Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

I’m Jemima L. Yeggs, a.k.a. Stinker.  Pink Lady Apple Yeggs, my landlady and my auntie, has decided that now that I am not off having adventures by chasing storms, warning people about the storm that is coming, and helping the people who are devastated by them, I should write about my Sunday School Class.  She wants to read about how younger people, especially couples respond to what the Bible says.  And she wants to know how God is at work at Lily the Pink.

We moved into Aunt Pink’s office.  Sally Mae and Darrell Driver wanted to come.  Now that I couldn’t shower right before they showed up, I had to wake up earlier.  Even with showering, I needed to go to Aunt Pink’s restroom between her office and GrandPa’s and Gwen’s attached house.  Since there were children living and/or working in that corner of the Big House and multiple adults of both sexes, they had two restrooms and multiple stalls in each.  The cross in the yard outside Pink’s office window, a raised garden bed and carefully manicured flowers, was getting crowded, but they have not had to move it yet.  I think Pink would move the building first, but GrandPa and Gwen have two stories to expand to multiple children’s bedrooms when they get older.  Still, the Big House was three stories, but a lot of it was offices.  Otto and Zuzka (who were now coming to the class also), PawPaw, Scrambled and Pink, each having a bedroom.  Then Pink Sparkle and Kanok and Joon sharing a bedroom.  With Zuzka’s office in a glassed enclosure inside the Crystal Mountain (a greenhouse inside a greenhouse), they may have to do that again with other offices to have room for each of the children when they get older, but since Zuzka is expecting, they will probably move into an apartment soon.  After all, Zuzka manages the project, and her friend Rota manages where people move.  She can pretty much move where she wants.

After getting to Pink’s office, my hair was a mess, according to Mrs. Perfect, Mary Sheltie Jones, aka B.B., the Bossy Boss.  When we emerged from the bathroom, Emmett now with a stand for the keyboard, he was flanked by Menzie, with Samuel Farquharson coming early.  Don’t worry, they only hold hands during the class.  And on Emmett’s other side, there was Arabella Dalton, his sister.  Next year, we might invite Sarah Dalton, but she is relieved we have not already invited her.  Sarah is shy and there are just too many people in our class for her.  And the pressure of it starting out as a young couple’s class would be overwhelming for her.  And somehow, Michael Rowe Casey was already there.  Oh, I should have remembered since Easy was driving the Turtle, and they decided to leave B.B. behind to fit in more rookies (underclassmen in Meteorology).  T.R.U.S.T.  has had an uptick in enrollment due to the Storm Chasing Channel.  There was not much brewing other than rain.  Other than storm chasing, this was going to be a class on watching a rainstorm emerge.  But the mobile classroom had both of Michael’s adoptive parents busy.  That meant, Michael stayed at Lily the Pink.

But as B.B. and I emerged from the bathroom together, Arabella asked, “Why is it that when we get here, the two of you are in the bathroom, together?  And you are always laughing when you come out.”

I said, “Fireball (her honorary code name, since she has not been on a storm chase – only thirteen), remember what Home Wrecker said, ‘Nunya business.’ But really, Mary helps me with my hair, and we like to talk in private.  Mary is just about the best friend that I ever had.  Let’s see.  Jesus.  Easy.  Yep, top three at least.  And it is extremely embarrassing to be pregnant and not able to see the ground clearly and have toilet paper stuck to your shoe.”

Arabella gasped, “So, that’s what that white strip of paper is on your shoe?”

I squealed, “B.B., how dare you let me come out here with toilet …”

Mary patted my arm, “Stinker, Fireball is kidding, and she is not delivering another baby goat.  She’s making up the story about TP on your shoe.”

I grumbled, “I am going to have to assign demerits in here.  This is getting to be too weird.”

Arabella was giggling and grinning.  She was so proud of her joke that she wouldn’t mind the demerits.

I asked Michael, “Aren’t you staying with the Evidents when you are here?  Where are they?”

Michael said, “No, I stayed with Arabella.”  The two of them looked at each other and grinned.

At that moment, the door opened, and Georges and Jochebed came in.

