COOL...CLEAR...WATER (water, water)

Greetings Oh Thirsty Ones. Have you had your thirst QUENCHED lately...or are you felling slightly PARCHED? In the absence of RAIN...the land becomes DRY. You may not noticed it at first. It is progressive. It does not rain for a while...as each night you watch you weatherman/woman talk about how nice the weather is...with no rain in the forcast so that you can enjoy you weekend or you holiday. The temperatures may even be pleasant...but each night as you tune in for the weather...you notice that the temperature is going up...along with high humity. You become increasingly uncomfortable...and talk around the WATER COOLER turns to how we need some RAIN...to at least cool thing off. The progression continues...and you notice that your green lawn is quickly turn in to splotches of green with large pockets of brown. Boy...we sure do need some RAIN...it's going to ruin the crops. Before you know it...grass is gone...dry, cracked, brittle dirt forms. No relief in sight...we get desperate...and then begin to pray to God for RAIN.

Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers...croon how they need some cool...clear...
Water (water, water). There was another musician that mused for a relief from the dryness.You may have heard about him...King David. He was writing from the perspective of thirst in the wilderness of Judah.

"O GOD, Thou are my God; I shall SEEK The EARNESTLY; My soul THIRSTS for Thee, my flesh YEARNS for Thee, IN A DRY AND WEARY LAND...where there is NO WATER." (Psalm 63:1) You can almost here The Sons of the Pioneers echoing in the background...cool, clear water...(water, water). NOTE: When David writes his Psalms... they usually present the problem...either need to repent, enemies surrounding, dryness of land reflecting dryness of spiritual condition...but he shifts to the solution...GOD. David was basically an early blues singer with a twist. He bemoans the circumstance but declares the CIRCUMSTANCE BUSTER. He may go THROUGH the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23)...but he does GO THROUGH IT. The old saying is if you are going through HELL...do stop...just keep on going...and you'll eventually come out.


As I am typing out this Ruminator Rambling...I am listening to a song over and over again by a group called PFR. The PFR...stands for the original name of the group (that had to be changed because another group had the name)...PRAY FOR RAIN. This was the name of the group...the name of their first album...and the name of a song on the album. The song speaks of the dryness and the need for the rain to come.

"Born in a dry season...wind and sand have blown through me...haven't found shade anywhere...only moments of relief...but sometimes I think I hear the thunder...somewhere on the horizon line...if I could just find a way to get under the rain...that can reach this soul of mine." (Pray For Rain). Like David...the boys speak of the problem. The chorus speaks of solution..."I pray for RAIN to come...and wash away what's made me numb...I pray for a raging storm to drown what's in me...and the rain comes IN THE NICK OF TIME...I swallow hard cause my throat's been DRY...the rain comes beating on my skin...till I'm washed away...nothing left within...WHEN THE RAIN COMES...YOUR RAIN COMES." I love this song...because I relate to the DRY times in my spiritual walk over the past37 years...and how when I turn to Him...my dryness is quenced. Sometimes the dryness is of my own making as I neglect to drink in of the LIVING WATERS (John 7:37-39). I am not doing any big overt sins...just neglecting my relationship with Him...and I am drying out. Other times...I am knowingly sinning...and I enter dry times because...I have separated myself from the source of water. Then there are times...when there is spiritual attack...damming up the flow of water...and I need to stand and demand that satan get behind me so the water can flow. Whatever the cause...I need water to survive. I don't need to dehydrate.

To stay hydrated...and avoid dehydration..and it's cousin malnourishment...resulting in FAILURE TO THRIVE...I must WALK BY FAITH. My water is not dependent on WHAT I SEE OR FEEL...but it is dependent in my relationship to the WORD OF GOD (faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ). We see in James 5:16-18...that The EFFECTUAL...FERVENT PRAYER of a righteous man availeth/prevails MUCH. Now...usually people begin to back peddle...and say that I am not a righteous man/woman. I am not like Moses...Mother Mary...Elijah!!! BUT YOU ARE!

"Elijah was a man with A NATURE LIKE OURS...and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain; and it did not rain on the eath for three years and six months. And he prayed again...and the SKY POURED RAIN and the earth PRODUCED its fruit." (James 5:17,18) NOTE: For full details read I Kings 17 and 18). This is a picture of how we need to be praying when we are dry...for a prayer that will availeth/previal much. He prayed fervently...with tenacity and did not give up... and with HOPE...that kept looking for the desired reult...RAIN. Elijah would send his servant out to LOOK FOR THE RAIN....The servant went out SEVEN times...but came back with the report of NO RAIN IN SIGHT...until the last time...when He saw a cloud the size of a fist. HALLELUJAH....here comes the RAIN.

