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