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

TREASURE HUNT: The Declaration of Dependence

Greetings Fellow Chewers of the Cud. Are you treasurING your TREASURE? One is a VERB and the other is a NOUN. Where are you treasurING your TREASURE? Do you have bank account, a lock box, a tin can buried in your backyard, a 401 K or a 666 d (little d)? Is your TREASURE safe...or is it being lost in corporate buyouts or decaying in your can in your backyard?

I love a good movie of mystery, intrigue, adventure, love interest, humour, and conspiracy. The movie NATIONAL TREASURE satisfies all my itches.

It stars Nicolas Cage as Benjamin Franklin Gates...who has a family legacy of supposed lunacy... as from generation to generation they have searched for a treasure based on clues left along the way. The clues are linked to the conspiracy of the Freemasons and are found on everything from money to lost ships to the back of the Declaration of Independence.

The SEARCH FOR THE TREASURE...seems to be merely an endless enticement from clue to clue to clue...only to result in another clue. The search become more than just trying to find TREASURE...as much as it is to clear the Gates name.

Another element is the bad guys entering the picture whose motive is GREED versus INTEGRITY. The pivotal CLUE is found on the back of one America's founding documents... THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. Even that clue...is another clue to find the glasses that will reveal the ULTIMATE clue that will eventually...actually lead to the TREASURE. Get large Diet Coke and a tub of butter popcorn and sit back for a good time. This review gets four moo's from the Ruminator.

Now...as you know...the premise for the Rambling's...always has other motives. The motives this time...are DEPENDENCE versus INDEPENDENCE... WHERE and WHAT we are TREASURING...and PRISON versus FREEDOM.

The DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE is a founding document as we declared (thus the declaration part)....a break from the rule of England. I would like to go on record that I am declaring...The Declaration of DEPENDENCE on the Lord. On the original Declaration of Independence, there was a signer by the name of Caesar Rodney...but I would like to sign my declaration with larger letters that John Hancock...RODNEY BOYD. The first part of my DECLARATION OF DEPENDENCE will begin with PROVERBS 3:1-4)

"My Son...do not forget my teaching
But let (allow) your heart (treasure chest) KEEP (treasure) my commandments
For length of days and years of life (life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness)
And peace (wholeness/rest) they will add to you
Do not let kindness and truth leave you
Bind them around your neck
Write them on the tablet of your HEART
So you will find FAVOR and GOOD REPORT in the sight of God and man"

This is the purpose of my DECLARATION OF DEPENDENCE (on the Lord).

The next section of my DECLARATION...is the meat of my document in PROVERBS 3:5-7:

TRUST in the Lord with ALL your HEART
And do not LEAN ON OUR OWN UNDERSTANDING
In ALL your ways ACKNOWLEDGE Him
And He will make your paths straight
Do NOT be WISE in your OWN eyes
FEAR the Lord and TURN AWAY from evil

The next section of my DECLARATION is the CAUSE and EFFECT if I do what I declare found in PROVERBS 3:8:

It will be HEALING to your body
And REFRESHMENT to your bones

NOTE: At this point I would like to give out a big...Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Now that's refreshing.

The next section of my DECLARATION of DEPENDENCE (on the Lord)...will not just manifest in inward healing and refreshing...but will manifest by my purse strings and is found in PROVERBS 3:9-10

HONOR the Lord from your WEALTH
And from the FIRST of ALL your PRODUCE
SO your barns will be FILLED with PLENTY
And your VATS will OVERFLOW with NEW WINE

The last section of my DECLARATION OF DEPENDENCE (on the Lord) deals with yielding MY WILL to HIS WILL. I need to learn NOT to let MY FREEDOM OF DEPENDENCE to turn into an OPPORTUNITY for the FLESH. This is found in PROVERBS 3:11,12:

My son...DO NOT REJECT...the DISCIPLINE of the Lord
Or loathe His REPROOF
For whom the Lord LOVES He REPROVES
Even as a FATHER...the SON...in whom he DELIGHTS


I am placing my DECLARATION OF DEPENDENCE (on the Lord) in MY TREASURE CHEST. The Word of God has all the clues you need to find the TREASURE. This TREASURE...is not measured on the size or amount of what is treasured. A little in the Lord far outweighs a FORT KNOX.

