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.

Easy was still off driving the Turtle.  They expected storms, but they were not going to be powerful ones.  I wasn’t worried about Easy.  He was the best driver ever, probably because he knew how to study the weather, and he came prepared rather than simply reacting to what was found.  The Storm Chasing Channel doesn’t show enough of Easy’s prep work.  But while I am missing my hubby, and I am getting even closer to my due date in early January, I will be missing B.B. and both professors.  Michael was already in Aunt Pink’s office with Menzie, Arabella, and Emmett.  Michael was staying with Jochebed and Georges.  Aunt Pink will have to make other arrangements when Jochebed is getting closer to her due date.

I looked at my watch.  “Emmett, I have just enough time to go to the rest room.  Please, greet everyone as they come in.  I won’t be long.  Menzie, want to come with me?”  Menzie gave me a shocked look.  She turned to Arabella and Arabella fluttered her eyes and yawned and patted her mouth with her hand.  She gave every indication that restroom time with the teacher was boring.

When we got to the restroom, Menzie asked why she was asked to come in.  I snickered, “If you want to talk, fine, but I want to cook up some gossip to tell Arabella.  She says these restroom talks are boring, so the juicier we can make the gossip, the better.”  In a few minutes, we had cooked up some doozies.  Menzie was going to be reluctant and evasive.

When we came back out, the “choir” were the only people there.  We sat down and said nothing.

Arabella quipped, “Yep, what I said last time, boring.  Don’t go with the teacher to the restroom.  She’ll make you straighten her blowse in the back, make sure she didn’t get TP stuck to her shoe, and the talk is all boring stuff.”

Menzie giggled, “It wasn’t boring stuff at all.  Okay, the part about the Niblicks and their finances.  That was boring.  I am just not into talk about money, but did you know that Dr. Kildare and Mags were caught kissing in the Crystal Mountain, and they weren’t even in a designated make out spot!  But don’t tell Mommie Pinkie.  That’s against the rules.”

Arabella snickered, “And what else?”

Menzie said, “I’m not supposed to tell, but Callie is going to have to go to the Everglades without…”

I used stage whisper, “Menzie, I said that in confidence.”

Arabella asked, “Why does Poached have to stay home?”

Menzie said, “Oh, I did not say a thing about Poached, but did you hear about Mommie Pinkie?  She might be, you know, she and Scrambled took that trip to the mountains.  They had a relaxing couple of days of doing nothing except staying in the hotel room while Grannie Fannie and PawPaw took care of the children.”

Arabella started quivering.  “She’s pregnant?!  But what we talked about last week was so boring.  It was what Easy was doing in the Turtle and what classes she was taking at the university.  Boring stuff.  Now, with you there, she dishes out the good stuff.  Hey, Aunt Jemima, I’m a teenager too, you know.”

Michael patted her on the arm.  “Arabella, look at Aunt Jemima and Menzie.  Look at their eyes.  Now look at the corners of their mouths.  They just fed you a whole bunch of bull.  The Niblicks do not have financial problems; Callie and Poached are both going to the Everglades; and Mommie Pinkie is not what Menzie hinted at.  You interrupted before she could say anything about pregnancy.”

Arabella looked at us.  “You two cooked up a story?  That was not nice!”

Menzie and I cackled.  I said, “We were wondering how long it would take.  Thanks, Michael, if she took much longer, others would have arrived and there would be more explaining to do.  But Belle, B.B. and I are just friends, and we talk about our common interests.  Last time, it was boring for you, and I apologize, but gossip is something that can be very bad.  It could hurt the people you are talking about.  If you want a trip to the restroom to be fun, let me know, and I will go somewhere else, okay?”

Arabella gave me her best pouty face, but she said, “Okay.  So, it was boring just like last time.”

Menzie winked at me, “Nope, it was not boring at all, Belle.  When you love the other person, making sure their hemline is straight, and they aren’t leaving something hanging out in the back becomes a labor of love.  Thank you, Aunt Jemima, I am thinking that my Mom and Dad may be starting to give me a little sibling, and practicing with you will come in handy.”

Arabella turned red, “I didn’t think of it that way.  I was so convinced that you and B.B. were doing funny business that I got bored.  I’m sorry, Aunt Jemima.”

As she walked in, Sophie asked, “Sorry about what?”

Everyone said, “Nothing, never mind!”

Blake was by himself, since Penny was on shift, but most everyone else was there.

I started with a short prayer and Emmett led his little choir in leading the class in Love Divine, All Loves Excelling.  He was sticking to old hymns for a while.

