Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

“Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’

• 2 Samuel 7:5-7

On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.

• Zechariah 14:4

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.

• Psalm 37:7

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

• Psalm 46:10

Six weeks ago, I came down with COVID.  It was a mild form of it, but when it happened, I was one or two posts away from being a month ahead of schedule.  It seemed that my writing was riding on the jet stream.  Maybe the quality was horrible, but I think God was able to communicate even when my writing might not have been top notch.  But the point was that I was ahead of schedule.  I could take a couple of days off due to not feeling well.

But a few days later, having done a little research, I stared at the computer screen and found excuses not to write.  I had stopped moving.  I was still.

Newton’s Law of Inertia is that an object at rest will stay at rest unless force is applied to get it moving.  Newton’s first law of motion is that an object in motion taking a particular direction will remain in motion in that direction unless a force is applied to change that movement or the direction or even cause it the stop.

I had been going rapidly in one direction and then a disease was the force that made me stop.  Now, I was suffering from inertia.  My body did not want to move.  I did a little here and there, but I really was not moving.  The big Bible Study was the next thing to write, but I could not seem to find the time to copy the scholarly quotes.  The inertia was going to require a lot of force to get me moving.

I checked my progress, and I was barely three weeks ahead of schedule.  I had lost over a week of that comfortable cushion…

Ah, comfortable cushions …  The recliner is calling …  Ahhhhh, soft cushions …

No.  I have to create momentum and overcome inertia.  Momentum is mass times velocity.  I have plenty of mass, but my writing velocity is near zero.

I have heard that when people have writer’s block, they simply start typing gibberish…

Kdafjloiaerjfpiojmcxloiv’jdraepgfarjegfp’mdsvp;o’oawefj qapioujrgfep asfawi gtfwsapoeujf pasiaedpfo iarepo wwqfas drf iapoipaqgisapo gfiaspo dsg

Editor’s Note: I think that the famous writers of the past who used this technique threw the page of gibberish away. Just making an editorial comment…

Okay, a fine art major might paint something like the previous “paragraph” – the one before the editor’s note – and get the world to cheer the new style of art.  They will critique the technique, the passion, the free expression, the …

Who am I kidding?  It’s just my fingers stumbling over keys with my brain not doing anything.  Art!?!?  It’s garbage!

No, I think that the only solution to the inertia is to address where that inertia is.

Is it in the brain or the soul?  With either one, prayer is really the answer.  If it is the soul that contains the most inertia, having God give me a swift kick in the spiritual pants might get me moving.  If the inertia is mostly in my brain, having a stimulating conversation with God will get me moving.

So, I looked up some Scriptures.  The first is about how David wanted to build a temple for the Lord, but that task was passed to Solomon.  David was a man of movement, constantly moving.  The second Scripture is from Zechariah about the future when the Mount of Olives will split.  Half of the mountain will move north, and the other half will move south.  Wow!  That is a lot of inertia that must be overcome to move a mountain.

But then, the two Scriptures from the Psalms are about being still and knowing that God is God.

So, maybe since I am ahead of schedule, comfortably, it is okay to be still.  Maybe, just for a while, to know that God is still in control.  He is still my heart and soul.  And maybe instead of that spiritual kick in the pants, I needed a hug.  Everything is going to be okay.  Better than okay.

So, prayer and a few special bits of Scripture and I feel the momentum building.  And on the path that I am traveling, there is no speed limit.  Momentum is mass times velocity.  How fast can I go?  God has no limits, but He does press the brakes for me on occasion.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.