Transcript from the podcast (so sorry for the spelling mistakes)
The Wildfire podcast is an extension of Wildfire Ministries, an organization that has a focus of igniting men and women of God into a deeper discipleship with Christ, instilling them with a passion to radically and relentlessly pursue Christ wherever that leads, that God's truth will spread like a wildfire.
Welcome to the Wildfire podcast, and I think this will be a lot of people's favorite episode, because Luke Taylor is not with us.
Amen, amen.
He has been replaced with a superior tailor, Marc.
Peter, thank you for your kindness.
Thank you for your kindness.
It's just truth, Marc.
Yes, Peter, I understand.
I'll not be too harsh because Luke is behind the camera today.
Yes, Luke, we still love you.
We're sorry that it's good to be here, Peter.
Thank you for having me.
No problem.
I mean that.
Thank you so much for having me.
We're looking forward to meeting up with you.
Yeah, that's good.
So Marc, we're going to talk just about your story.
Yeah.
So just give us some 30 seconds.
Thanks for the time.
Yeah, I have to give more time for this because he does tend to elaborate quite a bit.
30 seconds.
Just a little bit who I am.
Sure.
Obviously, you've referred to Luke's daddy, Marc, married to Heather, another son, Dylan, originally from Cookstown, and moved up to the North Coast, Peter, in 2009, and just have had an amazing journey right through the whole time moving up here.
Came from a bit of a broken family, but God came in a mighty way to that family and transformed the Taylor family, and it's just incredible.
So, oh, Peter, God is so good.
He is so good.
So that's it in 30 seconds.
Are you proud and proud?
Yeah, that was a good job.
We'll try and keep that consistency there.
It will not last.
Yeah.
So Marc, we actually had you on today, so we can talk about your cancer journey and a little bit about suffering.
So would you care to just tell us a little bit about that?
Yeah, Peter, I'll take you back to 2020, when this all started.
So 2020 was a tough year and as you said, rightly to me, tough year for everybody.
Pretty much a tough year for everybody.
But what was happening in my own personal life?
Extreme fatigue, Peter.
Weight loss, still an appetite, joint pain, just felt awful.
And during 2020, on two occasions, they admitted me into Antrimary Hospital into an isolation ward both times, for a number of days both times.
And they had said that I had all the symptoms of COVID because I had this horrendous cough.
And Peter, literally, it was so bad.
I couldn't have talked and got a sentence together without going into a kink of cough and really short of breath.
So obviously there was some symptoms that looked like the COVID.
So Peter, that was the whole situation.
Doctors came to me.
I remember two doctors in particular came around to see me because they were thinking, oh, it could be rheumatoid arthritis.
That was another thing.
And then one of them just done a wee tap on my arm and says, you're a young man.
It's a virus.
It could be COVID.
It'll burn out.
Just keep doing what you're doing and keep going.
So I did keep going, Peter.
I just kept going.
It was a Friday afternoon.
I was in Wallaces, you know, in Balamina, where you've come in a few times.
Oh, I bought shoes off you before.
You bought shoes off me, Peter.
And it was in Wallaces on a Friday afternoon, when my wife, Heather, rang.
And she says, Marc, Dr.
Johnson was just on the phone.
And this was the first incredible miracle in my whole journey, Peter.
Dr.
Johnson was a doctor that has never examined me.
I have never seen him.
I have never been his patient.
But somehow my bloods, that had been horrendously bad for a solid year, by the way, inflammation markers of well over a hundred.
And if anybody knows anything about inflammation markers, that's ridiculous.
Inflammation markers well over a hundred.
But my bloods had come across his desk.
He phoned my wife, Heather.
Heather phoned me and she says, look, Dr.
Johnson's not happy, and he's ordered a scan for you.
So Peter, the scan was done really, really quickly.
It was a Monday afternoon, and I was sitting in the front room of the house.
Boys were upstairs, and the phone went, and Dr.
Johnson says, Marc, are you sitting?
And I says, yes, I am.
He says, look, I'm sorry to have to do this in such strange circumstances due to the COVID, you know, et cetera, et cetera.
But he says, I'm ringing to tell you that you've got cancer.
