40

Hello fellow travellers, how's your journey?

The first picture is from the Irish band, U2's WAR album. U2...was a band that sang of political, social, spiritual issues. In their early days three of the band members were in a Bible Study...that is reflected in their albums with Biblical references. As a matter of fact...Bono almost left the band for his faith. Depending on who you are... these guys are either druknen Irishmen...or Saints.


U2 used to close out their concerts in the early days with a song off of their 3rd album...which was WAR. The song was 40...based on Psalm 40. I was reading this morning how at the end of the concert they would walk off the stage...one by one... leaving the audience still singing..."How long to sing this song." The "this song" that they were talking about wa the one found mentioned by King David in Psalm 40...
"And He put a NEW SONG in my mouth...a song of praise to our God; Many will see and fear...and will trust in the Lord." Other songs that have a Biblical thread includes songs like I STILL HAVEN'T FOUND WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR...and WITH OR WITHOUT YOU....or WHEN LOVE CAME TO TOWN (duet with B.B. King)...and especially on their VERTIGO project.

Of course 40 is a number that comes up throughout Scripture often. In Genesis we see the Noah Connection with 40 as there was rains and floods for 40 days and 40 nights. When Isaac was 40 years old he took Rebekah as his wife. The children of Israel were provided for...for 40 years in the middle of a 40 day Interstate Journey (that should have taken 12 days...and that was the long route)...from BONDAGE to PROMISE LAND. They were getting there kicks on Route 40.

Jesus was tempted in the wilderness after 40 days of fasting...by the devil. It goes on and on with the 40 Connection.

The lubricant WD-40 is designed to take care of multiple needs around the house or workplace. Some of the qualities of WD-40 includes: (1) Stops squeaks
(2) Cleans and Protects
(3) Loosens rusted parts
(4) Frees Sticky Mechanisms
(5) Dries our Moisture

Hmmm...that sounds like my spiritual life sometimes. I also like to apply another spiritual oil called 3-IN ONE. Why is it spiritual? It reflects the trinity...the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost...and these three are one.

On this upcoming LENT JOURNEY...there will be 40 DAYS of reflection...40 days of rumination...40 days of repentance (as God speaks), all culminating with restoration, repristiantion, and reconciliation. Many places will be located to apply the WD-40 and 3 IN ONE OIL to my spiritual life.

PSALM 40 is some good advice for the pilgrams on their journey....


"I...WAITED PATIENTLY...for the LORD." (Psalm 40:1)

This is a season to pull back...and not get ahead of the Lord like I usually do. He walks a different pace that I normally walk.

WAIT PATIENTLY: To bind together (perhaps by twisting), that is collect, to expect, wait for/on/upon.

"And He INCLINED to me..." (Psalm 40:1")

I am down...He comes down to my level.

INCLINED: To stretch or spread out, to bend away, extend, go down, outstreched.

"And He heard my cry." (Psalm 40:1)

I am crying out...he is hearing.

HEARD: To hear intelligibility, listen, perceive, regard, understand.

MY CRY: Hallooing= to be free, to halloo for help, freedom, from some trouble, cry, shout. NOTE: I wonder if this is part of Hallel...lu..jahing?

This is a song of deliverance...a song of provision...a song in the face of mockers who look at you in your trouble and say..."Aha, Aha". It is a Psalm...a NEW SONG...that many will see and fear and trust in the Lord. They seek your life to destroy it...and delight in your hurt...but God will help and deliver you...because He is mindful of you. (Read Psalm 40 for full details)

This season......get ready to come out the other side...with a song on your lips...and really a song that you have already been singing in the VALLEY on your journey. NOTE: Remember...if you are going through a valley of the shadow of death...or you're going through hell...DON'T STOP...keep on going until you come out the other side. There is a death...there is a burial. This is not pleasant...but we have been called to be mindful of His suffering...as we lay hold of his joy. There is a resurrection.

"Thys statutes are my songs, in the house of my PILGRIMAGE. O Lord, I remember Thy name IN THE NIGHT...and keep Thy law. This has become mine, that I observe Thy precepts." (Psalm 119:55-56)

"Restore our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the South. Those who SOW IN TEARS...shall REAP WITH JOYFUL SHOUTING. He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, shall indeed come again with a SHOUT OF JOY, bringing his sheaves with him." (Psalm 126:4-6)

"Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on PILGRIMAGE (in whose hearts are the highways to Zion)...As they pass through they VALLEY OF TEARS/BACA...they make it A PLACE OF SPRINGS (they go from strength to strength)...the autumn rains also cover it with POOLS." (Psalm 84:5-7)

NOTE: For the next 40 days...I will be taking a sabbatical from writing the Ruminator Ramblings. I will be writing and reflecting. I will meet you on the other side of the journey on the glorious RESURRECTION SUNDAY. Jesus is Lord.

