Friday, April 25, 2008

HAND TO THE PLOW

Hello fellow CULTIVATORS. How's your fields?

In Psalm 37...in the face of evildoers and wrongdoers...who look like they are getting away with murder...while we can't catch a break while we are doing the right thing...we are called to..."Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land... and CULTIVATE FAITHFULNESS." (Psalm 37:3) NOTE: If you read the entire chapter and circle the verbs that we are expected to do...you will see that you do NOT have to sit back with your arms folded while the situations, circumstances of life run over you.

The world is our field...and we are called to CULTIVATE as we CELEBRATE.

CULTIVATE: (1) To prepare soil for the raising of crops; to loosen or break up the soil. (2) to foster the growth of; to improve by labor, care or study.

TILLAGE: Preparing soil by digging up soil for fostering growth.

If you look at the picture in the lower left hand corner...if you look closely you will see the me with my hand to the tiller...tillaging...cultivating soil.

If you don't keep your eye on the row...if you are looking around at what is revolving around you...or if you LOOK BACK...you will be off course...with crooked rows.

Paul Clark...(see the lower right hand corner of the collage)...recorded an album called HAND TO THE PLOW. The picture of the hand to the plow...is his Grandfather's hands.

The song was a progressive...rock/jazz fused song that was...and still is a song that helps to keep me on track.

I've felt the pressures of temptation
I've heard the breathing lies of acc-u-sa-tions
I know the world can be distracting
But if I keep one foot there...I'm just acting

Well I can't think of a reason why I should look back
And I don't intend to start now
Gonna set my face like flint to Jesus and His Word
Yes, I'm keeping my HAND TO THE PLOW

I've felt the the weight of condemnation
And how the devil twists my situation
My brother, if you feel defeated
Let me remind you friend that you've been cheated

Well I can't think of a reason why I should LOOK BACK
And I don't intend to start now
Gonna set my face like flint to Jesus and His Word
Yes, I'm keeping my HAND TO THE PLOW

Temptations...are designed not necessarily to pull you into some gross sin (however that may be one of the outcomes)...but temptation is designed to PULL YOU AWAY FROM WHO YOUR REALLY ARE. The cultivation process is to (1) Submit yourself to God (2) Resist the devil (3) Be lifted up at the proper time.

No matter how much pressure you are to stray away from who you are in Him...no matter how many lies and accusations the enemy breathes out to you...no matter how distracted you are by the world and their swirling circumstances...no matter how much the enemy tries to condemn you for your past, present and future sins...now matter how much the enemy twists the truth...no matter how low and defeated you feel...know that YOU'VE BEEN CHEATED...SET YOUR FACE LIKE FLINT... keep your eyes ON THE WORD OF GOD...KEEP YOUR HAND ON THE PLOW.

Cultivation...is sweaty work...but the fruit of your labor...will be SWEET.

"But the humble will inherit the land, and delight themselves in abundant prosperity." (Psalm 37:11)

Love and Rock Solid Kisses
Rodney "Farmer Boy" Boyd
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Thursday, April 24, 2008

WHAT'S YOUR SHAWSHANK?

Hello Fellow Free People.

"It was for FREEDOM that Christ set us FREE; therefore KEEP STANDING FIRM...and do NOT be SUBJECT again to a yoke of SLAVERY." (Galatians 2:5)

As I once again sit at the keyboard...ramblin' on...I am listening to the soundtrack of one of my favorite movies...THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION. One of my favorite genre of music is the movie soundtrack. Not music inspired by the music...but the actual music playing under the actor's lines.

The SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION is a movie about Andy Dufrane...who was a banker who was framed...and convicted for his wife's murder. He is sentenced to a long term at SHAWSHANK prison. The story revolves around Andy... and his optimistic sense of HOPE (confident expectation) that he would be released. Many of the friends he develops...Red (Morgan Freemon) and Brooks (James Whitmore)...have been in Shawshank a long time...and have become what is known as INSTITUTIONALIZED. They have been in prison so long...it has crushed there hope of ever getting out...and if they do get out...they cannot cope with the outside world...to the point of Brooks carving in a beam in his rooming house...BROOKS WAS HERE...just before hanging himself.

The words on the promotional poster for the movie says it all..."FEAR CAN HOLD YOU A PRISONER...HOPE CAN SET YOU FREE." Andy...with his hope eventually escapes the confines of Shawshank via a sewage pipe in to the refreshing pouring rain. With HOPE set before him...over a period of years...he slowly...methodically...daily tunneled out of prison...taking a rock to the sewage pipe...and crawling to freedom to his dream of paradise on a beach working on making a boat.

