THE LENGTHENING OF SEASONS

Greetings and Salutations O Ye Sojourners...

"Craaaaaaaawfish....Craaawfish...see I got em...see the size...stripped and cleaned...before your eyes....swwwweeet meat...fresh and ready to eat." (Crawfish from the movie King Creole). Here is one of my favorite pictures with my boy Phillip...sucking the heads of the crawfish...aaaaaaaah
"sweet meat...fresh and ready to eat."




NOTE: No...your eyes don't deceive you...that is a picture on my shirt... that world famous rock group PINK FLOYD...the barber that is.

For those who don't know...my favorite Elvis Presley movie is KING CREOLE (1958) adapted from the Harold Robbins book A STONE FOR DANNY FISHER.


The opening for King Creole is set in the French Quarters in the early morning...with the sellers of various foods...pushing their carts...crying out what they have to sell. Craaaaaawfish is being shouted out. Elvis leaning on the balcony...joins in and sings along with them. Ms Kitty White is one of the first females to share vocals with Elvis. It was more a call and response more than a duet.

Elvis plays Danny Fisher...a kid who works in the clubs at night...and goes to high school by day...and is getting ready to graduate...until he has a run in with some local gang members in the club...and Maxy Field's (Walter Matthau) girlfriend...played by Carolyn Jones (Morticia Addams of the Addams Family). The picture in the lower right hand corner is Elvis/Danny singing..."If your lookin' for trouble...you came to the right place...if you're looking for trouble...just look right at my face...I was born standing up...and talkin' back...my daddy was a green-eyed mountain jack...I'm evil...my middle name is misery...well I'm evil...so don't ya mess around with me." (Trouble Lieber and Stoller).
Well...you may be asking yourself "Self......what does any of this have to do with the "lengthening of seasons" Well I'm glad you asked. NEW ORLEANS....the place where the world is looking at as the season of Lent is fast approaching. March 8th, FAT TUESDAY...the day before Ash Wednesday..the kick off for a forty day sojourn into LENT. The word LENT means the "lengthening of seasons."...and is the sojourn into a time of preparation, prayer, penitence, alms giving, and self-denial for a 46 day time frame in the space time continuum...where the end will be Easter (Resurrection Day). It reflects the time when Jesus went into the wilderness prior to His public ministry began as He was tempted by the devil (little d). He fasted for 40 days and 40 nights...prior to this temptation.

NOTE: The common thought about temptation is something that you are pulled INTO...but temptation is really designed not to pull you into something (although that would be one of the causes and effects)...BUT...temptation is designed to PULL YOU AWAY FROM WHO YOU REALLY ARE...AND YOUR PURPOSE/DESTINY. (Thanx and a Tip O Da Hat To Larry Napier)

I like the season of Lent...because it is a set aside time of self reflection. it is a time for a more intense time of disciplining my self for "the purpose of godliness" in the areas of my speech, my conduct, my faith, my love, my purity. (I Timothy 4:8-16)

Oh I know...I know...this is what I should be doing 365 days a year... 24/7. But there are times...seasons... when you just have to draw away from the crowds, the voices, the hoopla, the hoi polli...and press into HIS PRESENCE...to clear the cobwebs out of your spiritual head...to clean out the build of of cerumum (ear wax), wipe out the sleep (crud) from your eyes...so think, hear and see things from a God Perspective, instead of being overwhelmed by the world in the Land Of Nitty Gritty.

Part of the process is to give up something during this time as a symbolic representation of dying to the flesh. The day prior to Ash Wednesday...aka Mardi Gras...Shrove Tuesday (pancake Tuesday), Carnival (Farewell To Meat)...the LAST FLING...has turned into a time for debauchery before the 40 days of denial.

For me...there are multiple things that I will be giving up...during this time (known only to me and God). I usually seek God in the areas of my spirit (little s), my soul (mind, will, emotions) and my body (flesh, blood, bones).

The time frame for LENT differs from Western to Eastern church culture. For me...I will be utilizing the 40 days...with 6 days off from what is given up...on Sundays. The 6 days of rest from the other days represents mini-Easter/Resurrection days.

DISCLAIMER: Fear not...I am not advocating rules, regulations, holidays, special foods, etc. as something that will get God to love me more. It is just a personal time for me...to remove the distractions and things that leech onto me throughout my walk.

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY...NO REALLY...FINALLY

See ya the other side of Lent...HE IS RISEN...HE IS RISEN INDEED...EVEN DURING LENT.

Love and Craaaawfish Kisses
Rodney "Lengthening Of Seasons" Boyd

HASHBROWN THEOLOGY

Greetings and Salutations all of you hashbrown lovers...and you know who you are.



It's late night...and you have been out and about doing your thang... and as you are on the way home...you look over to the love of your life in the passenger seat...and tenderly say to her..."Are you hungry?"

