GODINCIDENCE

Greetings Oh Ye Fellow Sojourners on this terrestrial ball called Planet Earth...feeling LUCKY?

This is a picture of our son...Phillip Stephen Boyd. He is an 18 year old young man...who is a young lion in development. Over the past 18 years...Brenda and I have tried to instill in Phillip life lessons based on the Word of God...that will hold water in the REAL WORLD. We have laid out the principles that we have seen in the Word...and then tried to walk out our faith before him with an open, honest approach. That means...he gets to see us blow it...get angry...worry...be anxious...cuss and fuss...argue...BUT he also sees us repent, ask for forgiveness, make up, back up and punt, not worry, stand in faith, etc. Phillip...over the years has got to have a BOYD'S EYE VIEW...to God moving in our lives from the poverty in Mexico...to the jungles of Peru...to his own journeys down to Biloxi...as He BREAKS A SWEAT...and serves those who cannot give back to him.

How easy it is to subscribe to some cosmic roll of the dice to the times and events of our lives. I find myself slipping into that mentality all of the time. A car just misses me...and I find myself "thanking my lucky stars"...or I live in assumption that a reversal of a Physician's diagnosis was due to an original mis-diagnosis by the Physician versus supernatural intervention by a loving and caring God. Take a minute and read this phrase (for those who have done this before bear with me...because it really is a power point to how we view our lives playing out in this space-time continuum.


GODISNOWHERE

Did you see GODISNOWHERE....or did you see GODISNOWHERE? It's all in how you view things that puts the way you live your life in perspective. Either God is NO where...and all of this thing we call life is just a primordial glitch in the accidental collision of various gases and ooze...OR....God is NOW here...interested in the goings and comings of his creation. It is either from goo to you by way of the zoo... or God spoke...and it was. In the world of bumper sticker theology it is like one said...I believe in the Big Bang Theory of creation...God said BANG...and it was.

LUCK: (1) the seemingly chance happening of events which affect one; fortune; lot; fate (2) good fortune; success, prosperity, advantage, etc. (3) an object believed to believed to bring good luck

COINCIDENCE: (1) the fact or condition of coinciding (to occur at the same time) (2) an ACCIDENTAL and remarkable occurrence of events, ideas, etc. at the same time, suggesting but lacking a casual relationship

GODINCIDENCE: (1) "And we know that GOD CAUSES ALL THINGS to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. [Romans 8:28] (2) "If you ABIDE in Me and My words ABIDE in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you." [John 15:7] (3) "Do NOT BE ANXIOUS then, saying what shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or With what shall we clothe ourselves? For ALL THESE THINGS the Gentiles eagerly SEEK; for you HEAVENLY FATHER KNOWS that you need all these things...but SEEK FIRST His Kingdom...and His righteousness; and ALL THESE THINGS shall be added to you. Therefore DO NOT BE ANXIOUS for tomorrow, for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of it's own." [Matthew 6:31-34]. (4) "ASK and it shall be given to you; SEEK, and you shall find; KNOW and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who ASKS...receives...and he who SEEKS...finds, and to him who KNOCKS...it shall be opened." [Matthew 7:7,8]

More and more...I am seeing that God is NOW here...even in the small, mundane, practical things of life. Remember that small and mundane is in the eye of the beholder...and when you are going through something...you FEEL IT. You feel the fear creeping up into your throat...you feel the tears of frustration when things seem out of your control...you feel the knot in your stomach when a physician speaks forth medical facts to you. It is real...not imagined...BUT we...as believers...are called beyond the facts...into TRUTH...and truth trumps reality every time. Jesus defines truth as He was praying for the disciples...which includes you and me in 2007..."Sanctify them in the TRUTH...THY WORD IS TRUTH." (John 17:17) Jesus then clarifies who He is praying for when he states..."I do not ask in behalf of THESE ALONE (disciples of that time)...BUT for THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN ME THROUGH THEIR WORD (that would be you and me). (John 17:20)

This is a picture of a hammock in my yard. I love my hammock...especially when there is a cool breeze blowing softly through the trees....as the net gently rocks back and forth...and I am sipping on a cool, refreshing lemonade...that attacks my taste buds with a sweet and tart explosion, that takes my mind back to summer days of my youth. (Shout out to the Bulldog...it ain't gin and tonic...but just as refreshing : ). This picture represents the place where God desires us to be in the midst of trials and tribulations...at a place of REST. In the book of Hebrews...the author identifies someone who is NOT as rest...as someone who is in UNBELIEF...and even calls for us to take care unless we have an evil, unbelieving heart in falling away from the living God." (Hebrews 3:12,19). Trusting that God is NOW here when you are going through something is being at REST. You are at REST when you know that He'll take care of the REST. (Shout out to Keith Green).

On the last trip to Africa...we were in the middle of a safari...and two times...we had FLAT TIRES. In my mind...
NOT a good thing to have in the middle of a land where lions, leopards, hyenas are running free...and it was around lunch time. YIKES!!! On the first trip to Africa...back in 2001... as we were heading home...on roads where there were no roads... and the sun was setting...getting darker and darker... a drive shaft fell off in the middle of the night. Again...NOT good thing when you are trying to get back home. Maybe some other time I will speak to you about God's provision ... God's GODINCIDENCE in our lives in Africa...BUT I want to bring it on up into 2007...in the past few days.

