My Battle With My Weight

I heard a while back that I need to think as food as fuel and not anything else. I have been chubby since high school and probably before. I have battled my weight since then. I have tried many different diets even the low carb thing twice. I did okay on it but I gained a portion of it back. I began my journey this year at 261. Now I am 5 foot 7 and at 261 I said that is enough. My doctor said one of the best ways to control your weight is to limit your calories and cut back on the unnecessary carbs. I have been doing that and exercising about 3 days a week. I have been doing light exercises on the Wii Fit and that has helped but since the weather has been nice recently I have walked the park near my house and just this past Sunday I actually ran a bit at the East Central University track. I have not ran in I don't know when, probably jr. high basketball.
     I also have been doing a thing I thought I would never do and that is what I used to term as fad diet aids. A friend of mine Loretta contacted me early in January and saw that I was trying to lose weight and said she had something that could help me. I being the person I am was cordial and listened to what she had to say and I even purchased the shapeway shake and metabolic enhancers just really as a courtesy. She was my friend and I did not want to offend her. I have to tell you though in what I went into as skeptical, has really turned out to be a great thing for me. I have done the shapeway challenge and am now in my second month and with the exercise, proper diet and the shake once a day I am feeling better and losing weight. As of today's writing I have lost 28 pounds and am having to go buy new clothes because my pants are too big and the 2X shirts I wear swallow me up. I hate shopping but I am having to do it.
     I had to pass this along just to say we only have one shot at this life on this earth and I am 47 years old and I want to be around a lot longer. I set a goal of 225 but I am going to shoot for 200 now and I think by the grace of God and determination I am going to make it!!!!!
     If you are struggling with your weight make the choice to stop moving in the wrong direction and move towards better health. If I can help in anyway let me know. I am including a link for further information on what I am doing to lose the weight!!!!

Blessings to you!!!

Pastor Steve

http://shapewaybodychallenge.com/stevetaylor

What is Lent all about?

     There are a lot of people who do not really understand what the church season of "Lent" really is. Basically it is a period of 40 days beginning on Ash Wednesday (February 22nd) and lasting until Holy Saturday ( April 7th) and does not include Sundays. Lent comes from the Anglo-Saxon word "lencten" which means "spring". Lent began as a a period of fasting and preparation for baptism by early converts and then became a time of penance which is seeking forgiveness and restoration.
     In modern times many people practice the gift of self denial in giving something they cherish up for lent. Some examples are like chocolate, pop, and other loves. some people practice the gift of doing something more for Christ during this time...including increased study, random acts of kindness, and other noble acts. I tried giving up brussell sprouts but you cant give up anything you don't like already. HAHA.
     I love this time of year because it challenges me to pause and reflect on the past year, my faults, my victories, my dreams and my desires and much more. I use this time as a time of self reflection. Spending more time in prayer and asking Christ what more does he desire from me? How can I serve Him better? and what do I need to rid myself of that keeps me from a closer relationship with Him. I have learned a lot over the years and I pray that this Lent he will give me more direction as far as my future is concerned. I know though the more time I spend reflecting back and looking forward I, along with Christ, can do amazing things when I set my heart on it.
     Lent for me culminates with Holy Thursday, Good Friday (which is spent asking for a lot of forgiveness for putting Christ on the cross, and then the time of rejoicing when Christ defeats death and the stone is rolled away and he is no longer in the tomb but instead resurrected so that I may live which of course is Easter. Christ has blessed me with a life worth living. I have had my moments when I felt like life wasn't worth it but when I look at that empty tomb and a risen Savior I thank him for letting me live.
     Many of you who are reading this might not be religious or have a personal relationship with Christ but I am here to testify without Christ in my life, I would not be the man I am today.
     I would ask anyone who has taken the time to read this posting to stop and ask for Christ to come into your heart and begin the life he seeks from you. Ask for the Holy Spirit to come and enlighten you as to the gift of salvation from Christ.
     I add if you ever need anybody to talk to about this ask a spiritual friend, pastor or contact me. Your life is priceless to Christ!!!!

