“We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” – 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 (NIV)
It was sometime in 1977 or 1978 and I was in my early years as a student at Dallas Theological Seminary. My wife Joyce had been taking some classes with Child Evangelism Fellowship directors Fred and Vickie Kraft, being better equipped to lead children to a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ and grow in a personal relationship with Him.
I think it may have been Vickie who encouraged Joyce to either sponsor a “Good News Club” for children on a weekday afternoon or assist someone else who would host it. Being new to Dallas and not having a wide range of social connections in the area, Joyce volunteered to help Ina Taylor, a local African-American woman.
From the time Joyce first met Ina she knew she had a friend for life. Ina was a sincere and dedicated follower of Jesus, a graduate of Southern Bible Institute and had a heart to reach out to the children in her south Dallas neighborhood. For several years during my student days Joyce helped her with a weekly children’s club.
One Sunday Ina invited us to attend her local church and come to her house for dinner afterwards. It was one of my first, but not last, experiences visiting a predominantly African-American church. We were warmly welcomed and of course were treated to a fabulous meal afterwards. You would never have met a woman with a larger heart than Ina Taylor.
In 1981 after my graduation from Dallas Seminary we returned to my home town of Fort Worth to prepare for our ministry in Ireland with Greater Europe Mission. We kept in touch with Ina and began to send her our newsletters where we shared family updates and prayer requests for our ministry. Ina became one of our most faithful prayer supporters and almost every year we received hand written letters from her which were indeed a “labor of love” considering the arthritis that she suffered with, especially in her hands and fingers.
As the years passed we had our first four children and Ina adopted them as her own grandchildren even though she mainly knew them through our newsletters. Her own children decided to have her move to Tyler in east Texas closer to them. Tyler happened to be along the US Interstate 20 route we would usually take to northwest Louisiana where Joyce’s mother’s family resided and her parents retired in the early 1990’s.
I think it was on our return trip to America in 1992 or ’93 that we made a very treasured visit to Ina in Tyler on our way to Louisiana. She was able to see our four older children (our twins didn’t arrive until 1994) and prepare a delicious catfish dinner for our lunch. I recall one of our sons saying that he didn’t like catfish! That was, of course, until he actually tasted it and then couldn’t stop eating Ina’s catfish dinner.
We spent a treasured couple of hours with Ina that afternoon but what we weren’t prepared for was what happened next. Ina insisted that we all pile in our car and take her to a local department store. She wanted to purchase gifts for each one of our children. She wouldn’t take “no” for an answer and we didn’t feel like standing in the way of her desire to serve her Lord by serving our family.
Ina taught me to be a more generous giver even as our children picked out what they wanted from the store and carried away treasured gifts from their African-American grandmother.
I’m eternally grateful to God for how He allowed us to connect with another believer from a different background who would be a lifelong ministry partner with us.
A few years ago we received a phone call from Ina’s daughter who kindly passed along the sad news that she had gone home to be with Jesus, the Lord that she loved and served wholeheartedly. I personally hope that she is one of the first people I meet on the other side when I join her someday.
Today we are beset with stories of hate, racism, prejudice, anger and tension of all types and descriptions. All of us as human beings have painful experiences and memories that shape us for life. Perhaps it’s time that we start making new memories and have new experiences with people from all nations and a variety of backgrounds. Yes, we can and should work for moral and social justice, but it starts with simple things like working together on projects which are life-giving to others.
I know that change starts with me, but hopefully I’m drawing from a reservoir of experiences such as the ones I had with our dear friend, sister and ministry partner, Ina Taylor. May her tribe increase!
Lessons for Living 