On the PRAY FOR RAIN album cover you see the boys with UMBRELLAS open...but no rain. That is a prayer of faith. So many times we pray for something...without acting as if we believe that we have it. We want to wait for the rain...before we bring out the umbrellas...but a true prayer of faith would...start carrying the umbella in CONFIDENT EXPECTATION (aka hope) of rain. In the eyes of the uniformed...foolishness...in the eyes of God...PLEASING FAITH (Hebrews 11:6)

I want to encourage you...as you go through a dry season...pray...get into the Word...let the Spirit flow in you...and get your umbrella out in expectancy of the dry, cracked, parched land to be flooded with rain. It may get muddy...but that's part of the process of restoration...not necessarily neat...but Oh as life comes back to the land.

"Thus I have beheld Thee in the sanctuary, to see Thy power and Thy glory...Because Thy lovingkindness is BETTER THAN LIFE...my lips will praise Thee...So I will bless Thee as long as I live (in the dry and wet times)...I will lift up my hands in Thy name (as an act of faith) My sould is satisfied as with marrow and fatness...and my mouth offers praises with joyful lips." (Psalm 63:3-5)

Love and Partly Clouded Kisses
Rodney "Rainman" Boyd

TIME ENOUGH AT LAST

Greetings all ye Watchers of Time. Seconds...minutes...hours...days...weeks...months...
years...generations...eons...eternity. On this terrestrial ball we all have the same amount of time. There was a point in time...on 11/13/59...that a quirky T.V. show made its debut... THE TWILIGHT ZONE. Rod Serling would narrate the opening to that nights story with various openings..."You're travelling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are tht of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead--you next stop, the Twilight Zone."

In the first season...on 11/20/59...there was one showcalled Time Enough At Last. Mr. Serling narrates..."Witness Mr. Henry Bemis (Burgess Meridith), a charter member in the fraternity of dreamers. A bookish little man whose passion is the PRINTED PAGE but who is conspired against by a bank president and a wife and a WORLD full of tongue-cluckers and the unrelenting HANDS OF A CLOCK. But in just a moment Mr. Bemis will enter a world without bank presidents or wives or CLOCKS or anything else. He'll have a world all to himself---without anyone."

The story line is that he loves to READ...but is constantly chided and chastized for wasting his time by READING BOOKS. He sneaks into a vault at the bank where he works...to read. While he is down into the vault...there is a massive shock wave...and he discovers that the world has been demolished by a nuclear war...and he has become the LAST MAN ON EARTH. As he surveys the destruction...at first he is shocked...contemplates suicide until he make a discovery. He finds a library...with the books intact.
He is like a kid in a candy store...as he gleefuly...chooses books...organizes them into years and years worth of reading...without any interruptions from anyone...anymore. As he settles in to read the first book...his glasses fall off of his nose...smashes to smithereens... and he is now trapped in a world with all the TIME in the world....BUT unable to read because of his POOR VISION. NOTE: In Proverbs we see that without a VISION...the people perish...or are unrestrained...do what they want to do no matter what God has said about the matter. This vision is hinged on their understanding of the WORD OF GOD. Enter Rod Serling with the closing lines....

"The best-laid plans of mice and men--and Henry Bemis...the small man in the glasses who wanted nothing more but TIME. Henry Bemis, now just a part of the smashed landscape, just a piece of the rubble, just a fragment of what man has DEEDED TO HIMSELF. Mr. Henry Bemis...in the Twilght Zone."

Now that was great T.V...but what does it have to do with us?

Phil Keaggy...on his LOVE BROKE THROUGH album (round, vinyl, with wonderful artwork and words that you can read)...had a song called TIME...a wonderful message with a blistering guitar solo. It was a story TIME personified...and how it is not guaranteed to keep on running forever. Time may appear to be eternal...but TIME as we know it is under the control of the ultimate TIMEKEEPER...God.

"Well...he hasn't always been around...and he won't always be...but he's on the move at this moment...measuring life for you and me." We say we want to "get in the Word"...but we just don't have the time...or we have all of time in the world to do it SOMEDAY.

"I fear, we all submit to him...existing anxiously...and no one is able to turn him off...except the Lord who holds the key." We all have 24 hours in the day...but some people seem to have more time than us...BUT... it is not the amount of time...it is what we do with the time that we have.

"When the Lord stops him...that'll be it! Too late for apologies; too late to forgive your brother, and worst of all too late to turn...you must face eternity." That's right...time will stop...either with your death...or with the Lord coming back...BUT just because TIME has stopped...does not mean that ETERNITY has been derailed. For some a good thing...for others...not so good.

"His name is Tiiiiimmmme...and he's coming to an end...his name is Tiiimmee...where will you be my friend." It is a simple question...based on a simple choice. Where will you be my friend?

"Most people think he'll never stop...but go on perpetually...but old man TIME is running out...and he'll cease eventually." The Word says that the mindset of the age is...Eat, Drink, and be Merry...for TOMORROW you may die...but as Mr. Bemis found out...TOMORROW...
may be NOW. You may have your life planned out in nice little stacks like Mr. Bemis had his books planned out for this year...the next year...and the years to come...BUT...a slip of the glasses...STOPPED TIME in the tracks for him.