Sometimes...in our daily lives...we have a SHAWSHANK experience. We become numbed to our situations...our conditions...even the good ones...not to mention the thinks that bind us...that we become INSTITUTIONALIZED in our MINDSET. Remember what it says in Romans 8:6..."the MIND SET on the flesh is death...but the MIND SET on the Spirit is live and peace."

On a personal level...I have and in the middle of a SHAWSHANK moment. For the past 12 years...I have been employed at HCA at Southern Hills Medical Center. I love the place, the people, the work that I do...but for the last few years...it has been difficult for various reasons. The other day...another company called me up...and asked me if I would like to work for them. I went for an interview...and they asked me what it would take to get me to work for them. I layed out what it would take...and they agreed to everything. NOW... comes the moment of decision. Would I take the step...outside the confines of my comfort zone...even though the comfort zone has been unCOMFORTABLE..
and go outside the WALLS of Southern Hills. I asked the man during my interview if he had ever seen the Shawshank Redemption...and how I was in that type of MIND SET.

Well...yesterday...I accepted the job...turned in my resignation...and will be stepping into the new world on May 12th. As I do this...the old hymn rings true to me...MY HOPE IS BUILT...ON NOTHING LESS...THAN JESUS BLOOD AND RIGHTEOUSNESS...I DARE NOT TRUST THE SWEETEST FRAME... BUT WHOLLY LEAN ON JESUS' NAME...ON CHRIST THE SOLID ROCK I STAND...ALL OTHER GROUND IS SINKING SAND...ALL OTHER GROUND IS SINKING SAND. It's a new adventure.

It reminds me of a time back in the fall of 1970...when a 19 year old kid...paranoid, fearful, hooked on the things that made me paranoid and fearful...stepped outside of my personal SHAWSHANK...and accepted Jesus Christ (the D.B.R.)...and walked outside of prison into his MARVELOUS LIGHT. At the point of that decision...even in my worst hour...I had some sense of comfort of my old friends...my music... my room (that was painted totally black)...my identity. I said YES to JESUS...and NO...to SHAWSHANK (my old life).

Much like Andy Dufrane...after he crawled through the sewage pipe...and came out the other side FREE...standing in the creek with his arms raised high...and the refreshing waters washing away the external stench of the old life...I...Rodney Lewis Boyd...was SET FREE.

Because Jesus...stretched out His arms...and allowed nails to be driven in his feet and hands...NOW...I can stretch out my arms in praise for the fact that as Jesus was crucified...SO WAS I.

"I HAVE BEEN (it's good to be a has been)...crucified with Christ...and it is NO LONGER I who lives but Christ lives in me...and the life which I NOW LIVE...I live by faith in the Son of God...who loved me and DELIVERED HIMSELF up for me." (Galatians 2:20)

Hey...there's life after SHAWSHANK...LIVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love and Released Kisses
Rodney "God is Faithful" Boyd
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RUMINATOR RECOMMENDATIONS

Hello Fellow Chewers of the Cud of the Word...whatcha' doin' this weekend?

I would like to recommend...taking time out of your busy schedule (and if you don't take it...your time will be filled with something)...and CELEBRATE at Smyrna Assembly with A WORSHIP ARTS WEEKEND.

You have chewed on...thought about...pondered on...RUMINATED the Word of God...but you still feel pulled down. What's UP with the feeling of being PULLED DOWN?

I have found that...just like earth has a GRAVITATIONAL PULL...so does walking out the Kingdom on planet earth. Sometimes the things of this earth...the drama of life...the pull of this world...keeps us from RISING UP. Just like a rocket...with it's boosters...and massive power of thrust...breaks the bonds of the GRAVITATIONAL PULL...so it is with the pull of this world that KEEPS US DOWN...we need something to BREAK THE PULL. That is one of the things that this weekend will help you accomplish. It's like the old song says...

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in his wonderful face
And the THINGS OF EARTH
Will grow strangely DIM
In the light of His GLORY and GRACE


Praise helps to break the pull...and positions us into a place of kissing towards our object of worth (worshipping the King).

Love and UPlifting Kisses
Rodney "We Have Lift-Off" Boyd
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Friday, April 18, 2008

SETTING YOU FREE..BUT NOT LETTING YOU GO

Hello friends, neighbors, and country men...and you country women also. One of my favorite groups is called LOST DOGS. It consists of the leaders of four alternative Christian bands. The bands...and leaders are...DANIEL AMOS (Terry Taylor)...77's (Mike Roe)...THE CHOIR (Derri Daughtery)...and ADAM AGAIN (Gene Eugene). Gene died a few years ago...but the boys carried on.

As I write this Rambling...I am listening to their album MUTT. They are singing reprises of some of each groups songs...with them trading off the vocals.

