Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

• Genesis 2:1-2

Some people call them hot dogs.  Some people call them wieners.  Some people call them frankfurters.  Some shorten that to franks.  Some might call them red hots, weenies, or coneys.

The package in the photo is of beef franks.

So let me be frank about franks.  Can we ever get it right?  The buns were always longer than the frank.  Then they made bun length franks.  But then length became extremely arbitrary.  I doubt if a foot-long hot dog is really a foot long.  There is bound to be shrinkage in cooking.

But then the thickness changes and the buns are not big enough to handle the oversized frank.  This is exaggerated when you pile on the condiments.  Where do they go when the frank is so thick.  Don’t get me wrong.  When I bite into one, I want to taste the frank, not the bun.  A corn dog?  Now that’s different.

Note:  Before I continue down this line of being frank about franks, I grew up not having a clue what a hot dog bun was.  We wrapped a slice of white bread around the hot dog – did they even have all wheat back in those days? – and you were good to go!

But when buns were plentiful all over the country, there were ten slender franks in a package and only eight buns.  I know that some of the people were so distraught that they dropped a couple of franks on the ground and had the dogs eat them just to even things out.

I cannot remember how many times the family lamented that we had two franks left over.  It was often.

So, then the thicker franks that are too big for the buns came out in a package of only eight.  Now, we have to skimp on the condiments, but eight franks and eight buns.  Length varies, but you have extra frank or extra bun.  Live with it!

But then I got these franks in the photo and there are only seven franks in the package.

I shouted, “They got it wrong again!”

But then, I looked at what I had purchased.  They were kosher beef franks.

Suddenly I realized why there were seven in each package.  God’s number for being complete, for being finished with creation per the Scripture above.

I lifted my eyes to the heavens.  “Lord, everyone else got it wrong.  I can live with this, the perfect number of franks in a package.”

Sure, I will have a bun left over.  I have used a left-over hot dog bun to make a pimento cheese sandwich in the past.  I can adapt, as long as I have the “right” number of franks in each package.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.