TAKE ME BACK...TAKE ME BACK DEAR LORD

Howdy-do all of you pilgrims...how's the journey down the Mystery Highway (shameless plug for Phil Keaggy and Randy Stonehill's new release).

Sometimes we are so intense on our journey...for our search for the "deep things of God"...that we miss the fact...that like her journey to Oz...what she was looking for...would lead her BACK to where she began...HOME. A click of the heels of her ruby red slippers...that she had with her the entire journey through OZ...and on her lips the phrase..."there's no place like home...there's no place like home." She opens her eyes...and she is surrounded by her friends and family...what she was searching for all along. She was blinded to the fact by circumstances, situations, the mundane rut that she had been digging...when it was right before her very eyes...all the time.

Sometimes I wish I had a pair of ruby red slippers (to go with my alabaster complexion)...but no matter how many times I close my eyes...and click my heels...I open my eyes...and I am still stuck in OZ.

When I started out my journey of faith back in the fall of 1970...I had no idea how great the adventure would be...and I had no idea how complacent I could become with all of my pleasures, my life, my blessings, my trappings. Sometimes...I feel trapped in my life...and the joy that I once knew...the simplicity of my faith...the childlike anticipation of the next day...the pleasure of loving God seems to have been buried underneath this thing we call "the good life." I go to other countries...where they do not have an iota of what I've got...but they appear to have what I don't...a joy and faith in their God.

Back in the 70's...Andrea Crouch and the Disciples released their 6th album called TAKE ME BACK. The whole album was inspiring to me...especially the title track...TAKE ME BACK. I am listening to this song...as I write...and it takes me back...in my mind...to what I desire in 2009.

TAKE ME BACK (Andrae Crouch)
Take me back
Take me back dear Lord
To the place where I first received you
Take me back
Take me back
To the place where I first believed
I feel so far from you Lord...but I still hear you calling me
Those simple things that I once knew...the memories are drawing me
I must confess Lord...I've been blessed...but yet my soul is not satisfied
Renew my faith...Restore my joy
And dry my weeping eyes
I tried so hard to make it all alone
I need your help
Just TO MAKE IT HOME


This picture...with Bruce Fortner (lead singer in the band THE BLIND DISTORTION)...Debbie Pearson (Brenda's best friend during those days)...Brenda (the love of my life 39 years later) and a very dapper and stylish me...was one of our very first dates (a bonfire for the homecoming and brief meeting as Sir Pizza with a large hamburger/mushroom pizza...maybe two pieces eaten)...says it all...HOMECOMING.

The saying goes..."you can't go home." That is true...if you try to live in the past...you will never walk in the now...and will never experience you full future. The children of Israel tried to eat old manna...that turned bad. There are many aspects of my journey...my life...my experiences that I would not change...but that's not what I am talking about when I desire for the Lord to TAKE ME BACK.

What I am talking about...is getting back to the BASICS. Getting back to...as the Beatles sang...to where you once belonged. In the words of Wayne (the clown)...to a group of religious people who were trying to dominate and dictate his life by rules, regulations, etc..."You guys are making it too hard."

Complicated relationships...ecclesiastical gymnastics... a never ending subversive power struggle over who is right and who is wrong...growing pressures to perform and live up to expectations that can never be met (spiritually, physically, emotionally)...new and deep revelations...until the newer and deeper revelation is discovered....my church is better than your church (nana nana boo boo)...ball of confusion...and the band played on.

The ideal would be...to isolate, separate, segregate, abdicate...and become an island unto yourself...start a church where you are the only member...or at least only surround yourself with people that you like...or at the very least are CLONES...of you and speak your form of Christenese (I WANNA BE A CLONE...Steve Taylor style). Secluded monasteries...comfort of your home...cathedrals with the comfort of the rituals...charismatic, free wheeling rip roaring houses of worship...(fill in the blank). But this is not what I'm talking about. You have to live life among PEOPLE. Sometimes I feel like Barry McGuire did as he searched for truth in all of the religions...and came face to face with Jesus. His only problem was that he "dug this Jesus cat...but he could not stand His followers." As Pogo said..."we have met the enemy... and the enemy is us." Groucho Marx once stated...that...he "would not belong to a club that had him as a member."