And that's just how he said it.
And I asked him, he says, Dr.
Johnson, where?
He says, you've got a massive tumor in your left kidney, and we need to operate ASAP.
So Peter, that's just how it happened.
Straight over phone call, straight out, Marc, you've got cancer.
And how did you process something like that?
How I processed it, I remember initially, you know, Heather and I, there was just that little period of silence, but I called the boys downstairs, Dylan and Luke downstairs, and yeah, I think it was a little emotional, but I would cry anyway, you know what, I'd follow them or something.
But she had a wee bit of a tear, Peter, but I said to the boys, straight out, I says, look boys, your daddy's gonna fight this.
And I'm gonna fight it and I'm gonna face it with God.
And I'll tell you what thrilled my heart just that day, Peter, was I just sat, remember sitting in the wee armchair where I took the phone call, and I just remember a supernatural piece that only God could have give, just coming into the room and just, something just came up on me just to say, do you know what?
Yes, you've got cancer, but I'm gonna be with you through this.
And that's what happened.
So initial shock, Peter, but a lovely sense of calm.
So that's how we processed it.
Yeah.
And what are some things, because I know I'm not very good at this, but what are some things people can do to comfort you in that, whenever you just got a bi-diagnosis, whenever a loved one's just died, what are some things that people can come alongside you and say that would help for them?
Absolutely.
That's a really good question.
Peter, I'll start by saying what I feel we shouldn't do.
Okay?
Yeah, that's a good thing as well.
And I've learned this from experience, even me visiting folk.
Sometimes people mean so well, and they will turn up at your house or at your bedside, and they'll come with a three-point sermon, Peter, followed by loads of sub-points and sub-sub-points, and they mean well.
But you're in this state, whether in your mind you're processing stuff, or whether physically you're enduring stuff, and you can't take all that in, but they mean well.
So what I will say to anyone that visits, or anyone that draws alongside someone with your journey, you don't need to go with a big sermon.
Okay?
So that's not what to do.
But what I learned was, and this is so vitally important, sometimes it's just good for somebody to be there, just to put your arm around you, and say, look, I've never been where you are.
And just admit that.
But I want you to know I'm there for you, and I love you.
And just the love that someone can offer you, Peter, just for you to know that they're going to be with you on the journey, it's so, so important.
Now I want to reiterate something, in case people look at this and think he's a heretic.
The word of God is so vitally important as well, Peter.
So send in a lovely verse, and I receive so many verses just at the right time, by the way, over my journey.
But what I am saying is don't come with a barrage of stuff.
I remember one of the verses, Peter, that is constantly flung out there when people are going through illness, that people give to them, folk that are going through illness, they will give you that verse, as for God, his way is perfect, but they're the ones standing here at the end of the bed, and they're not the ones laying in the bed.
And sometimes, it's just hard to comprehend in suffering, God's will in that.
But yet, the essence and the truth of that verse is very real.
As for God, his way is perfect, but it's just using the right phraseology and coming with the right thing at the right time just to bless someone, Peter.
Yeah.
I'm really curious to get your take on it as well, because you were a pastor, and now you've been on the other side of the equation as well.
So, Peter, I remember, and that's a really good point.
I remember visiting many people and I've stood at many, many bedsides with people that are sick.
And I think I've learned this more now myself.
And I think the biggest thing that any family, any patient, any person that is suffering in any way needs.
And the Bible, right throughout the whole of the Bible, there's a key word and it's the word love.
Show them love and I think, Peter, the other thing that people need to grasp, especially Christians, it's buy their fruits, you shall know them.
And it's in times of suffering that Christians should rise to the occasion and come alongside you and help.
And I think you might ask me about that in a few minutes.
Yes, well, I'll ask you about it now, sure.
And cut to the chase.
When it comes to rising to the occasion, I haven't been in that position yet, but we're all going to die at some stage.
So how do we prepare ourselves now for those times of trials and suffering that will come?
The first thing that I'm going to say, and you'll agree with me, is the first preparation that we need, Peter, is to know Jesus Christ personally.