What does all this talk of the Twilight Zone...Mr. Henry Bemis...Phil Keaggy and a song named TIME...have to do with anything? Well...as a RUMINATOR...everything.

In the natural...a man or woman has a thought...and through a series of complex, precise, neurological and anatomical outworkings...we speak our thoughts with words...and write down our words...and collect our thoughts in the form of magazines, newspapers, blogs, or BOOKS. Everybody has an opinion...and we have this need to let everyone know our opinion.

God has an opinion...he has a few thoughts...and he has SPOKEN WORDS. Those words have been collected in a series of books (66 of them)....that have been bound in on big book called the BIBLE. Now for the believer...it would behoove us...if we want to know what God is thinking...to READ THE BOOK...but we feel that we either don't have TIME to read the WORD....or we have ALL THE TIME in the world...to get around it someday. The problem is TIME...as we know it will come to an end...and it will be too late. It's like when we get attacked on the street by a mugger, rapist, evil person...and we want to stop time... and learn karate. It's too late by then...the actual event is happening.

How many people have put off...releasing a loved one...or an enemy from the root of bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness...only to have them assume room temperature...aka died? It is too late.

The WORD OF GOD...is valuable for the believer...for walking in true Biblical success and prosperity (Joshua 1:8)...for keeping your way pure (Psalm 119:9,11)...for answered prayer (John 15:7)...for teaching, reproof, correction, training in righteousness, equipping for every good work (II Timothy 3:16,17)...and a multiplicity. Since 1970...all the way up to this writing (05/29/2007)...I have found that when I live my life according to the Word of God...my life is better...when I stray away from the Word of God...my life gets very complicated. It's not that I don't have problems when I walk by the Word...but I am able to GET THROUGH the tough times. God is speaking to you... through His WORD. Of course...according to John 1:1-14...the WORD is God in the flesh...JESUS...who is the exact representation of the Fathers...thoughts, desires, and will on earth...as it is in heaven. He is speaking...but we can't hear Him when we keep the "GOOD BOOK" closed.

Dear readers of this rumination...don't be a Henry Bemis....where you find yourself caught too late as TIME as you know it comes to an end. Get into the WORD OF GOD today...but be careful. We might need to put a warning lable on it like the Surgeon General has done for cigarettes (which most people who smoke will not adhere to)...WARNING: The Reading of the Word of God..WILL BE...hazardous to your fleshly living...but VERY HEALTHY to your LIFE.

Love and Non-Bemis Kisses
Rodney "I Love The Word of God" Boyd

The Davidic Vocal Warmup Exercise

Greetings and Salutations all of you ME people. In the past...The Rumiantor Ramblings has listed the Top Ten Reasons....(fill in the blank). At the end...the number one reason is IT'S ALL ABOUT ME BABY...IT'S ALL ABOUT ME. Of course the Top Ten Reasons are tongue in cheek about the fact that it is really All about HIM (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) versus ME. The ME concept is usually viewed in the negative...but today...I want to look at the postive me (little m).
King David...the Psalmist...man after God's own heart...the mighty warrior...was also a SINNER. In the book of Psalms...there are 7 Psalms that are known as the PENITENTIAL PSALMS (Psalms of Repentance). These are good guidelines to use when you have a need to repent...have a change of heart, mind, attitude, direnction as you think differently or afterwards so as to change. Repentance is not just being sorry. Many people are remorseful...that they got caught...that they are reaping what they sowed...that they are expereincing cause and effect in a negative way...that they are having to pay the price for their sin. Remorse without Repentance is called
Re-paris (named after a certian heiress who is having to pay for her crimes...but not showing true repentance).

You know the story (Read II Samuel chapters 11 and 12 for details). Psalm 51 and 32 are Penetential Psalms that outlines David's heart and method of Repentance. NOTE: Some say that Psalm 51 was written first and that Psalm 32 was the followup Psalm. Both outline the heart of David for Restoration.


The Ruminator Sunday School Class is going through the First Epistle of John on Sunday mornings...and we spent the past few session on sin and how to repent. You can go to: firstepistleofjohn.blogspot.com to see full details on Psalm 51...but in the meantime...I was struck by what David desired for himself...ME. In Psalm 51 he outlines his sin and the nature of the sin...what he knows is the solution for his sin...but starting at Psalm 51:7-14...David begins to do: DAVIDIC VOCAL WARMUP EXERCISES. As I was reading this passage...I noted that David began to use the word ME/MY over and over and over again. I began to say the word me me me me me...and it reminded me of warm up exercises to get the vocal folds/cords ready for singing...and that David...in his act of repentance was warming up to enter back into praise and worship. Let's check out some of the POSITIVE ME's that we...or at least I desire and need in MY life.

1. Purify ME with hyssop...and I shall be clean. (Psalm 51:7) I need to be cleansed...purged...purified...I need to be clean.