Once song on this fine collections...is I'M SETTING YOUR FREE (BUT I'M NOT LETTING YOU GO). It is a tender song to a daughter who has grown up and who is leaving the nest.

I'M SETTING YOU FREE...BUT I'M NOT LETTING YOU GO
I'M WATCHING YOU FLY AWAY...BUT KEEPING YOU CLOSE
I CAN'T HELP BUT CRY A LITTLE...HEAVEN KNOWS
I'M SETTING YOU FREE...BUT I'M NOT LETTING YOU GO

For me and Brenda...at this point in our lives...this song speaks volumes. On June 10th 1987...our lives and world changed forever. This was the day that PHILLIP STEPHEN BOYD entered the world and our home. On Saturday, May 17th, 2008...at 10:00 A.M., in Murphy Athletic Center at Middle Tennessee State University...in Murfreesboro Tennessee...our little baby boy...will be graduating from Blackman High School.

It seems like yesterday...when we were smiling at the camera...surrounded by family and friends...and we were holding our precious gift from God. Nineteen years later...our little baby boy...is now a young man.

We have always tried to train him, teach him, encourage him, give him a sense of self-worth, instill in him an image of who he is IN CHRIST (the Anointed One, anointed with yoke breaking, burden lifting, oppression removing power).

I have tried to live out Ephesians 6:4.."And you fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training of the Lord." That does NOT mean that we did not have conflicts...but we always came out of the other side of the conflicts...loving each other.

His Mom's prayer of BLESSING on him from the crib to graduation is found in Numbers 6:24-26..."The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace."

We are no at the CROSSROADS...as we get ready to RELEASE our son. For 19 years we have poured our hearts and souls...our blood, sweat, and tears into our boy. We have tried to live our lives as transparent as possible...letting him see our warts...our mistakes...and our faith in a God who is full of grace and mercy.

To be honest with you...it has been a bumpy road at times....but it has been worth it. In Proverbs 22:6...we are called to..."Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." The Ruminator version of that verses says..."Live out your life by example before you boy...and when he is old...he will realize that Mom and Dad actually know what they are talking about." Between the point of becoming a YOUNG MAN...and becoming OLD...Phillip has to do as it says in Phillipians 2:12..."Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my PRESENCE only... but NOW much more in MY ABSENCE...WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION...with fear and trembling...for it is God who WORKS IN YOU both to will and to do for His good pleasure." Thank God that He is working in my boy.

Part of the releasing process...is by faith...releasing him to walk out what is in him...and he cannot do that in just our presence. He must spread his wings...and live out what he knows...in our absence. The choices he makes...will be his choices and not ours. The mistakes that he makes will be his mistakes. The consequences of his choices will be his consequences.

ENTER THE LOST DOGS. That song...that speaks of release of a child...also speaks of NOT LETTING GO. Phillip will always be within the reach of our prayers. He may be released into life...where he will make new friends...experience new experiences...meet young ladies who may become his wife at one point...but our influence by the power of intercession for our boy...will be there.

We speak..."Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you..." (Jeremiah 1:5) Yes...this passage was about a prophet to the nations...but I'm convinced that God know Phillip Stephen Boyd...long before he arrived at the Boyd household... and God has PURPOSE for him.

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not evil, to give you a FUTURE and a HOPE. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:11-13) Again...yes...this was written to exiles in captivity...and speaks of God's purposes and plans for them even in the midst of captivity...but again...we are convinced that this applies...not only to our son...but to us...and yes...even YOU.

Thanks to everyone who over the past 19 years...have been apart of the growth process in Phillip's life.

Love and Parental Kisses (PK)
Rodney and Brenda "It Seems Like Just Yesterday"Boyd
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Tuesday, April 15, 2008

JUST ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE

Hello fellow Pilgrims...fellow Travellers...fellow sojourners. How's your DAY?

Monday...Tuesday...Wednesday...Thursday...Friday...Saturday...Sunday... go to bed...and get up AGAIN...on another day...and start it all over again with Monday...Tuesday...etc, etc, etc.

The Beatles did not start off as the most popular group in the world...and as John Lennon pointed out that they were more popular than Jesus Christ. Well.. at the time...in some sectors...they were. Before super stardom...they were just some lads in Liverpool...playing in clubs, basements, schools...anywhere that would let them pay. Every once in a while...they would actually get paid. In the beginning...it was for fun. Somewhere along the way...the fun ended...and it became drudgery. As Larry Norman observed in his song READERS DIGEST... "...the Beatles said all you need is love...and then they broke up."

