DRY EYES...OLD FAITH...HARD HEART...COLD PRAYERS

Hello friends...how are your eyes, faith, heart and prayers doing? Is your fairytale world not panning out like you expected? Did you start out in your faith blazing...and now you are smoldering? Have you lost the joy of your salvation and replaced it with the despair of your fears? Well... welcome to my world.

Our first collage is from the classic movie...IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. It is a wonderful tale of how circumstances, choices, obstacles, people can...if we let them...dictate our joy level. Our lives can either be a Bedford Falls existence...or a Pottersville Hell. Does your life reflect the emptiness of Mr. Gower...George Bailey...and the citizens of Potterville? NOTE: Do get the full effect of this Ramblings...go rent you It's A Wonderful Life...pop some corn...and enjoy the movie.

I can remember moment that I accepted Jesus Christ as my Saviour...it was like a release from prison...like a long,slow rain after a long, hard drought ...like a rough, hard piece of leather soften by oil. The problem was...after a period of time...a few years later...I began to feel the prison walls close in again...I felt the the drought returning...I felt the leather stiffening up again. It was not something that happen immediately...but it was a slow process...and then suddenly... I could not figure out what was wrong with me. Actually...I was wondering...what was wrong with everyone else...except me. After all...ya gotta blame someone for the way you feel. All I know is this...I was dry, empty, and my prayers seemed to leave my lips...hit the ceiling...and drop back on top of me...unanswered.

What could I possibly do to restore the joy of my salvation... to be refreshed...to do what the Beatles sang about...to Get Back...to where I once belonged.

I chose...and it is a choice...to RUN....run away...as far as I could from the people who loved me, to the people who would speak truth to me, to a place that was more empty, more dry, more cold than where I was in the first place. I surrounded myself with people who would pander to my pity rather than speak the truth in love...with the cause and effect was a journey deeper in to despair.

NOTE: This is a water tank from Kenya Africa....for fresh water in a dry, polluted land. In the first collage you see the woman at the well...where Jesus told her that she would never thirst again...because the well...is within when you have Jesus in your heart. Jesus spoke later about rivers of living water flowing out of your innermost being/belly...with those flowing waters being the Holy Spirit. There may be something in our lives damming the flow of waters...but when we repent...times of refreshing will start to flow again.

When things are dry, old, hard, and cold...what can be done? I can't speak for anyone else...but only speak from my personal experience...I have to apply the Acts 3:19 Principle.

"Repent (change of mind, attitude, direction) and return (to my first love) that your sins may be wiped away (the thing that breaks our connection)...in order (cause and effect) that TIMES OF REFRESHING MAY COME (aaaaaaaaaaaaaah) may come from THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD."
(Acts 3:19)

Keith Green had a great song from back in 1978...that is still fresh and alive in 2009...called MY EYES ARE DRY. If you are at a place where you are dry and crusty, where what once was vibrant faith, where you heart is hard and stiff to the people you love and your prayers are cold as last night fire...think about what Keith was singing (even better if you can find a copy of the song).

MY EYES ARE DRY

My eyes are DRY...my faith is OLD...my heart is HARD...my prayers are COLD
And I know how I ought to be...alive to You...and dead to me
But what can be done...for an old heart like mine...soften it up with oil and wine
The oil is You and Your Spirit of Love...please wash me anew
In the Wine of Your Blood

"If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; BUT if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from ALL sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins; He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (I John 1:6-9)

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY

I have found that I can choose to walk away from God...and I also can choose to return. I can choose life and blessing...I can choose curse and death.

My eyes are now wet with tears of repentance and joy...my faith is fresh and alive...my heart is softened and pliable and usable for the Father...and my prayers pierce the heavens and are now effectual and fervent.

Love and Refreshed Kisses
Rodney "The Ball Is In Your Court" Boyd

GPS: God's Protective System...versus...RPS: Rodney's Prodigal System

Hello fellow Sojourners...how's the journey? When I went to work for Gentiva Home Health...Brenda bought me a GPS... system. It has been the gift that keeps on giving. It is an amazing piece of technology...that leads me and guides me along the twisting and convoluted highways and by-ways of Tennessee. I have found that when I don't second guess what the lovely lady who lives inside the box tells me...that more often than not...I reach my destination. I also have been down roads that I have always wondered where they led... and still end up at my destination. Even when I am faced with a detour in the road...I am lead around the way...and still come out at my desired destination. The children of Israel... the Prodigal Son...The church at Corinth...the Gnostics... Judiazers...any one who wanders away from the path...could all have benefited from one these handy dandy guidance system....but wait...they did have a guidance system...called the GPS...God's Protective System.