2. Wash ME...and I shall be whiter than snow. (Psalm 51:7) There is something about taking dirty, stinky, stained clothes...and washing them to where there are fresh and clean. It's like sliding into bed with newly washed sheets.

3. Make ME to hear joy and gladness. (Psalm 51:8) I need good news...not bad news. I want to tune into WGOD not more CBS, ABC, NBC, MSNBC, FOX, CNN, newspapers, etc...that focus' on the bad. Lord make me hear joy and gladness.

4. Let the bones (MY bones) which Thou has broken rejoice.
(Psalm 51:8) Lord...let the healing begin.

5. Hide Thy face from MY sins. (Psalm 51:9) There is nothing worse than seeing a parents look of hurt and disappointment at what we have done wrong.

6. An blot out all MY iniquities. (Psalm 51:9). To blot means to stroke, rub, erase, smooth as with oil. It also means that you transfer a stain to another piece of material...lifting the stain from the carpet...much like Jesus lifted the stain...transferred from us to Him.

7. Create in ME a clean heart O God. (Psalm 51:10). Speak into existence something new in ME. This is an inside out job...that only God can get His hands on. If I tried to create a new heart...I would have to surgically open my self up and then rig it with manmade things. Only God can do a successful heart transplant.

8. Renew in ME a steadfast spirit (little s...human spirit). (Psalm 51:10) When I am in sin...I have an UNSTEADY spirit...easily affected.

9. Do not cast ME away from Thy presence. (Psalm 51:11) According to Acts 3:19...when we (a) repent (b) return...then our sins are wiped away. There reason for this wiping away is..."in order" that TIMES OF REFRESHING may com from the PRESENCE OF THE LORD. David needed to be refreshed...and so do I...and so do YOU.

10. And do not take Thy Holy Spirit away from ME. (Psalm 51:11). In John 14:16 we see that the Holy Spirit is known as HELPER...paraclete... one called along side to help. I don't know about you...but I need help.

11. Restore to ME the joy of Thy salvation. (Psalm 51:12) Not just the salvation (that is wonderful)...but the benefits of that salvation...which is JOY. I look around and I see a world full of angst...sadness...anxiety... grief...depression...but one of the fruit of the Spirit...is this thing that is called joy. This is part of the kingdom of God...righteousness...peace... and joy in the Holy Ghost. God is in the RESTORATION business.

12. And sustain ME with a willing (free/open) spirit. (Psalm 51:12). When we have a free, open, willing human spirit to the things of God...we can be sustained. It's when we close ourself to God...we begin to worship ourselves...and loose our sustaining power.

13. Deliver ME from bloodguiltiness Oh God, Thou God of my salvation.
(Psalm 51:12) Guilt...is a tool that satan (little s) uses to condemn us and to keep us down. The Holy Spirit convicts...not condemns us. One lifts us up...and the other keeps us down. God is able to deliver us from our past...establish us in the now...and open the door to our future.

The Psalm ends with David knowing that God does not desire sacrifices of our own making out of prideful hearts...but the sacrifices that God desires are: (a) a broken spirit (of our own ways) (b) a broken and contrite heart. God does not despise this attitude. The He is ready to accept our sacrifices...not necessarily of bulls and goats...but the true sacrifice for our sins...JESUS CHRIST.

Well...there you go...the time when is about ME...me, me, me me...because it makes me sing about Hymn, Him, Hymn, Him.

Love and Selfless Kisses
Rodney "Me" Boyd

PRO-VERBS: Ruminatin' Rod's Favorites (The Top 20)

Hello boys and girls...how's life? One of the best ways to navigate through this thing called life...is an intimate relationship with the Scriptures. You get extra points if you can tell us what our friend Mr. T's...T stands for in his name. The Bible is a collection of 66 books written from multiple perspectives under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. One of the books is what I consider the most practical. It is a book that hits the nitty gritty straight on. The Book of Proverbs.

This Rambling is dedicate to my pastor...Ronnie Meek. This year...the Sunday theme is going through the Bible. Of course it would take years to preach on every book of the Bible...but he is giving a thumbnail sketch...pulling out nuggets from the book...and getting us interested enough to read the Bible for ourselves...and let God speak to us individually. This Sunday's message was Ronnie's Top Ten Favorite Proverbs. There are hundreds of proverbs to choose from so...there are plenty for me to glean from...with enough for you to enjoy. PROVERBS...literally means a comparison...and it came to be used for any sage or moralistic pronouncement (Ryrie Study Bible). Chapter one gives the purpose of the collection of comparisons and advice on how to live life. (1) To know wisdom (2) To discern sayings of understanding
(3) To receive instruction in wise behavior, righteousness, justice, and equity (4) To give the youth knowledge and discretion (5) To give a wise man hearing, increase in learning, understanding, and acquire wise counsel (6) to understand a proverb, a figure, words of the wise and their riddles. (Proverbs 1:2-6) The beginning of this knowledge is THE FEAR OF THE LORD. (Proverbs 1:7). To me this explains why this world and a lot of peoples lives are screwed up...(I include me in this mix)...we don't fear the Lord. As you read some of my favorite Proverbs...keep in mind that I like to approach the book by the name of PRO-VERBS. Pro equals positive...verbs equals action. This is a book of POSITIVE ACTION ...that will make our lives a whole lot better. Don't do what is recommended...and reap the consequences...self-inflicted consequences. These are not in any specific order of preference.

