Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

I am the bread of life.

• John 6:48

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

• John 6:35

Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”

• Mark 4:18-20

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

• Luke 14:25-27

Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

• John 10:7-10

The Boilerplate

My wife took a Bible Study in 2009.  She had become a Christian in 2000, and about the time that she took this class during the week at night, she developed night blindness, or at least the start of it.  I would drive her to a friend’s house, and then the friend would drive her home afterwards.  The focus on the Bible Study was weight loss from a biblical perspective.  I don’t know if any weight was lost by anyone in the Bible Study, but a few members of that group became very good friends.

My wife passed away in March and I found her study guide as I was cleaning up.  I actually found two study guides.  The other study guide was from a Bible study long before committing herself to Jesus.  Her answers were usually copying Scripture or turning the Scripture into her own words.  This Bible Study in 2009 showed signs of how God was working in her life.  It showed Christian growth.

So, instead of writing about a topic at random, I decided to write on the topics in the Study Guide, but instead of using the words of the Study Guide, I thought I would fashion the answers of her questions into a thread to discuss the topic.  And I will not use any comment about other members of the group study (few, and usually prayer requests).  That would be confidential.  Thus, I am writing about these topics “with a little help” from my wife’s answers to study guide questions.

“[Regarding the Mark 4 Scripture above] People place ‘life’ in our worldly possession, and not in our heavenly world.
“[Regarding the Luke 14 Scripture] We must detach ourselves, including family, friends and other non-believers.
“[Regarding the John 10 Scripture, about what kind of life she sought] A spiritual and meaningful life.”

• My wife’s ideas about the Scriptures above

My wife is getting deeper here, and maybe a little too strict in the second comment.  She clearly lived a life for the next life, once she knew the next life was real.

But in detaching herself from family, that came hard.  With some, they detached themselves.  They no longer wanted to be around the Bible lady.  Some detached themselves as part of detaching from the real world – going off the grid or getting off their medications.  But my wife wanted to keep the communication lines open, just in case they might come to their senses, borrowing that from how the prodigal son was described which led him to return to his father.  But when communication lines were cut, she would not force communication, she simply grabbed her phone and cried, trying to will the phone to ring.  She never quite mastered the idea of detachment, even when she knew that talking with these relatives would distract her from her daily walk with God, leading her into temptations, memories of times past.

And thinking of Jesus being the Good Shepherd and the Gate, she came to grips with the life she wanted, the true life that cannot be destroyed by this world.

The study guide author described how the Mark Scripture described Jesus to the physical life.  The Luke passage describes the self-life (our desires, our soul).  And the John Scripture as God’s life that He provides for us.  But when these three lives come into conflict …

“Chaos – self-destruction, unbalanced life – a battlefield.”

• My wife’s ideas on the Holy Spirit’s help in our lives

She went on to write that our spiritual self would then have remorse.  The spiritual self would “give it up to God for forgiveness.”

And how can we avoid these pitfalls?

“Stop, Look and Listen. – We should remember that everything has to be in agreement to succeed in the first place.”

• My wife’s inner thoughts

My wife was a big fan of Romper Room when she was growing up.  Not that she was stuck in that young girl classroom, but she babysat her younger siblings, and with the youngest sister almost ten full years her junior, she watched a lot of kiddie shows as she grew up.  “Stop, look, and listen” was the teacher’s song to remember what to do before crossing the street.  She might not have memorized more than a couple of the Psalms, but she could sing all the Romper Room songs.

And what is the best way to keep on the right track?

“We rethink our self-life by putting God first, and everything else will fall into place.”

• My wife’s inner thoughts

Did it always work out that easily?  In some areas of her life, there was a remarkable transformation.  In other areas, it was a lot harder.

She rarely ate an adult portion of food from about that time until she passed away, but due to sluggish or no thyroid function, she often held to her weight, not gaining or losing.  When you stick to a reasonable diet which would lead to weight loss for anyone else, she was stable.  In the last few years, sloppy nursing led to her keeping her weight, but much was fluid retention.  When the right nurses handled her dialysis, the weight dropped a good deal.

She had conquered her battle with food, mostly in getting badly ill, but she still worried.  She wanted everyone that she cared about, both family and friends, to love Jesus, and she could not let them go completely.

But … She has now.  The final construction of her new creation is now complete.  But more of the journey there, next week.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.