May 16, 2024
FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. — Pastor Steve Taylor told Georgia Baptist leaders about the time his septic system malfunctioned, causing nasty gray water to seep from the ground onto his lawn.
“I’m out in the yard, and I’m digging away, knee deep in my own mess, literally,” Taylor, vice president of the Georgia Baptist Convention, said in a devotion delivered at a Georgia Baptist Executive Committee meeting in Fayetteville on Tuesday. “One of my church members who was driving by, stops, and says what’s going on? He jumps out of the car and says let me help. Just a little while later, another man comes along, and he begins to get down in my mess, knee deep, with me.”
Taylor, lead pastor of McConnell Memorial Church in Hiawassee, challenged the state’s Baptist leaders to be the kind of friend to others who is willing to jump into other people’s messes, both literally and metaphorically. He also challenged them to build the kind of friendships that would make others willing to jump into their messes.
“The reality is there are ministers and pastors, men and women in our churches all across this state, who are drowning in their messes, and there is no one there to help,” he said. “On the surface, we look good, and we do our best to present a great front. Yet, there are times when the gray water of our lives comes seeping out. Sometimes it doesn’t just come seeping out; it comes gushing out. And when it does, it doesn’t just affect us. It affects everyone around us, because the reality is my mess stinks and so does yours.”
Taylor said the Bible makes clear that friends are crucial to mankind, pointing to scripture from Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12: “Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.”
“One of the greatest gifts that God has given me throughout the course of my lifetime has been the presence of Godly friends who know me,” Taylor said. “And they don’t just know the church me. They don’t just know the public me. But they know the private me.”
Taylor challenged the Georgia church leaders to develop deep friendships with people who have permission to step into our messes.
“If the gray water of your life came seeping to the surface, who would you call, who would be willing to jump in the midst of your mess and keep you from drowning?”