NOTE: When I choose to go my own way...the voice of the lady...gets testy...and she says with an exasperated voice...recalculate. Sometimes she tells me to make a U-Turn...turn around...go the other way. That is what we call in Christianese...repentance. Repentance is a change...a U-Turn of direction, mind, heart, attitude...and go back towards God.

Sometimes you just pray for a sign from God if you are going the wrong way. If only there was a sign that said..."Rodney...STOP!" Since 1970...when I first turned my life over to God...I have travelled many roads...some good, some bad, some ugly. I have gotten off the path...and found myself wondering...how did I get here.

What got me to thinking about this Rambling...and there is always something that sets me off...was reading about the Parable of the Lost Son...aka...the Parable of the Prodigal Son. What could have saved the son from heartache to learn such a valuable lesson. Well...a GPS would have been helpful...or a STOP sign that said Prodigal Drive...STOP... or even Robbie the Robot from the movie Forbidden Planet...and the T.V. show Lost In Space...with his arms flailing about and crying out..."Warning, Warning..Will Robinson.

Luke 15 starts off the scene that led to Jesus teaching about (1) lost sheep (2) lost coins (3) lost sons (4) poor stewards

"Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and the scribes complained, saying, This Man receives sinners and eats with them."
(Luke 15:1,2) It appears that the Pharisees were the 99 sheep, the 9 coins, and the elder brother...while the tax collectors and sinners...were the lost sheep, lost coin, and the prodigal son. (Thanks and a Tip O Da Hat to my notes in the Spirit Filled Bible for the Pharisee comparisons.)


The cause and effect of Jesus sharing these four parables...reflective of the hearts of the Pharisees...was this..."Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things and they DERIDED Him." (Luke 16:14) What ticked them off was that Jesus exposed their hearts...and who was their master. NOTE: Make note to self...never deride Jesus.

"No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other...You CANNOT serve God and mammon...money...riches...things... stuff." (Luke 16:13)

NOTE: The picture of the long and winding road was on the way to one of my patient's house...and the road seemed to go on forever...never being able to see where I was going...never knowing if I would ever arrive at my desired destination.

NOTE: I always thought about the word prodigal in a negative view...but it is not necessarily negative.

Prodigal: (1) wastefully or recklessly extravagant (2) giving or yielding profusely, lavish (3) lavishly abundant. We can squander our inheritance by wasting or being recklessly extravagant..or we can see the wonderfully prodigal nature of God as He is lavishly abundantly giving out more than we can conceive or contain. In the case of the son...he was on the wrong side of prodigalism. He needed guidance. His guidance system...his flesh...led him to a low place.

"And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with the prodigal/wasteful life." (Luke 15:13) Oh how many years I wasted, how many gifts, talents, finances, I wasted by not yielding to God's GPS...but followed the RPS (Rod's Prodigal System).

After the prodigal son experienced famine, want, false friends who he joined with, swine, no one giving him anything...he CAME TO HIMSELF. Once he came to himself...he made choices...when he said I WILL arise and go to my Father...and I WILL say..."Father I have sinned against heaven and before you." This is where the prodigal heard the voice...RECALCULATE...and MAKE A U-TURN...and he did. He repented...had a change of mind, change of attitude and a change of direction...from pig pen to the Father's house. (Luke 15:14-18, 21) NOTE: The repentant prodigal...did not feel worthy to be a son... but the Father had other ideas.

The return was one of joy (for everyone except the son who had stayed/Pharisee). As the prodigal approached...no longer a prodigal (we tend to attach that label on him even when he changed his ways)...the Father saw him from far away...and the Father had compassion and ran to him...and fell on his neck and kissed him...and brought out the best robe, a ring of restoration, and sandals on his weary feet that were weary from the journey in his personal wilderness. And then...he killed the fatted calf...ate and were merry. There was JOY IN THE HOUSE with the return of the repristinated son. I like the term..."they began to make merry." (Luke 15:20-24)

The rest of the parable deals with the attitude of the older son...who stayed...who had Pharisee mentality...against tax collectors...sinners... and of course sibling prodigals.

