they stopped us they told us we had to have at least $50 cash each. Well, this is the truth, we had about $50 amongst all three of us. We’re big-time rodeo hands, you understand! lol So they’re not letting us cross the border which is a problem because I’m up in the bull riding the next day. Another carload of veteran cowboys were in the same shape that we’re in and they’re not letting them across either. Barney borrowed some money from somebody and went ahead across the line. Well, about an hour after he’s crossed I realize that he also took my only set of pickup keys! So now, not only are we stranded at the Canadian border…but now with no keys! Quite the little dilemma….and the clock’s tickin’!

About midnight Rusty Riddle and Clyde Vamvoras showed up. Clyde hot-wired my pickup so it was drivable and the plan was for me to borrow enough cash to have that $50 they required and I’d head out to Calgary. First thing the next morning I fired my hot-wired pickup up, got me $50 cash from a couple of buddies and went on my way to Calgary by myself. At the border they didn’t ask me one thing about how much cash I had….they just waved me on through. I guess the border boys got over their mad spell!

I hit Calgary about 1 pm. My ‘ol hot-wired pickup made it just fine. It was bumper to bumper traffic, I had no idea where I was going and to top it all off it started coming a ‘monsoon’. I mean, the bottom fell plumb out! That’s when I learned that my hot-wired pickup windshield wipers wouldn’t work. So, I’ve got my drivers side window down getting completely soaked. I’ve got a t-shirt with my left hand and I’m hanging out the window trying to wipe my windshield so I can see through the flood.

I finally found my way to the Calgary Stampede. To this day I can’t remember what bull I had or what I did on him….(must not’ve been too memorable!) but I’ll never forget the trip up there as long as I live!

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 5 – Evolving into Sonship

June 24, 2015June 24, 2015 / Andy R Taylor / Leave a comment

Kingdom people are evolving into their ‘sonship’/’daughtership’! It comes by the revelation to our hearts that God is a Father and He’s chosen us to be His children. It’s an amazing reality and it’ll totally transform our lives for the better when we ‘catch’ it!

When we’re born again we come into God’s kingdom as a little child, so to speak. Our immaturity in regards to spiritual things is pretty obvious at first but hopefully we’ll grow through the childhood stage into spiritually mature adults. I say that with all sincerity, but I’ve observed through the years that many people in the church today have never matured and remain childish and immature. There’s really no excuse for that.

God is our Father and He wants to interact with us on a regular basis. There’s a lot of reasons why we need to hear the Lord but one of the ‘key’ reasons is that the things that God says to us forms us and shapes us into our true identity. He desires to raise us up as His own sons and daughters.

Evolving into our sonship is a lifelong process but we can, and should, start now. We start out with a lot of ‘orphan’ characteristics. We want to be the center of attention, we self-promote so people will accept us, we embellish the details of our lives so we’ll look important. That’s just a few of the characteristics that we might have as immature believers but as we begin the growth process into sons and daughters we start to leave those things behind us. In the light of God’s love, and through our ongoing relationship with Him, we begin to ‘grow up’. *All creation is anticipating the revealing of the ‘sons’ of God!

Kingdom people are evolving into their Sonship!

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!

“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!!

Are You God’s Servant??

February 26, 2015April 7, 2015 / Andy R Taylor / 1 Comment

It’s kind of a trick question; and I know what most people around the church today would say. Without a doubt, nearly everyone would say, “Yes, of course I’m a servant”, to that question. But if we’re talking identity, then the answer is not just a little wrong…..it’s a lot wrong! And I think it’s one of the big problems with Christianity today.

Growing up we lived on a 10,000 acre ranch in the Texas Panhandle. My dad leased the ranch; we didn’t own it but we had to run it like we did own it. Over the course of the 25 years we lived there we had a number of hired-hands, some of them good, some not so good. But my mom and dad, Cliff and Charlene Taylor, and my brother, Monty and I…..always worked harder than the hired-hands. We did the things that the hired-hands didn’t want to do, or had left undone. We went the ‘extra mile’, so to speak, in seeing that the work was done around the ranch that needed to be done. We all worked longer hours and constantly carried the weight of knowing that the ranch had to make money or we wouldn’t. It didn’t matter to the hired-hands.

In the story of the ‘prodigal son’, the boy comes home and tries to tell his dad (God) that he’s willing to be a hired-hand. But the Father would have none of it! There are hired-hands in the story….but this boy isn’t one of them….he’s a ‘son’!

In our Christian lives we’re going to do a lot of serving, …..but the Father never intended for us to have the identity of a hired-hand! He’s hand-picked us as His own sons and daughters……we should start acting like it!

“Obviously, I’m God’s Favorite!”

February 10, 2015April 1, 2017 / Andy R Taylor / 8 Comments

Oh, I’m not kidding one bit!! I really believe I am! Here’s why I think that’s true; God’s a Father, He could be anything He wanted to be and He chose to be a Father. Well, you know, I’m a dad too. Julie and I have had six children; Cord has already beat us to heaven! So, we’ve raised 5 and we think they’re really incredible people! Clint, my oldest son….and my very favorite, is so sharp and responsible, great husband and great dad. Cade, the most unique individual I know….and my very favorite son, who also happens to be the most honest human being I know. Cole, what a young man; hard worker, sincere and genuine….and my very favorite son. Clay, awesome personality, great sense of humor, both tough and tender hearted at the same time…..and my very favorite son. Then there’s Cameron….the ‘icing on the cake’ after 5 boys! So pretty inside and out, sharp, caring, great smile and tender heart…..and my very favorite. And I can hardly wait to meet Cord in heaven because I’m positive he’ll be my favorite!

They have some similarities but they’re also different and unique in many ways. We’ve made plenty of mistakes raising them but I think we’ve done a decent job of allowing them to be their ‘own’ person. I can’t differentiate my love one little tick from one to the other and to say that none of them is my favorite would totally miss the mark….but to say they’re all my favorite seems to capture it! And it doesn’t stop there; I have 9 awesome, good-looking, smart grandkids, Cooper, Dailee, Preslie, Crockett, Allie, Calli, Maverick, Knox and Timber...and yep, you guessed it……each of them are my favorite! I even have 3 of the prettiest, most sincere and genuine daughter-in-laws you’ve ever seen and I often tell Kristy, Kelly and Chelsea….”You know you’re my favorite!”……..because they are!!

We’re created in the image of God and it’s built into our nature, by Him, to love. So, don’t waste any time arguing with me because I’m totally convinced that I’m His favorite! If you don’t think you’re His favorite….you obviously haven’t spent much time with Him lately! I’d change that if I were 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!