Okay, you've got to know him personally, because you can face many things in life, not just illness, by the way, financial problems, marital problems, family breakdown problems, loads of things in life.
But without Christ, without Christ, then things become more difficult.
So, know Jesus.
Do you remember, Peter, me and you grew up in the Gospel Hall background.
Amen, amen, amen.
Do you remember we sang that class week course, I don't know if you sang it in your replace, with Christ in the vessel, we can smile at the storm.
Do you remember that course?
I'm afraid I don't remember that one more time.
You've given me my age.
But we used to sing that, look, with Christ in the vessel, you can smile at the storm, as we go sailing home.
And that is so true.
If you could Christ in the vessel, if you know Jesus Christ, it is so, so good.
But the other thing, and I want to refer to this, there was one person when I received my diagnosis that I would have loved to have shared it with.
And you know who I'm going to say, and many of the young people that will be watching this, know this gentleman or will know of him.
His name is Mr.
Norman Linus, the founder of Exodus.
Norman Linus was my mentor for 16 plus years, and Norman went to be with Jesus.
And I remember there was many occasions that I would have just loved to have had Norman there.
So, knowing Jesus, he's a friend that sticks closer than any brother, but also to have someone that you can trust and turn to.
Because Peter, let's be honest, there's going to be crap days.
Like, I wasn't always floating.
There was the old day when it just hit me.
And I'm going to refer to one of those occasions.
And it was an occasion where Luke Taylor, my son, came to me as we were drying dishes in the kitchen one Sunday afternoon.
And as he was drying a little cup, he just looked straight into my face and he says, Daddy, are you excited about going to heaven?
And it was at that moment it just hit me, do you know what even Luke's thinking here?
I could be in heaven sooner than I think.
And am I really excited about heaven?
Am I really excited to be with Jesus Christ?
And of course, many of us Christians want to stay on earth as long as possible, Peter.
And that's true, that's human nature.
But the Bible says to be with Christ, which is far better.
So salvation, knowing Jesus, but having an accountability, someone in your life, someone that you can trust, a mentor that can come alongside you and just journey with you, Peter.
Yeah, that's good advice.
And you kind of mentioned it there slightly, but did you fear death?
I can genuinely look at you, Peter, and tell you, I have never in this journey had a moment where I have like literally been wetting myself literally, petrified of death.
Genuinely, I have never at that moment, I have received a peace that genuinely passes all understanding, and it has been incredible.
Now, over the past number of weeks, we have been at many grave sites where people have lost their fight with cancer.
But there was a minister said something to me.
He says, they haven't lost their fight with cancer.
They haven't lost their fight with cancer.
Jesus Christ has just took them to a better place, and I thought that was so, so important to just stress.
So, no, Peter, I didn't face death.
I know the Bible says the last enemy to be defeated is death.
But no, I've never had that fear, Peter.
No, I haven't.
Missing Heather and the Boys, maybe.
Yes.
Can I ask a question?
Sure.
Why does my son look like he never missed me, Peter?
Yeah, he looks quite morbid.
I love him.
I love him.
He did tell the story about whenever you received your diagnosis, he said, they were all crying, but I didn't really see the point in crying.
That is so good, because Luke's mind is always, do you know what?
This is a win-win situation for you, Dad.
Do you know what I mean?
Dad, if you die with cancer, it's Christ for you, it's glory.
But Dad, if you live and beat cancer, then you're in a win-win as well.
So he's right, I was in a win-win situation, Peter.
And knowing Jesus, that's what makes that possible.
Yeah, he's probably just hoping his name's in the will somewhere as well.
Probably, he's getting nothing.
He's like that prodigal son, you remember that prodigal son that came to the farm, when the father was still living, give me my will now, Dad.
Luke Taylor's as bad as that.
No, he's not.
Well, when it comes to the Heather and the Boys as well, did it help for you, knowing that people were helping them out when you were in hospital?
Like, I remember asking Luke on a few occasions, like, do you need any meals or anything like that?
Can we help in any way?
And Luke said, no, the fridge is full.
Peter, that's a great point.
And I want to really thank folk.
And our freezer was full.
Our fridge was full.