NOTE: The last picture is one of us in Nairobi Kenya at a local eatery called CARNIVORES...where we chowed down on Zebra (pronounced Zeb...not Zeeb...ra, camel, the fatted warthog, and other grilled meats. I'm the one with the Hawaiian shirt with my face in the food and back to the camera. We were "making merry" just before we flew back home.

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY

God has a GPS for our lives....as we travel on our sojourns in the Kingdom. We have access to the Word of God, the Spirit of God, godly counsel of brothers and sisters in the body of Christ, the prophetic words (that will always line up with the Word of God...and will confirm what He is speaking to you).

Love and Directed Kisses
Rodney "Recalculating" Boyd

THE BALLAD OF VINNIE

Greetings all of you rock n' rollers...thank ya...thank ya very much.

Many moons ago...when I was in that rockin' little band... Hosanna...I wrote a song...called The Ballad Of Vinnie. It was actually not a ballad...but a tasty little rocker telling the story of a young punk who thought that he was living the life... until he met Jesus. Over the years...the presentation evolved from band to...comic presentation.

Picture if you will...a mild mannered Speech Pathologist... in a white lab coat...relaying to a crowd the technical aspects of being a Speech Pathologist. As he drones on...out of nowhere comes the sounds of the 2001 A Space Oddessy theme appears. As the theme progress...there begins a transformation...from a mild manner Speech Pathologist...into Vinnie. An obscure brief case now becomes the focal point of what is happening...as it is dramatically opened in time to the pounding drums of the theme. Suddenly...a lovely assistant appears to hold a mirror as a handful of Brylcreame (a little dab will do ya)...is spread throughout his hair...and he combs it back into a greasers delight hair-do. A blue jean jacket is placed on his body...collar up...and silken scarfs (really polyester)...and a guitar is draped across his shoulders. By this time the 2001 Space Oddessy theme has turned into a rock and roll rhythm as the intro to C.C. Rider (Cochran's Circuit Riders)...and the transformation is complete. The music is potted down (tech term for turning down the volume as it fades to no sound). People are screaming...women are fainting...men are amazed....and people are crying out..."Oooooooh Elvis."

The young man steps up to the microphone as says..."Thank ya...thank ya very much." and then he launches in to a rousing version of Blue Suede Shoes. After the crowd reaction dies down...the young man speaks..."My name is not Elvis...I am Elvis' 5th cousin...twice removed on my mama's side...Vinnie.

Vinnie launches into the song...his story of a transformation... that is more dramatic than any theatrics of some Speech Pathologist.

THE BALLAD OF VINNIE

I use to rock n' roll... you know I'd do the stroll...long about Saturday night
You know I'd feel so fine...when I drank my wine
And I'd always end up in a fight
You know the women were there...Well I had a flair
And I never was alone
But why the emptiness...I feel like a mess
And there is a hollow feeling in my soul

NOTE: The first verse outlines the condition of Vinnie pre-Jesus

NOTE TO THE NOTE: The Elvis picture was Elvis at Stokely Athletic Center in Knoxville Tennessee circa 1972.

Then I was blinded by the light...you know I fell on my knees...in God's sight
I said forgive my sins...and please come in...Lord Jesus show the way

NOTE: This is Vinnie's dramatic conversion experience

Now I'm a child of the King...He gave me His ring...and killed the fatted calf
You are the Shepherd...I am the sheep...Lord lead me by your rod and staff
I'm anointed with oil...now I never will spoil...cause I'm living under God's grace
I'm a royal priest to say the least...Jesus is running my race

NOTE: Living in sin...saved by grace...positioned in Christ.

I was blinded by the light...I fell on my knees in God's sight
I said forgive my sins...please come in
Lord Jesus lead the way...Lord Jesus lead the way...Lord Jesus lead the way......

NOTE: Time for a big Elvis ending...

I said Lord Jesus...please lead...lead the waaaaaaaaaaaaaay...Oh yeah

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY

Well there ya have it...the curtain pulled back and look in the past of how Vinnie came into being. Sure... the collage shows a rubber Elvis head instead of Brylcream (less messy and easier to clean up)...it's been 30 years since Vinnie first made an appearance...but he can still ROCK...because he is still standing on THE ROCK.

