Chaos and Clutter

Hello neat freaks...how's your clutter? Oh you may say..."Rodo...I'm a neat freak...I have no chaos and clutter in my life." Hmmmmm...maybe...on the outside...but how is the inside of your life? For me personally...when my outside is cluttered....usually I have chaos and clutter on the inside...BUT sometimes... when everything looks cool, calm, collected...with no chaos and clutter...I'm a wreck on the inside. Notice the first collage. This is a picture of my office. It is a "HOT MESS". Be sure to click on the collage to get the full blown effect of my clutter.

Over the last 37 years of marriage and prior to that 4 years of courtship...I have gone from watching manly movies...to watching the Home and Garden network... the Style channel...the Cooking Network...thanks to Brenda. Give the woman control of the T.V. channel...and she controls the world. I have found that I enjoy watching shows about first time home buyers...cake designers... fashion interventions and the like. Forgive me John Wayne...for I have sinned. One show that we watch is a show called CLEAN HOUSE. This show is where they find messy, cluttered homes...do a yard sale...and revamp the house. Nicey Nash, Trish Shure, Mark Brunette, and the "Go to guy" (can't remember his name)...come in and deal with all of the "mayhem and foolishness" of the clutter...with some psuedo-pop-psychology about why the people live in a mess.

A couple of years ago...a missionary to Guatemala...came and spoke to our church. Kirk Devenny is always a powerful voice in a chaotic world. During prayer time...Kirk prayed for me and Brenda...and spoke a prophetic word...for us to clear out the CLUTTER IN OUR LIVES. He was speaking of the physical clutter and the spiritual clutter in our lives.

We recently had a yard sale...where we cleared out our shed...of clutter. We would literally open the door to the shed...and you were met with STUFF. It was a modern Fibber and McGee closet where Fibber would open the door each show (on their radio show)...and you would hear the clutter from the closet fall all around and on him...burying him under the clutter. NOTE: I love old time radio.

Well...that was our shed. On my vacation...after a couple of days in Chattanooga...we spent it...in the hot, humid days clearing out the clutter and then selling the clutter. We even had a a pile of trash to be taken away to the dump...that people were buying out of...YIKES. One man's trash...really is another man's treasure.

The thing about CLUTTER that turns into CHAOS...it does not happen overnight. I don't wake up one morning...and say...I think I will incapacitate my life with clutter. I think I will hoard things to the point of chaos. It is a progressive ignoring of my mess...that one day overtakes me like THE BLOB (the movie with Steve McQueen and Anita Courset/Helen Crump). It starts out small and then overtakes...until it consumes you. What to do...what to do?


It all starts with a CHOICE. God does not violate our will...our volition...our free choices. He will allow us to have CLUTTER and CHAOS in our life if we want it. He will allow us to succumb to temptation...sin...and walk in the flesh if we desire it. That's not His heartbeat for us...it is not His will for us...BUT...we have the gift of CHOICE.

"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you LIFE and DEATH...the BLESSING and the CURSE. So CHOOSE LIFE in order that you may LIVE... you and your descendants." (Deuteronomy 30:19) NOTE: Choose order or choose chaos... choose clutter...or choose room.

"Now, therefore...fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, CHOOSE for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living...BUT as for me and my house...WE WILL SERVE THE LORD." (Joshua 24:14,15)

I find myself serving the god of CLUTTER. Not just my junk...but CLUTTERING my mind with everything from the world, fear, doubt, unbelief, negativity, the "I Can't" mentality.

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY...

What to do...what to do? I'm glad you asked...I have got to clear the CLUTTER OF MY MIND. I need to RENEW MY MIND....I need to quit CONFORMING to the mold of the world mindset...and be TRANSFORMED in the RENEWING MY MIND. (Romans 12:1,2) I need to develop a new MINDSET...that will give me life and peace versus death. (Romans 8:5-8) I need to do like Bob Dylan...I've got to CHANGE MY WAY OF THINKING...FIND MYSELF A BRAND NEW SET OF RULES. (Bob Dylan Slow Train Coming). I not only have to change my thinking...I've got to change my speaking...and change my doing. I need restraint so I can be free.

UNRESTRAINED THOUGHT (what I think)...produces in UNRESTRAINED WORDS (what I say)...resulting in UNRESTRAINED ACTIONS (what I do). Also...like the people on the show CLEAN HOUSE needs help...so do I. I need the HELPER...THE PARACLETOS... THE ONE CALLED ALONG SIDE TO HELP...the HOLY SPIRIT to HELP in this DECLUTTERING OF MY physical...and my spiritual life.