"Better is a LITTLE with the FEAR of the Lord...than GREAT TREASURE..and TURMOIL with it." (Proverbs 15:16)

My TREASURE CHEST is my HEART. The men who encounterd Jesus on the Road to Emmaus...had an EYE OPENING experience...and a burning heart that was not HEART BURN. After they realized that they were talking to the RESURRECTED JESUS...they DECLARED..."And they said to one another...were not our HEARTS BURNING WITHIN US...while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?"
(Luke 24:32)

"The good man out of his good treasure brings forth what is good...and the evil man out his evil treasure brings forth what is evil." (Matthew 12: 34,35; and Luke 6:45

"Do not lay up for yourselves TREASURES upon earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves TREASURES IN HEAVEN, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for WHERE YOUR TREASURE IS...there will your heart be also." (Matthew 6:19-21; Luke 12:34)

"But we have this TREASURE in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may BE OF GOD...and not from ourselves..." (II Corinthians 4:7)


Now with the TREASURE and the TREASURE CHEST established in my life... and my DECLARATION OF DEPENDENCE (in the Lord)...declared...let's talk about PRISON.

In the movie NATIONAL TREASURE...after all the clues have been found... and the treasure has been found...Ben Gates has to face the authorities (the FBI) for stealing the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. Actually...this section is what got me to Ruminatin' about all of this.

Ben Gates is being pursued by the F.B.I. led by Agent Peter Sandusky. When Ben is captured (because after notifying them that he had found the treasure).
Sandusky and Gates were sitting at the altar of a church (that was above where the treasure was found)...and they had this dialogue:

SANDUSKY: So...here is your options. Door number one...you go to PRISON for a very long time. Door number two...we're going to get back the Declaration of Independence...you can help us find it...and you still go to PRISON for a very long time...but you'll feel better inside.

BEN GATES: Is there a door that doesn't lead to PRISON?

SANDUSKY: (He shakes his head and then laughing says)...Someone's got to GO TO PRISON, Ben.

My DECLARATION OF DEPENDENCE (on the Lord) has been fought for...with blood shed...and signed and sealed. My freedom from PRISON was paid for by the DEATH AND BURIAL...and it was sealed with the RESURRECTION of Jesus...D.B.R...NOTHING MORE NOTHING LESS.

Someone DID have to go to PRISON...and it was not me. I deserved to go to prison. I did the crime...but JESUS...hung on the cross IN MY PLACE. Jesus became my PROPITIATION...my SUBSTITUTE...what SATISFIED GOD...for the punishment of my CRIME (sin).

"If we say that we have NO SIN...we are deceiving ourselves...and the truth is not in us. If we CONFESS (declare) our sins...He is faithful and righteous to FORGIVE us our sins...and to CLEANSE us from ALL unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar....and His word is not in us. My little children...I am writing these things to your that you may NOT SIN...and if anyone SINS...we have an ADVOCATE (paracletos...on called along side to help)...with the Father...Jesus Christ the righteous...and He Himself is the PROPITIATION (substitute/satisfaction)...for our SINS...and not for ours only...but also for those of the whole world." (I John 1:8-9)

"I have been crucified WITH CHRIST...and it is no longer I who live...but Christ lives in me...and the life which I NOW live...in the flesh...I live by faith in the Son of God (D.B.R.) who loved me...and delivered Himself up for me." (Galatians 2:20)

"Or do you not know that your body is a temple (sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you ARE NOT YOUR OWN (dependent on Him)...for you have been BOUGHT with a PRICE...therefore glorify God in your body."
(II Corinthians 6:19-20)

"Let each man remain in that condition in which he was called. Were you called while a slave? Do not worry about it; but if you are able also to become free, rather do that. For he who was called in the Lord while a slave, is the Lord's FREEDMAN...likewise...he who was called while free is CHRIST'S SLAVE. You were BOUGHT WITH A PRICE...do not become the slaves of men. Brethren...let each man REMAIN WITH GOD...in that condition in which he was called." (II Corinthians 7:20-24)

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Someone...has to go to prison...and HE DID.

Love and Dependent Kisses
Rodney "Treasures of the Heart" Boyd