Love and Rockin' Kisses
Rodney "Go Vinnie Go" Boyd

P.S.

Thanks Joel Oschele (spelled with love...even if it is wrong)for the use of the jaundice Elvis mask.

HAVE YA HEARD THE HERD

Greetings and Salutations all of you Mooers and Chewers of the Cud of the Word of God. Welcome to the Herd.

NOTE: Click on the collage and get a good view of the herd.

Herd? Whatcha' talki' 'bout. Well...what I am talking about is a gathering of people who are dear to my heart....called The Ruminators Sunday School Class. This is a group of people who gather on Sunday mornings for food, fellowship and feeding on the cud of the Word of God.

Many years ago...I was attending a church that imploded... and at that time I declared that I would never, ever, in a thousand years...teach the Word of God again. Well...in the words of Phil Keaggy and Glass Harp..."never is long time.' As the James Bond title states...Never Say Never.

Fast forward to 2001 in Kenya, Africa. This picture is me standing in the teaching center of a Youth For Christ Discipleship Training School... I had the honor of doing what I would be doing what I proclaimed that I would never, ever, do again...teaching the Word of God. The question is... what happened between 1989...and 2001...and then up to October of 2009?

NOTE: I am cradling in my arms the head of a hippo. Man...you shoulda seen dem ribs...slowly cooked to perfection...half dry rub...and half with a special Kenyan sauce...dripping down the side of my face with each bite...MERCY! Actually...the only ribs were in my dreams.

I digress...aka bunny trail. When I became a Christian back in the fall of 1970...I was infused by the Holy Spirit with a hunger and desire to read and understand the Word of God. The Word of God was my lifeline to God. By 1971 I was attending a Bible School in Chattanooga...with the goal of getting a degree in Bible...and becoming an evangelist and save the world. Prior to becoming a Christian...I was a mediocre student...but after I became a born again believer...I was still a mediocre student. My dreams were shattered when I started Bible school...with the cold water of an English class. I ended up with a C in English and a B in Old Testament Survey. I ended up dropping out of Bible school...a Bible school dropout...and floating from odd jobs to odd jobs including working for Orkin Pest Control...working at Sir Pizza...working at Cummings Sign Company... a helper at Tennessee Mechanical Corporation...construction work...building log cabins...etc...until my current profession as a Speech-Language Pathologist. The irony of all of this is that this mediocre student from elementary school to Bible school...attained a Masters in Education. God really does have a sense of humor.

Back to 1989...I am sitting in a Sunday School class at Smyrna Assembly... hiding out in a crowd of people...sitting on any gifting that God graced me with...as I ran from God. There was one guy named Mark Robertston...who was sitting in the Sunday School circle (where we discussed the upcoming sermon) ...and kept encouraging me to pick up the gift again...because the gifts and calling of God are without repentance or irrevocable. Bruce Coble kept encouraging me to press into God. I started having rumblings from within (and it was not gas) of picking up my Bible again...and as I started reading...I was overwhelmed by thoughts and lessons and teachings...IF I was teaching. I never felt a condemning compelling to teach...but I did have an increasing desire to not hold on to what God was showing me.

During this time...our church had a retreat...and Brenda and I went. God was speaking throughout the retreat. During a break in the teaching... I was sitting talking to Wade Hutchinson and confided in Him that I had an inkling to teach a class called The Topical Memory Class. This would be based on The Navigator's Topical Memory System as we would memorize and study the surrounding context of 60 Scriptures with various topics. Wade gave me these words of wisdom.."I think you should do it." I cleared it with the pastor...Ronnie Meek and boom. I was teaching again.

One of the Scriptures that we were studying and memorizing was found in Joshua 1:8.

"This book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate/haw-gaw/ruminate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it, for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success."

Thus was borne the name...The Ruminators...who meditated...chewed...muttered under our breath the cud of the Word of God. For some reason we incorporated the cow as the symbol of the class (I guess it could have been sheep)...but we didn't. Well...that was around 1990...and here it is coming into 2010.

I had declared in 1989 that I would never, ever teach the Word of God again...and since that time...many people have come and gone from class (once a Ruminator...always a Ruminator)...and God has been faithful in giving me the desires of my heart...teaching the Word of God...as I delighted myself in Him (Psalm 37:5). I have been blessed to share the Word (with Bruce Coble) in Mexico, Peru, Africa, Guatemala...but always returning back to the Ruminators in class.