She responds back..."Not really but I could eat something." Then she tacks on..."I'll just take a couple of bites of yours...we can share."

Well...you look for something that is open...and can't find anyplace open at whatever ungodly hour it is...until you see in the distance that familiar icon...glowing in the darkened sky...WAFFLE HOUSE.


You pull into the crowed parking lot... and realize that your inner craving is having an argument with you. On one shoulder is the good craving who implores you to go home and drink some water and go to bed. On the other shoulder...wearing the black trunks...is your evil craving telling you that you deserve it.

Ladies and gentlemen...welcome to the match of the century...Rodney "The Heavyweight" Boyd versus The Waffle House menu....Let's get ready to Ruuuuuummmmbbbbblllle!!!!!



I love to at at the WAFFLE HOUSE (in moderation)...especially the HASHBROWNS. There are at least...according to the menu...

1,572,864 ways to order the hashbrowns. I don't know if that is true...but some of the ways you can order them are:
1. Smothered=onions
2. Covered=cheese
3. Chunked=hickory smoked ham
4. Topped=chili
5. Diced=tomatoes
6. Peppered=jalapeno
7. Capped=mushrooms
8. Scattered=All The Way

What go me thinking about Waffle House Hashbrowns? I was reading Psalm 32 a while back and saw ho David was asking God to deal with his transgression, sin, iniquity and deceit. David wanted God to deal with his SIN...his SCATTERED (All The Way) LIFE. David needed JOY and Psalm 32 was a Psalm of Contemplation. David's sin was heavy upon him with his vitality drained. Combine this Psalm with Psalm 51 (A Prayer Of Repentance) and you have a man poised for repentance.

In these two Psalms...David needed his HASHBROWNS OF SIN...to be dealt with. Unlike the HASHBROWNS combinations a the W.H., there are not 1,572,864 ways to deal with your sins... there is only ONE WAY...by the BLOOD OF JESUS. With that said...here is what David desired:

1. Transgression=forgiven and blotted out
2. Sin=covered and cleansed and hide Your face from my sins
3. Iniquity=not impute/taken into account and washed thoroughly and blot out all my
iniquities
4. Purge and cleanse
5. Wash whiter than snow
6. Make me hear joy and gladness
7. Broken bones rejoice
8. God's face hidden from sins
9. Iniquities blotted out
10. A clean heart created
11. A steadfast spirit renewed within
12. Not cast away from His presence
13. Holy Spirit not taken away
14. Restoration of the joy of salvation
15. Upheld by His generous Spirit
16. Delivered from guilt of bloodshed
17. Praise coming forth from open lips and mouth


God does NOT desire sacrifice (what we can do)...or delight in burnt offerings (what we can do) but the sacrifices that God does desire and delight in...are (1) a broken spirit (2) a broken and contrite heart. God does not despise these things.


Now at the Waffle House...you sit down at the counter or one of their ultra small booths...and the waitress comes over...and says..."What'll ya have...honey?" You then place your order. Now before someone writes me and lets me know that God is not a waitress at Waffle House...please understand that my analogies always break down somewhere along the line....BUT here is the way that he ordered (respectfully requested) for God to deal with his sin, transgression, iniquity.


1. Acknowledge the sin to God
2. Don't hide your iniquity from Him (as if you could)
3. Confess (come into agreement with God...say the same thing God says) transgression to
the Lord)
4. Acknowledge the transgressions
5. Realize that against God and God alone have you sinned


Here is what is delivered to you when you REPENT (change of heart, mind, attitude, direction) and are not just SORRY that you got caught and/or are reaping what you sowed.

1. Purged and cleansed
2. Washed whiter than snow
3. Hearing joy and gladness so broken bones rejoice
4. God's face his from his sins
5. Clean heart created
6. Steadfast spirit renewed within
7. Not cast away from His presence
8. Holy Spirit not taken from him
9. Restored joy of salvation
10.Upheld by His generous Spirit
11.Deliverance from the guilt of bloodshed
12.Tongue singing aloud of His righteousness
13.Lips and Mouth showing forth His praise

In all of this...God does not desire or delight in:

1. Sacrifice (my efforts)
2. Burnt offerings (my efforts)

The sacrifices that God DOES desire and does not despise:

1. A broken spirit (heart of repentance)
2. A broken and contrite heart (repentance)

Well...there ya go. HASHBROWN THEOLOGY is an earthly way to ineffectively describe the wonderful power, love, forgiveness, grace, peace and mercy of God towards us as sinners. The bottom line is...when God does it...He does it right. He SCATTERS ALL THE WAY WITH HIS PROVISION FOR OUR LIVES...but that's for another time.

