THE CELEBRATION CALIBRATION: A RUMINATOR'S LENTON SEASON

Greetings and Salutations to those who are regular readers of THE RUMINATOR RAMBLINGS...and also greetings and salutations to those who had this Rambling forwarded to them by friends...or you happen to stumble onto it. The Ruminator chews on the Word of God likes a cow chews the cud... reflecting, mulling, thinking about the Word.

Today...I want to talk about the CALIBRATION CELEBRATION in my personal life during the SEASON OF LENT. I like the season of LENT because it is a time of soul searching...repentance...a season of reflection...and taking stock of my life. Some would say...but should you not be doing that 365 days a year? The answer is yes...BUT...I don't. We use all kinds of methods to REFRESH our lives. We take vacations...days off...pamper ourselves with spa days...take a walk on the beach...go on retreats (if you are really spiritual...you don't go on retreats but go on an ADVANCE)...go to meetings...conferences...etc. We go to these place to escape the pressures and cares of the world...and enter into GREENHOUSE SITUATIONS...and prepare to go back out into the "REAL WORLD". Jesus would often pull away to places of prayer and reflection for what needed to be done. For me this time of LENT is that time...where I can clear the clutter...hear God...and RECALIBRATE. Sometimes...as I live out my faith in this NITTY GRITTY world...my calibration gets off kilter...and I tend to do religious stuff...but my guidance coordination's are out of whack...and I need to RECALIBRATE to get back to the standard. Then I can get back to CELEBRATING...thus the title of this Rambling...CALIBRATION CELEBRATION.

In our collage...you see Kool and the Gang...and Three Dog Night...who had some great songs both titled CELEBRATE. When ever I hear these songs...I feel a lift in my load...and a spark in my steps...especially when I think about when the children of Israel were set free from the bondage of Egypt so that they could CELEBRATE IN THE WILDERNESS. Well...we are in this nitty gritty world...and are still called to CELEBRATE IN THE WILDERNESS until we go home. To do that...I PERSONALLY NEED TO BE IN PROPER SYNC WITH MY FATHER AND HIS STANDARD....AKA CALIBRATION.

It has been said that CALIBRATION is the validation of the specific measurement techniques and equipment. CALIBRATION is a comparison BETWEEN measurements...one of a KNOWN MAGNITUDE (God) or CORRECTNESS made or set with one device and another measurement...made in a similar way as possible with a second device.. The known correctness is know as...THE STANDARD. The second (2nd) device is know as the UNIT UNDER TEST (U.T.T.) The word righteousness means the STANDARD...so that would be God...His Word...His Standard...and you and me are the U.T.T. We go through the process of getting back into sync...recalibrating with the standard.
ENTER THE SEASON OF LENT.

LENT is a 40 day long...liturgical...season of fasting and prayer before EASTER (Resurrection Day for the purist).

NOTE: There is much debate on if we should use the word Easter...or celebrate another day...or even celebrate at all. Easter is not about rabbits...eggs..bonnets
...chocolate rabbits...popcorn bunnies...etc. It is about the culmination of the death, burial...and RESURRECTION OF JESUS THE CHRIST.

Millions of Christians celebrate this season...and millions don't celebrate this season. Liturgical to the Orthodox take time to reflect...and many think this reflection is a daily process. Some say...I am giving up LENT...for LENT this year...and I understand that it is not for everyone. I don't even do it in the traditional way. When you start making the DAY or RITUAL...more important than the CREATOR OF THE DAY...or WHY YOU DO THE RITUAL...then you are in error. (Read Galatians)

With that said...for me personally...I look forward to this season as a time of preparation, pertinence, alms giving and self denial.

This year LENT began on February 25th 2009...and ends on April 11th 2009...the day before RESURRECTION DAY. There are 40 days in the LENTEN CALENDAR...with each Sunday being a day of "mini-Easter" ...a celebration of Jesus' VICTORY OVER SIN AND DEATH.
That mean...for example...that if you gave up chocolate for LENT...then on Sunday you may have some chocolate. Of course you will have those who may try to push the envelope...and say that they gave up Jack Daniels for Lent...or gave up illicit sex for Lent...and then on Sunday you can indulge. Mmmmmm...I don't think so. Of course tradition...of pagan origin...institutes FAT TUESDAY as a time to have your one last blow out of debauchery and sin and over indulgence...as places like New Orleans and Rio...turn into SIN FEST with Carnival (the flesh)...and Mardi Gras.

This year...for old Rod...I am taking time for recalibration. In the past I have given up blogging (not doing that this year)...various items of food...complaining...etc.

NOTE: This is not just a time of giving something up...but also adding something in. For example if you give up cussing...add in praising. If you give up negative talk...start talking positive. If you give up candy...add a vegetable. If you give up T.V....add in reading the Word or prayer more than normal.