Thanks to all who join with me in the journey in the Word.

Love and Remembering Kisses
Rodney "Lovin' Da Word" Boyd

PEOPLE...BAH...HUMBUG!

Hello Fellow People...from one people to another people...how's life? I was talking to someone the other day...at work...and they asked me how it was going. My response was that it was going pretty good... if I just did not have to deal with my patients.

NOTE: For those who don't know...I work in home health...where the patients are our reason for having a job.

Back in 1968...there was an up and coming group called PEOPLE. They had a million seller hit called I LOVE YOU (a cover of a previous group...the Zombies). The lead singer was Larry Norman...who dropped out of the group when the album was released...to become a street preacher and is credited with being the grandfather of Christian Rock and Roll...aka Jesus Music. The album was originally going to be named after one of the songs on the album called...WE NEED A WHOLE LOT MORE OF JESUS...AND A LOT LESS ROCK AND ROLL.. but the executives at Capitol Records changed it to the title of another song...I LOVE YOU.

Humph...people...patients...church members...co-workers...husbands...wives...children...bums...illegal aliens...legal aliens...rich man...poor man...beggar man...thief...and any other classification and categorization and grouping of humans...are all PEOPLE. In the Bible...it is said...that where two or three (people) are gathered together...Jesus is in their midst. Sometimes I find that where two or three are gathered...you have trouble. It's like church hopping to find a perfect church...and every time you get their...you have to deal with PEOPLE.

As the Pogo comic strip by Walt Kelly states..."We have meet the ENEMY...and the ENEMY is US." At the time the commentary by Kelly was about global pollution...manifested in the swamp.

Barry McGuire...who was one of the leads in the original Broadway production of HAIR...sang with the Christy Minstrel singers...had hits like Green, Green...Greenback Dollar...and the ever relevant song EVE OF DESTRUCTION...became a Christian after someone witnessed to him...and gave him a copy of GOOD NEWS FOR MODERN MAN...on of those "modern translations". After searching for years for truth in drugs, rock and roll, philosophy, various religions...found truth and life...in JESUS. His one problem...was... that he dug this Jesus...but it was his followers (people) that he could not stand.

I have found that the church (ecclesia...gathering of people around a common cause)...is NOT a grouping of P.P (Perfect People)...but a collection of people in need of a Saviour. As I sit on the throne of perfection in church...it is easy for me to look down on the non-church people and relish the fact that I am not like..."those PEOPLE." I tend to forget...that as John Fisher sings on his Dark Horse album..."I am just one beggar...telling another beggar...where I found a piece of bread." Oh I know...I know...I'M A KING'S KID...I'M AN HEIR OF THE FATHER...A JOINT HEIR WITH THE SON...I'M THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN CHRIST...I'M THE APPLE OF GOD'S EYES...but humility reminds me that there but for the grace of God go I. If I am to be like and follow in the steps of Him...Jesus...I must have the same attitude towards those PEOPLE who rub me the wrong way.

"For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the WORLD (made up of man, wo-man, hu-mans, mankind) that He [even] gave up His only-begotten (unique) Son (Jesus)...so that whoever believes in (trusts, clings to, relies on) Him (Jesus) shall not perish---come to destruction, be lost--but have eternal (everlasting) life. (John 3:16 The Amplified Bible...with some Ruminator input)

God is not talking about the physical planet (however there are plenty of references of our responsibility to planet earth as stewards)...or the world system (with all of the various -isms that want control of this world...including the root of a lot of the -isms...satanism)...but He loves the PEOPLE of planet earth).

God demonstrated how we should love PEOPLE...if we are to love PEOPLE...like He loved PEOPLE.

"But God shows and clearly proves/demonstrates His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were STILL/YET sinners...Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One...DIED FOR US." (Romans 5:8)

Peter speaks of PEOPLE...the unjust and the guilty...and the action of God on the behalf of these PEOPLE.

"For Christ...the Messiah, [Himself] died for sins once...for ALL (not just Christians)...the Righteous (Jesus) for the unrighteous (us people)...the Just (Jesus) for the unjust (us people)...the Innocent (Jesus)... for the guilty (us people)---that He might bring us to God. In His human body He was PUT TO DEATH...but HE WAS MADE ALIVE IN THE SPIRIT." (I Peter 3:18 The Amplified Bible with commentary by me)

It seems that we were all drowning in a sea of sin...and some of us have climbed into the LIFEBOAT. That does not mean that we are now better than those PEOPLE still in the waters...we are called to compel them into the boat (Jesus).

