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