For me personally...I have asked the Lord...to speak to me daily and specifically in the areas of (1) my spirit (2) my soul [mind, free will]
(3) emotions. I have purposed to daily...minute by minute...choice by choice...to filter it though the Father. He has already spoken to me some specifics...that I don't have to ask Him about during this journey...but along with this...it could be something as simple as a choice about what to eat at that moment...or if I am in the middle of meal...when should I stop eating. The other day...I was at a Chinese buffet with a co-worker...and where I would normally go back 3 or 4 times to fill my plate...I asked the Lord...and I stopped at one plate.

Lord...speak to me in my sPIRIT (little s...human spirit)...where I communicate with you. Let your Holy Spirit who knows your heart...speak to me in my spirit. May I have times of intimacy with you...and know that I know that I know that I know the things of the Father. May I not quench the Spirit by things I say and do.

Lord.. speak to me in my SOUL (my mind...my volition/free will/choices...and my emotions). Lord as I renew my mind with the washing of the water of your Word...may I be transformed into your desire...versus be conformed to the worlds desires. Lord help me to have a different MIND SET...a mind set on the Spirit...where there is life and peace..versus...a mind set on the flesh...where there is death. Lord, may my CHOICES...my volition...my free will...make right choices...based on your Word and my renewed mind...as you speak to me on this LENT JOURNEY. My my emotions be stabilized as I go thorough this time...and not be fluctuating based on what SHAKES ME...but I will have emotions based on my renewed mind, right choices...and my intimacy with you.

Lord...speak to me in my BODY (flesh, blood, bones, ligaments, muscles, organs, etc)...this housing...this temple...of the Holy Spirit. Lord I look to you not only as the Saviour of my soul...but also the HEALER OF MY BODY. Lord...by your stripes I am Healed in every area of my life...my emotions, my sin sickness...and my BODY. Lord you know my specific needs...and I thank you for speaking to me to do what I need to do. Lord if it is to get up and walk...I will. If it is to drink more water...I will. If it is to stretch...I will. Where my inabilities and physician's inabilities...and my own body's inability are...may you be there with healing. By your stripes I am Healed (Isaiah 53).

"Therefore...strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble...and make straight paths for your feet...so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint...BUT RATHER BE HEALED." (Hebrews 12:12,13)

Lord...after this LENT SEASON...may I carry on the RECALIBRATION PROCESS DAILY...so next year...it won't be so hard.

"Remember my affliction and my WANDERING...the wormwood and bitterness. Surely my soul remembers and is BOWED DOWN WITHIN ME...This I RECALL TO MY MIND...therefore I HAVE HOPE. The steadfast love of the Lord (the Lord's loving kindnesses) indeed never cease...for His mercy (compassion's) never fail...they (steadfast love/mercies) are NEW EVERY MORNING (daily)... GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS." (Lamentations 3:19-23)

"My little children...I am writing these things to you that you MAY NOT SIN...and if anyone SINS...we have an ADVOCATE (one called along side to help) with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous...and He Himself is the RIGHTEOUS (the standard for calibration)...and He Himself the PROPITITATION (substitute and satisfaction for God)...for our sins...and not for ours only...but also for those of the world."
(I John 2:1,2)

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY!

Here it is...four days into the journey...KEEP ON WALKIN'.

Love and Lengthened Kisses
Rodney "Ears Wide Open" Boyd

FROM CHAOS TO CREATION: NEW CREATION IN CHRIST

Greetings and Salutations all of you Old and New people. I am not talking about a chronological age...a blip on the time-space continuum...but being born the second time...being born again. To tell any good story...you use the literary device...of a flashback...or starting the story IN THE BEGINNING...so you can see where you are at NOW.

"In the BEGINNING...God CREATED the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1)

BEGINNING: (ray-sheeth)= the first place in time, order or rank (specifically firstfruits)--beginning, chief, principal thing.

CREATED: (baw-raw)= to create, to cut down (a wood), select, feed (a formative process), choose, create, dispatch, do, make (fat)...creation out of nothing...NO THING...ZILCH...ZERO...NADA.

In Dr. Henrietta C. Mears book...WHAT THE BIBLE IS ALL ABOUT (Bible Handbook)...Dr. Mears speaks of the nature of Genesis (origin) and beginnings.
"Genesis is the book of beginnings." She outlines some of the beginnings:

1. The beginning of the world--Genesis 1:1-25
2. The beginning of the human race--Genesis 1:26-2:25
3. The beginning of sin in the world--Genesis 3:1-7
4. The beginning of the promise of redemption--Genesis 3:8-24
5. The beginning of family life--Genesis 4:1-15
6. The beginning of civilization--Genesis 4:16-9:29
7. The beginning of the nations of the world--Genesis 10-11
8. The beginning of the Hebrew people--Genesis 12-50

Dr. Mears also writes, "Genesis is the record of the BEGINNINGS of all these things. No wonder that when PEOPLE, because of spiritual blindness (Ephesians 4:18) REJECT God's revelation in this peerless record of BEGINNINGS, they worship CHANCE as the CREATOR, BEASTS as their ancestors...and FALLEN HUMANITY as the flower of natural evolution."