"For the love of Christ controls us and urges and impels us...because we are of the opinion and conviction that [if] ONE (Jesus) died for ALL (people)...then ALL (people) died...and He (Jesus) died for ALL (people)...SO (the reason for Him dying)...that all those who live might live no longer to and for themselves, but to and for Him Who died and was raised again for their sake (D.B.R...nothing more... nothing less). Consequently...from now on we estimate and regard NO ONE (people...the world) from a purely HUMAN POINT OF VIEW (judging based on how I feel about someone)...in terms of natural standards of value [NO] even though we once did estimate Christ from a human viewpoint and as a man...YET NOW [we have such knowledge of Him that] we know Him no longer [in terms of the flesh]."
(II Corinthians 5:14-16)

We are called to CHANGE OUR POINT OF VIEW...of PEOPLE...and begin to view PEOPLE through the eyes of God...and then act accordingly.

If you follow the thought from II Corinthians 5:17 to II Corinthians 5:21...that if we listen to the LOVE OF CHRIST...that He has for ALL PEOPLE (the good (there is none good but ONE), the bad, and yes...the ugly)...we become NEW CREATIONS...and are now MINISTERS OF RECONCILIATION...with a WORD OF RECONCILIATION (namely that God was in Christ reconciling the WORLD (people) to Himself, NOT COUNTING THEIR TRESPASSES AGAINST THEM...and He has committed to us THE WORD OF RECONCILIATION (II Corinthians 5:17-19)

We are AMBASSADORS/REPRESENTATIVES/ENVOYS for Christ...as if God were entreating through us...we beg you on behalf of Christ BE RECONCILED TO GOD. (II Corinthians 5:20)

"He made Him (Jesus) who KNEW NO SIN...to be sin ON OUR BEHALF...that we might become... THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIM." (II Corinthians 5:21)

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY

The next time someone rubs you the wrong way...either a Christian or a non-Christian...before you begin to grouse about how you hate people...take a minute and ALLOW the love of Christ to (1) control (2) urge (3) impel you....and begin to look at PEOPLE through the eyes of God and take on the role of a minister, an ambassador and begin to give out what you freely received...grace, mercy, and not take into account their trespasses against them (which is really being a minister of condemnation).

The boys (Jesus' followers) were called to go out to the house of Israel and preach a message (not to the Gentiles yet...that will come)..."And as you go...preach saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand! Cure the sick; raise the dead; cleanse the lepers; drive out demons...FREELY (without pay) you have RECEIVED; FREELY (without charge) GIVE."

As you rub elbows and shoulders with boogerheads...people...that God loves...give out what you received.

Love and People Loving Kisses
Rodney "Ex-Humbug" Boyd

CAPTAIN LOVE and the LOVE FACTOR

Greetings citizens...in a world filled with hate...now is the time...more than ever...that we need LOVE.

By day...I am a mild mannered Speech Pathologist...who humbly goes about in this world...getting people to talk... one word at a time...but when the call arises...Captain Love springs into action. Just like The Shadow...who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men...So the Captain knows...the need for love in an unloved world. The Beatles proclaimed...All you need is LOVE..and then they broke up (thanks to Larry Norman for this insight). As the 50's doo-wop song goes..."I wonder, wonder, wonder, wonder who...who wrote the book of LOVE?" Elvis wanted someone to love Him tender...other singers declared that the purpose of a woman was to LOVE a man...and the purpose of a man was to LOVE a woman and stated that this was known as THE GAME OF LOVE.
The second picture is that of my Mom and Dad...in the early days. The look on my Dad's face says it all..."How did I get so lucky?" Well...thank God that he did...because without this "look of love"...I would never have been born...and if I had never been born...then you would not have the opportunity to see me dressed up in a Superhero costume as CAPTAIN LOVE. Mom and Dad were married for a few years before I came on the scene...and once they reached perfection...reasoned that why have more children when they have got the best. Well...at least that's what my Mom told me...and I tend to agree with her.