NOTE: Remember that there are 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs... and there are 30 to 31 days in a month. You can Proverberize your self for 31 days and come out the other side of the month a better man or woman. Add in 5 Psalms a day and you got the DOUBLE IMPACT.



#1 Proverbs 1:10,15: "My son, if sinners entice you...DO NOT CONSENT." And, "My son, do not walk in the way with them, keep your feet from their path." This is the Just Say No...before it became a term coined by Nancy Reagan to stand against drugs. It speaks of the choice that we have...to consent or not consent this is the question.

#2 Proverbs 3:1-8: This one speaks of the importance of keeping the teachings/commandments. The cause and effect is favor in the sight of God and man. The key is to trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding, acknowledge all your ways to Him and he will make your paths straight. Don't be wise in your own eyes, fear the lord, turn from evil. The cause and effect: (1) healing to your body (2) refreshment to your bones.

#3 Proverbs 4:20-24: This speaks of the importance of the Word and your words. Again it is a healthy thing to do and the choice is yours.

#4 Proverbs 5:15-20: This talks about being faithful to your wife. Do not "drink water" from anywhere else except your own cistern and well. There is "danger with the stranger".

#5 Proverbs 7:5-27: This is one of my favorite ones that tells a tale of a young man lacking sense...and the progressive nature of his SUDDEN destruction...that really was not sudden. It plots out his deliberate route to a harlot...until he has a close encounter of the 1st kind. He ends up like an ox going to the slaughter or an arrow pierced bird. The cost=his life.

#6 Proverbs 14:4: Where no oxen are, the manger is clean, but much increase comes by the strength of the ox." No activity...no grain...strong ox...lots of grain. It may be messy (disturbed hay and oxen poop)...but that is what it takes to get the harvest.

#7 Proverbs 14:12; 12:15; 16:25: "There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death/destruction." This Proverbs is repeated 3 times. You get the idea that God wants us to get it through our thick skulls...that our way IS NOT right...no matter how much we think it is.

#8 Proverbs 15:1-4: A recurring them is the tongues, words, anger, the mouth...and how they can be destructive...a perverted spirit crushing weapon of mass destruction OR...a soothing tongue.

#9 Proverbs 16:1-3: Take your plans...and your motivation...and put them on the motive scale of the Lord. Commit your works to the Lord in the first place...and the plans will be established versus having to be changed after the motive weigh-in.

#10 Proverbs 18:10: In an age of weak towers falling under the hand of the enemy...a STRONG TOWER is needed for the righteous to run into for the purpose of safety. That strong tower is: THE NAME OF THE LORD. Jesus is the name above all names.

#11 Proverbs 20:27: The little s (human spirit) of man...is a lamp...a housing for oil that when lit will give illumination, comfort, warmth, dispelling of the darkness. The Holy Spirit (Big S) is the oil housed in the lamp in the innermost parts of our being.

#12 Proverbs 21:9, 19 : This is the counterpart to the current...if mama ain't happy...ain't nobody happy.

#13 Proverbs 24:33-34: A recurrent theme is laziness. "A little sleep... a little slumber...a little folding of the hands to rest...THEN your poverty will come as a robber, and your WANT like an armed man." The cause and effect factor again is in play. Do this...and that will happen...don't do this...and that will happen.

#14 Proverbs 27:15-16: See #12

#15 Proverbs 27:17: "Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

Accountability sharpens accountability...hombre sharpens hombre. In this Lone Ranger society...men are dull...have lost their edge. When men begin to hold each other accountable in their walk with the Lord...the edge comes back.

#16 Proverbs 25:21-22: This is the Old Testament root of the New Testament flourition...Romans 12:16-21. This is how you leave room for God to move against your enemies...and also how you edge God out of taking care of your enemies.

#17 Proverbs 31:10-31: The standard for an excellent wife. One way that a woman can meet this standard...is IF the man acts like Christ towards the Church...and lays down his life for the woman. (Ephesians 5:22-30). Another way for the standard for an excellent wife to be met is for the man to practice I Peter 2:7...and grant her honor as a FELLOW HEIR of the grace of life versus a slavegirl. Eve was called ALONG SIDE not called UNDER Adam's feet.

#18 Proverbs 31:8-9: It ain't all about you. Manifest your love for Jesus towards others.