In fact, I remember they couldn't even get room in the fridge to get some of the stuff.
And there's a wee gospel hall, you know it well.
It's a family background of your own, your dad and mom and your family.
Ball in the Loop Gospel Hall was so near our house, Peter.
And the fucking Ball in the Loop, I can't honestly tell you how many times they arrived up with meals, financial gifts at the right time.
So many people, but not just Ball in the Loop Gospel Hall, Peter Wallace is where I worked.
Oh, Peter could, we could take them next, honestly.
But I want to say that there were so many Christians that came, and that was such a piece to me as I lay in hospital.
I knew that Heather and the boys were being looked after at home by God's people.
See, when God's people come together, special.
Yeah.
And you remember, Peter, and this is why I always read the scriptures.
The Church of Jesus Christ is referred to as the body, as the body, and it says when one member suffers, we all suffer.
So when one part of the body is not functioning, the body suffers.
But you see, when the body comes together, it's tremendous, Peter, it's tremendous.
So that was brilliant to know that.
Yeah.
And especially you as a provider of the family as well, it's comforting to know that.
That was a big thing.
That was a big thing, Peter.
And when it comes to your time in hospital, are there any stories you'd like to share about evangelism opportunities you had, or people who came in and prayed for you, anything like that?
And again, I remember we were trying to keep it under the certain time limit as well.
Thanks for the reminder, Peter.
You're very kind.
Peter, I want to share two stories very, very quickly.
I want to take you to a week leading up to my second operation, which was on the 11th of January.
And I was in my little room.
And I remember that morning, I'd got up very early and I went down to pray and read a Psalm to a wee retired Presbyterian minister.
Come back to my room and I was sort of singing.
And my mum had just phoned as she was doing her insurance hospitals.
She had got to know about FaceTime, the worst thing ever.
And my mother would have rang in FaceTime, but she would have been upside down and down side up and everywhere.
And she would have said, are you upside down or am I upside down?
But it was mum.
But she had phoned that morning.
We were having a lot of time, but just when she went off the phone, the door opened and it was a consultant.
And I says, isn't it great?
They're going to go in and do more surgery and they're going to try and search me out and try to help me.
And she says, look, Marc, she just looked straight at me.
She says, this time you heard the truth, you potentially aren't going to make it, you're going to die.
That's exactly the way she said it.
Now I want to rewind just to a week before.
And I get this phone call, and it's this lady and she says, look, you don't know me, my name's Angela McCauley.
You've never met me, but I've heard about you, I've been watching some of your YouTube videos.
I want to come and pray with you.
I says, Angela, it's impossible.
Nobody was allowed in, Peter.
Nobody was allowed in.
Double sets of doors, COVID locked up, nurse's station at the start.
Nobody was getting in.
So let me go back, fast forward now to that day, the consultant.
As the consultant was about to leave, the wee nurse opened the door, and she just whispered into the room, there's somebody weird standing at your door.
My sister, what do you mean weird?
She says, well, come out and see for yourself.
So I went out, and I opened the door, and there, standing in a big sheepskin coat, grey fuzzy hair, like a pearl, like DME boots on her, was this lady, and just daunted me.
This must be the lady that phoned me the week before.
Now, Peter, remember, I've just been told potentially I'm gonna die.
So this woman's standing, and I says, are you Angela Macaulay?
She says, I am.
And she says, I don't know how I've got in.
We know how God made the way.
She says, I've just got through two sets of double doors.
I've walked the whole way through to your room, your room.
She's standing outside my room.
Nobody had got in.
And she's standing outside my door, and she says, I've been up all night.
And the Holy Spirit told me that I had to drive from Port-au-Ferry this morning, and to tell you that you are not going to die, you're going to live.
And Peter, that was just miraculous.
I remember standing, Peter, she says, put your hands on my shoulders.
And I put my hands on each side of her shoulders.
She prayed with me.
And boy, I genuinely mean this.
I felt the power of the Holy Spirit in that woman's prayers.
So that was the first miracle.
It was tremendous.
I want to take you to another incident about evangelism.
Because as I lay there, Peter, I thought, goodness, I'm going to be in here for months.
What am I going to do?