I Rodney Lewis Boyd...aka Captain Love...was practicing in a garage off of Jones Boulevard in Murfreesboro...one Sunday afternoon... when a vision of loveliness came into the garage. Brenda Sue Williams was standing there in the door way...with the sunshine outline her... making her look like a Greek goddess...and I immediately fell in LOVE. There was one little problem. I played rhythm guitar...and she liked (not loved) the lead guitar player. Sure...I looked like a 131 pound drowned rat with my hair greased back like Buddy Holly... but...that's beside the point. The bottom line is...Captain Love has been married to Brenda Sue for the past 37 years.

NOTE: Brenda is the one who made my CAPTAIN LOVE costume... which I wore to a Valentine's Banquet at Smyrna Assembly. Captain Love and his lovely sidekick were crowned King and Queen of the banquet.

NOTE: As you look at the third picture...it goes goes to prove... that BEHIND every good woman...is a man.

The third component to my love...is our son Phillip Stephen Boyd. He is now 20 years old...and still brings a smile to my lips...even as he spreads his wings of independence. I like that song by The Lost Dogs off of their Mutt CD...called I'm Setting You Free...but I'm Not Letting You Go. I've wrote about this before...but it is an ongoing process... as Brenda and I...have instilled over the years...love...but we continue to tether Phillip with our prayers.

All of these aspects of LOVE would be meaningless...unless it was for the LOVE that God showed when He sent His only begotten Son. (John 3:16) We have all stepped into the stream of eternal life...during our journey...and that affects our NOW. This LOVE affects the effect of our nitty gritty lives... as His perfect LOVE casts out fear. (I John 4:18)

In the Greek language...there are many words for love...where in English we are limited to one word. For example..."I love Brenda...I love my dog Sweetie...I love hot dogs." These Greek words like phileo (brotherly love), storge' (familial love) and eros (sensual love...not necessarily sexual)...are all good loves. But all of these love if not ruled by AGAPE'...the God love...can take a turn for the worst.

For example...I mentioned that I "fell in love" with Brenda. The problem is...if agape' does not under gird falling IN love...I can "fall OUT" of love. It's like...if someone can talk me INTO Christianity...someone can talk me OUT of Christianity. I can have phileo...brotherly love...until my brother does something that ticks me off...or offends me. Eros...that sensual love...can be a wonderful thing that keeps things exciting in a relationship...but once eros becomes defiled...when eros becomes focused on me...then...my senses rule versus true love. Even within the church...we say "I love you brother...sister...BUT...no where in the Bible does Jesus ever utter these words. I can't see anywhere where Jesus says...I LOVE YOU...but...I sure can see where he walked out that LOVE...no matter what the circumstance...or the return of that love. I find myself at times doing what I call...SLOPPY AGAPE'.

Check out I Corinthians 13 (aka...The Luuuuuuuuve Chapter... for the hallmark of true AGAPE' LOVE.

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY...NO...REALLY...FINALLY

"He who has My commandments and keeps them...he it is who loves Me...and I will love him and my Father will love him...and will manifest/reveal/disclose Myself to Him." (John 14:21)

"For God so loved the world (man, wo-man, hu-mans) that He gave (love is giving not taking) His only begotten Son (that would be Jesus)...that whosoever (that would be man, wo-man, hu-mans...not limited) believes in Him (Jesus) should not persish...but have everlasting/eternal life." (John 3:16 Ruminator Style)

Non-Sloppy Agape'
Rodney "Captain Love" Boyd

DE-CLUTTERING BY DE WORD

Hello clutter free friends and neighbors. I am a clutterer... to the chagrin of Brenda. I tend to collect...books...albums... Mad Magazines...mementos from days gone by. The cause and effect of my tendency to collect is clutter. At times...as I sit in my office...where I study, prepare Bible Studies, pray, listen to music, get ready for the Ruminator Sunday School Class (as Brenda chants the mantra..."Rodney...it's 8:10... you need to get into the shower....class is at 9:00.")...and I look around and I am OVERWHELMED by the clutter. As you can see in one of the zeniths of clutter...it...ain't...pretty!!

It is usually at this point...where I can't stand it any longer... that I "clean up." It's like when you work hard...sweat... keep working hard...keep sweating. You start to stink...from all of your hard work...but you can't smell yourself...BUT...then you get to a point where you begin to smell your self...and you realize...MAN...I STINK. At that point...you takes a shower...soap up...rub-a-dub dub, and you can feel the stink (or for those who really stink....STANK)...peeling off of you...and down the drain. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh REFRESHING.