"Therefore if ANY man...wo-man...hu-man is IN CHRIST...they are NEW CREATIONS...the OLD THINGS passed away...behold NEW THINGS are constantly coming."
(II Corinthians 5:17)

Love and SCATTERED ALL THE WAY Kisses
Rodney "I luvs me some Waffle House Hashbrowns" Boyd

DRY EYES...OLD FAITH...HARD HEART...COLD PRAYERS

Hello friends...how are your eyes, faith, heart and prayers doing? Is your fairytale world not panning out like you expected? Did you start out in your faith blazing...and now you are smoldering? Have you lost the joy of your salvation and replaced it with the despair of your fears? Well... welcome to my world.

Our first collage is from the classic movie...IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. It is a wonderful tale of how circumstances, choices, obstacles, people can...if we let them...dictate our joy level. Our lives can either be a Bedford Falls existence...or a Pottersville Hell. Does your life reflect the emptiness of Mr. Gower...George Bailey...and the citizens of Potterville? NOTE: Do get the full effect of this Ramblings...go rent you It's A Wonderful Life...pop some corn...and enjoy the movie.

I can remember moment that I accepted Jesus Christ as my Saviour...it was like a release from prison...like a long,slow rain after a long, hard drought ...like a rough, hard piece of leather soften by oil. The problem was...after a period of time...a few years later...I began to feel the prison walls close in again...I felt the the drought returning...I felt the leather stiffening up again. It was not something that happen immediately...but it was a slow process...and then suddenly... I could not figure out what was wrong with me. Actually...I was wondering...what was wrong with everyone else...except me. After all...ya gotta blame someone for the way you feel. All I know is this...I was dry, empty, and my prayers seemed to leave my lips...hit the ceiling...and drop back on top of me...unanswered.

What could I possibly do to restore the joy of my salvation... to be refreshed...to do what the Beatles sang about...to Get Back...to where I once belonged.

I chose...and it is a choice...to RUN....run away...as far as I could from the people who loved me, to the people who would speak truth to me, to a place that was more empty, more dry, more cold than where I was in the first place. I surrounded myself with people who would pander to my pity rather than speak the truth in love...with the cause and effect was a journey deeper in to despair.

NOTE: This is a water tank from Kenya Africa....for fresh water in a dry, polluted land. In the first collage you see the woman at the well...where Jesus told her that she would never thirst again...because the well...is within when you have Jesus in your heart. Jesus spoke later about rivers of living water flowing out of your innermost being/belly...with those flowing waters being the Holy Spirit. There may be something in our lives damming the flow of waters...but when we repent...times of refreshing will start to flow again.

When things are dry, old, hard, and cold...what can be done? I can't speak for anyone else...but only speak from my personal experience...I have to apply the Acts 3:19 Principle.

"Repent (change of mind, attitude, direction) and return (to my first love) that your sins may be wiped away (the thing that breaks our connection)...in order (cause and effect) that TIMES OF REFRESHING MAY COME (aaaaaaaaaaaaaah) may come from THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD."
(Acts 3:19)

Keith Green had a great song from back in 1978...that is still fresh and alive in 2009...called MY EYES ARE DRY. If you are at a place where you are dry and crusty, where what once was vibrant faith, where you heart is hard and stiff to the people you love and your prayers are cold as last night fire...think about what Keith was singing (even better if you can find a copy of the song).

MY EYES ARE DRY

My eyes are DRY...my faith is OLD...my heart is HARD...my prayers are COLD
And I know how I ought to be...alive to You...and dead to me
But what can be done...for an old heart like mine...soften it up with oil and wine
The oil is You and Your Spirit of Love...please wash me anew
In the Wine of Your Blood

"If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; BUT if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from ALL sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins; He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (I John 1:6-9)

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY

I have found that I can choose to walk away from God...and I also can choose to return. I can choose life and blessing...I can choose curse and death.

My eyes are now wet with tears of repentance and joy...my faith is fresh and alive...my heart is softened and pliable and usable for the Father...and my prayers pierce the heavens and are now effectual and fervent.

Love and Refreshed Kisses
Rodney "The Ball Is In Your Court" Boyd

GPS: God's Protective System...versus...RPS: Rodney's Prodigal System

Hello fellow Sojourners...how's the journey? When I went to work for Gentiva Home Health...Brenda bought me a GPS... system. It has been the gift that keeps on giving. It is an amazing piece of technology...that leads me and guides me along the twisting and convoluted highways and by-ways of Tennessee. I have found that when I don't second guess what the lovely lady who lives inside the box tells me...that more often than not...I reach my destination. I also have been down roads that I have always wondered where they led... and still end up at my destination. Even when I am faced with a detour in the road...I am lead around the way...and still come out at my desired destination. The children of Israel... the Prodigal Son...The church at Corinth...the Gnostics... Judiazers...any one who wanders away from the path...could all have benefited from one these handy dandy guidance system....but wait...they did have a guidance system...called the GPS...God's Protective System.