Love
Rodney

ATTA BOY LUTHER

Well friends...the countdown is on. One day until Fat Tuesday...two days until Ash Wednesday...49 days until Resurrection Sunday. In between all of that we have 40 days...not counting Sundays of Lent. If you choose to take the Journey of Lent (in whatever form or fashion God leads you in)...I just want to say....
ATTA BOY LUTHER!

For those who are wondering...the Luther mentioned is Luther Heggs in the movie THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN starring Don Knotts and Joan Haley. The question is...what does THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN have to do with LENT? As with many other Ramblings...NOTHING. It's just another cheap lead in to talk about the Death, Burial, Resurrection...nothing more nothing less.

In the movie...Luther Heggs works at a newspaper, setting up the type for obituaries...who desires to be a reporter. He views what he thinks is a murder that turns out to be a wife hitting her drunk husband in the head. He then accepts a challenge to stay in a house where a murder took place in a house that is being torn down. He sees many scary and strange things including an organ that plays by itself with bloody finger prints on...that even BON AMI...cannot get off the keys. After he stays in the house...he becomes a hero...and is speaking at a hero's picnic...where someone in the crowd continues to yell out... ATTA BOY LUTHER. Well...in our lives...we can try to cleanse ourselves from our sin and the guilt of sin...but good works, pentance...and even BON AMI cannot remove the stain.


During this upcoming LENT SEASON...is a time of retrospective. It is a time when we turn on the searchlight...where things in the darkness of the recesses of our souls...are brought to light.

We first reflect the Psalmist as he sings..."In your anger do not sin...when you are on your beds, SEARCH YOUR HEARTS and be silent...SELAH (think about it, contemplate it, ruminate on it)." (Psalm 4:4)

We are called as believers to..."walk in the light". "This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we WALK IN THE LIGHT, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the BLOOD of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from ALL SIN." (I John 1:5-7)

Again the Psalmist speaks of the power of the SEARCHLIGHT in our lives...
"O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways." (Psalm 139:1-4) He then continues on with a question..."Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?" (Psalm 139:7) He then begins to list the places where God will be. Now the Psalmist speaks of the way the SEARCHLIGHT pierces the darkness..."If I say, surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me, even the darkness will NOT BE DARK TO YOU; the night will SHINE LIKE THE DAY." (Psalm 139:11-12) We proceed to see the depths of where God KNOWS us..."For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mothers womb...I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. MY FRAME WAS NOT HIDDEN FROM YOU when I was made in the SECRET PLACE." (Psalm 139:13-15).

Finally we see the yielding of the Psalmist to the SEARCHLIGHT..."Search me, O God, and KNOW my heart; TEST ME and KNOW my anxious thoughts. SEE if there is any OFFENSIVE WAY in me, and LEAD ME in the way everlasting." (Psalm 139:23-24)

I asked my son Phillip to create a drawing for me that pictures the cross. The dark backdrop with the cross...and three holes represents the death of Jesus. The emptiness of the cross represents the burial. Phillip and I went on a two man retreat this weekend. It was me..my son...and the Word of God, as we went through THE PURPLE BOOK and studied the basics of Christianity. Sprinkled througout the weekend we ate (Famous Daves, Shoney's Breakfast Bar, and Chicago Style Hot Dogs...supplied by Mario Galleone). Also throughout the weekend...various people that I asked to pray and come a speak a word of encouragement and affirmation to my son showed up.

One section that we studied was the importance and necessity of THE BLOOD OF JESUS...more powerful than BON AMI for removing the stain of sin.

"Since we have now been JUSTIFIED ( Just As If I'd Never Sinned) by his BLOOD, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him." (Romans 5:9)


"In Him we have REDEMPTION through His BLOOD, the FORGIVENESS OF SINS, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding." (Ephesians 1:7)

"But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been BROUGHT NEAR through the BLOOD of Christ." (Ephesians 2:23)

"But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship wit one another and the BLOOD OF JESUS His Son, PURIFIES us from ALL SIN." (I John 1:7)

"And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth,. To Him who loves us, and RELEASED US from our SINS by His BLOOD." (Revelation 1:5)

The bottom line is...it is NOT the BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS...of human effort that can save and keeps us...it is not BON AMI that can scrub our souls clean of the guilt of our deeds, and it is not the blood of animals that can take our place as the PROPITIATION (substitute and satisfaction to God).

