Tim Boyd's Blog

There have been people throughout my life that I have really, really looked up to.  Over the past few years I have figured out that every one of them has let me down.  MAYBE THAT'S WRONG! Here we go.  Maybe, without knowing it, I have made them an idol.  Someone is so nice or smart or caring that I figure that they can do no wrong.  I try to emulate them.  I start thinking thoughts like "what would so-and-so do if they were in my situation."  I take this little bit of knowledge that I have of them and....I.....get it wrong.  I build them up to a place in which they don't exist.  I don't look up to them as much as I look up to my idea of them .  The problem happens when my idea of that person clashes with the actual person .  Then I am hurt and angry.  "Why would this person let me down?"  Have they actually let me down or have I built them up to a non-human level and set them up as an idol? Is this how pornography really ruins marriages?  It's

In our men's study last night we looked at the armor of God found in Ephesians chapter 6.  This is a very popular scripture for guys to study.  For good reason I think.  It's interesting.  It shows us a larger picture of reality than we are normally given.  It shows us that battle that is going on.  It shows us that the Kingdom of Heaven is, quite honestly, more real than the world that we see.  Time after time Jesus tells us that the kingdom of the world will fade away, but His kingdom will endure forever. In the battle that is happening at a cosmic scale we find a place.  What's the best way to win a fight?  Probably to not let your enemy know that there is a fight.  Satan has done an amazing job convincing many people and christians that there really is no "battle" happening.  From reading the Bible it is simply impossible to not realize that there is a battle happening. One of the pieces of armor that God has given us is the "Breastplate of Righteousn

Do you find it harder to forgive someone or to ask for forgiveness from someone? I think it's easier to forgive someone because I have control over that.  I don't have to ask anyone else I just have to decide to do it.  Right? No way!  How hard is it to forgive someone who has really really hurt you and doesn't ask for forgiveness or even care about you? BUT, how hard is it humble yourself and ask someone for forgiveness? What do you think?

I still can't get this thought out of my head.  This is my article for the Beecher Paper.  If you aren't familiar with central Illinois, Beecher is a town of about 400,000 and the paper is circulated around the world.  It is frequently on Huffington Post.  (None of this is true - Beecher may be smaller than Cowden). Have you ever thought about the hands of Jesus?  What did they look like?  Were they smooth or rough?  Were they large or small?  Were they clean or dirty?  I’ll bet they were very, very dirty.  In Luke chapter 8 it is recorded that Jesus had encounters with two very unclean women.  They were unclean for very different reasons, but they were unclean nonetheless.  In both cases these women needed healing.  They needed the healing that could only come as a supernatural miracle.  Jesus of Nazareth offered that hope.  One woman reached out and touched Jesus as he walked by.  One woman was already dead and Jesus touched her. In touching these women Jesus risked much. 

"In whatever problem or suffering we face, Jesus getting his hands dirty with the problems of this world is what we need and what in the gospels we are promised."  NT Wright This quote is the key from Wright's commentary on the passage in Luke 8:40-56.  I have been thinking through this quote for about 10 days now.  The more I think about it the deeper it becomes.  It's like a Chinese Finger Trap.  The more I pull at it the tighter it grips.  It's starting to get really tight now. As a Believer and admitted Follower of Jesus I have chosen to try to understand his teachings and then form my thoughts and actions around my understanding of those teachings.  In this particular case it means that I must get my hands dirty.  I like to have clean hands.  I like to help people that don't make me uncomfortable.  I like to spend time with people that think and act somewhat like me.  That is not what Jesus did.  In the case of these verses he touched an unclean woman