#19 Proverbs 29:18: "Where there is no VISION...the people PERISH." The word perish means to be unrestrained. The vision is linked to the law/Word of God. Where there is no insight into the Word of God...the people are unrestrained. Self-restraint....pulling in the reins on ourselves based on the Word of God...helps us to avoid much heartache.

#20 Proverbs 30:32,33: I saved this one for the last. It is one of my favorite Pro-verbs. it is the key on how to deal with strife in my life.
" If you have been foolish in EXALTING (pride) yourself...or if you have PLOTTED out evil (pre-meditated evil)...PUT YOUR HAND ON YOUR MOUTH. For the churning of milk PRODUCES butter, and pressing the nose BRINGS FORTH blood; SO the CHURNING of anger PRODUCES STRIFE."

The solution for dealing with strife is controlling your mouth. Your mouth is the churn...where you place anger...and agitate it over and over and over until it becomes strife. If you place in the churn...the mouth... love, joy, peace, positive words, faith, belief, the Word of God...and agitated these things by saying them over and over again...you will produce...as the old Elvis songs states..."A hunka hunk of..." CHURNIN' LOVE.

Well...there you go. These are my top 20 favorite Proverbs...and that only scratches the surface.

Thanks and a Tip O' Da Hat to Pastor Ronnie Meek...for all that he does for Smyrna Assembly...and the body of Christ at large...and especially for inspiring this Rambling.

Love and Proverbial Kisses
Rod "Like a man who trusts what he cannot see" Boyd

Top 10 Things That Faith is NOT!!!!!!

Greetings and Salutations Oh Ye Followers of the FAITH.

We have an inkling of what FAITH IS. We know that faith is substance... of things hoped for...the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1) Without this thing called FAITH... it is impossible to please God. (Hebrews 11:6) For this God-pleasing faith to be in operation we must (1) Come to Him (2) Believe that He is (that He actually exists) (3) Believe that He is a rewarder
(4) Believe enough to diligently seek Him...not just passively inquire
(Hebrews 11:6). The righteous person has faith as a lifestyle...because the righteous/just shall LIVE by faith. (Romans 1:17). This thing called faith is something that we walk out and is not based on what we see with the physical eyes (II Corinthians 5:7). Faith is manifested in our actions...as there are corresponding actions to our faith..if not...then our faith is dead. (James 1:22-27 and James 3:14-26).


NOTE: Say hello to one of my favorite preachers...the Reverand Will B. Dunn. He is found in the comic strip KUDZU.

God has allotted/measured to each (written to believers)...a measure of faith...and we see that NOT all men (perverse and evil men) have faith (II Thessalonians 2:3). This thing called faith is linked to our hearing and comes to us via our physical ears as we hear the Word of Christ (Romans 10:17) This thing called faith can be little/small as a mustard seed/great/greatly enlarged (Matthew 6:30; Matthew 17:20; Matthew 8:10; II Thessalonians 1:3). This faith can be utilized by people who have been sick for twelve years...seen every doctor that can be seen...pour every last cent they have for medical treatment and get worse....but by faith they say over and over again..."If I just touched the hem of His garment I will be made whole." This faith manifested itself with healing virute flowing out of Jesus...and Jesus attributed this event to the womans faith. (Mark 5:25-34). Jesus had an expectancy of our faith to be at least mustard seed size...and expressed frustration more than once about the littleness of their/our faith in the face of storms and mountains and that we/they should have it [faith] (Matthew 6:30; Mark 11:20-26) When He returns again for His church...He has an expectancy that He will find faith on the earth (Luke 18:8)

Now...that was a little thumbnail sketch of what faith IS...and to be honest with you...I got kind of excited in my spirit as I reviewed those scripture verses. What a minute while I let the Holy Ghost Goosebumps subside just a little bit so I can continue. There...now lets review the TOP 10 THINGS THAT FAITH IS NOT!!!!


#10 Faith is NOT blind. We are not just out here in this world stumbling and groping with no direction. "The steps of man are ordered/established by the Lord and He delights in his way. When he falls, he shall not be hurled headlong; because the Lord is the One who holds his hand."
(Psalm 37:23,24)



#9 Faith is NOT our magic lamp to rub on for God to appear at our beckon call like I Dream of Jeannie. You are not Major Nelson...and God ain't no trapped genie in a bottle. We do not WISH...we PRAY.. in FAITH.

#8 Faith is NOT our merit badge of maturity that we can wear on our merit badge sash along with our I don't smoke badge...I tithe badge...and I stopped cussing badge. "He saved us NOT on the basis of deeds done in righteousness...but according to His mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit." (Titus 3:5; also see Ephesians 2:8-11).

#7 Faith is NOT our exclusive GOLD KEY into the toy room (aka the presence of God)...that we slid into the golden gates...and then repeat some mantra like open sesame (is that like the seed?).

#6 Faith is NOT based on how many times we can repeat what we want until it magically appears. To some this is what our concept of confession is...but it is not biblical confession. True confession is homolegeo. This means same word...and implies that we confess what God says...we come into agreement with Him...not repeat cadillac 500 hunderd times until it appears.