I can just curl up and watch YouTube and every Netflix series in the country.
Or do I make the most of the time and share Jesus?
That's what I did.
And so I went around all the wards because they weren't getting visitors either.
Prayed with them and read with them, but I met two priests, Peter.
It was incredible.
And we got to know Father Francis.
I want to give a shout out to you.
You'll probably be watching this, for I've told you about Father Francis.
He's a wee gentleman.
Francis, you can sing.
I still remember you singing.
And I says, what do we do?
We'll have wee meetings.
And I remember the first night we put on the Reverend William McCrae on his accordion.
Imagine two priests and Marc Taylor singing to the Reverend William McCrae.
But we were singing.
I remember going out of that wee ward, and there was a wee room at the top of that ward, just into the right hand side.
And this wee lady was on it.
As I walked by the room, she says, hello there.
And I says, hello, are you the boys that are singing?
I says, we are.
And I thought, goodness, we have upset her, we are singing loud.
I says, look, I am so sorry for keeping you awake or annoying.
She says, no, you're not.
She says, you're the very reason that I'm keeping going on here.
Her name was Mrs.
Highlands.
But anyway, amazing, from that moment, Peter, I started to pray and read with that woman morning and night.
But let me explain this to you.
This is where God came.
Torbjord of Anselism and Hospital, best mission field ever.
I was home and the phone went.
Heather Anstrich gave me the phone.
I says, Hello.
This voice says, Are you the Reverend Taylor?
I says, No.
And it says, Is your name Marc Taylor?
I says, That's right.
He says, I found a wee sheet of paper in my wife's bedside locker in Hospital, were you in Alton and Galvin?
I says, I was.
He says, It says one of the Reverend Marc Taylor reads and prays and sings with me every night and morning on a phone number.
And it was the lady's husband.
And he had phoned to tell me that she had passed away.
And to ask me would have come to the funeral.
I went to the funeral.
It was outside Limevary.
And I was thrilled to hear Peter.
The minister say that she had made her peace with God in the hospital in Alton and Galvin.
And that's incredible.
So I know God had me there, Peter.
To share the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And that was terrific.
Yeah.
It's just amazing the fact that even with COVID and all, their families couldn't get in, probably any other ministers or pastors couldn't get in.
But God was able to just place you right where you needed to be.
I want to share one other thing.
Can I?
I know I know you're right.
I won't be able to stop you.
So just go for it.
I want to share one thing.
I'll not mention the name, but one of the doctors, when I first went in November the 17th, I think it was, Peter, I got out in January the 18th.
I think the end dates are right.
November 17th, January, it doesn't matter, give or take.
But one of the doctors, consultants came to me, he says, I know you're good living.
I know you're good living.
But he says, I've seen enough in my time in here as a surgeon to know that there's nobody out there, there's no God.
And obviously, because he was a cancer surgeon, and I understood that.
That was at the very start of the journey.
As I was leaving hospital, Peter, the consultant took a Christian book off me, right?
And he come up and put his hand on my shoulder and he says, by the way, I've been watching some of your YouTube videos.
Isn't that incredible?
So there was God again, God again, just doing something special.
Our prophets just propped something up for us there.
Did you see that?
I know we didn't need to because it's going to be the next question.
Thanks anyway for giving yourself a purpose back there.
So what are you doing with yourself now?
Peter, when we lay in hospital or I lay in hospital, I met countless families.
Some of them, one situation in particular, a young man come in in the middle of the night, just in his early thirties, and he died the very next morning with pancreatitis.
And it was horrendous, but I met so many families, Peter, that were on their own.
And some of them died alone, and some of them working through cancer alone.
So there was a man by the name of Pastor Roy Care and his wife, June, that had come into my life.
Roy Care, amazing, phoned me every day and prayed with me.
Phenomenal.
But a couple of years ago, he had formed this thing called Hope2Families, and he had just sort of left it lying dormant as such, but they'd been praying for a young couple.
Cue you, Peter, a young couple.
Did you hear what I said, Peter?
Yep.
That would really mean you, Heather.
Yeah.
So he prayed for this young couple to come and maybe take this work forward.
