Tim Boyd's Blog

Break Camp At the beginning of the book of Deuteronomy, Moses addresses a weary people who have been through a lot.  They have seen the highs and lows of life.  They have experienced God’s miraculous work and they have bared the brunt of God’s punishment.  They’ve been attacked.  They’ve been rescued.  They’ve experience hunger and plenty.  They have had their share of boring days.  But mostly, they have been stuck walking in circles. Are you stuck? God's message to them was, “The Lord our God said to us at Horeb, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain.   Break camp and advance…”” In what area of your life do you need to “break camp?”  Are you stable and comfortable and wondering what you should do now?  Instead of buying a new sports car to cope with your sense of meaningless or boredom, maybe you can get involved in a long-term relationship with an organization providing food and medical care for the needy in yo...

I've been toying with the idea for a couple of years.  I've been very serious about it the past 12 months.  I'm pretty sure it's time for me to delete my Facebook account.  (This is not a judgement of your Facebook usage.  Stop making everything about you.  kidding...maybe) There are myriad reasons for keeping my Facebook account.  I am a people person.  I'm an extrovert. I like to see what's going on in everyone's life.  I really mean that.  I also like letting everyone know what's going on in mine. I love having something to talk about with people that I've just met and barely know.  I can comment on one of their postings in real life.  It can open a friendship. I have made "real life" friends through Facebook.  That's awesome!  That may be the only reason I haven't already deleted the account. Facebook messenger is a great way for me to communicate within our church family.  I'm worried about what I'd do wi...

Several years ago I was a young mid-20’s dude living in Minnesota.  One normal day I was in my car with a passenger who was in his low 20’s.  I was far more mature, obviously.  As we were waiting at a stop light, a middle aged man came down the sidewalk riding a pink kid’s bicycle.  The guy I was with started to laugh at this guy.  It made me mad.  So I went into a story with it. “What if this guy is married and has lots of kids?  What if they are young and his wife has to stay home to take care of them?  What if he’s working two jobs to provide for his family?  What if his oldest daughter really wanted a bike for her birthday, but he knew there is no way he could afford to buy her a new bike?  What if he found this used bike on the other side of town and the only way he could bring it home was to walk it across town or to ride it across town all the way home?  What if he was tired from working the morning shift and the night...

One of the best books of the last century is about an old fisherman who represents man's great struggle with life.  This is my favorite quote from the book. "He held on to that fish not knowing how long the struggle would be."   Old Man and the Sea , Ernest Hemingway.  In this story that old man let himself get caught up in the struggle knowing that he was going to lose.  He finally landed the big fish that he had needed so badly, but at a great cost.  He fought that fish for several days and got dragged out too far to sea. The old man kept that fish on his line far too long.  He fought it longer than he needed to.  He let himself get dragged too far out to sea.  He knew better.  He tied the fish up knowing that the sharks would eat it all.  He couldn't stop himself.  He just kept going down that path. Is there something in your life that is dragging you too far out to sea?  Are you "holding on to that fish not knowing ho...

Wow!   Timothy Keller is really intelligent.  Now, that I have that out of the way. Keller's book, Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism ,  is a wonderful combination of drawing wisdom deep out of the well and making it accessible to someone of average intelligence (like me.)  I think he does a great job of drawing on the collective work on the modern-day sermon.  He, surprisingly, disagrees with both Fred Craddock (my favorite preacher) and Andy Stanley (many Pastor's favorite preacher).  I think he has valid concern with each of those guy's approaches to what a sermon is and what is to be accomplished within the sermon.  His main difference in opinion with them revolves around the debate of Expository Preaching vs. Topical Preaching.  (Expository starts with the Bible and works out to daily life, whereas Topical starts with daily life and goes into the Bible.  I agree completely with Keller's assessment in the book.) I ...

Katy Perry's parents came to a church in Bradenton. Here's a link to the whole article in the Bradenton Herald.   It's a good article.  The reporter does a good job of just telling us what happened when they were at that particular church.  Here's just a piece of the article: "They don't want you to be spiritual mom and dad?"  If you, as parents, are not supposed to teach your own children about faith how are they supposed to learn it?  That philosophy probably doesn't work in other areas: Don't teach your kids about sex, they'll find out on their own...uh.... Don't teach your kids about traffic laws, they'll find out on their own....uh.... Don't teach your kids about healthy eating or exercise.... Don't teach your kids how to read.... Don't teach your kids how to be kind.... Don't teach your kids how to...etc... If "kid's finding it out on their own" doesn't work in other areas ...

Can you judge a parent by the behavior of their child?  I'm assuming you will say "yes."  Can I judge you by the behavior of your child?  I'm assuming that on some days you will say "yes" and on some days you will say "no."  I'm assuming that, because I have four kids and I can see the looks and hear the whispers.  Their are days when I want people to judge me based on my kids behaviors.  Then there are days when I don't want people to judge me based on the behavior of my children.  But most days, I could care less what anyone else thinks about the behavior of my kids or of my ever-changing parenting style. Maybe there's a better question... Why do you need to judge my parenting or the behavior of my child?  Let me make another assumption here.  If you judge parents and the behavior of their children you feel insecure in your own children and the rightness/wrongness or strength/weakness of your own parenting decisions and actions.  ...