Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

• Romans 8:28

I have often heard the warning for the quoted verse.  WARNING:  Paul said “the good” not “good.”

Okay another warning.  WARNING:  Paul said “of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

It is so funny, but I have heard hundreds of people claim they were not called by God to do anything.  They just want to sneak in the backdoor of Heaven, but why hasn’t God fulfilled His promise and ladled on the good into my life?

We don’t have to be called to the ministry or even a Sunday school teacher or writing a blog like this one.  God could be calling you to be a plumber who shows God’s love by working at the food bank or doing ten percent of their work for free to people on fixed incomes.  You know, something very specific so that everyone doesn’t want free service.

But if we are saved by God, something free that does not require us to pay anything or do anything, you can be sure that God has a purpose and a reason for us to keep going in this fallen world.  Salvation is free, but sanctification requires effort, along with that “purpose thing.”

But I am praying for my son today.  Within the past two weeks, he had missed work due to his stress-related issues.  What stressed him out?  He was observed by school administration, and they loved his techniques, even getting a fist bump from one of them.  He had a heart-to-heart talk with the principal, and she likes him overall and was encouraging.  He had a phone call with one of the parents of one of his most difficult students and the parent was cordial, even agreeing with him on several points.

Every bit of that was good news, but with my son’s inability to handle stress, due to being abused earlier this school year at a different school, he felt light-headed and nearly collapsed.  With more good reviews and more cooperative parents, he might get used to it, but this was good news with a net of bad.

The net “for the good” will hopefully involve methodologies in dealing with the stress, so that all this is just normal business in the future.  But as for now, whether he gets good news or bad news, the little boy inside his head hears “run away!”

In this case, it might be good that the principal did not read the time and date on a request for a substitute.  She called for a substitute when he needed to have one yesterday.  He showed up.  The substitute showed up.  And the police showed up, expecting a live-shooter incident at the school – either that or a boy threatening to do so.  Under the circumstances, he decided to go home.

As for the shooter thing, I went to college during the latter years of college unrest over the Vietnam War.  Our university was, and still is, conservative, but in my freshman year, a bunch of idiots who failed to study for an exam would call the police with a bomb threat.  The worst thing ever found was a bag full of red candles, about the size of dynamite.  I think they even had a clock in the bag, but not wired to the candles.

The point was that the police got angry.  The university got angry.  They threatened the bomb threat perpetrators in that they would be tried, if caught, as if there really was a bomb.  Compare that to saying the word “bomb” while in an airport, and if the right person hears you, you will not be flying that day.  Letting someone in a public school say that they were bringing a gun to school the next day, should have been dealt with yesterday.  The threat should have led to a night’s stay in jail.  When they say things like that, they give up their rights as Mommie’s little angel.

Words are powerful.  When my son gets to the point of liking praise from school administration, those good words will go a long way in helping him move forward.  But bad words are powerful too, and they need to be dealt with.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.