Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

He wore cursing as his garment;
    it entered into his body like water,
    into his bones like oil.

• Psalm 109:18

“Do not pray for this people or offer any plea or petition for them, because I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their distress.
“What is my beloved doing in my temple
    as she, with many others, works out her evil schemes?
    Can consecrated meat avert your punishment?
When you engage in your wickedness,
    then you rejoice.”
The Lord called you a thriving olive tree
    with fruit beautiful in form.
But with the roar of a mighty storm
    he will set it on fire,
    and its branches will be broken.

• Jeremiah 11:14-16

There is only cursing, lying and murder,
    stealing and adultery;
they break all bounds,
    and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
Because of this the land dries up,
    and all who live in it waste away;
the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky
    and the fish in the sea are swept away.

• Hosea 4:2-3

Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.

• James 3:10

Do not pay attention to every word people say,
    or you may hear your servant cursing you—
for you know in your heart
    that many times you yourself have cursed others.

• Ecclesiastes 7:21-21

Our traditional meal for Memorial Day has been barbequed country style pork ribs and potato salad.  The vegetable might vary from year to year, but this year with both of us on restrictive diets that conflict with each other, we had green beans.  But before Memorial Day, I had returned from church and taken off my socks.  Later that Sunday afternoon, my wife decided to cook the potatoes and found that the bag of potatoes had gone bad.  I threw on some socks, in the photo above, and shoes and drove to the nearest grocery store for a five-pound bag.

As I got my shopping cart, a little girl, about the age of kindergarten, but maybe not starting school yet, came into the store behind me with her mother.  I caught them out of the corner of my eye.  The little girl was tiny and had a pretty, unblemished face.

Suddenly the little girl started cursing.  It was curses of surprise rather than disdain, but it was repeated filth coming from a girl who would not be ten-years-old for several years.  Then she added, “That man is wearing Spongebob!  That man is &^*$&@^*$&*#$&^&* wearing %*(#&%(*@&%()@ Spongebob!”

I was abused, confused, and amused all in a very seconds.

I was abused in that I do not like hearing such cursing from adults, and this mother made no attempt to curb her daughter’s volume or her language.  It was not for me to correct the little girl and she probably learned that type of language from her mother at an even earlier age.

I was confused in that the little girl equated all yellow cartoon characters to Spongebob Squarepants.  She saw a drawing.  She saw yellow. Spongebob!!!  Again, it was not worth the hassle to correct the little girl.  If she had never seen a Charlie Brown comic strip or one of the holiday animated shorts, she would not have made the connection anyway, but I felt Charlie Brown was far more wholesome.

Then, I wondered if I should be amused.  She had seen a yellow cartoon character on my socks, and she had become very excited. It is amazing how a pair of socks could send a “message.”

It made me think that if we presented the story of Jesus in a like manner, not on socks but in something like Veggie Tales or the animated Bible stories, they would absorb those stories like a sponge, without the Bob.  Those things are available, but instead the child learns how to curse like a sailor.  But then again, that phrase about sailors cursing is 50+ years old.  I bet those sailors would have been embarrassed with what came out of the girl’s mouth.

We need to teach wholesome things in the home and church.  It is quite obvious that they will not learn those wholesome things anywhere else.  But learn?  You cannot stop them from doing that.  The key is what they are learning.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.