Pastor Steve

My Affirmation of Faith

Every Sunday morning like clockwork, I recite an affirmation of faith that is in our United Methodist Hymnal. Some time ago I rewrote the affirmation of faith and really made it personal to me this is what I wrote.....

I believe in you my God above all things in my life and the life of this world and of heaven. You are my master and master over all things that I can see and all the things I cannot see because I am human. I believe that you sent your son Jesus to this earth to love us, to teach us and ultimately die for us and especially for me because I am a sinner. I am not worthy of His love but he gives it to me anyway freely because he loves me. He is truly your Son, for that I cannot deny for he is the true light of the world and is my Savior. He is one with you Father and because I have accepted Jesus as my savior I am one with Him and since he is one with you that makes me one with you as well. Something I forget from time to time and I ask that you forgive me of this indescretion. I know that you sent Jesus down from Heaven for us and Mary gave birth to Him as a virgin soimething that I am not able to comprehend in my mind but comprehend by faith. He received Your Holy Spirit after John baptized him in the Jordan and took his place among us on Earth to teach us your ways and we shamefully had Him crucified because we refused at the time to believe that He was your son. Only a few beleivers really understood He was your Son and had the faith to carry on after we did crucify Him on the cross. Jesus you suffered terribly at my hands and I ask your forgiveness in this. Despite the fact I did crucify you you conquored death and was resurrected from the grave and you now are with our Father caring for us day in and day out as you did when you were alive on this earth with us. I also believe that you will come back to judge the quick and the dead and I had better straighten up my act and live as you want me to live or I might not get to spend my eternity with you and that scares me. I believe that God you have sent your Spirit to guide us in our lives and that the Holy Spirit is a powerful thing that is available to me when I ask the problem is I don't deserve it nor do I ask for it enough in my life and the lives of my friends. You are the giver of my life, my family's life and my friend's life to do with as you please. I am a sinner that seeks forgiveness in my life. For the things I do and the things I do not do. I know when I stuggle I should come to you first but so often I do not. I seek to solve my struggles on my own and for that I am sorry. I was baptised for the forgiveness of my sin and that I should be thankful for and share that redeeming grace you offer me to all who will hear but for some reason Lord I fail at that too. I know that the end times will come when you are ready. I seek to know you more each day and when that time comes, you will know me as I strive to know you. I seek your blessings this day and the days to come.....Amen

I would like to encourage you to write your own affirmation of faith and read it daily!!!

Understanding College Kids...I just can't do it.

Do you remember when you went to school? I remember when I was in my first go around in school back in 1983-84. I lived on campus at Northern Oklahoma College in Tonkawa. I was a fair student and was wrapped up in all my different activities. I was in charge of the campus radio station and I had friends but very rarely did I stay up real late. I mean real late for many of us is midnight. But nowadays I guess many of the kids stay up well into the 2-3am range. I just don't understand it. What good is going on during those hours and what ever happened to a good night's sleep. My son is one of those "late night" people and I just don't get it. It really makes you worthless the first part of the day. I can understand if you were doing shift work or something like that I was that way once. But just to stay up until?????? I just don't see there is any good in this behavior. Does anyone else feel this way. I feel like a person has a better chance at success in life by getting good amounts of rest and being productive. What productivity comes this early in the morning hours. Any thoughts?

Are we giving God all we got or are we just getting by…..

January 13th, 2012

Tonight as I have been reading and praying about my message for Sunday about “The Heart of Worship” I got to thinking about several things. First is MY heart given fully in worship? I would have to admit probably not. You see when I think about giving my heart totally in to worship I picture no distractions. My mind, my heart, my attention is all about God. Not about getting anything in return for my obedience but focused totally on God. Second, Is my mind focused on God?  I cannot remember the last time that has happened for me in my life. I am too worried about the particulars of worship that I forget to worship. My mind can wonder from each element of worship to my lesson in Sunday school and even on the events later in the day. Sometimes I wish there was some kind of device that when you entered the sanctuary everything else except God would be wiped out of your mind. This Sunday I am preaching on Passionate Worship. What it means and what it might look life in the life of the congregation. If you are reading this I ask you to try just once to give your all in worship. No distractions, no wondering minds but true passionate worship to God our Father. Here are some things I am going to try….I am going to spend some time in prayer before the worship at 9:50. I am going to ask God to bless our worship, to help us to devote ourselves totally to Him during the worship service. I want my actions to dictate my heart this Sunday. I want let God fully envelop me and let me be a vessel in which he can communicate to his children. I don’t want the congregation to see me but see Christ thru me. I would love to see the tongues of fire as experienced that day of Pentecost set His people ablaze with passion for Him as never seen before. I ask that you pray for me as well……that I give God everything and not just get by.

