And So It Begins

The first official week has passed and Parker and I are still very much alive. It's a miracle right?


Well the first week of bible study was such a learning experience. This is the first children's bible study I have taught outside of the camp world and needless to say I was very very nervous about teaching it. But, just like riding a bike, I remembered that there's really not any magic words you can say or something magic you can do to make the kids truly take in and grasp what you are saying. 


I've been reading through 1 Corinthians in my quiet time and the first few chapters Paul emphasizes a couple things. First, he is NOT the one who saves. He says over and over again, "Some say, "I follow Paul." Others say, "I follow Apollos." But you actually shouldn't be following either of us." He tells them over and over again that Jesus is the only one who can save, change, and cleanse us. Secondly, he really is passionate about not having to use big fancy words to share the gospel. I mean, this guy is really passionate about this. "My speech and my message were not plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God." 


Now that was great for me to start out with and to learn, but something I struggle with as a bible study leader is worrying about looking silly in front of the kids. (Which they actually love by the way.) In Chapter 4 Paul says that while he is teaching he is a fool and he is weak for Christ's sake. If one of the greatest missionaries of all time is a fool while teaching thousands, I think I can be a fool for kids. 


I don't have to worry about looking cool, having the best lesson plans, being the most eloquent teacher, or being perfect in front of the kids. God will use everything that I have to give. A friend told me not to worry about my first bible study because I can only speak the words that God gives me and God alone can change hearts. He was right. So very right.

Now for the fun!! The birthday elves visited our Minister of Education last night and were kind enough to decorate his office with balloons, easter eggs, and even a hidden air horn!! How fun is that?? But after the birthday elves left, Mr. Earl decided to take it upon himself to welcome the interns... and this is what it turned out to look like. 










Don't be afraid to be a fool. And don't be afraid to have fun!


Live Today.

Start of Summer

Today marked the official start of my summer internship at First Baptist Church. I honestly don't even remember everything that I did today other than being extremely thankful that I had gone in a couple days last week. I don't think that I could've gotten as much done if I hadn't gotten a head start. 


Today I tried to conquer the folding machine. Key word here, try. I was sending out baby shower invitations (For Bible Study!!) and thought, "Man, it'd really be a lot simpler to just use the automatic folder." Well... I though that but once I approached this contraption of squealing parts and metal I was soon very intimidated. There were buttons glaring at me and wheels screaming and I didn't even know where to put the paper to begin folding. I can honestly say that it took me probably 25 minutes to figure out where to even begin on that machine. After I folded it in half once I needed to figure out how to fold it in half again. Well I can tell you that that didn't happen. I just ended up folding those sill things by hand. 


Tomorrow I think I'll try and conquer the printer and it's settings. Don't laugh because it's a lot harder than it sounds.


One thing is for sure, Parker and I are seriously going to have one amazing summer. I can't wait to spend a ton of time with my best friend and see what God has in store for our ministries through the summer.


Please be praying for us as we serve the students throughout the summer and as we go throughout the general struggles of figuring out a new job. We both are so excited and can't wait for the summer to get in full swing!


Live Today.

An End and A Beginning

This Mother's Day weekend is definitely one I will never forget.


I was finishing my last day of work Friday and received a call that my Gan had passed away. I went home from work, and met my mom (who made a huge driving sacrifice of which I am eternally grateful) and we packed up my apartment and while she drove back to Jesup, I drove to Norman Park to be with my family. I got there to be received by a Pop, Angela, and Mary Jo and we laughed and talked about Gan. Don't get me wrong, we cried as well but we tried to celebrate her rather than mourn. Her funeral was on Mother's Day, 13 May 2012. There couldn't have been a better day to have a beautiful funeral for a woman who was like a mother to so many and was a spectacular grandmother. The picture above is one of me and Gan at this past Christmas, and one of my favorite pictures of all time. I couldn't be more thankful to Angela for arranging us to get them. 