Love and Uncluttered Kisses
Rodney "Clutter...What Clutter" Boyd

PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE: DESTINY

Hello friends. If you are reading this...it is because of a man named Lonnie Louis Boyd...who met Elizabeth Graves Webb and conceived Rodney Lewis Boyd. I am approaching 57 years old...and I have been reflecting on where I came from...where I've been...and where I'm going. The older you get...the awareness of your mortality begins to reach towards you. Thank God...that we have a promise and a hope of going beyond the cradle and the grave.

The Boyd household has roots in Scotland...crossing over to America...and settling in a little hamlet called Brewston Tennessee. Brewston is a blip on the road map on the way to Memphis Tennessee. I never knew my grandfather on my dad's side...but I have been told that he was a hard man. He was a card carrying, horse riding, hood wearing member of the Ku Klux Klan. In the first collage you see a picture of a young boy named Lonnie...who had no idea what life held for him.

Dad grew up...met Elizabeth (Mom)...went to war...came back...got married... started laundry with mom's sister's (Mary Dean) husband (Larkin/Mooney)... got a job at the V.A. Hospital...retired from their after 35 years...and became a grandfather in 1989.

Everybody has got a story to tell. In the Ruminator Sunday School Class...we were talking about how when we are born...our lives are shaped by our environment and our experience...for the better or worse. The good, the bad, and the ugly...forms who we are...by how we relate to those times. When we become Christians we become NEW CREATIONS in CHRIST...the OLD THINGS pass away...NEW THINGS come. (II Corinthians 5:17)...HOWEVER...our souls...our minds (what we think ), our volition/wills (what we freely choose) and our emotions (the barometer of the soul)...can still be affected by the imprint of the our environment/experiences. Lonnie Boyd had a lot of imprint in his life. What we experience...is passed down to the next generation...and to the next generation...the good, the bad, and the ugly...BUT...we do not have to settle for the past affecting our now that will determine our future.

"For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope."
(Jeremiah 29:11) This was written to a people who were in captivity because of their sins...but even in captivity...there was a hope. So it is with us...who may be captive by their roots, their past, their generational curse...BUT the CURSE can be stopped in it's track.


My Dad and I had a tenuous relationship. We were usually conflict by various things. Some of our tension came from the teenager/adult conflicts. My memories are mixed.

I have great memories of Dad grilling out, fishing, dancing with Mom on a Friday night to the sounds of Glenn Miller. Dad was very influential in my eclectic musical tastes as he let me buy Elvis' Jailhouse Rock when I was 6 years old and let me play his albums and singles like Brooke Benton and Dianah Washington's A ROCKIN' GOOD WAY and BABY, YOU GOT WHAT IT TAKES, and Glenn Miller, Woody Herman, Pete Fountain, The Riverboat Five, Ray Charles. He hated country music...so it took years and my son Phillip to break that barrier where I even like country music.

Bad memories are also imprinted...as alcohol shaped and formed his life. I have vivid memories of waking up in the middle of the night with my Mom screaming into the phone for Dad to come home from the bars...and when he got home the fight would continue. I remember the conflicts at home culminating to the point of my mom telling me to go to the gas station down the road...to gets a can of gas so she could burn down the house with us in it and end it all.

I have good memories of them starting out going to church with me...but it ended up with just me...which continue to when I was 16 years old. I finally quit going...and started walking down the path that Dad started for me by drinking and ingesting other chemicals...just to escape the world. When I accepted Jesus as my Saviour...my destiny had a dynamic shift for the better.

Growing up...I did not realize what shaped Dad. I only knew the effect of what effected him was effecting me.

Dad joined the Army during World War II...and served his country. For a Brewston boy...this was probably a step up from the mundane. Dad went to New York...flew to London (where he won a Jitterbug contest with his dancing feet)...and then off into the War in places like Africa and Italy). Dad did not talk much about the war and his experiences. All I really knew was that as a result of his experience in the Army...he would not take us to the movies because he hated to stand in line. I also knew that he got a pair of specially made shoes because he got his toes blown off. He walked with a limp and could run and play with me. I found out later...that he got some of his toes blown of in a cave was he stepped on a land mine. He was rewarded with a Purple Heart.