Depending on who you listen to...the villain in the Beatles breakup was Yoko Ono. Maybe a contributing factor...but not necessarily THE cause. Some say the villain was the cute Beatle...Paul McCartney...who wanted to be the leader of the group after their manager Brian Epstein died (some say by suicide). Paul sued the lads when the Rolling Stones manager Allen Klien appeared to be taking over and draining the boys financially. Paul was either a saviour or a backstabber. The nasty feud between John and Paul overflowed into their music in their solo careers post Beatles.

McCartney released an album called MCCARTNEY (totally Paul) and John released IMAGINE. Paul released an album with his Yoko (aka Linda) called RAM. During the RAM sessions in New York City...Paul recorded a song in 1970 called ANOTHER DAY. It was a song about the mundane, sad life of a woman's life...as she plodded along at work and at home...as she lived ANOTHER DAY. It was a pleasant, pop infused song full of sunshine about a dark topic.

John Lennon...responded to the song ANOTHER DAY...and Paul's release of RAM with a song called HOW DO YOU SLEEP? George Harrison played a wonderful slide guitar on this song...as John stated..."The only ting you done was YESTERDAY...since you've gone...you're just ANOTHER DAY."

You may be asking yourself...Self...why is Ruminatin' Rod...Rambling? Let me tear a page from my journal...

Another day...they just keep on coming. They plod along like footsteps in a dark, foggy night...not seeing where you are going...hoping you are going somewhere. We are called to walk by faith...NOT by SIGHT (II Corinthians 5:7). My problem is that I walk by SIGHT...and NOT by FAITH. (I Rodney 8:15). I live by feelings not faith. I please my self and not God. My faith feels dead with no corresponding actions. My thoughts are unrestrained. My thoughts have produced unrestrained words with the results being unrestrained actions....just ANOTHER DAY. In Proverbs it says the fool has said in his heart that there is no God. I may not say it...but I act like there is no God...by what I think, say, and do. It is JUST ANOTHER DAY...running on automatic pilot...going through the MOTIONS of my EMOTIONS.

"This is the DAY...which the Lord has made...let us REJOICE...and be GLAD in IT." (Psalm 118:24)

"Blessed--happy, fortunate [to be envied]--is the man whose strength is in You; in whose heart are the highways/roads to Zion. PASSING THROUGH the valley of WEEPING/TEARS...they make it a PLACE OF SPRINGS; the early rain also fills [the pools] with BLESSINGS. They go from STRENGTH to STRENGTH---increasing in VICTORIOUS POWER; each of them appears before God in Zion."
(Psalm 84:5-7)

Hey...the days keep on coming...just another day...after another day...after another day. But if you KEEP ON WALKING...you will PASS THROUGH THE VALLEY OF WEEPING/TEARS...and make it a PLACE OF SPRINGS. Just as we go from one ANOTHER DAY to another ANOTHER DAY...so we can go from STRENGTH to STRENGTH...increasing in VICTORIOUS POWER.

QUESTION: Is there anyone else going through ANOTHER DAY? Write me and let me know.

Love and Emotional Kisses
Rodney " " Boyd
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Wednesday, April 09, 2008

WHERE IS EVERYBODY...THE CURE FOR LONLINESS

Hello human beings...how's it going? Are you interacting with other human beings...or do you feel like you are in isolation? D0,do,do,do...do, do, do, do...
(If you say the do, do, do, do's just right...it sounds like the theme to the T.V. show...The Twilight Zone). The theme music was by Bernard Herrman and Marius Constant...and set the mood for the mysterious.

The Twilight Zone...the brain child of Rod Serling...was a T.V. show that debut on C.B.S. in 1959. They were stories about ordinary people...who experienced extra ordinary circumstances. The stories always ended with some twist.

The camera would pan over to Mr. Serling as the stood with his hands crossed, a burning cigarette in his hands, dressed in black suit, white shirt and tie...and introduce the nights show. He would also narrate the Twilight Zone openings. Here are three of the various openings:

#1
"Your travelling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead---your next top, the Twilight Zone!"

#2
"There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call...the Twilight Zone."

#3
"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 that of imagination--next stop...the Twilight Zone."

The first episode in 1959 was...WHERE IS EVERYBODY?

"The place is here, the time is now, and the journey into the shadows that we're about to watch could be our journey." Earl Holliman played Mike Ferris...in an Air Force jumpsuit...finding himself in a town that has no people in it. He runs around trying to find anyone... with a the paranoid feeling that he is being watched. The sensation of loneliness, hopelessness, isolation escalates until he pushes a cross walk button on a street corner. It is at this moment that it is revealed to the audience...that the button is a panic button and Ferris is an astronaut-trainee strapped into an isolation booth in a simulation of a moon flight. He was in the booth for 484 hours and cracked from SHEER LONELINESS. His journey was all in his mind. (Thanks and a Tip O Da Hat to The Twilight Zone Companion).


