Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

But godliness with contentment is great gain.

• 1 Timothy 6:6

Glory in his holy name;
    let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
Look to the Lord and his strength;
    seek his face always.

• 1 Chronicles 16:10-11

King Rehoboam established himself firmly in Jerusalem and continued as king. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel in which to put his Name. His mother’s name was Naamah; she was an Ammonite. He did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the Lord.

• 2 Chronicles 12:13-14

Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture: “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;

• Mark 12:10

Would you like to swing on a star
Carry moonbeams home in a jar
And be better off than you are
Or would you rather be a mule

A mule is an animal with long funny ears
Kicks up at anything he hears
His back is brawny but his brain is weak
He’s just plain stupid with a stubborn streak
And by the way, if you hate to go to school
You may grow up to be a mule

Or would you like to swing on a star
Carry moonbeams home in a jar
And be better off than you are
Or would you rather be a pig

A pig is an animal with dirt on his face
His shoes are a terrible disgrace
He has no manners when he eats his food
He’s fat and lazy and extremely rude
But if you don’t care a feather or a fig
You may grow up to be a pig

Or would you like to swing on a star
Carry moonbeams home in a jar
And be better off than you are
Or would you rather be a fish

A fish won’t do anything, but swim in a brook
He can’t write his name or read a book
To fool the people is his only thought
And though he’s slippery, he still gets caught
But then if that sort of life is what you wish
You may grow up to be a fish

A new kind of jumped up slippery fish

And all the monkeys aren’t in the zoo
Every day you meet quite a few
So you see it’s all up to you
You can be better than you are
You could be swingin’ on a star

• Jimmy van Heusen, Swinging on a Star

Our music teacher in elementary school was, in my opinion at the time, the most beautiful woman in the world.  But she taught us some of the weirdest songs.  I have grown to dislike long songs that seem to never go anywhere, like This Old Man or the Twelve Days of Christmas.  It is like the composer was having an off day, few words came to his mind.  So, let’s create a time waster that repeats the words in my head, only changing a couple of words in each verse.  How many verses?  Oh, usually there are three or four verses.  Let’s go for twelve.

And for some reason, I had placed Swinging on a Star in that list.  But here over fifty years later, I heard Bing Crosby singing it and I heard the lyrics for the first time.  You know, Jesus kept saying “For those who have ears, let them hear.”  If you take that literally, the words are a waste of time.  If you do not have ears, you did not hear Him say that.  If you do have ears, you already heard.  But Jesus was talking on a spiritual plane.  You heard what He said, now apply the lesson within your life.

And that is what I heard when I was “wasting” some time, resting from my writing.  It was not a “waste” in that I needed the rest.

Some people call me stupid, but I graduated tops in my class, in my degree field, and I got a masters’ degree.  I am occasionally stubborn.  It is not a streak.  Stubborn is my lifestyle, but with the education, I am not a mule.

My wife taught me how to dress.  She bought entire outfits for me until she had burned all my clothes that I had before we got married.  It was that bad.  She taught me that a polka dot shirt, striped pants, and a plaid tie is not a fashion statement.  It is what doctors use to induce vomiting.  With years of training, I realized it was important to make a fashion statement but be fashionable.  I became a trend setter, since I worked in engineer departments and engineering companies with people who still wore the polka dot shirt, etc.  I now care what I wear.  I am not a pig.

And I have a moral compass.  I am not out to trick anyone out of or into anything.  I do not follow the school of the latest fads.  I can think on my own.  I am amazed at all these people who shout how they are breaking with the Christian way of thinking.  They can think on their own.  But then you watch from the sidelines, and they follow every fad that comes along.  They never think on their own.  They just reject God.  I am definitely not a fish.

So, here is the song that I was bored singing after the first verse, but now I appreciate it more than ever.

And each verse is a lesson to each of us.  We all have our mule, pig, and fish moments in life, but God washes those as white as snow.  And maybe that is what the song title really means.  When we are in Heaven with our Lord and Savior, we might literally be swinging on a star.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.