Wednesday, October 24, 2012

STORMY WEATHER

Greetings O Ye Weather Watchers...the Weather Report for today...

"Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it." (Attributed to Mark Twain but not verified.  Could be a friend of Mark Twain, Charles Dudley Warner in an editorial)

"An the weather today...in Texas...Chili today and Hot Tamale." (Unknown)

"It's raining cats and dogs...a real frog strangler." (Unknown)

In 1933...Ethel Waters first sang the song at the Cotton Club in Harlem...and then recorded the song in the same year.  Since then everyone from Billie Holiday to Frank Sinatra have sung this lament of love.



STORMY WEATHER (Harold Arlen and Ted Kochler)

Don't know why there's no sun up in the sky...Stormy Weather
Since my man and I ain't together...keeps rainin' all the time
Life is bare, gloom and mis'ry everywhere...Stormy Weather
Just can't get my poor self together
I'm weary all the time...so weary all the time
When he went away...the blues walked in and met me
If he stays away...old rockin' chair will get me

All I do is PRAY THE LORD above will let me WALK IN THE SUN ONCE MORE
Can't go on, ev'ry thing I had is gone...Stormy Weather
Since my man and I ain't together...keeps rainin' all the time

NOTE:  In 1951 she wrote her autobiography called HIS EYE IS ON THE SPARROW.  She also is associated with this song...and later in life toured with the Billy Graham crusade for many years.  In the song STORMY WEATHER...she prayed to the Lord to" walk in the sun once more"...any she sang the answer...His Eye Is On The Sparrow.

According to the Gospel According to Matthew...this thing called STORMY WEATHER...is no respecter of persons.

"Therefore EVERY ONE who hears these words of Mine 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 that house; and yet it DID NOT FALL...for it had been FOUNDED/BUILT UPON THE ROCK." (Matthew 7:24-25)

Hmmmm...rain, floods, winds bursting agains the house....sounds like STORMY WEATHER.  Notice it came against a wise man.  Now compare the same STORMY WEATHER against the foolish man.

"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 IT'S FALL." (Matthew 7:26-27)

Do you feel the STORMY WEATHER of this life...in the Land Of Nitty Gritty...BURSTING against you.  Well...don't think that God is out to get you.  Realize that the STORMS comes against FOOLS and WISE MEN.  Focus not so much on the STORMS...as much as your FOUNDATIONS.  Is your house built on SAND...or ROCK.  This will determine if you stand or have a fall...and not just a fall...A GREAT FALL (and I don't mean a great time looking at the  beautiful trees in Autumn).

The world as we know it is crumbling. People are trying to shore up their sandy foundations with everything from politics, to economics,  religion and self-religion to agnostic views of kinda believin' and hopin' God is real to the atheist view of no God and worship of themselves at the altar of humanism with the high priest of science. They numb themselves with whatever pleasure opiate they can ingest into their minds and bodies in hope that the pain of fear and loneliness of the STORMY WEATHER will subside...but the RAIN continues to descend...the FLOODS continue to overflow the rivers of life...the WINDS of doubt, anxiety, worry, fear, unbelief continue to blow...and all of these combined...BURSTS against our houses/lives...all the while with the SAND FOUNDATION crumbles.


FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY

Lord...I need my house built on THE ROCK...and not only a ROCK SOLID FOUNDATION...but also an EDIFICE that can stand against the STORMY WEATHER OF LIFE

"The NAME OF THE LORD...is a STRONG TOWER...the righteous runs into it...and IS SAFE."
(Pro-Verbs 18:10)

ON CHRIST THE SOLID ROCK (by Edward Mote 1834)

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.


Love and Rock Solid Kisses
Rodney "Standing On The ROCK...With My Name On the ROLL"

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Tuesday, October 23, 2012

THE RUMBLE WARNING SYSTEM

 Greetings and Salutation O Ye Rumblers...as opposed to Grumblers... that need some help to not be Stumblers.

The question is...in the first picture collage...what do all of these people and things have in common.  The first picture is one of a license plate from New Jersey...The Garden State.  Just below is Dr. Peter Camiolo...my Doctor at Revolution Chiropractic (Maximized Living)...followed by Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay) and George Forman...with announcer Michael Buffer circling up to a picture of some bumps along the side of a roadway.  What do the all have in common?  I'm glad you asked.  The answer is...the word RUMBLE.  So...as Mr. Buffer opens various sporting events (especially boxing)...."Let's get ready to Rrrruuuuummmmmbbbblllllleeeee!!!!!!!!