One of the pivotal events...that had the cause and effect of me sitting at this computer...ruminating on my Dad...is seen in the picture of the NEW TESTAMENT. Every service man was given a New Testament when they were sent out war. If you look at the lower corner you will see the place where a bullet was stopped when it struck my Dad. He carried the Bible in his shirt pocket. What could have meant the end of the Boyd linage...was diverted...so Dad could come home...get married...have me...so I could meet Brenda...get married...and have Phillip. Some call it luck...some call it Kismet...some call it karma...I call it destiny. If you have ever been encouraged by anything I have ever said or wrote...it could have ended by a bullet or a land mine. As a teenager...I never realized what Dad went through...as a child or as an adult.

In his later years...there was a gradual change taking place. He quit drinking... he quit smoking...and PHILLIP STEPHEN BOYD came into his life. I came to find out...through talking with Dad...that he was proud of me...and actually loved me.

Dad and Mom poured out their love...to Phillip. According to Dad...Phillip hung the moon. After Mom passed away...Dad became Phillip's chief baby sitter.

In 1993...Dad passed away with pancreatic cancer. He was at home...Hospice was on the seen...and we were at bedside. In the end...Dad was struggling to stay here on earth...breathing heavily...gasping for oxygen. I was able to hold his hand...and bend down to his left ear...and tell him that it was O.K. to let go of this life and ease on into heaven...where Mom was waiting. A strange peace came in the room...his breathing eased...and he closed his eyes...took his final breath... and died.

Even as I write this...tears do well up. Why? Because I love my Dad...and God was able to redeem the bad and the ugly in our relationship...and make it good.
I have the assurance that my Dad had accepted Jesus. He lived out his last years with my son...by pouring out what he wished he could have done with me...but because of past experiences and his environment...could not.


In the Ruminator Sunday School Class...we have seen that...our MINDSET...can be changed as we RENEW OUR MINDS with the Word of God. As we take the good, the bad, and the ugly...and begin to let our minds dwell on the Word...we begin to think differently...and begin to talk differently...and begin to act differently.

UNRESTRAINED THOUGHTS (what we think)...PRODUCES UNRESTRAINED WORDS (what we say)...resulting in UNRESTRAINED ACTIONS (what we do). We are not bound by thoughts, words and actions. We are not bound by the past and the present...or even what appears to be our inevitable future. Jesus Christ...the Living Word of God...and change us from the inside out...and fulfill his destiny and purpose for us.

"For I know the PLANS that I have for you declares the Lord...plans for welfare and not for calamity...to GIVE YOU A FUTURE AND A HOPE." Jeremiah 29:11

Love and Hopeful Kisses
Rodney "Son of Lonnie" Boyd

CHEERS

Cheers and Cherrio to you my friends. When you lift a cup of kindness to someone, you are wishing them well.

CHEERS: (1) state of mind or of feeling; mood; spirit; now usually in such phrases as be of good cheer, with good cheer (2) gaiety; gladness; joy; a source of encouragement (3) festive food or entertainment
(4) anything that makes one happy; encouragement (5) a glad, excited shout used to urge on, welcome, approved, etc. (Webster's)

CHEERIO: (1) goodbye (2) good health; used as a toast

CHEERS: A situation comedy television show of the 80's...1980's that is. The story of an ex-baseball player who is a recovering alcoholic who also happens to run a bar that caters to a variety of characters each week.

The theme song is a catchy little diddie written by Judy Hart Angelo and Gary Portnoy...and goes a little something like this (sing along if you know it):

Making you way in the world
takes everything you've got,
Taking a break from all your
worries , sure would help a lot...Wouldn't you like to get away? Sometimes you want to go...Where everybody knows your name...and they're always GLAD you came...you wanna be where you can see, our troubles are all the same...you wanna go where everybody knows your name.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm....sounds like a church...but it's not...it is that Boston bar called cheers. One of the characters that walks in is a man named Norm Peterson (played by George Wendt). As he enters in... the entire bar shouts out his name...NORM!!! Then whoever is behind the bar would ask him various questions at which time he would come back with a funny little saying.

Here's some examples:

What's new Norm? Terrorists, Sam...they've taken over my stomach and they're demanding beer.

Hey Norm...how's the WORLD been treating you? Like a baby treats a diaper.

Women...can't live with 'em...pass the beer nuts.

What's the story Mr. Peterson? Boy meets beer..boy drinks beer...boy meets another beer.

What's happening Mr. Peterson? The question Wood, WHY is it happening to me.

