The zit had a life of its own.  A big gooey yellow mess growing on my chin and it was reproducing itself.  Several offspring were coming of age in all their pimply glory.

I was aghast and trying to keep the ugliness hidden, with my head tilted downward and my eyes fixated on a book.  Lost inside myself I wasn’t even seeing the words as I poked along in a fantasyland where acne, pain and emotional chaos did not exist.

It was September 1969.  My fourteenth birthday was on a near horizon and grade nine was turning itself into a nightmare threatening to consume me.  On a bus full of fellow students I was all alone, sitting beneath a tinny sounding speaker vaguely listening to a commercial for some long forgotten product.

1050 CHUM returned to its playlist.  Without an introduction the disc jockey spun a record that shattered the borders of my daydream.  A gunshot drumbeat followed by a swirling invasion of sound jerked me into a world of lyrical wonder.

“Once upon a time…”  That voice, so edgy and imbued with a living wildness, was a razorblade slashing its way to my core.  The story, populated by a mysterious and magical cast of characters, was a tightly woven tapestry that draped itself around me to smother angst with defiance.

In six minutes the hook-line refrain sank its fingers deep into my brain and would not release the grip:  “How does it feel?  How does it feel?”  I had to know everything about the artist, and the first thing I learned was that Like A Rolling Stone had been in the air since 1965, but it was a brand new revelation for me.

A few weeks earlier I’d discovered Big John Cash and now on a clear blue autumn afternoon, Bob Dylan joined him to become my lifelong traveling companions.

In the late seventies Dylan checked out the basic tenets of Christianity for himself and in doing so, he arrived at an interesting state of enlightenment. 

In the song Gotta Serve Somebody, he detailed a rather inclusive list of occupations, fashion fads and stations in life, then concluded that there were no exceptions for anyone.  I happen to agree with the poet’s reasoned observation.  

No matter who we are there is no escaping the principle that everyone is “gonna have to serve somebody.  Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord.  But you're gonna have to serve somebody.”

All through the years Dylan’s faith-journey and the minutia of his life has been the subject of scrutiny.  Self-proclaimed experts and arm chair readers of tea leaves see transgressions or abandonment of faith in each little snippet of information parlayed in the press.  

A word to those who demand definitive answers from him or want to sit in judgment: Like each of us, Dylan’s faith is between him and his Maker, and it meets reality in the caverns of his heart.

His music is deeply spiritual and always has been for me, even before and after the highly hyped trilogy of evangelical albums.  The songs speak to the deepest part of who I am, oft-times forcing me to face-down prickly questions; listening to a mix of his work enriches my meditative life immensely.

In a 2004 60 Minutes interview with Ed Bradley, Dylan remarked that “the only person you have to think twice about lying to is either yourself or to God."  Later in the dialogue, he explained his never ending tour schedule was part of a bargain he made with the "chief commander - in this earth and in the world we can't see." 

Evidently the slow train is on the tracks to go the distance.

His 33^rd solo album was released on April 28, 2009. In its first week on the charts, the album rang the bell at the top of the Billboard 200 in the U.S. That fact made Dylan the oldest artist ever to debut at number one.

There are no apocalyptic musings on this gem, but rather, carefully crafted songs about ordinary people’s lusts and heartaches. Very bluesy stuff, with rollicking bar-band guitar licks accentuating snickering accordion riffs on most songs.

His voice is world weary and ravaged, grumbling and cutting its way through brilliant lyrics that carry weight; his voice has become the battered growl of a master bluesman. When the story requires it, he still delivers lines with an audible sneer. A phrase from I Feel A Change Comin’ On immediately impressed me: “Some people they tell me I got the blood of the land in my voice…”

That’s the truth and perhaps always has been. When know-nothings or smart-alecky Philistines make snide remarks about the coarseness of his voice, I merely smile to myself because genius always has its uniqueness.

Many performers spend years taking lessons and classes to be taught how to convey the empathy and emotion that drips off Dylan’s voice with a natural ease.

Now the bard of Hibbing has recorded an album of traditional Christmas standards to be released on October 13, 2009.  The mockers were all out in force when it was announced, which only proves that people make themselves feel important by trashing others and putting down what they do not understand.

It’ll be interesting to hear how a legendary musicologist interprets and puts his imprint on well known classics.  All U.S. royalties from this project will be donated to Feeding America, which is one of the nation’s leading hunger-relief charities.

Dylan commented: “It’s a tragedy that more than 35 million people in this country alone - 12 million of those children - often go to bed hungry and wake up each morning unsure of where their next meal is coming from. I join the good people of Feeding America in the hope that our efforts can bring some food security to people in need during this holiday season.”

The goal is to get four million meals to more than 1.4 million people during the upcoming holiday season.  Dylan is also partnering with two international charity organizations to provide food for millions in the United Kingdom and the developing world.

May these humanitarian endeavors be blessed with success.

Bob Dylan has been called a multitude of things by many different people; he has worn a variety of masks. He is a Pulitzer Prize winner and cultural icon; he has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

There can be no denying that both culturally and musically he was one of the most influential individuals of the twentieth-century. His biographer, Howard Sounes said: “There are giant figures in art who are sublimely good; Mozart, Picasso, Frank Lloyd Wright, Shakespeare, Dickens. Dylan ranks alongside these artists.”

What is so fascinating about him?  If one has to ask, one will likely never know.  “How can I explain…oh it’s so hard to get on?”

Milestones in my life can be marked by his discography.  He is always rapping at my door like the vagabond from It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.  Though I have never met the man face to face, I certainly have a friendship with his music.  After all the years and miles it is amusing that it all began on a day when I was heading home from school to harvest a bumper crop of pimples.

How does it feel?  Forty years later it feels just fine, thank you very much.