On Saturday morning Nicole and I took the step to never never land and purchased the tickets from NOLA to Singapore.  As of now we have an 11 hour layover in Seoul, South Korea which is really cool.  Hopefully we can take in the sights and feel like Sueanna Bryant for a little while.  I have heard that the food is a bit weird in S.Korea, but who doesn’t like fish heads?

The plan is to leave after work and fly out of NOLA on Thursday July 8th and arrive in Singapore sometime on the 10th.  Yes, that is two days of traveling that I am not looking forward to.  The last overseas trip we took was to Africa and the 8 hours plane ride seemed like 40 days.  Hopefully they will put me in first class since I’m going to the homeland……probably not though.

My family in Singapore is very excited to see Nicole and I.  Nicole has only met my Uncle Stewart.  This is the Asian guy that hung around my dad for about a month wearing a Raccoon Hat.  Dad never told him that it looked stupid, he just let him wear it.  This is also the guy that run into dads truck with the Golf Cart because he pushed the accelerator instead of the brake.  This is also the guy……well nevermind.  Put it this way, dad had some crazyness with my Uncle Stewart’s America experience.

Hopefully all will go well because as posting this we have yet to purchase flights home.  I guess we will just wing it.

Giving praise to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
Chris Taylor

I would bet to say that everyone has some sort of addiction whether it is drugs or work.  My addiction for the longest time has been Video Games.  Honestly since mom and dad bought me a Nintendo when I was 5 years old I don’t think that I have put down a controller.  It was a part of me and I loved it.

I still have memories when I was in middle school when Justin Bates and Craig Carroll would come over after school.  We would go outside and Justin and myself would teach Craig basketball and shoot around a bit, then hit the T.V. for some NFL Blitz.  (I really don’t think that I was ever been beaten by anyone else playing that game.)  NFL Blitz would keep us staring at the T.V. for hours on end.  Dad would ask me the same question every day, “Do y’all boys have homework?”  We would reply with the same answer every day, “No Sir, no homework today.”

The next phase of my video game addiction was playing Mortal Kombat (all versions) at Patrick Colliers house in Coden.  He went to school with my cousin Barry Jowers and they loved having me around because it kinda made them feel like they were in high school again.  Patrick had the slum house of Coden, this thing was a piece of crap.  The only thing worth anything was a nice T.V. and a Playstation…..oh and also plenty of Alcohol.  To my knowledge I never drank while down there, that wasn’t until my later years in high school but that’s a whole other post.  Anyways, the same was for Mortal Kombat as NFL Blitz.  I was unstoppable.  We had fun because I would always joke with everyone when I beat then that I was the one who invented the game so that was why no one could beat me.

This video game addiction drove all the way through high school, college, and into married life until one day.  I was playing NCAA Football 2009 Online and was about to tackle a guy with 4 sec left of the clock to win the game.  During my tackling process My wonderful wife Nicole walks in front of the T.V. to get her sowing kit or something and I guess I missed the tackle and the guy ran for a touchdown to beat me.  WOW, WAS I MAD!  I threw down the controller and walked outside to cool off.  That was not the correct action on my part.  Realizing after much discussion and pan throwing (just kidding about that part) I figured (or she figured) I needed a break from the games.

Since that “incident” the video games have come to a slow down.  I still like to play, but it was like God said, “Dude, it’s just a game.”  Don’t get me wrong if anyone wanted to challenge me to a game of NFL Blitz or Mortal Kombat we will get in on.  As long as it does not interfere with my marriage, ministry, and most important of all my relationship with God.  Those things come first in my life and if I have time to play video games after all of that then I will.  If I don’t, I won’t be upset because….it’s just a game.  On the out, I could have made this post 27 times longer, but I wanted to spare you boredom of my life in video games.

All praise goes to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the one who loves me, saved me, and lives with me.
Chris Taylor

Well, it has been a little while since I have posted last and I have lots and lots of stories.  I will start with this one. 

I’ve been really happy this month because all that has been on T.V. is basketball.  I love basketball and probably could watch it 24/7.  The other night I was watching a game and one of the players shot the ball from what looked like a Breast Cancer logo to send it into double overtime.  After watching that and being amazed, I tweeted about it.  As I was tweeting I must have had a brain fart because I could not remember how to spell the word “Breast” correctly.  In doubt Google it.  So that’s what I did, I typed in breast in google on my iPhone and made sure I had it right.