Verse 2 of Genesis 1...describes the condition of earth at this time. "And the earth was FORMLESS and VOID, an DARKNESS was over the surface of the deep..."

FORMLESS: (to-hoo)= to lie waste, a desolation, desert, a worthless thing, in vain...confusion, an empty place, without form, of nought, vain, vanity, waste, wilderness

VOID: (bo-hoo)- empty, a vacuity, indistinguishable, ruin, emptiness, void

DARKNESS: (kho-shek)= misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness, night, obscurity

There were TWO THINGS...that CHANGED the condition of this chaotic mass. (1) The Spirit of God (2) God speaking a word.

"..."and the Spirit of God was moving/hovering/sweeping/brooding...over the surface of the waters. Then GOD SAID..." (Genesis 1:2-31)

When Paul was writing about Abraham...the father of faith...who BELIEVED GOD...AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS (Romans 4:3)...Paul wrote that Abraham had a promise (of children)...but when he was so old that he it was beyond his physical ability to reproduce...where was dried up and Sarah's womb was a tomb...He CONSIDERED NOT HIS OWN BODY (his abilities)...but BELIEVED HIM who made the promise in the first place.

"As it is written...a father of many nations have I made you (Genesis 17:1-8)...in the sight of Him WHOM HE BELIEVED...even GOD...who
GIVES LIFE TO THE DEAD...and CALLS INTO BEING THAT WHICH DOES NOT EXIST (calls things that are not...as though they were). (Romans 4:17) This was how GOD OPERATED in the CREATIVE PROCESS...and this is how we move by faith. We hear His Word...we do not consider our impossibilities...and we begin to TALK the LANGUAGE OF FAITH. As a Speech Pathologist...I love stuff like this.

God saw the condition of earth...formless, void, dark...and SPOKE (and God said)...into existence ORDER. He gave life to the dead...and called into being that which does not exist.

What started this Rambling for me...was...and is...me RUMINATIN'...on my own inabilities...my own impossibilities...my own frustration... in my B.C. state (before Christ...before the fall of 1970)...and in 2008...as the world is falling apart. Maybe your world is falling apart. Things are shaking on the personal and global level...and you are being overwhelmed by the storms of life... the earthquakes, famines, spirits of doubt, loved ones dying, and your money just won't last (this is a line from a song I wrote in the 70's called WALKIN' ON THE WATER). The problem...in the song...was that I took my eyes off Jesus...now I'm sinkin' mighty fast. The solution...get my eyes back on Jesus.

I am a NEW CREATION...IN CHRIST. Outside of CHRIST...I am an OLD CREATIONS...but because I accepted what SATISFIES GOD in relation to my SIN STATUS...I am a NEW CREATION...the OLD THINGS...passed away....BEHOLD...NEW THINGS ARE CONSTANTLY COMING. (II Corinthians 5:17) The way that I have to walk in this NEWNESS...is like Abraham did...

"And without becoming WEAK IN FAITH...he contemplated (not) his own body...NOW AS GOOD AS DEAD since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb; YET with RESPECT TO THE PROMISE OF GOD...he did not WAVER IN UNBELIEF...BUT GREW STRONG IN FAITH, giving glory to God...and being FULLY ASSURED that what He (God) had promised (to Abraham) He (God) was also able to perform." (Romans 4:19-21)

In my flesh...I cannot live the life...but by faith...as the Spirit of God is IN ME...I SPEAK FORTH what God SAYS ABOUT ME. I can start of with a GENESIS EXPERIENCE...every single day of my life...by the blood and forgiveness of Jesus...and the D.B.R.

"The steadfast love of the Lord (the Lord's lovingkindnesses) NEVER CEASES (indeed never cease)...for His compassions NEVER FAIL... they (mercies/compassions/lovingkindnesses) are NEW...EVERY...MORNING. Great is Thy FAITHFULNESS (even when I am not)...The Lord is my portion says my soul...therefore (because of what I just read) I HAVE HOPE IN HIM." (Lamentations 3:22-24)

Thank God for his CREATIVE PROCESS IN ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He ain't through with me YET!!!

Love and Ordered Kisses
Rodney "Ain't Ya Glad He Ain't Through With Me Yet" Boyd