 This second picture is known as a RUMBLE STRIP.  The common thread of the Rumble Strip in the above collage is...Ali and Forman in there fight known as the RUMBLE in the jungle.  Of course Michael Buffer made the phrase "let's get ready to RUMBLE" a household phrase.  Dr. Peter Camiolo (aka Dr. Pete)...a Jersey boy...pointed out at the seminar last seek called THE CANCER KILLERS...that this thing called the RUMBLE STRIP was invented in The Garden State...New Jersey.

I love these things called RUMBLE STRIPS.  I have more than once been alerted that I was drifting to the right of the road by the bumpy wake up called (bumpity bump versus hippity hop)...and needed to correct my car... to get back on the road.  RUMBLE STRIPS are also known as SLEEPER LINES or AUDIBLE LINES.  They were first implemented in 1952 on the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey.


Dr. Pete wondered aloud about how great it would be if we had these RUMBLE STRIPS in our everyday lives....to warn us that we are getting off the pathway...and we need to get back to safety. 

NOTE:  At this point...when he said that...I felt a Rambling coming on.

NOTE #2: One of my brothers in the Lord from Africa (John) that I met in Kenya in 2001, calls the Ruminator Ramblings...the RUMBLINGS.

I mean...how great would that be?  If the RUMBLE STRIPS could be applied to our everyday lives...from everything to when we stray from the right way...about to enter into the wrong way in our morality, our eating/health, our relationships, our everything.  For example you begin to open your mouth...and insert you foot by saying something stupid...and your body begins to shake and quake because of your INTERNAL RUMBLE STRIP...and you quickly shut your mouth and don't say what your disengaged mouth begins to utter in your engaged mouth.  If your wife says..."Do I look fat in this dress?"...and you begin to say..."Yes you do."...and you feel the RUMBLE and answer accordingly. If you are doing so well on your live-it (not your die-it)...and you are about to pig out on stuff you know you should not eat (from candy to cokes...to fill in the blank)...and you have a pre-emptive RUMBLE versus the post RUMBLE of your upset tummy.  If you are about to enter into some major sin that will ruin your life (from adultery to taking drugs to gossip)...and you feel the bumpity bump and instead of backsliding you get back on the pathway of righteousness.

Well...as believers we do have a SPIRITUAL RUMBLE STRIP...known as the combination of various bumps on the roadside...consisting of (1) Bump #1 The Holy Spirit in our lives (2) Bump #2 The Mind of Christ (3)  Bump #3  The Body of Christ with brothers and sisters where there is safety in a multitude of counselors (4) Bump #4  The Word of God...the Manufacturers Handbook

As these components of our SPIRITUAL RUMBLE STRIP are laid out...and as soon as one or more of these RUMBLES shakes us awake...it brings us BACK to SAFETY for our continued journey.

FINAL THOUGHT...FINALLY

I was reading about RUMBLE STRIPS that could be set in specific audio frequencies on the spacing of the grooves and the speed of the automobile...and creates "musical roads"...known as "singing shoulders."  Wow...I can only thing how this could be intertwined with our PRAISES and when the praise lines up with the singing shoulders...we would be in harmony with the road...or more like the Creator  of my road.  Ramble On With the Rumblings.

Love and Rumbling Kisses
Rodney "Bumpity Bump" Boyd







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Monday, October 22, 2012

WHAT'CHA THINKIN'?

 Greetings Brainiacs....what'cha thinking?  