#5 Faith is NOT...pulling up your boot straps...gutting it out...drawing on your inner reserves and hanging in there until something eventually happens....however there is something to tenacity, hangin' in there like a bitin' sow...never giving up, etc. Faith is NOT your human ability to pull up your boot straps. You can pull up your boot straps up to your eyeballs but all that will get you is a SONIC WEDGIE...but if by faith you persevere...then between the point of promist to the point of manifestation of the answer...then you can get through when you do not see, hear, feel anything. Now that is a confession of faith...in Him...and not your faith and ability to hang in there.

#4 Faith is NOT an indicator that you are a man or woman of God... because you received what you are standing in faith for. Hebrews 11 is known as the Hall of Faith of great men and women of God who moved in the miraculous, mighty warriors, men of valor, intimate relationships with God...but Hebrews 11 ends with men and women who were tortured,
mocked, scourged, chained, imprisoned, stoned, sawn in two, tempted, put to death with the sword, went about in sheepskins and goatskins (not the finest fashion statement), afflicted, ill-treated, men of whom th eworld was not worthy, wandering in deserts, mountains, caves, and holes in the ground. (Read Hebrews 11:35-38) They were not very FAITH worthy...however.."And all these, having gained approval through their FAITH, did NOT receive what was promised...because God had provided something better for us...so that apart from us they should not be made perfect." (Hebrews 11:39-40) NOTE: Be careful of judging who is a man or woman of faith because of what they receive in prayer.


#3 Faith is NOT your connection to your personal Santa Claus. God is not your good luck charm... your Sugar Daddy...your resource of whatever you want...your lucky rabbits foot....your Holy Slot Machine. He is Jehovah Jireh...the Lord your Provider...and He will supply all your NEEDS (not your greeds) according to His riches in glory...and their ain't no shortage in glory...in Christ Jesus (Phillipians 4:19). He is Jehovah Shalom ...the God of your peace...wellness...wholeness. He is Jehovah Raphe...the Lord your healer. He is Jesus of Nazereth, who was anointed by God with the Holy Spirit and with Power...and went about doing good and healing ALL who were oppressed by the devil for God was with Him (and He is with you also...as Immanuel). No...
this idea of Santa is more like when you rearrange the letters of the name and it turns into satan.

#2 Faith is NOT...based on your faith. When you put your faith in your own personal faith...when you faith level wanes...and it will wane...your faith falls apart. Our faith must be put in something that is not going to change...move...get weak...go with every whim and wish of the populace. Our faith is based on God's Word...the D.B.R. (death, burial, resurrection...nothing more...nothing less.) Fashions change...trends changes...culture shifts...mores' are based on the majority. If the majority says abortion is A-O.K....or sex with animals, children, male on male, female on female (homosexual activity), sex outside of marriage, getting drunk, overeating (aka gospel gluttony), fashion changes to where exposed clevage is a celebration of the body and exposed butt cracks are more than just the plumbers fox pass...(just say no to crack). NOTE: Ladies in the church...please cover up your cleavage...it's bad enough in the world...much less having to come to church and being on guard. etc....then our faith shifts. God says that He is the Lord and He changes not. Jesus is the same...yesterday, today, and forever.

AND THE NUMBER ONE THING THAT FAITH IS NOT....

it's NOT all about me baby...it's not all about me.

Well...there you have it....what faith IS and what faith is NOT. Of course this is just one cud-chewers opinion. Feel free to add you own thoughts about what faith is NOT.

Keep the FAITH baby
Rodney "Faithfully Yours" Boyd

THE GREAT MASQUERADE BALL

Welcome all Chewers of the Cud to the Great Masquerade Ball. How's the MASK fitting...or would that be masks plural. It's kind of like the analogy of hats. We all wear many hats... depending on the job that we are doing at the moment. For a woman...the hat may be that of the kind and nurturing mother...and then she puts on the hard working (in the home or at the public workplace) provider...and then she puts on the sensual lover of her husband...and then puts on the hat of an accountant as she budgets the household finances. We all enter and leave various rolls that we live out with great ease and dexterity...depending on the need of the moment. This is a natural, normal thing... and for the most part...it is a good thing.

But the MASQUERADE is a different story...especially when the MASK is used as a defense mechanism...as a barrier...as a tool of deception.

MASQUERADE: (1) a ball or party at which masks and fancy costumes or disquises are worn (2) a costume for such a ball or party (3)a disguise, false show, or pretense. (4) living under FALSE PRETENSES.

MASK: (1) a covering for the face or part of the face, to conceal or disguise the identity
(2) anything that conceals or disquises (3) a party, carnival, etc where masks are worn; masquerade (4) a person wearing a mask; masker (5) a likeness of a person's face, or face and neck
(6) a protective covering for the face or head as a wire screen or respirator (7) a coving for the mouth or nose to prevent infection of other people by exhaled matter (8) something serving to conceal artillery, military operations, etc. from observation; piece of camaflouge (9) to conceal or disguise.

