Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

• John 16:33

“‘“The Lord bless you
    and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you
    and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you
    and give you peace.”’

• Numbers 6:24-26

If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city.

• Deuteronomy 20:12

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

• Matthew 5:9

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

• Matthew 10:34

Boilerplate

I’m Harold Dykstra.  I’m retired, but I go to food bank distributions all over Tracy and talk to people that need someone who will listen to their story.  My time is well spent.  A police lieutenant suggested that I write down the conversations that I had with an angel.  I did not know she was an angel at the time.  The angel, for a little over a year, indwelled a life-sized posable action figure my children bought me, so that I would not be perceived as travelling alone.  And in a way, she was training me for what I do while talking to the needy.  She probed my heart to find out what I believed and how I express love for others.  She changed my life.  Since she was a doll that had come to life, we came up with the term ‘other living.’  She was not a human, an animal, or even a plant, but she was definitely living, and very vibrant.  Oh, excuse me, angels have no gender, but the angel indwelled a doll named Bountiful Babs.  After seeing the angel in that form for over a year, I cannot see her in my mind in any other form.

This Week’s Question

In the last episode, Babs was worried about the Ides of March.  As our conversation progressed, I promised to take her to Tombstone, Arizona.  She had a lot of fun there.

A couple of days later, I was making a sales call in Phoenix, near Glendale, Arizona.  Babs wanted to go with me.  She planned on sitting in the car while I made the call.  She said she wanted to read, but I knew something was bothering her.

As we were driving from our hotel in Tempe, she stared out the window.  “Harold, I killed a man over the weekend.”

I laughed, “No, you were amazing.  The gunslinger in Tombstone claimed to be undefeated.  He challenged anyone who thought they were good enough.  Each challenger put on a vest.  The guns were armed with lasers.  No one was going to get hurt.  After he gunned down a half dozen men who challenged him, you raised your hand.  Once you had on the vest and you faced him, he only had his gun halfway out of the holster, and you had drawn and place three laser shots straight to the heart.  It wasn’t just a tight grouping. It was three shots all to the same spot. The man had never lost, Babs, and you were quicker to the draw.  You were amazing!”

Babs had tears in her eyes.  “But if that was the Old West, I would be the fastest gun.  People would be challenging me, hunting me down, not letting me ever have any rest.  And the thought of killing a man would haunt me forever.  Don’t worry, Harold.  I am broken again.  The water is leaking from my eyes again, but I broke myself this time.  I killed a man.  What did Jesus say?  You hate someone and it is just like killing them.  You call someone a fool and it is just like killing them.  It was a harmless laser, but I fired those shots directly at his heart without even flinching.  Harold, I came with you today, so that I could leak the water out of my eyes, and I need to find peace.  Can that be our Bible Study today?”

I agreed that would be our topic.  The sales call was more successful than I expected, but I should always expect better.  Since Babs started as my travel buddy, I never came away empty, and I always sold more than I expected.  She says that it is in preparation for something, but she will not say what.

She was silent all the way back to the hotel in Tempe.  That was unlike her.  We could sit back and relax today.  I had a morning sales call, tomorrow, near the Phoenix airport and then we had a short drive to Yuma, Arizona.

When we got to the room, Babs took her usual position in the corner, in the overstuffed chair.  She pulled up the ottoman so that she could relax.  That left me to pull the small table over between us, turn the lamp so that I could read the Bible, and then roll the desk chair over.  This entire time, she smiled with her eyes closed.  Her favorite time of the day was our Bible study time.

I made sure that Babs was awake.  She giggled and said she just wanted to rest her eyes.  They had been leaking a lot today.  I started, “Let’s start with John 16:33.  Jesus tells His disciples, that in Him, they have peace, but in the world, they will have trouble.”

Babs groaned, “Do we have to start with something like that?  I want something like the blessing in Numbers 6 that we often hear as a benediction in the churches that we attend.  You know, the Lord blesses you, keeps you, shines His face on you and gives you peace.  Lesson over!”

“No, Babs,” I shook my head.  “The lesson is not over.  We need to study both sides of this topic.”

Babs scrunched her nose, “I tried, but I was not holding out much hope.”  She opened her eyes, looked at me, and then started giggling again.

I shook my head, “Okay, are you really ready to learn something?”  She nodded.  “Back to John 16:33.  With Jesus within us, we have an inner peace, but the world is going to hand us troubles.  We should not fret over the troubles.  Jesus has overcome the world.  God the Father is sovereign over everything.  As Romans 8:28 says, all things will work for our good, that is those that love the Lord.  But at the moment of the trouble, that may be used as a test or trial.  How do we respond?  Do we trust God in everything and in all situations?  We either overcome the trouble, or we go home to be with Jesus.  Either way, it is all good.  Right?”  Babs nodded her head, almost too enthusiastically.

“Now, what does Deuteronomy 20:12 say about those who do not accept peace?”

Babs replied, “You are to lay siege upon them.  I do not think laying siege is necessarily being nice.”

I snickered, “Not exactly.  If you have ever been besieged, you start running out of food and water after a while.  That might make you grumpy.”

Babs did not open her eyes, but she giggled.  “Harold, I know what a siege is, and describing it in terms like you just did sounded a bit silly.  Okay, I am starting to understand that there are two sides to the situation.  If you do not want peace, or peace on God’s terms, then you have war.”

I replied, “I am so glad you put it in those terms.  That leads me to my last two Bible verses.  What do the Beatitudes say about peace?”

Babs said, still with her eyes closed.  “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God (Matthew 5:9).”  Babs had a fantastic memory when it came to Bible verses.

I complimented her. “But that means that we make peace with God.  In other words, we make peace on God’s terms, just like you said.  And then we get to Matthew 10:34.  Jesus did not come to earth to bring peace.  He came with a sword.  I have heard a lot of Sunday school teachers avoid that verse.  I cannot remember the last time I heard a preacher preach on that passage.  God is Love, but Jesus said He did not come to bring peace.  Jesus came to utterly and totally defeat Satan by dying on the cross and then coming back to life again by rising from the dead.  But as Jesus develops His thought further.  A father will be against his son.  We could use the other ones, but let’s just use that one.  Maybe the father believes in Jesus and the son turns away.  The father cannot stay on earth to guide his son.  When Jesus calls the father home, the father must go, and the son, on his own merit, will perish and be lost.  I guess the reason why I picked that one is that for now, if I died, Morrie will be lost and could go to Hell.  I do not know what is in his heart, but he does not act like a Christian.  But if heaven’s gates become open and I see my wife waving me to come to her, I will run toward her and that gate like I have never run before.”

Babs’ eyes started leaking again.  “I know you would, Harold.  But do not lose hope.  There is still hope for Morrie.”

Credits

All these conversations remind me of my conversations with my wife.  We would talk about anything and everything.  And most of the time, it sounded like a discussion in a Sunday school class.

I do not know if they have a gunslinger challenge at Tombstone, but I have seen them at other locations.  The challenger almost always loses.  These gunslingers have been doing it for years.

And I have avoided paint ball challenges and laser tag for that very reason that Babs lamented.  I would probably lose quickly, hesitant in making the “kill” shot.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.