"Hello....anyone home? Think McFly...think..." (Biff knocking on George McFly's noggin in the movie Back To The Future)  One of my favorite movies of all time is Back To The Future.  Sometimes I wish Dr. Emmett Brown (inventor of a DeLoreon time machine made possible by the Flux Capacitor)...would have been successful with his MIND reading device.  How crazy would this world be if you could actually listen to someone talking....and be able to know what they really were THINKING.  Talk about revealing skeletons in the closets of our minds

.
Of course...we are all BRAINWASHED from birth in some form or fashion. When someone has been BRAINWASHED in a negative context...they are bombarded with repetitive reinforcement of negative input to wear someone down to the brainwasher's position.  They utilized hunger, thirst, sleep deprivation, negative emotions and the continual barrage of what they want you to believe.   The theory is NATURE versus NURTURE.  Some say we are born with everything we have and over a period of time it emerges...while others say we are born with a clean slate and over a period of time our experiences write on the slates of our minds.  Whatever it is... it seems that our experiences...the good, the bad, and the ugly ones... shapes who we are...and how we react to circumstance and stimulus that further solidifies who we are.  Our SOULS (psuche) which some say consists of our MINDS (what we think)...our VOLITION (free will) and our EMOTIONS (the barometer of our minds) are what makes up who we are to others.  Of course our INNER MAN (the spirit...the heart) is the core of who we are as we live and breath.   When someone sings "SOUL MUSIC"...it is talking about music that is born out of experience.  Music in general...whether Big Band, Rhythm and Blues, Rockabilly, Rock and Roll, Gospel, and any other of genre of music you can imagine...is an expression of someones thoughts...that someone else agrees with...and it begins to reflect and shape a culture...which can change someones THINKING...and begin to create a MINDSET.  It does not have to be TRUE...but if enough people belief it...it become TRUTH to them.

Zig Ziglar call negative thoughts, "stinkin' thinking"...dead from the neck up.  Of course negative thought are thought that run rampant, unrestrained, out of control...against the "mind of Christ."  If we just LET/ALLOW our thought to run wild...they will do just that...RUN WILD.  Our thoughts need to be RESTRAINED

In the Ruminator Sunday School Class we like to say..."Unrestrained THOUGHTS (what we think)...produces unrestrained WORDS (what we say)...resulting in unrestrained ACTIONS (what we do)."  The opposite would be to replace the word unrestrained with restrained.

John Lennon laments about "playing those MIND GAMES".  It really is a game of MIND SETS.  Our minds... what we think will either be set on 
(1) the flesh (2) the Spirit.  How our mind is set...will determine how we will either (1) react (2) respond.  A reaction for me is equated with a knee jerk reaction without thinking... which at times may be a good think for safety...but for our spiritual purposes...we do not need to react according to the flesh...because the end result is death (Romans 8:6) while responding to the Spirit with a Spirit mindset...is life and peace (Romans 8:6)

So this brings us back to the title of this Rambling...What'cha Thinkin'?

I find it interesting that this MINDSET on the flesh...cannot PLEASE GOD...because it is not a FAITH THOUGHT. (Hebrews 11:6).  With faith...you can please God...because you are THINKING that you can come to God...you believe that He is...and you believe that He is a rewarder...and you do not just passively inquire of Him...but diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)

FINAL THOUGHT...FINALLY

"You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant Peace (shalom shalom) whose MIND  [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You and hopes confidently in You...SO (because of this mindset of peace)...trust in the Lord--commit yourself to Him, lean on Him, hope confidently in Him--forever; for the Lord God is an everlasting rock--the Rock of ages"  (Isaiah 26:3-4 Amplified Bible with my comments in parenthesis)

Love and Mindful Kisses
Rodney "Penny For Your Thoughts" Boyd
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THE BARNEY FIFE SYNDROME

 Greetings fellow citizens of Mayberry.  How is life on Main Street?  Here is the burning question...where's your bullet? Is it in you front shirt pocket where Andy told you to keep it...or is it in the chamber of your gun... ready to go off when you least expected it.?

Do you ever have bad stuff happen to you... and you scratch your head wondering WHY?  Are ya walkin' along in life...when suddenly KABLOOEY!!!!!  In the words of J.J. on the 70's T.V. show Good Times...Dy-no-mite!!!!  Do you find yourself getting into another mess and all you can do is say..."Thank you Johnny Shafto."

Good Ole Barn...means well...but tends to shoot himself in the foot more often than not.  I relate to Mr. Fife...because...I have a tendency to hear God...obey Him for a while... but at some point...I disregard the wisdom of God...and do what He told me not to do.  Why?  Because I am like Ford Motor..."Ford...has a better idea."  Like the motor company..."Rod (thinks) he has a better idea (than God)."

