The Taylors are moving to Bethlehem!

-

This past year has been filled with anxiety and uncertainty about our future. Mel and I knew that we would be moving away from Pietermaritzburg at the end of 2019, but we had no idea where our destination would be.

We recently received the news that I have been placed in Bethlehem in the Free State. We will be moving there near the end of this year where I will be ministering to the Central Methodist Church's congregation in Bethlehem.

The stationing process has been stressful, with little to no information shared with us until the very last minute. This meant that we could not do anything to plan for our future until very recently.

Although I have served in churches in various capacities over the past couple of years, this will be my first official placement to serve as a reverend in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa.

Mel and I were invited to visit our new church and home this past weekend. We were both nervous, but equally as excited as we left Pietermaritzburg for Bethlehem on Friday.

We are pleased to say that any major concerns about our future were calmed during this trip. We were overwhelmed by the welcome we so lovingly received by the members of the two Methodist Churches in Bethlehem. I can not put into words the immense love and care that we experienced at the hands of all who we met during our short trip to Bethlehem this past weekend.

After months of stress about our future, it is truly amazing how God's grace was revealed to us through the loving hearts of the people that we encountered in Bethlehem.

While we have no doubt that this new journey will present many unique challenges, our minds are finally at peace because of the Bethlehem community that became willing vessels of God's welcoming spirit towards us. We are so grateful for God's guiding hand throughout this stationing process and we can not wait for our new story in Bethlehem to begin!

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
- Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Leap of Faith

-
Image
I recently did the Lake Eland Extreme Zip-line with some of my friends from Pietermaritzburg. The zip-line is 1 100 meters long and reaches max speeds of up to 160km's per hour. All that is keeping you from falling hundreds of meters to an inevitable death is 2 cables and a harness that my hysterical brain was telling me would not have been out of place as a car's seat-belt. We arrived early and waited for half an hour as we contemplated our life choices up to this point. Eventually we were all kitted up and ready to go. While I wouldn't say that I have Acrophobia - an extreme fear of heights - as I looked out over the gorge that we would be flying through, breaking the national speed-limit in the process, it is fair to say that my stomach started churning and my legs turned to jelly. It was at this point that I'm sure many of us were trying to think of any reasonable excuse that would get us out of this jump without seeming like a coward. One of the thin
Read more

The God of Running, Talents and Passions

-
Image
Over the past couple of months I have developed a passion for running.  I am not terribly good at it and I doubt I will take it very far, but something about training hard over the past couple of months has spiked an enthusiasm in me that I cannot really explain. It is during my time running on the road when I am able to clear my mind from stress and think about all the things God has been doing in my life. Image Source:  Lucas Favre Yesterday I completed my first full marathon.  It was one of the most difficult things I have ever done, but it felt good to complete something that I had worked so long and hard to accomplish. Some of you might be wondering why someone would run for hours, putting themselves through extreme pain just to receive a T-shirt and a medal. I don't blame you. I used to wonder the same. Not everyone is passionate about the same thing. Not everyone has the same talents or skills. But I believe that God blesses everyone with talents,
Read more

Harmony of Grace

-
Image
Image Source:  张 学欢 Why did I decide to start this blog? Why call it Harmony of Grace?  One definition for the word harmony is "living in peace and mutual understanding with others." I have always been fascinated with music and in my opinion, the musical definition of the word harmony has a more accurate depiction of the word's true meaning. In musical terms, a harmony is "a note or group of notes that compliment the notes in the melody (main tune of the song)." There are many different possible harmonies, but if played/sung correctly, they all compliment the melody and emphasize the beauty of the musical arrangement as a whole. When I had my first encounter with Jesus, the concept of harmony became much more real in my life. But how does harmony have anything to do with God's grace? I believe that God's grace can be seen in the world we live in, through various means, as a complimentary harmony to God's nature an
Read more