That loneliness and sense of isolation...is not uncommon to various people. Oh it may be intensified and exaggerated for the purpose of television and ratings... but that sense of loneliness in the middle of a crowd is nothing new.

Sometimes we feel like Jimmy Stewart in the classic movie..IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. George Bailey had spent his entire life...in Bedford Falls... and sacrificed his dreams and ambitions on the altar of helping others. Every time he feels he is about to escape his destiny...somebody's problems rise up...that only he could deal with.

The straw that broke the camel's back...finally happened. and George got to the point of the sense of helplessness...and hopelessness...where he felt the only way out was suicide.

I remember back to 1970...where I reached that point in my life. At that point I became a follower of Jesus Christ. Within two years...what appeared to be a sudden turning away from my faith...was actually a gradual slide into isolation from my family, friends, church...into hopelessness.

I NEEDED HELP. Our friend in the Twilight Zone pushed a PANIC BUTTON.
George Bailey was rescued as an answer of prayers from the people he ran from...in the form of an angel with the I.Q. of a rabbit..Clarence, Angel 2nd Class with no wings. I turned back to God....back to hope...through the prayers of some saints GATHERED TOGETHER interceding for me.

There is a cure for this helpless, hopeless, sensation of loneliness. It's called KOINONIA. This word is from the Greek word KOINE' means common. There is the classical Greek language...and the KOINE' Greek language...the common language of the common people. This is what the New Testament is written in.
KOINONIA...is a sharing, a communion, having something in common between people.

As believers...we really do need each other. Yes...our individual experience with God is between us and Him...BUT...to walk out this experience...we cannot do it in ISOLATION. We must surround ourselves with other people who have made Jesus Christ as Lord of their lives...so that we can encourage, edify, lift up, when we get WEARY.

On a cold, cold night...where you cannot get warm...the cure is a THREE DOG NIGHT. No...I'm not talking about putting JOY TO THE WORLD by the singing group....but depending on how cold it is...you can put one dog on for being cold. This is called a one dog night. A little more colder...two dogs...and for the freezing cold...it is a THREE DOG NIGHT. As Three Dog Night sang...ONE is the loneliest number that you'll ever know. Even The Lone Ranger...was not ALONE. He may have been the surviving member of a group of Rangers who was attacked...but even The Lone Ranger had his faithful steed Silver...and his friend TONTO. We need Amigos...to help us out of the muck of loneliness.



We really do need each other. If that is true...why do we isolate ourselves? I know people who remove themselves from people who love them...only to listen to lies of the enemy...about what they thing people have said or done to them. A good wolf...likes nothing better for the sheep to remove themselves from the flock. It's like a sheep buffet...easy pickings. In Africa...we got to see the stalking lioness waiting for the right moment for an isolate Wildebeest to ring the dinner bell.


"Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labour. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is NOT ANOTHER TO LIFT HIM UP. Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm but how can ONE BE WARM ALONE? And if ONE CAN OVERPOWER him who is ALONE...two can RESIST him. A CORD OF THREE STRANDS IS NOT QUICKLY TORN." (Ecclesiastes 3:9-12)

"Iron sharpens iron...so ONE MAN SHARPENS ANOTHER." (Proverbs 27:17)

"Again I say to you...that if two of you AGREE on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have GATHERED TOGETHER in my name, there I am in their midst." (Matthew 18:19,20)


"Let US hold fast the confession of OUR hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful, and let US consider how to stimulate ONE ANOTHER to love and good deeds, not forsaking OUR own ASSEMBLING TOGETHER, as is the habit of SOME but encouraging ONE ANOTHER, and all the more as you see the day drawing near." (Hebrews 10:23-25)

Are you one cord, one piece of iron, one sheep? Do you wonder why you feel so lonely. Even if you are in the largest megachurch or the smallest home meeting...you can be in self isolation by the choices you make. Reach for your PANIC BUTTON now...call out to your God for HELP...connect again with a brother and sister in the Lord.

"What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, that you also may have KOINONIA WITH US....and indeed OUR KOINONIA is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write, so that OUR JOY MAY BE MADE COMPLETE." (I John 1:3,4)

Hey...if you're out there...give me a shout.

Love and 3 Cord Kisses
Rodney "KOINONIA" Boyd
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Monday, April 07, 2008

WHAT YOU SEE...IS NOT ALWAYS WHAT YOU GET.