So Peter, we, Heather and I, we formed a board of trustees.
We've set up a charity called Hope2Families, and anyone that's out there that you know, anyone struggling with cancer, we're there to journey with them, to love them.
Where we can, we provide practical support to them.
We've been, I just want to share one wee story.
Peter, it's amazing just how God has provided.
There was a wee Romanian family got in touch with us, and the young man, his wife and a wee boy, well, some of the folk might have saw this in Facebook, with the wee boy and his lovely wee dicky bow and all, we sent them clothes, but the daddy of that wee boy was given serious news, serious news.
Only a young man in his early thirties, and he couldn't pay for surgery, and Hope2Families was able to pay for surgery.
So that's what we're doing, Hope2Families, just trying to journey and bless folk and be there for folk, and ultimately tell them about a saviour that loves them.
That's the whole purpose, Peter.
And you can see more about Hope2Families on Marc's YouTube channel as well.
Can I just give a wee shout out to that?
Please go on to it and have a wee peek at that.
Just one final question for you, Marc, and then you can add anything else you want in this question if you've got any further points or anything.
But just, do you feel that your journey through suffering brought you closer to God?
Oh, Peter.
Peter, I'm taking you back as I conclude to four years ago.
I was visiting a family in Bushmoorles.
I'll never forget it, Peter.
I had turned left at Dunservic Primary School down Fack Lane.
Where?
What lane?
Fack Lane.
It sounds a bit dodgy.
It does sound a bit dodgy.
Standing around there, Ulster-Scots, Peter, Ulster-Scots.
Fack Lane, Fack Lane, this Fack Lane.
But as I drove down that there, Peter, as clear as I'm speaking to you, the Holy Spirit spoke into my spirit and said, you shall not die.
You shall, give me the verse, set your house in order for you shall die and not live.
Yes, set your house in order for you shall die and not live.
And Peter, the first part of that verse is amazing.
Set your house in order, you know, because God wants us all to set our houses in order.
But the second part of that verse is shocking.
You shall die and not live.
So that was the start of my journey, Peter, and how God allowed me from that period of time, I didn't know it was going to be diagnosed with cancer at that stage, but I started to set things in place, started to make restitution to people that had hurt Peter.
So important as believers, so important.
You remember 2 Corinthians 5, Peter, here's what it says, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.
That every one of us might give an account of the things we've done in the body, whether it be good or bad.
Now, that's not to the sinners, Peter.
That's to us as Christians.
And sometimes us Christians live as if we're untouchables, but we're going to give an account.
So Peter, I had an opportunity to them for years, but let me say this.
See as I lay in hospital, Peter, Jesus Christ became so real to me, and so precious to me, and so sweet to me.
And it was during that period of time that I knew if I had never known it before, that Jesus Christ is real.
He is so real.
So yes, Peter, suffering, I believe with all of my heart, there's two things.
Suffering can either drive you from God, you can accuse God, you can blame God, many people do, or suffering can drive you to God.
But you remember this one verse, Peter, and so many people give this to so many people that are sick and struggling.
As for God, his way is perfect.
Psalm 18.30 think that is.
As for God, his way is perfect.
You see sometimes when you are suffering, it's hard to see God's plans in that.
But then we're reminded, as I had to remember, our ways are not his ways, our thoughts aren't his thoughts.
God does things absolutely differently.
But can I say this, Peter?
He does things right.
He sees the finished canvas, and he had me 100% in the hospital to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Amen.
Well, thank you very much, Marc.
Pleasure.
I'll just finish with a wee plug.
You heard about Marc singing earlier about how he even brought people to the Lord, so there's an album available somewhere.
Through it all.
Through it all.
My granny was able to find her wee copy whenever she heard about Marc's diagnosis.
It's just a picture of Marc and three other guys in their jeans and shirts at White Rocks Beach, with a guitar and all.
Yeah, that was some powerful times, Peter.
Through it all.
I've learned to trust in Jesus.
Amen.
Well, thank you very much for coming on, Marc, and for telling us your story.
Thank you so much.
Sorry folks, it went on a wee bit long.
Forgive me.
Forgive me.
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