Well..you get the idea. His answers are reflections and mini-commentaries on his pathetic life...and his need for beer to numb the pain.

My favorite comment is as Woody asks him..."How's it going Mr. Peterson? Norm responds..."Its a dog eat dog WORLD...and I'm wearing Milk Bone underwear."

The WORLD is just not treating Norm Peterson very nice. And guess what...the WORLD ain't treating you very nice. Do you feel the nipping teeth of the dogs of this world snapping at your Milk Bone underwear. In the words of the drill Sgt. who had the privilege of training the Three Stooges... "Why does everything always have to happen to me?!?!

Like the Morton Salt slogan states..."WHEN IT RAINS...IT POURS. It seems like you receive the punch of one fist...and the second one sneaks in on you.

What's a person to do? Well...instead of doing like Norm Peterson...and complain and drink... as a believer in Jesus Christ...the anointed one with an anointing to do good and heal all who were oppressed by the devil...for God was with Him (Acts 10:38)...who had an anointing of the Holy Ghost and Power...with an anointing that was yoke destroying, burden lifting, oppression removing dunamis (explosive, dynamic ability) power...we might ought to correct our speaking by renewing the mind.

Usually what we speak is what we think. The Bible states that out of the abundance of the heart...the mouth speaks.

There is power in the words that we speak.. and they can bring life or death..."Death and life are in the power of the TONGUE and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof." (Proverbs 18:21)

"O generation of vipers...how can you being evil...speak good things? For out of the ABUNDANCE of the HEART...the MOUTH SPEAKS." (Matthew 12:34)

"A good man...out of the good treasure of his HEART brings forth that which is good...and an evil man...of of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth that which is evil: for out of the abundance of his HEART his MOUTH SPEAKS." (Luke 6:45)

In the Ruminator Sunday School class...we periodically use and example of our HEART/MOUTH connection by going to someone in class (usually someone new to the class) and have them shake their cup of coffee until it spills over onto the table (if they don't shake hard enough...I give them a hand). The question is then posed: "Why did coffee come out of that cup?" They usually answer because it was shaken." Of course...that is the wrong answer. "The reason coffee came out of that cup because... that is what was IN THE CUP. The shaking was only the thing that revealed what was IN THE CUP."

The same thing with our WORDS. When the world shakes you up...when the dog eat dog world is nipping at your milkbone underwear...when situations, circumstances, world events, personal issues take place... the question is...what is coming of your mouth via your heart.

The key to changing the heart content...is changing the mind content. The old computer programming saying still rings true..."garbage in... garbage out." We need a reprogramming of our MIND SET. As believers in the D.B.R...death, burial, resurrection of Jesus the Anointed One...we RENEW OUR MINDS.

Romans 12:1,2 speaks of a WORLD MINDSET versus a RENEWED MINDSET..."I urge you therefore brethren...by the mercies of God...to present you bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your reasonable/spiritual service of worship. And do not be CONFORMED to the WORLD but be TRANSFORMED by the RENEWING OF YOUR MIND, that you may PROVE what the WILL OF GOD is...that which is GOOD...ACCEPTABLE...AND PERFECT."

Conformed means to be shaped into the box of thinking of the world. Transformed means to metamorphose into something different under pressure much like a butterfly breaking through the coccoon. This is done by taking the WORD OF GOD...and changing your way of thinking...or as Zig Ziglar calls it...STINKIN' THINKIN'... where you are dead from the neck up. This in effect changes our heart thinking...which in turn changes our mouth speaking.

It is all about our MIND SET...that reflects in our MOUTH SET. One give out life and peace...the other gives out death.

"For those who are according tot the flesh SET THEIR MINDS ON THE FLESH...but those who are according to the Spirit, THE THINGS OF THE SPIRIT. For the MIND SET on the FLESH...is DEATH...but the MIND SET on the SPIRIT...is LIFE...and PEACE, because the MIND SET on the FLESH...is HOSTILE TOWARDS GOD...for it does not SUBJECT itself to the law of God...for it is not even able to do so; and those who are IN THE FLESH...CANNOT PLEASE GOD (See Heb. 11:6)
(Romans 8:5-8)

Today...stop and listen...really listen to people around you. What's coming out of their mouths. Then stop and listen to yourself. What's coming out of your mouth. Are you sounding like the conformed world or are you sounding like a transformed mind. What's in your cup when it is shaken?

Love and Renewed Kisses
Rodney "Hey...who put this coffee in my cup" Boyd