WAXING NOSTALGIC

Hello all of you Jesus Freaks. I have been waxing nostalgic and tracing back the roots of who I am today. I know...I know...you can't live in the past. As long as you live in your past...your now will be stuck in neutral...and you can't move on into the future...HOWEVER...there is something about looking back to the various touchstones of your past...to encourage you to continue on in the faith.

The problem is when you try to recreate a moment...it is never as sweet as it was the first time. I remember many moons ago...as a little tyke...that I went to visit my cousins in Donelson Tennessee. They lived on a street called Templewood Court. It was a culdesac...that had a very steep hill leading to the bottom of the road. I remember we would get our bicycles to the top of the hill and going down the hill as fast as we could. It was like we were flying.

One time...I was flying down the hill....and the wind caught the bill of my baseball cap...and my cap flew off of my head. I reached up with both hands... caught the cap...put it back on my head...and grabbed the handles of my bike. That feeling was exhilarating. I was speeding down a hill...no hands...without wrecking. WOW!!! I wanted to experience that same feeling again...so...I went to the top of the hill...strategically place my hat on my head where the wind could catch it...and started my downhill ride. Everything was coming together. My hat flew off...I reached up to grab my hat with both hands...BUT at this point...the plan went awry. I did NOT catch my hat....I missed one of the handle bars...and my bike crashed on the cold, hard asphalt...and I went flying off into space...and crash landed. OUCH!!!! I could not RECREATE THE PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE.

So it is with my previous experiences that started in 1970...when I accepted Jesus Christ as my Saviour...and as I began my journey that I am still on in 2008.

As in my non-Christian life...MUSIC was a big part of the SOUNDTRACK OF MY LIFE. Music has always had a place in my life. Certain songs evoke certain memories...good, bad, ugly. I remember the first time I heard TREAT ME NICE by Elvis..in my room on my phonograph. I remember as a little Church of Christ kid...leading a bunch of adults in the song...TRUST AND OBEY. I had no clue what I was doing...but I was up there moving my hands back in forth in 4/4 timing...trust and obey, for there's no other way, to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.

I remember the happy times in my home...when my dad would have few Miller's in him...and he would get mellow and frisky. He would bring out the record player...put on some Glenn Miller, Woody Herman, Pete Fountain and dance around the living room with my mom. The music would stop when he would go from mellow to drunk and the arguing would start.

My high school memories revolved around the music...as I joined a band called THE BLACK ROOM...and later we had a duel name...THE BLIND DISTORTION. These were great times of belonging...belonging to a group of people with the same interest...rock and roll. Learning bar chords and playing in the Midnight Hour by Wilson Pickett...singing a soulful version of Summertime....and of course...John Lennon sang Blue Suede Shoes in Toronto...so I added that to our set...Blind Distortion Style. The pinnacle of our garage band success was playing the Senior Talent Show. The curtains opened on the stage...and we had walls of amps (some that did not even work) lined across the stage from one side to the other. If anything...it was impressive. We opened with She Came In Through The Bathroom Window....went into I Got a Line On You... Blue Suede Shoes...and ended with THE PUSHER by Steppenwolf. Rumours had spread through the school that we were going to sing THE PUSHER. This song was an anthem of proclaiming for God to damn the pusher man. We were going to push the boundaries of conventionality and cuss on stage. I never was popular in school...but when I sang Blue Suede Shoes and The Pusher...girls who NEVER said a word to me came up and talked to me.

Of course...one very important thing happened to me in connection with MUSIC. The lead singer for our band was Bruce Fortner. He was dating a girl named Debbie...and she would come to watch us practice in a garage. One day she brought along her best friend...Brenda Sue Williams. WOW!! I was in love. I believe as my memory recollects...she liked the lead guitar player (ain't that a crying shame)...my friend...Dan Bogle.

The boys in the band...who were bringing me out of my shy shell...tried to set me up with Brenda. Long story short...the rhythm guitar player won out over the lead guitar player.

In 1970...this cute little Independent Baptist girl...led this wayward Church of Christ boy to the Lord in her driveway. She led me through the Romans Road to Salvation...as she went through Romans 3:10, Romans 3:23, Romans 5:12, Romans, 6:23, Romans 10:6-17. She then led me through a Sinner's Prayer... and I was dramatically changed as I went from old man to new man...ala
II Corinthians 5:17.

By 1971...I was enrolled in Tennessee Temple Bible School...to get my Bachelors of Bible degree...become an evangelist...and save the world. The best laid plans of mice and men...are sometimes turned around by the plow of the farmer...and I became a Bible School dropout (that's another story). I came home...was baptized in the Holy Spirit...got married... and before I knew it...I was in a backslidden condition that was so bad...that I was face forward slidden...the mire and muck of sin. I was like a dog returning to his own vomit. I was sinning now...more than I was before I was a Christian.

The soundtrack of my life...now has multiple scratches and skips. I gave Gary Montgomery all of my Bible study tools (Greek Lexicon, Bible Handbooks, Concordances, etc). I told Gary that I did not need..or want these things any more. For a year or so...I wandered in the wilderness...sowing to the wind and reaping the whirlwind in my life. Many times during my wandering...I wanted to come back to him...but I was to ashamed...fearful that He would not want me back. One day...like the prodigal son who came to the end...face down in the pig pen eating pig food...I looked up to from where I came. I made a decision to RETURN TO MY FIRST LOVE...and to DO THE THINGS THAT I DID IN THE BEGINNING. I called Gary up...who had been praying for me with a group of people in houses...and he had my Bible study tools waiting for me. I started going back to church...started praying again...started studying the Bible again... started living again....started singing again.

MUSIC...JESUS MUSIC...had a great influence on me. The various people that you see in the collage are put a mere drop in the bucket of music that encouraged me to continue on...to not give up...to persevere...to press on in the Lord.

I have just taken about 20 songs that I wrote during the 70's and 80's that reflect my journey in the Lord. Some songs are gems...others are rough as a cob...but that's how my life has been. I plan on recording these songs...just so I will have them. I believe I'll call the CD...RUMINATOR UNPLUGGED...Music that Moooooooves me.

It's good to reflect...good to look back at the places where God moved on my behalf. The Bible calls these the places EBENEZERS. These were altars built...and used to look back and reflect that God met the need there...he will meet my needs NOW...and in the FUTURE. After all...Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Now there is music...music that not only crosses the horizontal...but transcends into the vertical...that forms linear lines of the cross. As I am sitting here...I am listening to THE FIVE BLIND BOYS FROM ALABAMA. They are singing Amazing Grace to the tune of THE HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN. Sweet...as the Risen Son has risen in my house.

Love and Nostalgic Kisses
Rodney "Pressing On" Boyd