Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Give us permission to go through your country,’ but the king of Edom would not listen. They sent also to the king of Moab, and he refused. So Israel stayed at Kadesh.

• Judges 11:17

So David said, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon feast, and I am supposed to dine with the king; but let me go and hide in the field until the evening of the day after tomorrow. If your father misses me at all, tell him, ‘David earnestly asked my permission to hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because an annual sacrifice is being made there for his whole clan.’

• 1 Samuel 20:5-6

Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” So Paul motioned with his hand and began his defense:

• Acts 26:1

Yesterday, I talked about security clearances.  But the “clearance” in the title is about clearance to have two medical procedures.

I had a very short meeting with my personal care physician (PCP).  I told him that I might write about the doctor visit, and he said to make sure I said “handsome doctor.”  Hey, I listen … sometimes.

We talked about a lot that had nothing to do with whether I could physically handle an extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) or an ureteroscopy with laser lithotripsy.  I told him that I liked that this new surgeon in town was careful.  He suspects that I might be right in that pain on the right side (spasms that last only a few seconds and sometimes days apart) might be from scar tissue during the previous lithotripsy.  But I also joked that I was cursed by good insurance.  He actually agreed with both statements, although he laughed at the second.  When you lay the patient down, put them to sleep, and blast the stones with a shock wave or two or three, most of the work is done without anything invasive being done.  Then the ureteroscopy is done with a cystoscope to clean up what the first procedure did not remove and do so carefully since there is nothing big to have to remove.  Besides, the stent that has made the pain go away for the past two months had to be removed.

My clearance was granted this morning, as of the day writing this, but when this gets posted, it will be before the second procedure.  I may be catheterized for a few days, but at least I know what to expect and the big “spasm producer” is supposedly the stent that will be removed by that procedure, so maybe a little easier to handle this time.

The three Scriptures above are vastly different.  In the first story, Jephthah is retelling Israelite history when the king of Edom refused permission to let the Israelites through their territory.  Edom (Esau) had been Israel’s (Jacob) brother, but the relationship must have gone south after Jacob and Esau passed away.

Then David and Jonathan concoct a ruse about David wanting permission to go to Bethlehem.  If Saul said nothing, then Saul was in a good mood, but if Saul flew into a rage, David was not safe and would have to run.

And as Paul insisted on having his day before the Roman emperor, Agrippa wanted to hear what Paul had to say in his defense.  King Agrippa gave Paul permission to speak, and found no reason to keep Paul in captivity, but once a Roman citizen requests an audience with the emperor, the matter must go to the emperor.  And from what Paul writes in a few of his letters, the timeline seems to support that Paul was released to revisit certain churches and then he was recaptured and taken back to Rome to be martyred.  Some experts even postulate that Paul made the trip to Spain that he wanted to make.

But we must obtain all kinds of permissions these days.  But we also have rights, at least some that have not been diminished by the recent secular fads.

But God does not give us permission to speak and spread the Gospel.  He commands us to do so.

And I had a moment of that with the good doctor.  He did not flinch or say he was offended.  He joined in the conversation.  He even applauded me writing these blog posts.  Whether he agreed with what I write, as my physician, he sees the specter of dementia being far from my door while researching and writing.  So, to those blog writers that read this, keep it up!

Speak boldly, with love.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.