Hello Faith People. What you see...ain't always what you get. Just ask Earnest T. Bass. He wanted to woo Charlene Darling with his charms. He just want to court the love of his life... even though she was married by Sheriff Andy Griffith of Mayberry. To resolve the problem... a "real preacher" was coming through...and Dud and Charlene were going to get married by a "real preacher" to satisfy Earnest T. Bass. Ernest T. plotted to steal the bride before the wedding could take place. Everyone was in place for the wedding...the preacher was there... brothers and father of the bride was there...the witnesses were there...the bride and groom were ready to make there vows. SUDDENLY...Ernest T. should up and kidnapped the bride. All looked well...until...he removed the veil...and discovered that his bride was in reality a substitute...Deputy Barney Fife. The real bride was safely being married. Barney Fife's response to Briscoe Darling's assertion of Ernest T. Bass being a strange...Barney sums it it...
"HE'S A NUT." What he saw...was not what he got.

Look at a couple of examples:

ISAWABUNDANCEONTHETABLE

Did you see I SAW A BUN DANCE ON THE TABLE...or did you see I SAW ABUNDANCE ON THE TABLE?

GODISNOWHERE

Did you see GOD IS NO WHERE or did you see GOD IS NOW HERE?

What you see...is what you believe...is what you speak...is how you act. IT ALL DEPENDS ON HOW YOU LOOK AT IT. It's the old... the glass is half empty or half full MINDSET.

We see with either a RENEWED MIND...or an UNRENEWED MIND. When we are BELIEVERS in the D.B.R...and we keep our minds renewed with the washing of the water of the WORD OF GOD...we begin to look at things DIFFERENTLY than a lost person or a carnal Christian.

"For we WALK BY FAITH [that is, we REGULATE our lives and conduct ourselves by our conviction or belief respecting man's relationship to God and divine things, with trust and holy fervor; thus WE WALK]...not by SIGHT or APPEARANCE."
(II Corinthians 5:7 The Amplified Bible)

"Now FAITH IS...the assurance (the confirmation, the title-deed) of the things [we] HOPED FOR......being the proof of things/evidence of things [we]...DO NOT SEE...and the CONVICTION OF THEIR REALITY---FAITH...PERCEIVING...as REAL FACT...what is NOT...
REVEALED TO THE SENSES." (Hebrews 11:1 The Amplified Bible)

"But without FAITH it is IMPOSSIBLE to please and be satisfactory to Him. For WHOEVER (that would be you) would come near to God...must (necessarily) believe that God exists and that He is the Rewarder of those who EARNESTLY and DILIGENTLY...SEE HIM (out)." (Hebrews 11:6)

What do you see...when debt overwhelms you...when sickness lingers...when anxiety, worry, and tension pulls you in twenty different directions. Do you see WOE IS ME...this must be God's will for me...or do you see:

"And MY GOD will liberally SUPPLY (fill to the full) your EVERY NEED according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus."
(Philippians 4:19)

Do you see:

"I have STRENGTH for ALL THINGS in Christ Who empowers me--I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses INNER STRENGTH INTO ME, [that is, I am self-sufficient in CHRIST'S SUFFICIENCY]. (Phillipians 4:13)

Whatever you are going through....don't FOCUS on your problems/needs...and don't deny that you have problems/needs....HOWEVER... look intently into the face of God...via the WORD OF GOD...and begin to speak your solution instead of the problem. As the old song says... "Turn your eyes upon Jesus...look full in His Wonderful face...and the THINGS OF EARTH will grow strangely dim...in the light of His GLORY AND GRACE. Between the point of prayer....................................................................and the point of provision....walk by faith, act by faith, speak by faith. Remember:

UNRESTRAINED THOUGHTS....PRODUCE UNRESTRAINED WORDS....RESULTING IN UNRESTRAINED ACTIONS. What we THINK...what we SAY...what we DO...is based on if we SEE....I SAW ABUNDANCE ON THE TABLE...and...GOD IS NOW HERE.

Love and Faith Kisses
Rodney "I've Got My Feet Planted On The Good, Good Word...I'm Standing On The Promises That I Heard...Signed, Sealed, Delivered by the Blood of the Lamb...I'm Not Moved By What I Feel...I'm Only Moved By The Word That's Real...The Word Came To Life, Came To
Me" Boyd

P.S. Thanks to Janny Grien for the Song Covenant Woman.
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Friday, April 04, 2008

SPIRITUAL MIRANDA RIGHTS

Dum-de-dum-dum!!!! NO...I did not just call you DUMB. That was the open tune to the T.V. show...originally a radio show...DRAGNET. Jack Webb played Detective Sgt. Joe Friday...along with various partners. The show would always open with Sgt. Friday saying..."This is the city...Los Angeles California. I work here. I carry a badge (cue the theme music....Dum-de-dum-dum). "

The shows were taken from the real case files of the Los Angeles Police Department and then were dramatized in documentary style narration. At the end...there would be the conclusion with the criminal caught...and standing in front of the camera...as they would recite what happened to them in a COURT OF LAW. The show would then end with the theme music....and a sweaty hand holding a hammer striking a piece of metal against a piece of sheet metal...leaving the impression of a Roman numeral VII and the words MARK VII (Jack Webb's production company). Catch phrases like..."My name is Friday...I'm a cop"...and..."Just the facts ma'am...just the facts."...came out of Dragnet. NOW THAT WAS GOOD TELEVISION!!!