"But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered throught the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the BLOOD of goats and calves, but through HIS OWN BLOOD, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained ETERNAL REDEMPTION. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, SANCTIFY for the CLEANSING of the flesh, how much more will the BLOOD OF CHRIST, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, CLEANSE YOUR CONSCIENCE from DEAD WORKDS to server the living God." (Hebrews 9:11-14)

He is the mediator of a NEW COVENANT. The first covenant was made with BLOOD...with blood of cavles and goats...underscored by...This blood of the covenatn which God commanded you." (read Hebrews 9:15-21)

The bottom line is this...whether we like it or not...whether it offends us or not...Christianity is a BLOODY RELIGION...."And according to the Law...one may almost say, all things are CLEANSED WITH BLOOD...and WITHOUT SHEDDING OF BLOOD THERE IS NO FORGIVENESS." (Hebrews 9:22)

What does all of this have to do with me tripping and stumbling through LENT? Well...as I have the SEARCHLIGHT shine on me...and God puts His graceful and merciful finger on me...I come undone by my sin...and call what is revealed by what God calls it...SIN. I then CONFESS (come in to agreement with God)...apply the only thing that can cleans me and restore me...HIS BLOOD...and then GET UP AND WALK FORGIVEN...as my sin is cast into the sea of forgetfulness or as far as the east is from the west.

I hope as I walk in His grace, mercy and forgiveness...and as I yield my will to His will...and as I do the works I was created to do...I hope that I will hear...like Luther heard ATTA BOY LUTHER...that I will hear...well done, good and faithful servant...enter into the rest of the Master.

Happy Lent
Rodney "Feeling The Touch" Boyd

TOP TEN REASONS THAT IT'S ALL ABOUT ME BABY...IT'S ALL ABOUT ME!!!

Greetings and Salutations to all who know that IT'S ALL ABOUT ME...and to those who are yet to have that revelation. Over the past few years I have written many TOP TEN LISTS. They have been about THE TOP TEN REASONS: It's O.K. For Me To Cuss....I Don't Have To Read The Bible...I Don't Need To Tithe...and multiple others. Of course the #1 reason of all of the TOP TEN LISTS...is IT'S ALL ABOUT ME BABY...IT'S ALL ABOUT ME.

In this upcoming season of lent...where we are suppose to be introspective about our lives...and let the Lord deal with specific areas of our lives...in the spirit of Fat Tuesday...I would like to list...THE TOP TEN REASONS THAT IT IS ALL ABOUT ME BABY...IT'S ALL ABOUT ME. Then for the next 40 days of introspection...I can focus on why it's not about me.

Sooooooooooooooooooo...without further adue...adew...udo...here are the TOP TEN REASONS THAT IT IS ALL ABOUT ME BABY...IT'S ALL ABOUT ME.

#10 When I look in a mirror...there ain't nobody else looking back at ME but me...and in the words of Muhammed Ali..."I'm A Pretty Man!"

# 9 Reports from Canada...from my friend Red...aka The Sweet Canadian Mist..
I (that would be me)...am cute...thus the name...Cute Little Rodney (C.L.R.)

# 8 I have been married to a goddess for 36 years...NUFF SAID!

# 7 Very important business men from various countries...contact ME by
e-mail on a regular basis and request for ME to help them transfer funds to America.

# 6 After tasting some of my deep fried...cajun injected...turkey...people have told me...when they think of turkey...the think about ME.

# 5 I (capital I)...am a chick magnet. I try to disguise myself as one of the Blues Brothers...and I still attract the Blond Bombshells.

# 4 Brenda and Phillip love to hear me speak forth my puns...like...when we are driving down the road...and there is an exit sign that says ARNO ROAD 1 MILE.
Everytime we go by...I tell them that we better not get off at that exit...because there ARE NO ROAD. They never get tired of ME saying it.

# 3 I gave up years ago with those self-help courses. Why mess with perfection?

# 2 I looked up the word perfection in the dictionary...and saw a picture of MYSELF. Synonyms that were listed...Rod, Rodster, The Rodenator, Elderodo, Mr. Boyd, etc.

AND THE # 1 REASON THAT IT'S ALL ABOUT ME BABY"

IT'S ALL ABOUT ME BABY...IT'S ALL ABOUT ME. Excuse me while I sing MY OWN praises...let me tune up first...ME, ME, ME....

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm....I may need to have an attitude adjustment. If only I had someone who can look to as an example. Who could that be???????????

"Have this ATTITUDE in yourselves which was also in CHRIST JESUS, who although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but EMPTIED HIMSELF, taking the form of a BOND-SERVANT, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in apperance as a man...He HUMBLED HIMSELF by becoing obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."
(Philipians 2:5-8)


"You younger men, likewise, be subject to your eldrs; and ALL of you, CLOTHE YOURSELVES WITH HUMILITY toward one another...for God is OPPOSED TO THE PROUD...but gives GRACE TO THE HUMBLE. Humble yourselves therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time..." (I Peter 5:5,6)

"For through the grace given to me I say to EVERY MAN among you NOT TO THINK MORE HIGHLY OF HIMSELF THAN HE OUGHT TO THINK; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith." (Romans 12:3)

In the WHEEL ILLUSTRATION....the hub of the wheel...the center place...the thing that everything revolves around is CHRIST THE CENTER. My world no longer revolves around ME...but around JESUS.

Love and Non-Self Centered Kisses
Rodney "IT'S ALL ABOUT HIM BABY" Boyd