Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

• Matthew 11:29

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

• Ephesians 4:2

Yes, these are the same Scriptures from this morning.  I am making a half-hearted attempt to clean the house.  I move from despair in that it is more than one person can do, then, something has to be thrown out, then, elation that I have a corner where I can stack various cleaning up projects, then back to despair.  My emotions are a mess, just like the house.

But then, I looked in a box and I saw three manuals from a previous job.  I had written all three manuals.  I was proud of what I had done.  One of the manuals was the rules that all training departments would follow in analyzing, designing, developing, implementing, and evaluating training.  The manual was the foundation piece to become accredited, just like colleges and universities are.  And I wrote the entire thing.

But it was signed by someone who had probably not even read it.  He had been hired that day to take over that part of my job.  I was given a numbered copy, the last copy printed with a number.  I was insignificant in the eyes of management.

So, why keep the copy?  My name was not on the cover; someone else’s was.

So, why keep the copy?  I told myself that my grandchildren could see what I had accomplished, but seriously, they would not know what it meant or how many late hours, unpaid hours, it took to accomplish it.

The manual is in the trash, along with the other two of lesser importance.

Someone asked recently “How do we identify ourselves?”

I do not wish for my grandchildren to remember me as someone who wrote training manuals that governed whether the company was equal to a college or not.

I want my grandchildren to know that I loved them, and I loved Jesus.

We go to social gatherings and men ask the other men, “What do you do for a living?”

Why do we waste our time with that?  Should the question not be “Where do you find your worth?”

And if the answer is anything other than “In Jesus” then our response should be, “I will pray for you.”

Can we take anything from this world other than our love for Jesus?  No.  So, what else matters?

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.