In all my years of watching Dragnet in the 50's and early 60's...I never heard Sgt. Friday...or his partner Bill Gannon (Col. Potter on Mash)...read anyone their MIRANDA RIGHTS. The Miranda Rights were not mandated by the Supreme Court until 1966 with Miranda Vs. Arizona. This was a case where an accused rapist...confessed to the crime...but later stated he was cohereced into CONFESSION.

The MIRANDA RIGHTS...or WARNING...now has to be READ by the police to CRIMINAL SUSPECTS in police custody...BEFORE they ask questions relating to a CONFESSION. If this is NOT read...any incriminating statement made by said suspect...WILL NOT be constituted as ADMISSIBLE EVIDENCE...unless...the suspect was ADVISED of his/her MIRANDA RIGHTS...and WAIVED those rights.


Before there was LAW AND ORDER...with their distinctive music...there was multiple courtroom dramas on T.V. Perry Mason...Night Court (comedy), movies like It's A Miracle On 34th Street (where Santa Claus was on trial), The Defender's (with E.G. Marshall and Robert Reed of the Brady Bunch), Judd For The Defense (with Carl Betz of Donna Reed fame), Matlock (with Andy Griffith).

Again...up until 1966...they did not have to worry about Miranda Rights and inadmissible evidence.

In this world that we walk...with one foot in heaven and one on earth...between the Glory and the Flame...we are in a BATTLE...between good and evil...the devil and the believer. Ephesian 6 speaks about the warfare...the wrestling match (that makes Hulk Hogan vs The Iron Sheik) look like Romper Room time.

Our adversary...the serpent...the devil...the liar and the Father of lies...the deceiver...the murderer...the life-taker...Beelzebulb...the angel of light...the chief worshipper in heaven before the fall of him and 1/3 of the angels of heaven...
THE ACCUSER OF THE BRETHREN...is out to drag us into the COURT OF ACCUSATION. He is trying to ARREST US...and make us DENY the fact that JESUS CHRIST....Died on a cross in our place....became the propitiation for our sins...was placed in a grave...and on the 3rd day ROSE FROM THE GRAVE. That's right boys and girls...I have taken a Rambling about old T.V. shows...historical Supreme Court decisions...and turned it around to the D.B.R., the DEATH, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST. I thought it might be good for us to exercise our SPIRITUAL MIRANDA RIGHTS.

SPIRITUAL MIRANDA RIGHTS

1. You (the believer) have the RIGHT...to REMAIN SILENT.

RUMINATION: The word right...in the Greek is exousia...which means DELEGATED AUTHORITY vs...dunamis...which means dynamic ability. We have the authority... as a believer...that was given to us by God Himself...to control what we SAY. Proverbs says that life and death lie in the POWER OF THE TONGUE. When we are accused by the devil (little d)...we do not need to begin to prattle on about what we think or what he says. The word CONFESSION (homo/same-legos/word)...is us...coming into agreement with someone. When we exercise our right to be silent...we DO NOT confess or come into agreement with the devil's accusations against us.

2. ANYTHING you SAY...CAN...and WILL be USED AGAINST YOU...in a court of
law.

RUMINATION: The devil would love to drag us into a court of LAW. The problem is that we are NOT UNDER LAW (Mosaic)...but we are in the court of GRACE. Grace is a free gift, unmerited favor, the divine influence in the heart manifested in the life of the believer. If you are confessing...or saying what the devil is saying to you...you are putting yourself back under LAW. The problem with the LAW that the devil would have us begin to come into agreement with...is that it is LAW AND DISORDER. Grace brings us into true balance of law (what we could not keep) and grace (what He did). Exercise your RIGHT to be silent...and SPEAK UP about mercy, grace, peace, love, joy, etc.

3. You have the RIGHT TO talk to a LAWYER and have him PRESENT with you while you are being questioned.

RUMINATION: Our lawyer...the PARACLETOS...THE HELPER...the one called ALONGSIDE to help...is the HOLY SPIRIT. The Holy Spirit is on our side....and represents the TRUTH. He is aka as the SPIRIT OF TRUTH. Jesus (the original Helper)...defines the truth as THE WORD. "Sanctify them by truth...THY WORD...is truth." (John 17:17) Jesus said that He would NEVER leave us or forsake us. So it is with our LAWYER.