Well...what's a guy gotta do...to GET BACK. The answer is found in the Book of Revelation.

The church of Ephesus..."I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot endure evil men, and you put to test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not and you found them to be false, and you have perseverance and have endured for my name's sake, and have not grown weary." (Revelations 2:2-3) SO FAR...SO GOOD.

"But I have this against you...that you have LEFT YOUR FIRST LOVE." (Revelation 3:4)

WOW...you can be doing all the right stuff...working hard...and even be doing it...for MY NAMES SAKE...but still...be missing the mark. The key is in the next verse...

"Remember, therefore from where you have fallen, and repent, and do the deeds you die AT FIRST..." (Revelations 2:5) NOTE: The cause and effect would be removal of their lamp stand unless they repent.

1. Remember: Conjure up the images of where you use to be.
2. Repent: Change of heart, mind, direction. Do a 180 back to "where you once believed."
3. Do the deeds you did at first: Get back to the basics

This of course can apply to our interpersonal relationships...back in our "dating days"...but especially our spiritual early days. Sure...we are called to progress...to mature...BUT...that does not mean that we have GROWN SO MATURE...that you can't go back to the BASICS.

1. Read the Word of God
2. Act as if what you just said was true NOTE: I see people all of the time who thing they have matured beyond the Bible. They called
it an antiquated book for ignorant, superstitious people who have no intellectual credence or open mind to reality. Why is it that those
consider themselves so open minded and intellectual...love to put down anyone with a different opinion (Christian and non-Christian)?
3. Spend time with the one you love...in prayer (not just asking) but intimate conversation.
4. Praise Him. Have some rejoice time.
5. Worship Him. Have some time face forward in front of Him
6. Obey Him. As you hear His voice...rise up...and do what He said.
7. Thank Him. Thanksgiving before you see anything you have asked for. Thanking Him just to be thanking Him
8. Develop a MIND SET ON HIM...with the cause and effect...PERFECT PEACE
9. Allow your mind to be dwelling on the true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, good report, excellence.
10. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength...and love your neighbor as yourself.
11. Fellowship...get together with other believers...and have a little KOINONIA TIME...around the Son.
12. Share your faith...don't hold it it and let it stagnate...don't just soak in the Word of God...release it and don't experience the SPIRITUAL
SPONGE BLUES (for those who were there back in the day)

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY

At the same time that you get back...to where you first believed...where you first received...PRESS ON TOWARD THE HIGH MARK OF THE CALLING OF GOD.

Love and First Love Kisses
Rodney "Take Me Back Lord" Boyd

IF I ONLY HAD...........

Greetings Home Seekers. How's the search comin' along?

Back in the 60's...you knew Easter....or at least Springtime was appearing when you saw the commercials for the special showing of THE WIZARD OF OZ. Now what The Wizard of Oz has to do with Springtime or Easter is your guess as good as mine...but all I know is...that I got excited.

It is a little known fact that I failed the 6th grade with 13 D's and 4 F's. There were a lot of reasons and excuses...but it was a turning point in my life. My 6th grade teacher...Mrs. Martha Adkerson...took me under her wing...and introduced me to the escape mechanism of reading. I had a lot that I wanted to escape from...including a rocky home life. She told me that with reading...I could go anywhere in the world with my imagination. One book that I read...that captured my imagination was THE WIZARD OF OZ...the story of a girl trying to find a HOME...along with a ragtag group of companions including a Tin Woodman, a Scarecrow, and a Cowardly Lion. The Tin Woodman wanted a HEART...the Scarecrow wanted a BRAIN...and the Cowardly Lion wanted COURAGE.

In the movie each one had a song about their desires...and then they would start singing about being off to see the Wizard...who could help them get what they needed. It turned out that he was a HUMBUG. An example of their SONG OF DESIRE is the Tin Woodman (aka Nick Chopper)...

