Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Therefore once more I will astound these people
    with wonder upon wonder;
the wisdom of the wise will perish,
    the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”

• Isaiah 29:14

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
    the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

• 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

• Romans 1:20

“There were bells on a hill
But I never heard them ringing
No, I never heard them at all
‘Til there was you

There were birds in the sky
But I never saw them winging
No, I never saw them at all
‘Til there was you

Then there was music
And wonderful roses
They tell me in sweet fragrant meadows
Of dawn and dew

There was love all around
But I never heard it singing
No, I never heard it at all
‘Til there was you

Then there was music
And wonderful roses
They tell me in sweet fragrant meadows
Of dawn and dew

There was love all around
But I never heard it singing
No, I never heard it at all
‘Til there was you.”

• Meredith Wilson, ‘Til There Was You

This song, if referring to the moment that we accept Jesus, is very apt.

I have heard others say in their testimony after accepting Jesus, it seemed that the song of the songbirds was clearer and sweeter.  It seemed the grass was greener and the sky bluer.

Those observations are only true in the mind, just as the song’s title is only true in perception.  The grass was always green.  The sky was always blue, unless your sky is so polluted that the sky is eternally gray or brown … whatever color it is.  And the songbird’s song did not change.  And the song title is wrong only in the fact that God was here all along, but we did not have God’s Love in our heart so that we could hear the songbird correctly or see the grass or the sky in their true vivid color.

It is all there for us to see, but for those who refuse to see it, they consider it foolishness.  They see the impossibility that all this detailed creation could be designed by God. It had to be an accident.

I have driven down the road and I have seen a lot of accidents.  Chaos reigns when accidents happen.  I have never seen beauty come from a random series of accidents.

And as Romans 1 states, there will be no excuse for not seeing God in His Creation.

But while the testimonies of my friends were only correct in perception, I have to agree with them.  The grass did seem greener.

And the song on the hill was sung by the angels, one more sinner had turned from sin and followed Jesus.

Here is Peggy Lee singing ‘Til There Was You.

I know.  Some long-forgotten music group called the Beatles sang it years later, but it was the Peggy Lee version that inspired this post.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.