A CROSS WORD

Hello fellow believers in the D.B.R. For those new to the Ramblings...the D.B.R...means...DEATH...BURIAL...RESURRECTION...NOTHING MORE... NOTHING LESS.

For us who truly believe this...we have heard the word of Christ...faith came... and we believed it in our hearts (not just an assimilation of historical facts)... and with this thing that we have heard about the D.B.R., has dropped from our heads into our heart...and we CONFESS this with our mouth. Confession (homolegos=homo/same legos/word)...is where we come into agreement with what God thinks about the matter...and we speak it. (Romans 10:10-19)

As believers...we are called to be WITNESSES of this event that was historical in nature...really HIStory. One of the ways that we like to be a witness...is carry around a large Bible...with gold trim...leather bound...with our name engraved in gold on the cover. Another good way to witness for the Lord is to plaster your car with Christian bumper stickers. This especially works well if you have a HONK IF YOU LOVE JESUS bumper sticker...and when someone HONKS at you in rush hour traffic...and you don't flip the the bird...or try to cut them off in traffic. Nothing says Jesus like confrontation.

The #1 way that we tend to witness our faith...is to wear "Christian Jewelry". The CROSS worn around the neck is an especially visible witness. There are many styles of this witness that have been created from jewel encrusted...the simple but stylish gold cross...to the humble Popsicle stick. Back in 1970...I had a friend who made these Popsicle stick cross and attached them to yarn to wear around your neck. Be sure to wash the Popsicle stick before you assemble NOTE: This method of witnessing is especially effective if you are a lady...and you wear a low cut dress so that when the unsuspecting males eyes are drawn to the cleavage...they can see your cross and be convicted.

Of course...the cross was a symbol of what Jesus went through in our place. He was the sacrificial lamb...the propitiation...the substitute... the satisfaction for God...the tool for redemption as the shedding of blood was poured out on the cross for our sins. If Jesus came in 2008... we could have been wearing a gold electric chair around our necks...or a nice silver firing squad. The cross was the method that the Romans choose for cruel and unusual punishment reserved for political prisoners...murders...thieves...reprobates...and the SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD. Some has said that a more appropriate symbol of our faith should be an EMPTY TOMB on a chain.

Faith comes by hearing...and hearing by the word of Christ...not the latest slogan...bumper sticker...fad...blog. I remember in the early 70's...that the bumper sticker was the witness of choice for me. IN CASE OF RAPTURE...GRAB THE WHEEL...I'M OUTTA HEAR. I use to go to a little coffee house on the corner of 16th and Grand...next to Belmont Church...called KOINONIA. This was the place that you could get the latest Christian Rock album (before it became C.C.M...Contemporary Christian Music). You could buy Jesus Belt Buckles...posters...books...jewelry...and on Saturday nights...sit on a floor with a couple of hundred Jesus People...and listen to Christian Rock...from young teenage girl named Amy Grant...Don Fransico...Dogwood..Bethren... and a rockin' trio named HOSANNA (me, Tom Rutherford, and Mark Webster).

I remember one night going to Koinonia...seeing a Volkswagen bug...plastered with Jesus Bumper Stickers. You could not see a piece of metal on the body of that but. Now...that's witnessing.

I happen to like the crosses...the bumper stickers..the buttons...the belt buckles (I may have to wear mine to church Sunday)...but I find myself sometimes... focusing more on the stuff...than the Lord. It is like someone who knows about Jesus...instead of knowing Jesus. Speaking of slogans...I also like CHURCH SIGNS. I saw one today...that said..."NO JESUS...NO PEACE...KNOW JESUS... KNOW PEACE. Hey...JESUS HUNG UP FOR OUR HANGUPS. And it does not get any better than GODISNOWHERE. Any Ruminator worth his/her salt knows that ...it either says GOD IS NO WHERE....or GOD IS NOW HERE...depending on how you look at it.

What got me thinking about this Rambling? I was listening to a Larry Norman album (vinyl with grooves)...ONLY VISITING THIS PLANET. Larry had left a band (People)...who had a million seller called I LOVE YOU. He left Capitol records...and took his music to the streets...singing to people who would never darken the doors of a pristine church. He witnessed the OLD FASHION WAY... he told them about Jesus. As I listened to the song I WISHED WE'D ALL BEEN READY...about Jeus coming back...and many friends, loved ones, will be LEFT BEHIND. I remember having a dream, where a friend of mine...was left on the ground...as I slowly was being raptured (snatched away). I could see the fear, hurt, unbelief in his eyes...as he reached up and tried to grab me...to go up with me. He said, "Why didn't you tell me." The tradgedy is...I DID...many times. There are so many people on planet earth...that I love...who have hardened their hearts...and are hiding behind there fear...and their pride. My heart aches for them as I write this Rambling. At times...I sit in silence...praying and their faces come before me...and I weep.

Like the apostle Paul stated...For I am NOT ASHAMED of the Death, Burial, Resurrection of Christ...for in it...the Death, Burial, Resurrection of Christ is the POWER OF GOD...for SALVATION...to the Jews first...and then the rest of us knuckleheads. (Romans 1:16...The R.R.T.=Ruminator's Rough Translation)

Gold crosses...O.K...bumper sticker...sure....but Lord I want to go beyond the glitz...and go for the guts. There are SO MANY PEOPLE out there...who are living there lives on automatic pilot...accepting whatever comes down the pike as there lot in life. They numb themselves to the pain of life (if you call this living) with booze, drugs, hedonistic lifestyles...to the point that they think that what they are living is NORMAL. After all...if you can hide behind a mask of laughter, anger, bravado...no one will know that you are crying on the inside. Remember that John Lennon song that we have mention in past Ramblings...sometimes you can't hide...WHEN YOU ARE CRIPPLED INSIDE


"For God SO LOVED (fill in the blank with your name)...that He gave His only begotten Son...that when (fill in the blank with your name) believes in Him (the D.B.R.)...should not perish...but have everlasting life." (John 3:16 R.R.T)

Takes some time and look at the collage of Jesus pictures. Be sure to click on it and enlarge it. Each picture cries out...Jesus Loves You. Each picture is an expression of God's love for you. Other religions have nice philosophies...wonderful expressions of ritualistic attempts to get God to love them...BUT...Christianity is the only one...that the leader allowed himself to be crucified...IN OUR PLACE. The graves of other spiritual/religious leaders...have one thing in common...BONES...decayed flesh...NO RESURRECTION. JESUS HUNG UP FOR OUR HANGUPS...and is the ULTIMATE EXPRESSION OF LOVE FOR YOU...and me.

HE IS RISEN...HE IS RISEN INDEED.

Love and Crosswise Kisses
Rodney "I Wished We'd All Been Ready" Boyd