When a man's an empty kettle
He should be on his mettle
And yet I'm torn apart
Just because I'm presumin'
That I could be kind of human
If I only had a heart

Of course the moral of the story was...that what they were seeking...they already had...they just didn't have a symbolic representation of what they desired.

The Tin Woodman received...a large heart shaped clock...his ticker.
The Scarecrow received...a diploma.
The Cowardly Lion received a medal.
Dorothy already had the ruby slippers...that she had her entire journey...and all she had to do was click them...and recite...there's no place like home.

Once she woke up...from her journey to Oz...or was it a dream...she was surrounded by her family and friends....most of who were personified in her travellers in Oz...she came to the realization that she already had what she was searching for...a home.

I started thinking about all of this...as the Lord was speaking to me that...ONLY GOD CAN CHANGE A PERSON'S HEART. I can manipulate, cajole, nag, debate, reason, beg, a person that I love to change their ways...but if you can talk someone into something...someone can talk them out of it.

I started RUMINATIN'...about how God's heartbeat for us is all the stuff that we are constantly searching for...but for some reason we think that we have to go here and there and fill ourselves with stuff that never satisfies.

"For all the these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But SEEK FIRST His Kingdom and His righteousness...and all these things shall be added to you." We don't have to go to OZ...we have a ROAD TO ZION that leads through our hearts...with the King...NOT A HUMBUG waiting to give us the DESIRES OF OUR HEARTS as we DELIGHT OURSELVES IN HIM. (Psalm 37:4)

HEART:
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." (Matthew 5:8)

"For where your treasure is...there will your heart be also." (Matthew 6:21)

"You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man out of his good treasure brings forth what is good; and thee evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth what is evil." (Matthew 12:34,35)

BRAIN (MIND)"

"I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND, that you may prove what the will of God is...that which is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12:1,2)

"But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you BE RENEWED IN THE SPIRIT OF YOUR MIND...and put on the new self which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth." (Ephesians 4:20-24)

"Let this MIND (have this attitude) be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 2:5)

COURAGE:

"No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only BE STRONG AND VERY COURAGEOUS; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. 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 according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your prosperous...and then you will have good success." (Joshua 1:5-8)

HOME:

"Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. BUT AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSEHOLD (home) WE WILL SERVE THE LORD." (Joshua 24:14-15)

"For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven; inasmuch as we, having put it on, shall not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at HOME in the body...we are absent from the Lord...FOR WE WALK BY FAITH NOT BY SIGHT...WE ARE OF GOOD COURAGE...we are of GOOD COURAGE, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and TO BE AT HOME WITH THE LORD. Therefore...also we have as our AMBITION, whether AT HOME...or absent...TO BE PLEASING TO HIM." (II Corinthians 5:1-9)

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY

Well...the Wizard of Oz is just a book..but our God is real. The things that we desire...heart, brains, courage, and a home...are found in Him. Everything else is a poor comparison. We fill our lives in search for all of these things...and come up with temporary pleasures...but always come up empty. There is no place like HOME...and HOME is not a click away with a pair of ruby slippers...but HOME is just a PRAYER AWAY.

In 1976...there was a guy name Pat Terry...in a group called the Pat Terry Group...who wrote a song called HOME WHERE I BELONG. Pat recorded...and then B.J. Thomas recorded it on his HOME WHERE I BELONG Christian album. It says it all...so here it is;

They say that heaven's pretty...and livin' here is too...but if they said that I would have...to choose between the two..I'd go home...goin home...where I belong.

Sometimes when I'm dreamin'...it comes as no surprise...that if you'll look and see the homesick feelin' in my eyes...I'm goin' home...goin' home...where I belong

While I'm here I'll serve Him gladly...and sing Him all these snogs...I'm here...but not for long.

When I feelin' lonely...and when I'm feelin' blue...it's such a joy to know that I am only passin' through...I'm headed home...I'm goin' home... Where I belong

One day I'll be sleepin' when death knocks on my door...and I'll awake to find that I'm not homesick anymore...cause I'll be home...I'll be home...where I belong.

2ND FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY

Enjoy the journey.

Love and Fulfilled Kisses
Rodney "Don't Need No Wizard" Boyd