Tim Boyd's Blog

There was a little town that had been decimated by some recent storms.  The people in this town were tough.  Years ago they had been through a storm that leveled there town and they had stayed and rebuilt.  Then another storm came even more powerful than the last one.  Some people moved out of the town and went to somewhere safer.  But these people decided that they weren’t going anywhere.  Maybe they were too stubborn to go, maybe they liked it too much there, or maybe they were just plain crazy.  Don’t know. This latest storm tore through the center of town and knocked down buildings.  It looked like a bomb had gone off.  The school was leveled, the bank, the post office, and many of the homes were destroyed.  So the people of the town decided that they were going to rebuild once again.  They didn’t have the money to just buy all new stuff.  So it was decided that every week they would meet together and bring with them one brick each.  They did this, religiously, for several wee

Galatians 5:25, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”  If you and I were reading this scripture together I would probably ask you what you think that meant.  Then you would probably answer something like “well we should be walking with the Spirit.”  I would agree and compliment you on your wonderful answer.  I think both of us would have, somewhat, missed the point of this phrase.  To keep in step with someone could signify a walk, but it also is the phrase you would use in dancing to keep up with your partner.  “in step” seems to signify, not a walk, but a dance  To be fully alive is to join God on the great dance floor of life. Many of the greatest Christian thinkers throughout history have stated that the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit (the three that make up the one God) are in a constant dance with eachother.  The concept is called the Perichoresis.  It’s from two greek words meaning “to dance among.”    The idea is that the Father, the Son, an

I read this in the greatest collection of sermons I've read.   The Collected Sermons of Fred Craddock . "I'm borrowing the phrase "don't fit in" from my first student church.  It was up in East Tennessee.  I worked there in the summers as a seminarian and it was about twenty miles from Oak Ridge.  Oak Ridge had gotten into place.  The atomic energy thing was booming and folk were coming and constructing that little town into a city.  Folk were coming from everywhere.  Hard-hat types, in tents and trailers and little temporary huts and all kinds of leantos.  They covered those beautiful hills with temporary quarters, wash hanging out on the fences and little kids crying through the muddy places where all these things were parked. My little church, an aristocratic little church, white frame building, beautiful little church was near by.  It was a nice church, wonderful people.  I called the board together and said, "We need to reach out to those folk w

I love Brennan Manning .  I am re-reading The Ragamuffin Gospel .  I have forgotten how incredible his book is.  It really is a must read.  Here is a short section that got me today: "A father is delighted when his little one, leaving off her toys and friends, runs to him and climbs into his arms.  As he holds his little one close to him, he cares little whether the child is looking around, her attention flitting from one thing to another, or just settling down to sleep.  Essentially the child is choosing to be with her father, confident of the love, the care, the security that is hers in those arms.  Our prayer is much like that.  We settle down in our Father's arms, in his loving hands.  Our mind, our thoughts, our imagination may flit about here and there; we might even fall asleep; but essentially we are choosing for this time to remain intimately with our Father, giving ourselves to him, receiving his love and care, letting him enjoy us as he will.  It is very simple pr

In her book Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus , Lois Tverberg retells the following story about a famous first century rabbi named Rabbi Akiva: "One day as Rabbi Akiva was shepherding his flocks, he noticed a tiny stream trickling down a hillside, dripping over a ledge on its way toward the river below. Below was a massive boulder. Surprisingly, the rock bore a deep impression. The drip, drip, drip of water over the centuries had hollowed away the stone. Akiva commented, "If mere water can do this to hard rock, how much more can God's Word carve a way into my heart of flesh?" Akiva realized that if the water had flowed over the rock all at once, the rock would have been unchanged. It was the slow but steady impact of each small droplet, year after year, that completely reformed the stone." I have often wondered why we need to keep meeting together for Worship Services every Sunday.  I have often wondered why I need to read the Bible over and over again

I've come to realize that I am a really good encourager because I am constantly having to encourage myself.  I am the first person to become discouraged.  When I feel that someone is discouraged I HAVE to encourage them.  It's a fire that swells up in my stomach and I can't keep it in. Because the Spirit of God lives within me - my greatest weakness is also my greatest strength. Or....to quote Chumbawamba...I get knocked down, but I get up again, you're never gonna keep me down.

There was once a woman who had an absolutely terrible neighbor.  The woman next door was rude, would borrow things without asking (some people call that stealing), and would only talk to the woman when she needed something.  The nice woman would have let many of these things go and chalked them up as eccentricities if it had not been for one more incredible problem that her neighbor had.  She would throw rocks into her yard!  Not just little pebbles, but full sized rocks.  Where she got them from the woman did not know.  Every day there would be new rocks to pick up out of the yard. At first she was very unhappy.  Why would this woman throw rocks at me?  What’s her problem?  What have I ever done to her?  This would keep her up at night.  She talked to her friends about it.  She never found an answer that would please her. So, one particularly cloudy day she decided to start picking up the rocks and putting them to good use.  She took her focus off of her neighbor and started

There was once a man who was going on a long trip.  He had been planning this trip a long time.  He was very excited to go because he was going to see his friends and family members who have all spread out across the country.  There were some friends he had not seen since he was in elementary school.  That was a long time ago.  When a man goes on a trip as long as this one with as many stops as he was planning to take you have to wonder just why he’s doing it.  He didn’t really understand it.  He just knew that he wanted to take the trip. So he bought a brand new car for the trip.  He had been working with the dealership for a few weeks to make sure he got exactly what he wanted.  It was a nice car.  A sunroof for those beautiful drives at night.  Leather seats that would either heat or cool depending on what you mood you were in.  The best sound system available, and many other amenities.  It was a gorgeous car.  He had spent most of his money on this car and he had very little left.

There once was an army of caterpillars.  They were different ages, but mostly pretty young.  They lived together in a cluster of shrubs.  They blended in very well in this particular shrub and they were very safe.  Most of them were very content to be in this shrub with their friends.  This shrub provided them protection as well as a great supply of food. One day something strange started to happen.  That morning when they all woke up they noticed that some of their friends have disappeared.  They also noticed these strange formations where their friends used to live.  This caused quite a stir and they didn’t really know how to react. “Where’d they all go?” “Where they taken?” “Why didn’t they leave a note or tell us where they were going?” “What are these strange formations?” The rest of the caterpillars got back to work eating leaves and watching out for predators.  They continued with their day as usual and went to sleep in the same place that they have always sl