"There is a way that seemeth right to Rod...but the end is the way of death (destruction)." Pro-Verbs 14:12; Pro-Verbs 16:25)

I find that a lot of times...I am in a confused state...about WHY I am going through and experiencing bad things in my life.  I find myself doubting and being driven and tossed around by the surf of the sea as my faith is tested and I encounter various trials. (James 1:2-6)  I find myself...more often than not...rebuking the devil... confessing this, that and the other trying to build up my faith...blame my problems on the people in the world (my private and global world)...and still tossed like a salad at a five star restaurant.  What's a deputy to do?  I'm glad you asked.  I can ASK FOR WISDOM.

"But if any of you LACKS WISDOM (about the various trials and testings of you faith)...let him ASK OF GOD...who gives to all men generaously and without reproach, and it WILL BE GIVEN HIM." (James 1:5)

It seems to me...that when I ask..the wisdom is this.  Things happen for a variety of reasons...and each reason needs to be responded to accordingly.
VARIOUS REASONS FOR WHY?

(1)  We live in a cursed world...and I can rebuke the devil all day long...and the world will still be cursed.  Wisdom for me dictates that I press into the blessings...for His promise is sure...His joy is gonna be my strength. (2)  There are well orchestrated schemes against us by the devil (little d) and I need to stand,resist, walk in the authority that I have in Christ. (3)  The Barney Fife Syndrome...where Andy has told you to keep your bullet in your pocket...and you choose to take the bullet out of the pocket and put it in the gun...and when you least expected it...BANG...your gun goes off and you begin to wonder why things always happen to me.  That is called DISOBEDIENCE..and there are causes and effects to disobedience.  You can confess the promises and blessings of God all day long..and rebuke and do spiritual warfare until the Lord returns...but wisdom dictates...repentance and crucifying the flesh.  (4)  God...allowing stuff to happen...to test (not tempt) you to see who you will turn to...who you will trust...and for you to come out the other side of testing with proven character.  Wisdom dictates to learn you lessons...submit and hmble yourself to God...and He will lift you at the proper time.

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY

Thank God for wisdom...

Love and Wise Kisses
Rodney "Here At The Rock We Have Two Rules (1) Obey All Rules (2) No Writing On The Walls" Boyd

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Saturday, October 20, 2012

VISION ON DA VISION

 Greetings and Salutations O Ye Visionaries...have you got your eyes on the VISION?

So many times...I get a word from the Lord...via the Word of God or impression in my spirit (little s) or through a brother or sister in the Lord or even from just life events...and it impacts my life...but as time goes on...I tend to forget what has impressed me.  I lose my vision, my passion, my desire, my purpose...and find myself wandering around aimlessly...wondering why my life is in reverse mode versus...forward progress. This is true for my spiritual life, my physical life, my mental life, life in general.  I scratch my head and I wonder...why am I stuck in WILDERNESS MODE...circling around that same old mountain...around that same old bush...around that same old rock AGAIN, and AGAIN, and AGAIN?

There is a saying..."Out of SIGHT...out of MIND."  That is so true...if you don't keep your VISION (eyeballs) on your VISION (what God has given you)...you will lose SIGHT of what your are doing...why you are doing it...and even lose sight of WHERE you are in the process...and never know where you are in your journey. Eventually you will be making wrong turns...or even worse just giving up altogether.  That is why it is so important to (1) Write down the vision (2) Make it plain (3) Read it (4) Run with it   There is an appointed time..and though it tarries (you may not SEE it in the physical) but we are called to WAIT...because IT WILL SURELY COME.
 (Habakkuk 2:2-3)  Between Point A (the point of prayer/promise) and Point B (the point of provision/prayer answered) we do walk in what we call THE LAND OF NITTY GRITTY...where you have to walk by FAITH...and not by SIGHT. (Hebrews 11:6; II Corinthians 5:7)


It really does not matter how many glasses you have...if you don't have in-SIGHT...you are still just as blind.  It is like Jesus would say..."let him who has EARS to HEAR HEAR."  You could apply the same principle to the saying..."Let him has EYES to SEE...SEE."  It is like the difference between some one who had MENTAL ASSENT versus FAITH.  One is a cognizant thought process and accumulation of FACTS and the other has those facts drop down into their HEARTS (aka the "knower)...and they know that they know, that they know.

James wrote about this "loss of vision", and relates a spiritual truth to a natural event. as he speaks of the difference between hearers and doers.

