Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

You, Lord, have abandoned your people,
    the descendants of Jacob.
They are full of superstitions from the East;
    they practice divination like the Philistines
    and embrace pagan customs.
Their land is full of silver and gold;
    there is no end to their treasures.
Their land is full of horses;
    there is no end to their chariots.
Their land is full of idols;
    they bow down to the work of their hands,
    to what their fingers have made.
So people will be brought low
    and everyone humbled—
    do not forgive them.

• Isaiah 2:6-9

“But as for you who forsake the Lord
    and forget my holy mountain,
who spread a table for Fortune
    and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,
I will destine you for the sword,
    and all of you will fall in the slaughter;
for I called but you did not answer,
    I spoke but you did not listen.
You did evil in my sight
    and chose what displeases me.

• Isaiah 65:11-12

A couple of weeks ago, I had drastic “cloud” issues.  It may or may not have been a cloudy day, but my credentials to the internet cloud were garbled, not once, but twice in the same day.  One file would not save even the next day.  I had to reinput data to a few files, but one file which had not been modified at all, but since it thought it had been modified, my computer locked up just opening the file.  And then after rebooting, the cloud thought someone else had the file open and they were not sure that I was who I said that I was.

A couple of weeks ago, we had a Friday the Thirteenth.

The fact that both of these things happened on the same day is NOT coincidental.

What?!  The title of the post states that I am not superstitious.  Now I am saying that the “bad luck” that I got happened on Friday the Thirteenth on purpose?  Something supernatural?

The words “bad luck” cannot be found in the NIV.  In fact, “luck” cannot be found.  The word “superstitions” exists in the Scripture above, and in that location only in the NIV.

Believing in anything other than a belief and trust in God is abhorrent to true Christianity.  Some people say that luck is made.  They might be close to the truth in that some people, who believe in luck, see your fortune and think you are lucky.  They would never do the hard work that you had to do to have your fortune.  They flip a coin and buy a lottery ticket instead.  They then think their life is a life of bad luck.

But God provides us with blessings.  The stars should never tell us what to do, or the tea leaves, or the crystals, etc.

But evil exists in this world and Satan would like nothing better than to put a chink in God’s armor that He has draped around me.  Having cloud communication issues on a Friday the thirteenth is almost telegraphing the attack by evil spirits, not bad luck at all.  But Satan would want me to think it was due to it being Friday the Thirteenth.  That’s how superstitions get started.  Satan wanted me to think the date had something to do with it, but God is in control, even for that little detail.  I spent most of that day recovering files instead of writing anything for the blogsite.  The next day is the day that I found my wife passed out on the bed, apparently not breathing, at least for a while.  It was the next Tuesday that my wife went to the doctor to see if she could find a prescription strength version of the pink stuff to stop her diarrhea.  That doctor visit led to her going to the hospital and spending four days being tested and the doctors found nothing wrong.  She had a Gastrointestinal (GI) bleed.  This might partially explain why she had passed out the Saturday before.  The doctors checked everything that they could check, and everything was fine, but then …

The bleeding stopped.  Her blood count stabilized.  And she went home without being treated for anything.

You see.  Evil attacked us.  My files and then my wife’s health, yet we remained faithful to God, and God healed my wife.  When you look at the big picture, you do not see one number assigned to a Friday, you see a fierce battle that God won, and God deserves all the praise.

While God performs miracles, doctors do tests.

The doctors could not accept that a miracle had happened because people were praying for my wife all around the world.  But the doctors said, “No, that cannot be it.  Let’s run another test tomorrow.”  It came back negative?  Okay, another test the next day.  Negative again?  Okay, you can go home, but schedule these same tests for two months from now.  Once we find what is wrong, we can start treatment. …

No, my wife was healed by the Great Physician.

Satan and his minions were on the attack, and we turned to God.

What files were attacked when the cloud went crazy?  With the first attack, it was several files: blog post drafts and spreadsheets.  Not just files from one bit of software.  The file that would nearly lock up my computer by opening it?  My spreadsheet that records the number of times I quote from each chapter of the Bible.  With over 2,600 posts, it would be too laborious to recreate by rereading all my old posts.  The second attack, later that day, locked up only two files, the Bible book usage spreadsheet again, and the spreadsheet which records what posts I wrote on each day, so that I can find an old post easier. The third attack, this next morning after my wife’s passing out or falling asleep standing up, was the Bible book usage file being unable to upload to the cloud. I had to change the file name, and then everything seemed to work without problems, not triggering an unnecessary upload into limbo, or some inaccessible place, thus locking up the computer itself.

I could continue on without those files, but of all those files on my computer, those two spreadsheets and my “book list” – a list of the books that I have read or I have purchased – would be the three files that would be the most missed and would alter the way that I do things in the future.

Of course, my wife’s health is important to her and to me.

Satan’s angels know where to attack, but only one third of the angels fell when Satan mounted his rebellion.  God’s angels have Satan’s angels outnumbered two to one.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.