NOTE: When I choose to go my own way...the voice of the lady...gets testy...and she says with an exasperated voice...recalculate. Sometimes she tells me to make a U-Turn...turn around...go the other way. That is what we call in Christianese...repentance. Repentance is a change...a U-Turn of direction, mind, heart, attitude...and go back towards God.

Sometimes you just pray for a sign from God if you are going the wrong way. If only there was a sign that said..."Rodney...STOP!" Since 1970...when I first turned my life over to God...I have travelled many roads...some good, some bad, some ugly. I have gotten off the path...and found myself wondering...how did I get here.

What got me to thinking about this Rambling...and there is always something that sets me off...was reading about the Parable of the Lost Son...aka...the Parable of the Prodigal Son. What could have saved the son from heartache to learn such a valuable lesson. Well...a GPS would have been helpful...or a STOP sign that said Prodigal Drive...STOP... or even Robbie the Robot from the movie Forbidden Planet...and the T.V. show Lost In Space...with his arms flailing about and crying out..."Warning, Warning..Will Robinson.

Luke 15 starts off the scene that led to Jesus teaching about (1) lost sheep (2) lost coins (3) lost sons (4) poor stewards

"Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and the scribes complained, saying, This Man receives sinners and eats with them."
(Luke 15:1,2) It appears that the Pharisees were the 99 sheep, the 9 coins, and the elder brother...while the tax collectors and sinners...were the lost sheep, lost coin, and the prodigal son. (Thanks and a Tip O Da Hat to my notes in the Spirit Filled Bible for the Pharisee comparisons.)


The cause and effect of Jesus sharing these four parables...reflective of the hearts of the Pharisees...was this..."Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things and they DERIDED Him." (Luke 16:14) What ticked them off was that Jesus exposed their hearts...and who was their master. NOTE: Make note to self...never deride Jesus.

"No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other...You CANNOT serve God and mammon...money...riches...things... stuff." (Luke 16:13)

NOTE: The picture of the long and winding road was on the way to one of my patient's house...and the road seemed to go on forever...never being able to see where I was going...never knowing if I would ever arrive at my desired destination.

NOTE: I always thought about the word prodigal in a negative view...but it is not necessarily negative.

Prodigal: (1) wastefully or recklessly extravagant (2) giving or yielding profusely, lavish (3) lavishly abundant. We can squander our inheritance by wasting or being recklessly extravagant..or we can see the wonderfully prodigal nature of God as He is lavishly abundantly giving out more than we can conceive or contain. In the case of the son...he was on the wrong side of prodigalism. He needed guidance. His guidance system...his flesh...led him to a low place.

"And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with the prodigal/wasteful life." (Luke 15:13) Oh how many years I wasted, how many gifts, talents, finances, I wasted by not yielding to God's GPS...but followed the RPS (Rod's Prodigal System).

After the prodigal son experienced famine, want, false friends who he joined with, swine, no one giving him anything...he CAME TO HIMSELF. Once he came to himself...he made choices...when he said I WILL arise and go to my Father...and I WILL say..."Father I have sinned against heaven and before you." This is where the prodigal heard the voice...RECALCULATE...and MAKE A U-TURN...and he did. He repented...had a change of mind, change of attitude and a change of direction...from pig pen to the Father's house. (Luke 15:14-18, 21) NOTE: The repentant prodigal...did not feel worthy to be a son... but the Father had other ideas.

The return was one of joy (for everyone except the son who had stayed/Pharisee). As the prodigal approached...no longer a prodigal (we tend to attach that label on him even when he changed his ways)...the Father saw him from far away...and the Father had compassion and ran to him...and fell on his neck and kissed him...and brought out the best robe, a ring of restoration, and sandals on his weary feet that were weary from the journey in his personal wilderness. And then...he killed the fatted calf...ate and were merry. There was JOY IN THE HOUSE with the return of the repristinated son. I like the term..."they began to make merry." (Luke 15:20-24)

The rest of the parable deals with the attitude of the older son...who stayed...who had Pharisee mentality...against tax collectors...sinners... and of course sibling prodigals.

NOTE: The last picture is one of us in Nairobi Kenya at a local eatery called CARNIVORES...where we chowed down on Zebra (pronounced Zeb...not Zeeb...ra, camel, the fatted warthog, and other grilled meats. I'm the one with the Hawaiian shirt with my face in the food and back to the camera. We were "making merry" just before we flew back home.

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY

God has a GPS for our lives....as we travel on our sojourns in the Kingdom. We have access to the Word of God, the Spirit of God, godly counsel of brothers and sisters in the body of Christ, the prophetic words (that will always line up with the Word of God...and will confirm what He is speaking to you).

Love and Directed Kisses
Rodney "Recalculating" Boyd