This thing called the mask can be a positive or a negative. It can be used for protection for someone who is fencing and does not wish the tip of the foil to do damage to the face...or used in times of gaity and parties...especially when it comes time to unmask and see who's who...or protection against germs for the patient and the caregiver...or to keep military operations covert to surprise the enemy for a hopeful victory. The figurative mask can be used as a buffer to hurt as you go through variouis heartaches in life...until you can rise up again to face the world unmasked. Hey...the Lone Ranger...various superheroes...the Green Hornet....etc. wear masks to protect their identity from the evil doers. These are all positive uses of this thing called the mask. As Jim Croce says..."you don't tug on Superman's cape...you don't spit into the wind...you don't pull the MASK off the old Lone Ranger...and you don't mess around with Jim."

The negative comes when the mask is used to disguise hurt...to ward off intimacy with humankind... to hold in emotions that eat at your inside like a cancer. A mask can decrease vision..and like the Bruce Cockburn song, Night Train, says, "...in absence of vision there are nightmares...in absence of compassion there is cancer."

In the Jim Carrey movie THE MASK: FROM ZERO TO HERO...an average Joe...stumbles upon a MASK...and when he innocently puts it close to his face...it attaches to him...and transforms him into what initially appears to be a good thing. But it eventually turns into something out of control...and the more he uses the mask...it becomes more addicting...as he leaves behind who he is...a nice guy...into something obnoxious. SOMEBODY STOP ME!!! The T.V. show...CSI's theme song is THE WHO'S song...WHO ARE YOU?. The premise of the show is to put together clues to solve the crime...and part of that is to figure out who the victim is...and who the criminal is. The only way that I found out who I am...was to find out who He is.

The question is...WHO ARE YOU...and more importantly...WHO IS JESUS. In the theater... the masks represents comedy and tragedy. In know that before I was a Christian...a follower of Jesus...I wore many masks. I would hide behind the mask of humor...to make people laugh so they would not see my hurt, my fears, my frustrations, my anger, my confusion. I would hide behind a mask of anger to keep people at a safe distance so they would not see who I really am. I would hide behind the mask of music and take on the personification of whoever I was listening to on my stereo or radio...so I would not have to live out my own personality that I so miserably deplored.

In 1970...I had the mask ripped off when I came face to face with my sin...and admitted that's who I was a sinner...and my need for a Saviour. Ohhhhhhhhhhhh it felt so good to not having that mask on...with the ability to see things clearer...and to breath more easily. I was able to go from being a sinner (Romans 3:10)...to being the righteousness of God IN CHRIST (II Corinthians 5:21). I went from my OLD creation (formed and shaped by years of fears and frustrations)...to a NEW creation (shaped by who He says I am)...and who I am constantly becoming. (II Corinthians 5:17).

Over a period of time...the mask returned...but in a different form. Now it was a religious mask...where I began to hid from my brothers and sisters in the Lord...I began to wear a mask to conform to what other people thought a Christian ought to be. I began to wear the mask of a hypocrite...as I walked in the flesh....and not in the spirit...and began to wear the mask of a saint in public and wore the mask of hell in the private. I found out that I was just as miserable with the religious personification as I was in my B.C period (Before Christ).

SOLUTION FOR MASKITIS(inflammation of my condition wearing the mask)

In the Ruminator Sunday School Class (meeting every Sunday at Smyrna Assemblies 9:00)...we are studying the FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN. This is a study of KNOWING. The word KNOW is mention 39 times...you kind of get the idea that God wants you to know something. One of the things that he wants you to know is WHO YOU ARE...UNMASKED. We see in chapter one...that GOD IS LIGHT... in Him there is NO DARKNESS (mask)...and that we are to walk in the LIGHT (be unmasked) as He is in the light. When we are in the light...who we are is revealed. There is no coverup. We see all the wrinkles, warts, freckles, cracks, creases, crevices, dry skin, gray hair, etc. We see Jesus unmasked with NO SIN. We see us with SIN. As we are unmasked...we either CONFESS...say the same thing that God says about (1) the sin (2) the solution to the sin. We not only are unmasked...we not only come into agreement with God about that sin...but we then apply the solution to that sin.

"If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness (continue to wear the mask in denial)...we lie and do not practice the truth...BUT if we WALK IN THE LIGHT (unmasked) as He Himself walks in the light...His Son CLEANSES US FROM ALL SIN. If we say that we have no sin....the truth is not in us. IF (our choice) we CONFESS (come in to agreement with God) our SINS (the mask)...He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and the cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness." (I John 1:6-9)

Well...that's about it for now. I've got to go look into a mirror and see what mask I am presently wearing...and RIP IT OFF.

Love and Unmasked Kisses
Rod "Who Was That Masked Man" Boyd