"But prove yourselves DOERS of the Word, and not merely HEARERS who deludes themselves.  For if anyone is a HEARER of the Word and NOT a DOER of the Word, he is like a man who LOOKS at his natural face in a MIRROR, for once he has LOOKED at himself and GONE AWAY (took eyes of the image), he has IMMEDIATELY FORGOTTEN what kind of person he was. But he who LOOKS INTENTLY (keeps eyes on the image) at the PERFECT LAW (Word)...the law of liberty, and ABIDES by it, not having become a forgetful HEARER but and EFFECTUAL DOER, this man shall be BLESSED in WHAT HE DOES." (James 1:22-25)

These principles...of KEEPING YOUR VISION (eyesight) on the VISION (purposes in your life), applies from everything from goals of living a healthy life style, accomplishing a to do list for the day, to walking in a manner worthy of your calling.  If you DON'T RECORD the vision...if you don't(1) Write it down (2) Make it plain (3)  Read it (4) Run with it...you may be doing a lot of stuff and expending a lot of energy...but getting nothing accomplished and eventually get tired and give up. 

Paul speaks of this visionary tenacity in Philippians..."Not that I have already obtained it (the resurrection from the dead)...or have already become perfect (perfected)...but I PRESS ON in order that I may LAY HOLD of that for which I was LAID HOLD of by Christ Jesus.  Brethren I do not regard myself as having LAID HOLD of it YET...but one thing I do...forgetting what lies behind and REACHING FORWARD  to what lies ahead...I PRESS ON TOWARD THE GOAL FOR THE PRIZE OF THE UPWARD CALL OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS." (Philippians 3:12-14)

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY

"Therefore...since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us RUN WITH ENDURANCE the race that is SET BEFORE US...FIXING OUR EYES ON JESUS...the author and perfecter of faith,who for the JOY SET BEFORE HIM...endured the cross...despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:1-2)

Love and Visionary Kisses
Rodney "Keeping the EYE on the Prize" Boyd
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Saturday, October 06, 2012

GRASSHOPPER THEOLOGY

 Aaaaaah...Grasshopper...

Back in the 70's...martial arts were the rage as "everybody was Kung Fu fightin'...their fists were fast as lightning..." (Kung Fu Fightin' by Carl Douglas)  Bruce Lee...Billy Jack...Chuck Norris...multiple "chop suey" flicks captured the minds and hearts of many.  On T.V. David Carradine (a non-oriental) played the title role in a Bruce Lee inspired concept...of Kwai Chang Caine  in Kung Fu.  He was known affectionatly by his mentors (the Shaolin monks) as Grasshopper. One of the Shaolin masters was Master Po...who was blind.  A young Caine is quizzing Po about his blindness:

Young Caine:  You cannot see.

Master Po: You think I cannot see?

Young Caine: Of all things, to live in darkness must be the worst.
Master Po:  Fear is the only darkness.



Master Po (after easily defeating the boy in combat):  Ha, Ha...never assume because a man has no eyes he cannot see.  Close your eyes.  What do you hear?

Young Caine: I hear the water...I hear the birds.

Master Po:  Do you hear your own heartbeat?

Young Caine:  No.

Master Po: Do you hear the GRASSHOPPER that is at your feet?

Young Caine (looking down and seeing the insect):  Old man...how is it that you hear these things?

Master Po:  Young man...how is it that you do not?

Master Po:  What do you hear?

Young Caine:  I hear the GRASSHOPPER.

NOTE:  From that point on...the affectionate name of Grasshopper was used...and they would say whenever they would either praise or teach the boy...Aaaaaaaaaaah...Grasshopper.


Many years earlier...there was a another mention of the little bitty insect known as the GRASSHOPPER  found in the book of NUMBERS.  The children of Israel had a promise, given many years earlier to Abraham as part of God's covenant with him.

"Now the Lord said to Abram, go forth from your country (land) and from your relatives, and from your father's house, to THE LAND I WILL SHOW YOU; and I will make you a great NATION...and I will BLESS YOU...and make your NAME GREAT, ans so YOU SHALL BE A BLESSINGS; and I will BLESS those who BLESS you and the one who CURSES you I will CURSE.  And IN YOU all the families of the earth shall be BLESSED." (Genesis 12:1-3)  This COVENANT OF BLESSING would be underscored throughout the years...passed from  Abraham to Isaac to Jacob (Israel) and was something that was theirs for the POSSESSING.