Now I'm a terrible Mother's Day, birthday, random gift picker outer. I mean if there was a scale I'd be the reference for the bottom. But this Mother's Day I knew that the only gift I needed to give was one of support to my Pop. He is a man that has been through so much. After 52 years of marriage he was still very much in love with the girl who captured his heart in the tenth grade. I don't think there was really any secret to it. He loved God and he loved his wife. He took his covenant before God and his commitment to her very seriously. Even when she contracted Alzheimer's and she had to be put in an assisted living home he visited her every single day and made sure she knew that he loved her. She had called me Andy for the past few years and could barely remember Angela and Mary Jo's name sometimes, but she never forgot Pop's name. Every now and then she'd look at us and say, "Where's Jimmy?" or "Is Jimmy coming?" or "Jimmy, I love you!" Talk about your "Notebook" love, right? 


I came home after the funeral and the next day began my intern work for my home church. I can already tell that this summer is going to be a wonderful blessing and it hasn't even officially started yet. 


Similar to last summer, I will be posting updates of what I'm doing with the kids, random stories, and little stories of things occurring around the office. I can't wait to see what God is going to do through this Children's Ministry this summer.


One thing that I'm super super excited about is the fact that I'm working with my brother and best friend, Parker Wayne. The dynamic duo is back together for an entire summer and the fun has yet to truly begin. I have many pranks already planned and can't wait to have some pictures up... because guess who's birthday is happening this summer? Don't worry, I'll be writing about that as well. 


Live Today.

Live To Love

Well, I'm wrapping it up here at UGA. Getting ready for the summer and the opportunity to minister to and serve kids and their parents at First Baptist Church. I can't thank God enough for everything that has happened and everyone that I have been blessed to call my friends. 

Wrapping up my time here at UGA, I'll also be wrapping up my study of Ephesians... well almost. I was reading today through chapter 4 and literally the first verse out of the gate screamed at me. 

"...Walk the life to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, patience, and bearing with one another in love." 

Notice that the listed attributes are not ones that come naturally to us. I've talked about patience and how that is a struggle, but the rest are definitely not easy for me either. But it is written that this is how we are to live. 

Bearing with one another in love. I definitely need to start reminding myself of that when I run into someone when I'm in a hurry and they just want to talk or when I am super frustrated with someone. That's what we are called to do as Christians. Love. And love genuinely. God sees our hearts when we do things and when our heart conflicts with our actions it makes him nauseous. I mean, we don't exactly feel like a million bucks when we're doing it either. There are so many blessings to be had and opportunities to witness when we do things with a genuine heart and it's a shame to miss them.

Live Today.  

Guarded?

Yes yes, it's been a while since I've written. I understand that. But let me just say that college has begun to wind down and that's when the students start to wind up. In order to relax, I like to exercise. I don't know why that is, never have never will, but I've always thought of running as a therapeutic so in order to recover from an anatomy exam I went for a run. As I was going down East Campus Road, I reached the College Station intersection I stopped and hit the crossing signal (The infamous Athens "White Man") for me to be able to continue my, up to that point, lovely run. I look both ways then take about three steps into the road when I look to my left and there's a motorcycle coming full steam ahead at me. He slams his breaks, I try and stop, and luckily I was not hit I did however hit his jacket. He pulled over and asked if I was okay, which I was, I asked him how he was and how is bike was, both turned out to be in perfect condition. After that I asked him how fast he was going and he responded with "Ma'am I was going about 55 mph when I ran the light... I could've killed you." 


Whenever he said that my mind shot back to what had just happened. If I had not stopped to press the turn signal, his bike would've taken me down. And at 55 mph he was right, he absolutely could have killed me. 


You know those spooky times when you just get the cold sweats and chills thinking about the possibility? Well that was absolutely one of those times. I called my mom, told her what happened and as I talked the reality of the situation overwhelmed me. I began to cry and thankfully she called one of my best friends and got him to come pick me up. Whenever I would start to cry again, mom pointed out a great point (as she normally does). "Taylor, yes, you could've been killed, but you weren't God's protecting you. God's guarding you." 