GODINCIDENCE #1
One was on Wednesday night...August 1, 2007. I received a call from Brother Bill. He had been in contact with Sister Jackie via Sister Rue. It seems that J was going to be coming home from the hospital...IF they could place an I.V. in her veins. The problem...in the entire hospital..no one could find the vein. If there was no placement in the vein...no trip home. Jackie requested prayer from the church.. but in the mean time Bill and I pressed into God with our request. In the prayer it was mention that we would like someone with an ANOINTING of finding veins to be sent on the scene....in the name of Jesus AMEN. Bill gave me Jackie's cell phone...and I called her within 3 minutes of our prayer. Jackie answered...and I asked what she was up to? Her answer was that a nurse had JUST FOUND A VEIN. Hmmmmmmmmmm....luck....fortune....natural cause of events that would have happened whether we had prayed or not...OR was it a case of GODINCIDENCE. I guess it depends on if you see
GODISNOWHERE OR GODISNOWHERE.

GODINCIDENCE #2
Yesterday...Friday, August 3, 2007...I was at home...and my son Phillip came in and was nervous. I asked him what was wrong and he told me that he had lost his cashed paycheck...$250.84. Another opportunity for Phillip to either see us walk in the flesh or the Spirit. Here are the chronological order of events of this GODINCIDENCE:

1. Phillip gets his paycheck after a week of working in the heat of summer at his construction job.
2. Phillip goes to Suntrust Bank (we do trust the SON) to get it cashed. They cashed it, put it in a bank
envelope along with the card that he gives them with his banking information on it.
3. Phillip goes to McDonalds to talk with a friend and to get him some Sweet Tea (after all we are in
the South). Phillip takes out his wallet and pays for the tea...and puts the wallet and the envelope back
into his back pocket.
4. Phillip comes home and put his keys, hat, empties his pockets, and his wallet on a desk. He realizes
that the envelope is missing. A quick search of the truck...no money. He goes back to McDonalds,
looks around, talks to his friend, and the manager. NO MONEY. Tension builds, frustration, anxiety.
5. Phillip is back home...and he tells me (Brenda is not at home at this time). I tense up a little bit...OK,
I tense up a lot. I search his truck and the entire house and grill Phillip with a fatherly interrogation...
to get the facts ma'am...just the facts. (you are old if you know what that last statement is from)
6. I go back to McDonalds...and search the floors, the bathrooms, between seats, talk to the manager,
and go outside to look under cares and in the garbage cans.
7. I go back home...Brenda comes home...and we break the news to her.
8. We hold hands in the kitchen and begin to pray and declare that we believe that GOD IS IN CONTROLof this SITUATION. We begin to pray the Word of God (after all His Word is Truth)...and began to declare/make proclaimations that God is Jehovah Jireh (the God who provides)...that our God will meet our needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus...and their ain't no shortage in Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 4:19).

NOTE: CHRIST means anointed one...anointed with BURDEN LIFTING...YOKE DESTROYING...HOLY GHOST POWER.

9. We had done all we could do in the physical...and in the spiritual. Phillip and his girlfriend went out to eat...and came back home to watch a movie.
10. We received a call on our phone/answering machine from Suntrust...but it was too late to call back.
11. Saturday, August 4th 2007...Brenda talked to Suntrust...and the teller spoke forth GOOD NEWS.

Yesterday...a man saw that Phillip had dropped the envelope...but was unable to get to Phillip before Phillip had left McDonalds. Remember...at this time Phillip still did not know he had lost the money.
The man did not feel good about turning it in to McDonalds...so he took it to the closest SUNTRUST where he turned it in. He refused to leave his name...and said that was not necessary. PRAISE GOD...can you say...as Alan Smiths...can you say...guardian angel.

We could easily say that we are LUCKY...or FORTUNATE....or QUE SERA SERA...WHATEVER WILL BE WILL BE...THE FUTURES NOT OURS TO SEE QUE SERA SERA...or we could acknowledge in ALL THINGS that God is in control of our lives. That we THANK Him...and PRAISE Him...and WORSHIP Him in the acknowledgement that HE IS LORD...BOSS...IN CONTROL.

Bad things...DO happen to good people...but that does not mean God is out to get you. Yes cataclysmic events happen in the natural...sometimes as a result of sin...sometimes just because we live in a fallen, cursed world...sometimes allowed to test us...but the bottom line is...my family refuses to attribute BAD to GOD. What the world would view as ACTS OF GOD...we view as an opportunity for GOD TO ACT. Joseph said it right when his brothers...who had faked his death, sold him into slavery...begged for forgiveness....and Joseph stated....you meant it for harm....GOD MEANT IT FOR GOOD. (Genesis 48-50).

We are BLESSED...not cursed...we choose LIFE...not death....we choose GODINCIDENCE.

Love and Blessed Kisses
Rodney/Brenda/Phillip "ATTITUDE OF GRADITUDE" Boyd