Goodbye (for now) and God Bless the Taylors!

For those of you who know me and Laura well, you know that our wedding was performed by Mr. Doug Taylor.  When we got married almost three years ago, we were living in BR and were members of Istrouma Baptist, the church we both grew up in.  When Laura and I were married, Doug was the student minister at Istrouma and I was his part-time intern.  At that time, we hadn’t known the Taylors very long but Laura and I had formed a special bond with Doug and his wife, Kat… not to mention their three awesome kids!  Funny how things change in a few years.  Now, just a short time later, Doug, Kat, and their three kids have moved to Arua, Uganda where they are serving as IMB missionaries for the next decade or so.

It has been pretty amazing to watch this family that we know so well as they follow God’s call in their lives.  I am constantly amazed at how God took them from serving in local church ministry in Louisiana to serving as foreign missionaries in Uganda – all in a little more than a year.  I’ve got to say that I just come away realizing that God is awesome and totally in control of our lives even in the most unexpected circumstances.

Laura and I have felt very blessed to be able to stay as close to Doug and Kat as we have.  When we moved to Houston two years ago, we thought that was signifying the end of our closely related lives with the Taylors.  We were now living in Texas and they were still in Baton Rouge.  We’d get to see them some at holidays, but we wouldn’t have the ability to go to their house two to three times a week like we did when we all lived in the same city.  Sad, but we knew what God was calling us to do – move to Houston.  Well… remember what I said about God being in control?  Less than a year after we moved to Houston, Doug and Kat were moving to Texas too!  And they were moving just down the road in Katy!  Pretty awesome.  Basically, we got a bonus year with the Taylors while they went through the IMB application and training process.

All that to say, we feel pretty blessed to have extended our close relationship with the Taylors for another year.  During the time they’ve lived in Texas Doug stayed with us while they were looking for a house, we got to meet up for Sunday lunches, Doug spoke to our Tallowood youth group, and we got to hang out a whole lot more than if they had still been in Louisiana – the kids really loved coming to our house for the Guitar Hero guitars!

Laura and I kept talking about how it just didn’t seem like they were really moving to Africa.  We just couldn’t wrap our minds around the fact that this family that had been such a huge part of our lives would be out of the US for at least the next three years. But sadly, despite our inability to realize it would one day happen, we had to say our goodbyes to the Taylor clan just a few weeks ago.  Fortunately, we were able to make a trip out to Kat’s parents farm out in Yoakum, Texas.  It was really fun to get to see where they had been staying after moving out of their house in Katy.  Laura even ran on top of some hay bails with all the kids!  Fun stuff!

I can’t even explain how great it was to see them and just hang out like we had so many times before.  We got to sit around and chat, see a video of the city they have moved to in Africa, play with their kids, eat lunch together, drive around the metropolis of Yoakum, and even meet some of Kat’s family.  It was an awesome day that eventually required a tearful goodbye.  Saying goodbye to dear friends that have influenced you so much is always hard, but knowing that you will not see them again face to face for three years makes it a little tougher.  So long story short, we said our goodbyes and headed back to Houston.

Though saying goodbye for now was hard, I want to make sure that I’m clear about how excited we are about what God is doing in the Taylors’ lives.  As Doug has explained, they are not doing anything that we couldn’t do.  All they are doing is listening to God and obeying.  So, I am more than happy to give them all the prayer I can and eagerly wait to hear updates about their life in Uganda.  And, if you want to see what is going on with the Taylors in Africa, check out their blog – http://www.tothebridgeandback.blogspot.com

So, Kat if you read this one night in Africa when you have Internet, just know that we love all of you so much and are proud to call you our friends.  We’re praying for you!

-Micah

Advertisement