AUGUST 15TH 1951...BLAST OFF!!!!

Greetings friends,

Since 1951...60 years have passed on the time-space continuum. That's right... this year on August 15th...I will enter that time honored club...of those who have become...60 years OLD.

I don't feel 60 years old. Wait a minute (touching my arm)...no...I don't feel 60 years old. I look in the mirror...and although there are a few lines here and there on the old mug...and there are hints of gray hair around the temples and other areas on my head...I don't THINK I look 60 years old (maybe 59). When I am out on the dojo floor and kicking and punching with younger people...I don't feel as if I am 60 years old. Of course when I go home and every part of my body is aching and stiffening up...I feel 160 years old.

I started out at a very young age. As the story goes...I was born in Murfreesboro Tennessee at a place called Allen's Clinic...on East Main Street. I really have no recollection...just word of mouth from my mother. From day #1...I was her precious baby boy.

My life was filled with good, bad, ugly times...as my soul (mind, free will, and emotions)...were molded and shaped by my experiences. In the study of human development it is thought that we are either blank slates and what happens to us determines who we are...or we have everything in us genetically and left on our own we become who we are... from looks to attitude to intellect to language development.

As a Speech-Language Pathologist... I tend to believe both...nature and nurture. There are things that have been with me from the earliest day... and there are things that are ever changing...as I allow things into my melon (aka brain) via the eye-gate, ear-gate, and any other gate where I can ingest information (touch, smell, etc). From 1951 to 1970...I had a roller coaster emotional life. As stated...there were good times, bad times, and ugly times. Some of the good, bad and ugly times were just things that happened in school, in my family, in interpersonal relationships as my friends good, bad and ugly experiences rubbed of on me.

In the fall of 1970 (when I was 19 years old)...there was a shift in my development...as I made a conscious decision to become a follower of Jesus the Christ with His Anointing (yoke breaking, burden lifting, devil oppression removing healing power of the Holy Ghost).

I became a NEW creation...the OLD things passed away...and new things came...and have been coming ever since.

NOTE: Chronologically I am 60 years old...but Spiritualogically I am really only 41 years if you calculate that I became a new man in 1970.

Looking back...I have accomplished more than I ever thought that I would have accomplished. My life is one of grace (unmerited favor and divine influence within manifested without) and mercy (not getting what I deserved).

The day Brenda Sue Williams came into my life...was life changing. Not only did she love me...agreed to become my wife...she led me to the Lord. She has stuck beside me in good, bad, and ugly times...and has been a rock in our marriage. My son Phillip has been a joy and source of encouragement to me/us for the past 22 years. Walking with the Lord since 1970 has been interesting journey (that continues even as I write)...as He has been faithful to me...even when I have not been faithful. There is a verse in Psalms that really has and is coming true in my life..."Delight yourself in the Lord...and He will give you the desires of your heart." (Psalm 37:4) This is surely true as He has planted desires within me...and has brought them to flourition.

God has used many of my experiences...good, bad, and ugly...in my life and desires of my heart. I have been blessed to have been married for 39 years to Brenda, been a dad for 22 years to Phillip, been blessed to be a teacher of the Word of God in some form since 1970 (currently at Springhouse Worship and Arts Center for the past 20+ years), been to various countries for missions/teaching/building opportunities (Mexico, Peru, Africa, Guatemala), became a Speech Language Pathologist with a Masters in Education (after I was a very poor student, failing the 6th grade, and hill and valley high school experiences), becoming a Black Belt in Wado Ryu karate (in my 50's...and still kicking at 60) and able to write Bible Studies, blogs, books, and recored an album called RUMINATOR UNPLUGGED.

As I look at my past...and walk in my now...with an eye to the future...I can join with Paul and say this...of all the things that I grasp and hold...of everything I have experienced in 60 years.

"But whatever former things I had that might have been gainst to me, I have come to consider as (one combined) loss for Christ's sake. Yes, furthermore I count EVERYTHING as loss COMPARED to the possesion of the priceless privilege--the over whelmeing preciousness, the surpassing worth and supreme advantage--of KNOWING CHRIST JESUS MY LORD...and of progressively becoming MORE DEEPLY and INTIMATELY ACQUAINTED WITH HIM, of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly. For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be MERE RUBBISH (refuse, dregs), in order that I may win (gain) CHRIST, THE ANOINTED ONE." (Philippians 3:7-8 The Amplified Bible)

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY

Well...if I live to be 120 years old...I am considered to be middle aged. Whatever the length of my days here on planet Earth...I look forward to continued adventures, continued open doors, continued opportunities to serve and encourage people.

Love and Life Lovin' Kisses
Rodney "60 And Counting" Boyd