courage to speak

This weekend our youth group went to Winterfest in Gatlinburg, TN & joined 12,000 other teens in a wonderful experience as we all grew in our relationship to Father God. The picture you see here is of my friend Taylor. Taylor is a junior in our youth group. He is a great servant who has a humble heart. There's nothing Taylor won't do for you if you ask him. He's just one of those guys that doesn't need a lot of press, doesn't require a lot of thanks or recognition. He just wants to be a servant & bless the kingdom. And he's been doing that for as long as I've known him.

I've been praying for Taylor for quite some time. For whatever reason, Taylor has been holding out to be baptized. To make that commitment to the Lord where he steps into the water & becomes a child of God. Retreats have come & gone where I've talked to Taylor, prayed for Taylor, & still nothing has happened...as far as I could see.

But this weekend was different. It was the last night at Winterfest. And they were offering an invitation. One of our adults had gotten up & positioned himself where he could see Taylor. According to him, Taylor never flinched, never moved the whole time the invitation song was being sung. But Taylor's good friend T.J. was talking to Taylor the whole time the song was going on.

After the song was over, I was a little disappointed that Taylor had not walked forward. And then to my surprise, Taylor & T.J. walk right up to me. With chins quivering & tears in there eyes. Then Taylor reached out, gave me a big bear hug & told me he wanted to get baptized.

I told him I loved him & was proud of him. People started gathering around to hug Taylor. So I stepped aside & asked T.J., "Did you get a chance to talk to Taylor this weekend about being baptized?" He said he had. I asked him what made him decide to talk to Taylor. He said, "He's my friend & I didn't want to lose him."

I later asked him what he said to Taylor during that invitation song. He said, "I asked him if he believed Jesus was the Son of God, cause that's all he needed to know,"

May we be the T.J.'s in the lives of those friends we love & don't want to lose.