Jochebed said, “I heard that, young man.  You should be grateful that Georges and I do not kick you out on the streets.  Jemima, we are just taking a little longer to get ready.  You are farther along with your pregnancy.  When I was pregnant in the jungle, I was barefoot.  I never realized that I could not see my feet!  And I do not even have a baby bump yet.  And, Michael, did you properly greet your teacher?”

Michael turned red, “No, ma’am.”  He turned to me and said, “Bonjour Puanteur.”

Jochebed said, “You should be ashamed of yourself.  Bonjour la Professeur.  Do not call her the Stink!”

Mary cackled.  “That’s okay.  We all do in the Turtle.”

Jochebed said, “That may work on the Turtle, but Michael’s mother wanted me to teach him something.  I thought starting with some greetings in French would be nice.  But no, he had to find stinker or stink or even stench in the dictionary.  That naughty boy.”

I said, “I have been on a storm chase with him.  I could tell you stories, but I promised Michael that I would not.  So, do I get some respect in return?”

Michael said, “Tu es un bon professeur.”  He bowed.

I replied, “I’ll take it, regardless of what it means.”

Jochebed laughed, “Oh, that one is a rogue!”

I asked, “But what did he say?”

Jochebed smiled, “He said that you were a good teacher.  So, I am excited to attend your class myself.”

Soon the others had gathered.  I led with a prayer.  Emmett led everyone in Just As I Am, Without One Plea.  I thought I was in a Billy Graham crusade for a moment.  I then came down to earth, since I was the one teaching.

I started with, “I am so glad everyone got the memo.  I said we would cover Grace, but we are covering Mercy instead.  We will get to Grace next week.”

Mary began to cry, “But I didn’t get any memo.  That means that I studied the wrong verses.  How could you do that to your best friend?”

I stammered, “But, but, Mary.  We talked.  I sent an e-mail with the suggested verses. …”

Mary started laughing, “I got you, Stinker!  You do know that I took a few acting classes.”

I growled, “I take back what I said earlier.  I don’t know who, but someone just replaced you in my top three friends.”

Sophie asked, “But what’s the difference between Mercy and Grace?”

I smiled, “Sophie, they are two sides of the same coin.  God’s Mercy is when He does not give us what we deserve.  This brings into question our sin nature, but it does not pound sinfulness down your throat when we are presenting it in the form of God’s answer to our sin nature.  But God’s Grace is when God gives us something we do not deserve.  He gives us Jesus as our model and the control of our lives, when we let Him do so.  God gives us the Holy Spirit to guide us, counsel us, and correct us.  God also gives us eternal life in Paradise.  We do not deserve those things.  We deserve damnation and eternal punishment for what we have done, but God gives us the answer.  We simply surrender our will and rely on the will of God to direct our lives.”

Emmett asked, “So why does everyone start with Mercy before they discuss Grace?”

Joseph said, “Not everyone does that.  The prosperity gospel people are all about receiving, but behind the façade, they are the ones receiving and you have to give.  So, part of the lure is to only focus on their version of Grace.  They talk about how God is an old senile grandfather in the sky and as long as you have faith, he’ll make you rich.  They will even avoid the idea that you do not deserve those gifts.  Sin is a ‘feel bad’ topic, but our sin should make us feel bad.  Thus, when we start with Romans 3:23 that all have sinned and fallen short and Romans 6:23 that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, then we are focusing on Mercy, and touching on Grace with the gift of eternal life.  So, when you have done something bad, what do you want from your parents?”

Emmett replied, “I beg for mercy.”

Joseph nodded, “Right, you do not go up to your father when he is angry at you and ask for a bowl of ice cream.  So, since our parents should be reflections of our Heavenly Father, we talk about forgiveness, before we talk about undeserved reward.”

I chuckled, “Thank you, Pastor Joseph.  You kind of taught my class, but we haven’t read the Scriptures yet.”

Joseph put his hands together as if he was praying and he turned to me.  “Oh, great teacher of ours, have mercy on me.”

When the laughter died down, I replied, “Sure, I forgive you, but now you are stealing my jokes!  Okay, I kept a record of who read last week.  If we have any overlap, since a few aren’t here this week, I will call on Blaise to read the long passages.”

Blaise retorted, “Hey!  Where’s my mercy?”