Sometimes I am like that with my SPIRITUAL LIFE. My life gets cluttered with talk radio, controversies, cares of this world, anxiety, worry, tension...and I enter into the ultimate STANK. I become entangled with "every encumbrance and THE SIN which so easily entangles us..." (Hebrews 12:1) My life is so cluttered...that I open the door to temptation, sin, and the flesh...and I find myself being being tempted to be drawn away from who I really am. NOTE: The purpose of temptation is not necessarily designed to pull you INTO something...but to DRAW YOU AWAY...from who you really are). I open the door of opportunity for the flesh in my life...
and walk in...(1) sin in general (2) the personal tripping up sin in my life. At this point...I need a DE-CLUTTERING!!!
NOTE: I have noticed a correlation of my cluttered spiritual life...and my cluttered office...and my cluttered car. In my car...AKA...THE ROLLING SANCTUARY...I tend to eat on the run...through my trash over into the passenger side...have grass and mud on the floor from getting in and out at patients house...and the clutter of paperwork that builds up in my back and front seat like a PAPER TIDAL WAVE...and I don't have a surfboard....YIKES...WIPEOUT!!!!

I have found that I can DE-CLUTTER...when I get back to THE WORD OF GOD.

"This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success." (Joshua 1:8). For me to PROSPER (have enough to meet my needs...and overflow to help others) and to have SUCCESS (accomplishing the purposes of God in my life)...I need a WORD FROM GOD...I need THE WORD OF GOD.

"The grass withers...the flower fades...BUT...the WORD OF GOD...shall STAND FOREVER." (Isaiah 40:8). In MY crazy, mixed up world...I need STABILITY. While the world shifts and changes...with economic upheaval...with political turbulence...with the sands of shifting world events...I need to be on something solid in my life.

"Therefore every one who hears these words of Mine (the Word from the lips of THE Word)...and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the ROCK. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against the house... (the clutter of life)...and yet DID NOT FALL...for it had been FOUNDED UPON THE ROCK. And every one who hears these words of Mine and does NOT ACT UPON THEM, will be like a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and IT FELL...and GREAT WAS ITS FALL."
(Matthew 7:24-27)

Are you having rain descending in your life...are the floods breaking against the walls of your life (those things that you have put up to protect yourself)...are the winds of life blowing and whirling and tearing up your life...are the combination of all of these things BURSTING against your edifice? Well...THAT'S LIFE...whether you are a Christian or not [Matthew 5:45]. What determines if your house stands or falls...or becomes de-cluttered...is dependant on what you do. You (1) Build on a good foundation [of the Word] (2) hear (the Word] (3) act [upon the Word].

What does this have to do with the clutter in my life? I have found that when I press into the Word of God...the clutter clears. Stuff still happens...but I am able to focus...on the Word...faith came come... and I can stand against the storms in my life. When my life is cluttered...I am open to the storms...fear...etc.


In Genesis...where the Spirit of God was hovering/sweeping of a world that was without form...void... chaotic...and God SPOKE...WORDS...and brought ORDER into CHAOS...so God speaks into my life... and brings DE-CLUTTERING into my CLUTTER. (Genesis 1)

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY...NO REALLY...FINALLY

The Word is full of references to the Word. Psalm 19...Psalm 119...John 1:1-14...Hebrews 4:12...II Timothy 3:16,17...just to name a few.

"How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Thy Word. Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee." (Psalm 119:9,11)

"How can a young man NOT keep his way pure? By NOT keeping it according to Thy Word." Thy Word have I NOT HID IN MY HEART...that I MIGHT SIN AGAINST THEE." (Psalm 119:9,11 The Cause and Effect Version)

"All Scripture is inspired (God-Breathed) by God and profitable (beneficial) for teaching, reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness (for de-cluttering in Rodney's life)...that the man of God may be adequate...EQUIPPED for every good work." (II Timothy 3:16-17)

Well...get you a concordance...and look up the Word of God...and see how beneficial THE WORD can be for DE-CLUTTERING...and bringing ORDER into your life.

Love and DE-CLUTTERED KISSES
Rodney "No Sand Foundation" Boyd