A few days pass by and Nicole asks to look something up on my phone.  As she brings up the internet browser the first thing she sees is the word breast.  Well, you can pretty much tell were this is going, but I had to explain why I was looking at “Breast” on the internet.  After a few minutes of explaining myself and getting out of the doghouse I changed the subject to something else and moved on trying to find ways to earn brownie points. 

Word of wisdom to those who have an iPhone, get the dictionary app, and don’t google things like breast. 

Good times – Love Jesus and Celebrate his Resurrection Easter Sunday and everyday after. 
Chris Taylor

Another great day, another great encounter with the Grand Bay Fire Department, or more commonly called the GBFD.  Saturday morning Nicole and I decided to do a little bit of yard work.  If you have never been to our house, we live on about an acre of land then have about 5 acres that is fenced off around the back yard and the side yard.  We thought that we would clean up some of that behind the fence on Saturday.  So we picked up the can of lighter fluid, got some matches and went to the first pile of wood we had made to get that started.  Something that we did not take into account was how much the wind would be blowing.  Just about the time that we got the fire going good, the wind picked up and started moving the fire a bit.  I was not afraid of that, but was not expecting what would happen once it reached all the high jap grass.  Holy Moley that junk catches like gasoline.

At that point I then asked Nicole to call the good ole boys at the GBFD.  Before they came, the fire got pretty large and caught the other 3 piles of wood on fire.  That is when I got scared because next to the last pile was all the woods that goes down behind Nicole’s dad’s rental houses.  I really did not want to burn all of those woods.  Before it got to that point the GBFD rushed on the scene driving through my neighbors yard and jumping out of the truck ready to hose the fire down to nothing.  One boy jumps out and starts the generator as the other cranks the hose out.  I’m getting pretty impressed at his point of their quickness until the one boy says, “turn er on!”  That was when I lost all hope in the GBFD because about 2oz of water came out of the hose and that was it.  Yes, you are correct, the GBFD came to my fire without any water in the tank.  The one boy then asked, “where is your nearest hydrant?”  I replied, “um, bubba, this is a private road.  there ain’t no hydrant anywhere around here.”

Guess what happens next, they leave.  It is hard to believe, but they came to a fire without water, and then left.  They did leave one boy there at the fire with a rake to try and put the fire out.  He was a bit unsuccessful with that though.  Finally the truck showed back up about 10 minutes later and the fire was at a simmer in about 3 or 4 leaves.  They put it out and went on their way.

A few things that I have learned from this experience is that one: don’t burn brush when there are rushing winds. Two: when burning always have a few buckets of water to control the fire.  And Three: When calling 911 make sure to tell them to tell the GBFD to make sure they have water in their truck before coming.  All in all it was a fun filled experience that we are still laughing about.

This is my life and I love it because Jesus Christ has given me his Salvation,
Chris Taylor

If you have been in the Grand Bay, Irvington, BLB area for a while you know where Collins’ curve is.  The reason people call it Collins’ curve is because it is where the Collins family lived.  To this day there are still family members that live around the curve. 

A few years back there was a tremendous tradgedy that hit the Collins family.  Leslie Collins, daughter of Randy and Lillie Collins passed from this life in her home on Collins curve.  Her death was really hard on the family, but I believe that her passing inspired a lot of people in the family to change their life.  One example was her dad.  I cannot say when I am not around him, but every time I see him he is praising his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for the blessings he has been given.  Her brother, Little Randy, was also impacted by her passing.  Little Randy now is a great man of God that follows Christ.  Others in the family that I know have also grown closer to Christ because of Leslie’s passing. 

Yesterday the Gillespie family, Sandra (Collins) Gillespie is the mom, lost a daughter from this life.  Britan Gillespie passed from this life yesterday evening at their home on Collins’ curve.  The family lives across the street from Leslie’s old house.  As of writing this post I am not sure of the extent of the passing, but I know that it has shaken the Collins family dramatically.  They need strong Christian people to surround them and pray for them.  This is the time when Jesus needs to be evident in their life more than ever.  The only way this can happen is if Jesus followers show the family love like Christ would. 

No one can know what they are going through except them, but as followers of Jesus we can pray without ceasing.  I pray that if you are reading this post that you know Jesus Christ as your Savior.  If you don’t then all you need to do is 3 things.  (ABC time) – Admit your a sinner.  Believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and lived, died, and rose again for you.  Confess that you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Jesus is the only one that can give you true comfort. 

Remember that Jesus Christ saves and always is there for you anytime.
Chris Taylor