I smiled, “Psalm 123:2 says, ‘As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a female slave look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he shows us his mercy.’  And little brother-in-law of mine, remember that I grew up with two little brothers.  Besides, a couple of weeks ago, you accused me of picking on you, so why not?”  I fluttered my eyelashes at him as best I could.  “Now, like we have been doing, I will call a name and a Bible verse.  You can look up the Bible verse and read it.  It may be a few verses, but do not think that I am picking on you.”

Blaise muttered, “Or you may never see mercy.”  I ignored him.

Joseph (Psalm 103:8-17): The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
    slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse,
    nor will he harbor his anger forever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve
    or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
    so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed,
    he remembers that we are dust.
The life of mortals is like grass,
    they flourish like a flower of the field;
the wind blows over it and it is gone,
    and its place remembers it no more.
But from everlasting to everlasting
    the Lord’s love is with those who fear him,
    and his righteousness with their children’s children—

Then Joseph added, “And that, Blaise, is how you handle it.  Persisting to complain about what your older sis, even an -in-law, is doing just makes it worse.  I have dealt with that a lot since I have been here and the ‘sisters’ aren’t even related.”

“Okay!” I said, “Let’s move on…”

Mary (2 Corinthians 1:3): Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,

Georges (James 5:11): As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

Jochebed (2 Peter 3:9): Le Seigneur ne tarde pas dans l’accomplissement de la promesse, comme quelques-uns le croient; mais il use de patience envers vous, ne voulant pas qu’aucun périsse, mais voulant que tous arrivent à la repentance.

“Umm.”  I blinked a few times.  “Can I ask each of you to use the NIV, you know?  In English?  Just saying.”

Jochebed winked, “You did not specify beforehand.  By the way, that was the Louis Segond translation, which for the French is considered the most literal translation, in French, which is the language I learned before learning English.  My first Bible was a Louis Segond.”

Then Jochebed read 2 Peter 3:9 from the NIV The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

“Okay, we see that God loves everyone.  He does not wish anyone to perish.”  I summarized the last verse.

Margie asked, “But why does God send people to Hell?”

I sighed, “God is Holy.  We will get around to that attribute sooner or later.  To remain Holy, He cannot consort with sinners.  Jesus did because He was ministering to them and many of them repented, more of the openly sinful did than the religious elite.  But we would die if we were unclean and in the presence of God the Father in His Glory.  And all we have to do is to accept Jesus.  Then Jesus gives us the strength to resist temptation and to repent of our sins.  But God the Father has already washed away our sins from His sight.  Thus, we can approach His throne with our prayers now and with our transformed bodies when we arrive in Heaven.  I know that I will be weak in the knees.  I will probably fall on my face, but God will welcome me.  What I am saying is that it is our choice.  God is holding out His hand, but we must reach for it.  I remember a friend’s dream one time.  She had a friend who was sinking into quicksand.  All the friend had to do was reach out and my friend would have pulled her to safety, but this person folded their arms, refusing the help that was freely given.  So it is with us, God offers and then it becomes our choice.  Reach out and accept His mercy.”

Joseph said, “I think you wanted to go on to some examples of God showing Mercy.  Maybe we can do that next time, and then go on to God’s Grace.  Our time is running short.”

I nodded.  I asked Missy if she would close us in prayer.

Missy bowed her head and prayed, “Lord, have mercy on us.  No, Lord, this is personal. Have mercy on me, Lord.  I need your mercy.  I cannot do it on my own.  Do with me as You must, but I need Your cleansing blood to wash my sins away.  In Your Name I pray.”

And everyone said, “Amen.”

Credits

I am using suggested Bible verses from The Attributes of God, A Journey into the Father’s Heart by A.W. Tozer, in two volumes.  My two volumes have a Study Guide by David E. Fessenden, which is designed for each chapter of Tozer’s book.  I may review those chapters to keep Stinker from straying too much, but the nature of her class is that the class tends to stray anyway.  I am not using Rev. Tozer’s comments directly.

My wife had the dream that Jemima spoke of.  Not all will be saved because some do not want to be in God’s presence, and God will give them what they want.  They may not like it, but there is no one in Heaven who did not wish to be in the presence of God.  He loves everyone, but He does not intrude.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.