And there it is people. I had heard that guardian angels were real and all that, but I had never been in a situation where I narrowly missed what could have been a tragic accident by mere seconds. I had read about the stories of people not being attacked because they were being accompanied by two "unseen men", and that certainly isn't the case tonight, but I know for a fact that I was being guarded. There's no other explanation for it that that. 


Being guarded has become such a real thing now. God has guarded my heart but know I am certain he is guarding my life. Thanks Mom for the talk and Zach for the Sonic. Look both ways when you're crossing the street and for goodness sakes, please don't run a red light.


Live Today.

A Wandering Wonderer

Admit it. Somedays are better than others. There are some days that you feel like you could conquer the world, and then there are other days where you just feel like you want to stay in bed all day and just not do one single productive thing. Well, luckily enough for me, today was neither of those days. I've been in a funk. (BJ, hope you don't mind that I'm using your word.) Honestly there is nothing to describe it but that. I feel like God's path for me has become completely over-grown with bushes and stuff that is just either getting in the way or covering it up. 


There are so many things to distract a person. Ranging from Netflix to even your own thoughts. I'm not saying I know how to solve that or to even begin how to fix it because I myself am still trying to figure out how to get the distractions out of my life. However, one thing that I know for certain is that I feel like a wandering wonderer. I want to know what is going to happen in my life. I want to know if I'm going to even be a nurse. I want to know if there's anyone out there for me. I want to know why things happen. And yet at the same time I'm trying to figure all this out while trying to keep my eyes on the path that God has for me. And I don't know about you but I have semi-weird vision and sometimes only possess the attention span of a fish so distracting myself from the path isn't the smartest thing to do. 


This weekend however, I heard something that really put all my questions and, well frankly, my lack of answers in perspective. 


"God won't always show you the future, but he will certainly show you today."


I have doubts. I have worries. And I have fears. But at the same time I have a hope, a dream, and a drive that is bigger than my doubts, worries, and fears combined. (Except for my fear of spiders... honestly there is no hope for that one.) There will be more days where I'm in a funk, but there will be days where I feel the certainty and the solidity of following God's will. The rain will come and it may last, but it can't last forever. The sun will have to shine. First off because God promised he would never flood the Earth again, and secondly because even the skies run out of tears. I look toward the future with great anticipation. Not because I know what's going to happen, but because of the mystery that's been hidden will finally be revealed. 


Live Today.

Triumphs and Trials

Of all the posts I have ever written, this one will be the one that hurts me the most. After months of waiting, I have found out that I did not get accepted into Nursing School. Looking back, I switched from applying for fall to applying for spring then back to fall again. And well, it looks like Spring 2012 is when I'll be joining the boat of Nursing. There are things at work here that I do not understand and things that are bigger than my original plan.


Talking with family and friends about this has been a great consolation and a great comfort. But the one thing that is still there? That feeling of, "Well this just stinks". I still believe I am meant to be a nurse and that I am being delayed for some reason. My faith is bigger than this trial and if I'm meant to pursue another path then I am open and ready and willing. Thankfully I have a back up plan (See, I'm still always planning). Actually I have about three back up plans, and know that if one doesn't work I'm probably being led to the other. 


There's a verse that stands out to me now more than ever, Isaiah 55: 8-9 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the Earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts." I'm living this verse right now and am trusting that since His thoughts are higher than mine that something greater is going to come of this.


Needless to say, since I will not start nursing school in the fall I will be taking some other classes that are required to obtain my Bachelor's but aren't required to get into the nursing program. Thankfully there aren't a lot of these hours so I'll be able to foster relationships and get to know a new city without having to go crazy. Plus, this means more time for one of my favorite things in the world... College Football. Go Dawgs. Go Noles. And Roll Tide. 


Live Today.