NOTE:  The ultimate blessing would be...and is Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:1-14)

In Numbers chapters 13 and 14...we see Moses and the children poised on the edge of Canaan...the Promised Land...the Land Flowing with Milk and Honey.  The first thing the Lord told Moses to do was to send out a RECONNAISSANCE MISSION to RECONNOITER the LAND. (The act of searching for useful military information in the field, especially by examining the ground.)  the MISSION was to "spy out the land of Canaan which I am going to give to the sons of Israel.." (Numbers 13:1-2)  God told Moses to select from the tribes...every one a LEADER (the elite).

They were given specifics of the mission:  (1) Go into the Negev (the south country) (2) Then go up into the hill country (3) See what the land is like.  This included: (a) Whether the people who live in it are strong or weak (c) Whether they are few or many (d) How is the land in which they live, is it good or bad (e)  How many are in the cities in which they live (f) Are they like open camps or with fortifications. (g) How is the land, is it fat or lean (h) Are there trees in it or not (i) Make an effort to get some of the fruit of the land.  (Numbers 13:17-20)

NOTE:  This RECONNOITERING was not for God's benefit...He already knew what He was giving them to possess.  I think it was for the benefit of whetting their appetites for what was promised...and to give them a view of the opposition...and that they would have to rely on God to possess the land.

"So...they went up and spied out the land..."(Numbers 13:21)  They found fruit in the valley of Eshcol (clusters) and cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes and carried it on a pole between two men, with some of the pomegranates and the figs. (Numbers 13:23-24)  What God said was true.
Now was time to RETURN and REPORT back to General Moses and Commander Aaron...and to ALL the congregation of the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh...and BROUGHT BACK WORD to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. (Numbers 13:25-26)

They started the report with the GOOD NEWS...and then brought the BAD NEWS.

"Thus they told him, and said, We went in to the land where you sent us; and it CERTAINLY DOES flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit." (Numbers 13:27)  So far... so good...a GOOD REPORT is being presented.  But there is a shift in their report that begins with the word NEVERTHELESS.

NOTE:  The word...nevertheless means (1) nonetheless (2) not withstanding (3) IN SPITE OF.  The synonym for this would be the word BUT

In the face of the TRUTH of what God had spoken and promised...there was a BUT.  There is nothing new under the sun...especially with lies.  Adam and Eve had the truth and the promise...and the serpent, the devil, the liar, the thief, the stealer, the killer, the destroyer, the accuser of the brethren, the doubt planter...planted a BUT in their minds.  For us as BELIEVERS in the Death, Burial, Resurrection of Jesus (The D.B.R...nothing more...nothing less)...as we walk by faith and not by sight...as we live by faith...as we have faith in God continually...we are presented with the NEVERTHELESS and BUTS...to doubt what God has said in His Word is true.  The word NEVERTHELESS/BUT is at the root of what is known as GRASSHOPPER THEOLOGY...and it will stop you in your tracks from possessing what God has promised because of what Master Po told Grasshopper at the beginning of this Rambling..."Fear is the only darkness."

"NEVERTHELESS/BUT...the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large; and MOREOVER, we saw the descendants of Anak there.  Amalek is living ht the land of the Negeve and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites are living in the hill country, and the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of Jordan." (Numbers 13:28-29)  NOTE:  This is the BAD NEWS (aka the Bad Report)  NOTE TO THE NOTE:  The double punch of fear is NEVERTHELESS...and then MOREOVER.  The word MOREOVER...is like adding salt to the wound of fear.  It is ...this is how bad it is...and could it get any worse?  Well..Yes it can!!!

The crowd began to make some noise...about the bad report...to the point of where Caleb had to quiet them down..."then Caleb quieted the people before Moses..." (Numbers 13:30)

Here comes the GOOD REPORT...in the face of the NEVERTHELESS/BUT and MOREOVER fear factor.  "...We should by ALL MEANS GO UP AND TAKE POSSESSION OF IT...FOR WE SHALL SURELY OVERCOME IT." (Numbers 13:30) 

NOTE:  To be an OVERCOMER...there must be something to OVERCOME.   Caleb and Joshua did not deny the reality of the situation...but they did deny realities RIGHT TO RULE them by fear...and rob them of what God had PROMISED THEM.   God had told them that they would POSSESS IT...and POSSESSION would be met with OPPOSITION.  As Bruce Cockburn sings (I love this quote...as you know I use it often)..."nothing worth having comes without a fight..you've got to kick at the darkness... until it bleeds daylight." (Lovers In A Dangerous Time).

