Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

You are the children of the Lord your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead, for you are a people holy to the Lord your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be his treasured possession.

• Deuteronomy 14:1-2

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

• Matthew 5:9

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

• John 1:12-13

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

• Romans 8:14

Before anyone sends out an APB (All Points Bulletin) or a BOLO (Be On the LookOut), this is a photo of our son when he finished the eleventh grade (Junior year of high school).  He had struggled with his weight, but for the first, and only, time in his life, he joined a sport in high school.  He ran track, losing a lot of weight and was looking rather handsome.

But it was a quirky handsome.  Notice that the necktie is above the collar and the necktie features Looney Tune characters superimposed over red heart symbols.  I do not remember the shirt.  I wonder if he borrowed a shirt for the photo.

But my son is on “short” term disability.  He is having seizures stemming from abuse.  The abuse was administered by his employer.  It seemed insane, and insanity still might be the root of the matter.

But my son was working in a roughly all-black neighborhood, extremely impoverished, where the children often experienced drive-by shootings and gang violence.  Life was cheap, but each individual child felt that their lives should have meaning.  My son worked with a lot of children, and when they were afraid and needed a hug, the students went to my son.  My son, by making them feel good and productive, became the one person in the school that was a peacemaker, at least the first choice.  And somehow, administration saw that as a bad thing, and he had to be abused until he quit.

The upper management learned what was going on and transferred my son to another work location.  But just the thought of what had happened was all it took to send my son over the edge.

He has since gone through a couple of medication changes.  He has conversations with clarity now, but he has developed a short-term memory issue.  His wife still says that he has an occasional seizure, but he “does not remember” the seizure.

So, is he progressing so that he can return to work?  That is still yet to be seen.  He had not had his driver’s license revoked, but for the safety of himself and the family, he chooses not to drive.  He went to a store a couple of weeks ago by himself, but he had to sit in a motorized shopping cart due to the exhaustion for having driven less than two miles from his home.  Is he progressing?  Yes, but at a slow rate.

But I look at this photograph above, and I see the musician who had such great ambition.  I see someone that at the time had his troubles and emotional problems.

Most of that was resolved when he accepted Jesus.

I am starting to see the boy in the photograph a little more each time we talk on the phone.  He gets excited when he says that he and his teenaged son started practicing a duet that would be hard for a music major in college.  He even has the giggle he used to have when he talks about a musical challenge.

So, I may never see the same handsome young man as it was in the photo, but when I see my son, I see a special child of God.  As many evangelists and pastors say, Satan must really be concerned, or he would not have tried so hard to break my son down.  Because my son is a child of God, good things, and maybe great things, are in store for him in the future, in this life and the next.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.