I suggested, “Remember where we were in the last class.  We talked about God’s Mercy, saving us from something we deserve.  Now we are covering God’s Grace, giving us something that we do not deserve.  And by deserve, I mean that we cannot buy it and we cannot earn it.  God’s Mercy and Grace come as gifts from God because we freely accept God’s will above our own.  So, let’s get started with the Scriptures.  I will say the person’s name and then the Scripture.  Then that person reads the Scripture.

Blake (Genesis 6:8): I have a New King James Version.  I hope you don’t mind. “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.“

Emmett started singing and Joseph joined him. “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. That is the reason the Scriptures record.  Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”

We all looked at them dumbfounded.

Emmett shrugged, “What?!  It’s a Southern Gospel song.  Burl Ives recorded it, Tennessee Ernie Ford, and the Statler Brothers.  Robert Schmertz wrote it.”

I smiled, “Okay Mr. Songbird, you are next.”

Emmett (Exodus 33:17): And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”

Then Emmett added, “But that doesn’t say anything about Grace.”

I smiled, “In the King James Version, it says that the Lord found grace in Moses, instead of being pleased with him.  We will stick with the NIV, but with each of these verses, look for how God found favor or was pleased.  When you see someone or something that pleases you, do you not compliment them or the person that made that thing?  Who in here likes the Crystal Mountain?”  All the hands went up.  “Are you pleased that Zuzka dreamed the whole thing up in her head?  You know, the swimming pool, the volleyball court, the waterfall, and the fake jungle?”

The teenagers said, almost in unison, “Thank you, Zuzka.”

Zuzka said, “I not be happy when I come to this country.  I was slave.  I start drawing in spare time.  I want something to make me happy.  And now, I have Crystal Mountain, my office in Crystal Mountain, all to make me happy.  I have husband who bakes to make me even more happy and my tummy happy.  And I have Jesus to give me Joy.  And we have bundle of Joy coming.”

I snickered, “I pointed that out, not to give Zuzka the praise, but to show that something meant to maintain sanity while in slavery became a gift of Grace to everyone working here.  So, these verses may not have the word ‘grace’ in them, but you can find grace in the verse.”

Menzie (Proverbs 3:34): He mocks proud mockers but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.  So, the grace is shown to the humble and oppressed.

Arabella (John 1:16-17): Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  It says grace and truth right there.

Michael (Romans 3:24): and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.  And like Belle said, it says grace right there.

“But what verse does Romans 3:24 follow?” I asked, before I realized I was asking a teenager.

Michael smiled, “Romans 3:23!”

I groaned, “Okay, I deserve that, but for you folks who memorize Bible verses, Romans 3:23 talks about how all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  Thus, the grace through the redemption had to come from Jesus to wash away the stain of our sins.”

Angus (Romans 5:15): But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!

Missy (Ephesians 1:6-7): to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace

Sophie (1 Peter 5:10): And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

I thanked each of them.  “And now, what do we get from this?”  No one volunteered. “Okay, to start with, Noah and Moses were not perfect, but because they tried to do God’s will and obey, God’s grace was upon them.  In other words, they did not wander off to do what the rest of the world was doing.  They were not perfect, so they did not earn it, but we surrender our free will in order to follow Jesus and we get Grace in abundance in return.  In the verse from Proverbs, we see that God has a special place in His heart for the needy.  In John, we learned that Moses gave us the Law, but Jesus gave us Grace and Truth.  In Romans, we see that grace was given by Jesus and Jesus gave that grace through one sacrifice, and there was a abundance of grace.  Remember, God is infinite.  And Kevin, what is one times infinity?”

Kevin shrugged, “Infinity.  So, you are saying for whomever receives the gift, there is still infinite gift remaining?”

I smiled, “Absolutely!  Now, I think the buses are about ready to roll.  We will study Grace in more detail.  Maybe in taking a couple of weeks for each topic, those that are on shift work or out chasing storms can get some of it.”

Margie said, “And when softball season starts, three of us might have a weekend tournament or two.”

I nodded, “We may all miss a week here or there.  I have a pressing issue to deal with, not knowing when the baby might come.  So, Joseph, can you close us in prayer?”

Joseph did so, and we all went to our respective buses.

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.

I think it was from Ken Hamm, CEO of Answers in Genesis, who said in an interview that Noah and his family was less than the ten God agreed with Noah to be enough to save Sodom.  And might it be possible that the Twelve could not be destroyed before spreading the Gospel since they were greater than ten?

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.