Out of twelve men...strong men...leaders among the tribes...shall we say the elite...only two gave a good report.  Ten men came back with a bad report.  They had all seen the SAME THINGS...but two different view points.  It is like the example that we have used so many times before with the simple phrase...GODISNOWHERE.  Everyone is reading these words...but not everyone will see the same thing.  it will all depend on how they look at it.  Some will see...GOD IS NO WHERE (bad report)...while others will see GOD IS NOW HERE (good report). 

"But the men who had gone up with him said...we ARE NOT ABLE to go up against the people...for they are TOO STRONG for us."  (Numbers 13:31)  Why did they give out this bad report?  What put the NEVERTHELESS/BUT and the MOREOVER FEAR FACTOR in them?

"So they gave out to the sons of Israel a BAD REPORT of the land which they had spied out saying...The land through which we have gone, in spying it out...is A LAND THAT DEVOURS  its inhabitants, and all the PEOPLE whom we saw in it are men of GREAT SIZE.  There also we saw the NEPHILIM (the sons of Anak are part of Nephlim) and WE BECAME LIKE GRASSHOPPERS IN OUR OWN SIGHT...AND SO WE WERE IN THEIR SIGHT." (Numbers 13:32-33)

Fear...will us to begin to compare ourselves to what puts fear in out...that will in turn make us see ourselves as something...and in turn...who we fear...will begin to see us...as we see ourselves. In other words...we BECOME (go from one state to another) less than we are in our OWN SIGHT...and become in the SIGHT OF OUR ENEMIES...like we SEE OURSELVES. 

To make a long story short (too late huh)...two went in...and multitudes died in the wilderness...because of REBELLION based on a BAD REPORT.  Grumbling, complaining, fear, desire to return to Egypt (bondage).  Like Job who said, "what I feared has come upon me"...so it was with the children of Israel who believed the BAD REPORT from ten men (it does not take a lot of people to lead people away from the truth)...instead of believing a GOOD REPORT from two men...but more than that...the bottom line is that the people believed a BAD REPORT from ten men...and did not believe GOD'S WORD OF PROMISE.

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY

"We should surely by all means go up and take possession of it...for WE SHALL SURELY OVERCOME IT."  (Numbers 13:30)

"And they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying...the land which we passed through to spy out is an EXCEEDINGLY GOOD LAND.  If the Lord is pleased with us...then HE WILL BRING US INTO THIS LAND...and GIVE IT TO US...a land which flows with milk and honey.  Only do NOT REBEL AGAINST THE LORD...and DO NOT FEAR THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND...for they shall be our prey.  Their protection has been removed from them...and THE LORD IS WITH US...DO NOT FEAR THEM." (Numbers 14:7-9)

In the words of Master Po to Young Caine..."Do you hear the GRASSHOPPER at your feet?"  What is really so small...can cause such great fear...to the point that you become as the GRASSHOPPER at your feet...in the eyes of those who are your enemies.  Remember...GREATER IS HE...THAT IS IN YOU...THAN HE THAT IS IN THE WORLD." (I John 4:4)

Love and Non-Fearful Kisses
Rodney "Good Report" Boyd

Monday, October 01, 2012

DEAD MAN WALKING...ALIVE MAN WALKING

 Greetings O Ye Healthy People????

Have you ever been living and breathing...but NOT healthy?  Back in 2000...I was working at Southern Hills Medical Center...in the medical field as a Speech Language Pathologist...and I considered myself to be alive...but not feeling well.  NOTE:  Someone who is as skinny as a rail...able to eat anything they want...run five miles a day...can ALSO NOT be healthy...because healthy is not fat, thin, or muscular...but being functionally fit. NOTE TO DA NOTE:  You can look fit on the outside...and have clogged arteries, cancer, diabetes on the inside without any signs or symptoms until you drop dead.  When a man is on death row in prison...as he is going towards his execution...walking under his own power...it is called DEAD MAN WALKING.  That's how I felt.