4. If you cannot AFFORD to hire a lawyer, one will be appointed to represent you before any
questioning you if you wish.

RUMINATION: Well...you can't afford this lawyer. You could never pay the price for what He is worth in a million years. It just like salvation...you can't afford salvation...so you have to rely on the MERCY OF THE COURT...as grace is poured out upon you. You remember grace don't you...Free gift, unmerited favor, the divine influence in your heart manifested in your life? "He saved us...not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness...but according to His mercy...by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit." (Titus 3:5)

"Ho! Everyone who thirsts, COME to the waters; and you who HAVE NO MONEY...COME, buy and eat. Yes, COME, buy wine and milk WITHOUT MONEY and WITHOUT PRICE."
(Isaiah 55:1)

5. You can DECIDE at any time to EXERCISE these rights and not answer any questions or make any statements.

RUMINATION: Man was created as a triparte' being...with a spirit, soul, and body. The soul of man...is his mind (what he thinks)...his volition/free will/free choice (what we choose), and his emotions (the barometer of his being). We can make a decision...we can choose...and it based on our MIND SET. The mind set on the flesh is death...and the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. We will either REACT in the flesh...and babble our heads of as we come into agreement with the devil and our flesh....or we will RESPOND in the Spirit as we keep SILENT with what the devil says...and speak forth truth.

WAIVER OF THE MIRANDA RIGHTS

Once you have been read your rights...you can WAIVER those rights...BUT in order to secure waiver, the following questions should be asked and an AFFIRMATIVE reply secured to each question:

1. Do you UNDERSTAND each of these RIGHTS I have explained to you?

ANSWER: Yes.

2. Having these RIGHTS in MIND...do you wish to talk to us NOW?

ANSWER: NO!

RUMINATION: Never come into agreement with the devil...to discuss anything. Exercise your right to say NO TO THE DEVIL...and then exercise your right to REBUKE (stop it that's enough)...and tell him to BE GONE. Guess what...he is under obligation to LEAVE. Like Jesus' temptation by the devil in the wilderness...you can SPEAK only the WORD OF GOD...exercise your true POWER (exousia/dunamis) and then tell the NO...LEAVE. At that point the angels will come and minister to you...and you will leave the arena of the devil's court in the FULLNESS OF THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. (Matthew 4)

Well...that's it for now. If you get a chance...check our Isaac Air Freight's parody about DRAGNET...with Jerusalem Dragnet. "This is the city...Jerusalem...it's a righteous city. My name is Friday...GOOD FRIDAY. We are here to protect the innocent...but there is only ONE innocent. DUM-de-dum-dum.

Love and Just the Facts Kisses
Rodney "Mark VII VII VII" Boyd
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Wednesday, April 02, 2008

THE NAME DROPPER

Hey friends and neighbors. Have you ever met anyone famous? Over my 56... going on 57 years...I have run into or met lots of famous/infamous people. This collage is a representation of some of the people that I have met..talked to...gotten autographs and pictures. Looking back...most of these people had something to do with shaping who I am today...by design or inadvertently.

This collage does not represent the non-famous people who even more...influenced my life for the better. That may be a Rambling for another day. Here's the run down of the collage (from left to right):

Phil Keaggy, Brian Mason, Arte Johnson, Charlie Rich, Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop, Vincent Price, Ray Peterson, Johnny Rivers, Stephen Curtis Chapman, Pat Boone, Pat Robertson, Ed Cole, Barry McGuire, Lee Roberson, Elvis Presley, Jack Van Impe, Petra, Janny Grein, Phil Valentine, Andy Williams, Derek Prince, Kenneth Hagin, Rory Calhoun, Chuck Conners, The Darlings, Don Knotts, Howard Morris.

The common denominator between all of these famous people...the put on their pants the same way I do. The are human beings...with flesh, blood, and bones (except for Lamb Chop...who by the way is delicious with mint jelly).

Some had a deeper impact versus the superficial meeting (AKA Brushes With Greatness....than others.

There is one NAME...that I have not dropped YET...but I personally met...have intimate conversations with...totally changed my life for the better...and has been an ongoing relationship for 48 years.

His name is JESUS IMMANUEL CHRIST. His name translates out to what he is in my life....JESUS (God is Salvation)...IMMANUEL (God With Us)...CHRIST (the Anointed One...anointed with burden lifting, yoke destroying, oppression removing, healing power).

He is as it says in Philippians...the NAME ABOVE ALL NAMES. Who's name is on your list?

Love and Famous Kisses
Rodney "I'm A Blessed Man" Boyd
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