Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”
Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, “Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the Lord. I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’”

• 2 Kings 20:1-6

I just wanted to give an update and give a perspective based on that update regarding the surgery I had on Thursday.

Before anyone thinks that I am “dying” as Hezekiah thought he was, I just had kidney stones.  In fact, the kidney stones were supposed to have been removed and all they needed to do was remove the stent that they put inside on 15 December and do a little cleaning up.

But they ended up doing practically nothing they had planned on doing.  In just two months, the stent had crusted over with kidney stone material and was difficult to remove.  He used three different scopes before he finally removed the stent.  He then considered the trauma I had gone through to that point and decided to replace the stent and finish the work in a couple of weeks.  So, other than a crusted over stent is now a clean one, everything is as it was before the surgery.

Sadly, I have the same thing that I had before to face, the same surgery with the same goal, and what I am going through now to face again.  I have a catheter that cannot be removed until Tuesday and it is setting off tons of spasms, so my writing is spaced between long periods of lying down.  The nurses told me that the spasms were rare, and that I am special.  But when I am walking across a room and then the pain is so bad that I get dizzy, wanting to fall, I do not feel special.

But, it is temporary, but that is what I was told two months ago.

But was the day wasted?  God does everything for the good of those that love Him, so it cannot be wasted.  I shared my faith with people I may never see again.  The nurses bent over backwards to help me because I did not moan and groan.

And the most heart- warming thing is that when the nurse shift change occurred, the nurse that I really liked in December heard that I would be her overnight guest she screamed that she remembered me from two months ago.  Then she beamed from ear to ear when she entered the room when I called her by name.

I just heard Mark Lowry tell Will Graham on an old rerun of a television show that you never know who you have made a connection with, not really.  And I feel that I made one connection, at least one, and the nurse I had the next morning, knowing that I would be back in two or three weeks (depending on when the hospital had an opening) she might just wrestle with the night nurse as to who would get me for a patient.

Showing love to others works.  And once they know you love them, telling them about Jesus has never been taken as a negative.

So, maybe that is why the surgery did not accomplish anything regarding my health.  I had a chance to show some love.  Now, what awaits the next time?

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.