Until the WHOLE world hears……

Pastor Steve   

The Ramblings of a Bi-Vocational Minister

It was 2004 when I decided and felt the call on my life to become a minister. I was very nervous thinking how could God use a sinner like me? I felt very inadequate in the calling but God has a way of using us how we are and molding us into who he wants us to be. I have been a bi-vocational minister since then and I have to tell you it has its ups and downs. There is frustration and the are times I feel on top of the world and that the Lord has blessed me so. My frustrations are I can't do everything I want to do, be with those in need when I need to be because of my job. My job also has limited me because I am on call every five weeks and could get called away at any moment even on Sunday morning. The other frustrating thing is friendship. You think friendship? Yes, I have learned being a pastor has limited my friendships. Think about it, it is hard to be friends with those you serve because you are called to be their spiritual leader and that can get in the way of friendship. Don't get me wrong, I like all my congregation members but miss a true friendship because of the job. I have to look outside my church and I have a couple of friends one close friend but again I am rambling. I have times in my ministry I want to run as fast as I can away from it but you cannot outrun God...He is everywhere...he caught me in the first place...lol. I am blessed without fail but I sometimes find myself thinking about things before my life as a minister. Is that regret...no, but the weekends off were nice...lol.....the rambings continue......    

Time to hit the "reset" button

I was driving today thinking about my next Sunday morning message. My mind began to think about all the things going on in the church and what it is going to take to reverse the trend of people leaving the church because of one reason or another. It got me thinking about what happens when my home computer gets so polluted with stuff it slows down and the only way to clear it up is to hit ctrl-alt-del and restart. I sometimes have to reset my phone, in fact the only way to fix some electronics is to reset them. I think there are some other areas that we need to "reset".  I know there are times in my life I would like to hit ctrl-alt-del and reset some things in my life but I can't. But when it comes to some other things it is possible to "reset". I think our government is one thing that needs to be "reset". We need to get a handle on spending and debt. That could be said for us in our lives as well when it comes to debt and spending. I know I have to quit making the credit card companies rich...lol.

One important thing that needs to be reset is our concept of church. The church that our parents went to does not have relevance to today's younger generation. We have a generation who believes in God and that Jesus died for us so that we can live but they have no use for the church. The church has failed to change with the generations and in this world if someone does not relate with something they simply get rid of it or leave it out of their lives. I love the Methodist church and our denomination but as time continues we are a dying denomination because we are failing to step out of the box and the way we do things and in 10-20 years we will be dead. Some of our churches in the denomination are recognizing the need for change but some are not. I believe those will be the churches that will not be here in 10-20 years. It is not just a Methodist thing either...it is in most major denominations.

We need to "reset" the way we see the church and not let this younger generation miss out on the saving grace Jesus has to offer by being active in worship. I ask my colleagues to take a hard look at your church and see if there is an opportunity to stretch yourself and your churches to accommodate the younger generation. I pastor a congregation of 33-35 in worship on a Sunday and I do not know how I am going to accomplish this with the limited resources I have but I want to see my congregation thrive and make disciples but it is an uphill battle. I have to be able to reach my 20-30 year olds as well as continue to minister to my over 60's. My wife and I are one of the few in our 40's in my church.

God hit the reset button several times throughout history. He hit "reset" with Noah. He hit "reset" with Jesus dying on the cross and turning ministry over to us. We need to "reset" and make Jesus relevant to a generation that needs Him desperately.

Just a thought!!!! "RESET"

Until the Whole World Hears!!!!

Steve