 Hmmmmm....I wonder why?  Could it be that at the time of this photo...I weighed in excess of 320+ pounds (I quit weighing after 320+.  When I saw this photo of myself at an open house at the hospital...it was like a slap in the face.  I reminded myself of one of those balloons at the Macy Day Thanksgiving Parade.  The only thing missing were the guidelines to keep me from floating away.  The crazy thing is...as I travelled around in this bloated body...I had become so accustomed to being this way...that the way I felt...had become the normal feeling.  Not only did I "think" I was feeling pretty good...I was actually pretty jolly (maybe hiding behind jokes)...and not realizing that I had no face hidden within the mask of blubber (no defined jaw line).

I did not get this way overnight.  One bite here...one candy bar there...one sugar laden soda here....and sometime if I really wanted to be healthy I would wash down the candy bar with a diet soda or add extra lettuce and tomato on my fast food burger. 

At this point I became motivated (through a series of events including this photo) to "lose weight"... started Weight Watchers At Work...at the Hill...with on motivation needing to lose down to a certain weight to go to Africa.  I also started karate in 2001 (still taking and teaching in 2012)...but over the years...I have been on a roller coaster of weight loss. I eventually left the hospital system and started home health...and got back into the habit of bad choices.  Eating on the road...fast foods...stopping at gas stations with their conveinence stores (making it convenient to pig out on cokes, cookies, junk food, etc), and ballooned back up to over 300 pounds.  Health concerns...feelings of guilt...physical cause and effect began taking the toll on me...so I had to do something...something that was not a fad but a lifestyle.

I rejoined Weight Watchers...ran into some friends (Rena and Kathy Montgomery) had great support by Brenda (always there on the journey)...lost more weight...but again reached a plateau.  The next part of my journey started with a dinner at Fulin's (invited by Claudia Peterson)...to hear Dr. Peter Camilio of Revolution Chiropractic) speak on living the Maximized Life...via the Five Essentials of (1) The Mind (change my way of thinking about health) (2) The Nerve Supply (The Brain, The Spine, and the Nerves going from subluxation to healthy alignment) (3) Nutrition (What we put in bodies) (4) Exercise (getting oxygen to the muscles via burst training) (5) Toxins (Detoxifying our bodies).

I started the journey and began the process of getting functionally healthy.  No...there are not any magic and immediate cures...but there is progressive, noticeable changes in the way I feel, look, and live.NO...I am not a fanatic...I still blow it...but I get back on track and do not just go back to old patters of giving up and return back to my old ways like a "dog to his vomit."

Last night I watched a video of me preaching at Springhouse Worship and Arts Center where on April 15th 2012...I had just started my new lifestyle.  At that point still overweight...limping around the stage with a bad left knee (in pain)...body leaned forward...shoulders hunched over...shoulders leaning to one side.  Thank God for the reminder of how I DON'T want to be.  Thank God for the encouragement and motivation to continue on the journey Brenda and I have started.  Is it easy?  NO...it is hard, overwhelming, frustrating, BUT worth it.  It is easy to lose a little weight...start wearing some clothes that fit better...have people compliment you on how good you look...and then...slip back into the old patterns...let your guard down...treat your self to a little celebration for doing good...and BAM...you are back to where you were before your started or worse.

As with anything in life...whether it is going on a vacation...a marriage...a job...our spiritual life...and a healthy lifestyle...you have to remember..."it's about the journey."  You have to keep your eye on the destination...but realize to get from point A----------------------->to point B...enjoy (take joy) in the journey...enjoy the people, places, experiences along the way.  Don't be ruled by the scales (with the weight)...let the scales be the mile markers along the away to the final destination...functional health.

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY

"All things are lawful for me...but not all things are PROFITABLE.  All things are lawful for me...BUT, I WILL NOT BE MASTERED BY ANYTHING." (I Corinthians 6:12 NASB)

"Everything is permissible for me--allowable and lawful, BUT not all things are helpful--good for me to do, expedient and profitable when considered with other things.  Everything is lawful for me...BUT...I WILL NOT BECOME THE SLAVE OF ANYTHING...or BE BROUGHT UNDER ITS POWER." (I Corinthians 6:12)

Love and Healthy Kisses
Rodney "Alive Man Walking" Boyd

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