Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), do not yield to them or listen to them. Show them no pity. Do not spare them or shield them.

• Deuteronomy 13:6-8

No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation. For they did not come to meet you with bread and water on your way when you came out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim to pronounce a curse on you. However, the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you. Do not seek a treaty of friendship with them as long as you live.

• Deuteronomy 23:3-6

“My father,” she replied, “you have given your word to the Lord. Do to me just as you promised, now that the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites. But grant me this one request,” she said. “Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry.”
“You may go,” he said. And he let her go for two months. She and her friends went into the hills and wept because she would never marry. After the two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin.
From this comes the Israelite tradition that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

• Judges 11:36-40

Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat down there just as the guardian-redeemer he had mentioned came along. Boaz said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down.
Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, “Sit here,” and they did so. Then he said to the guardian-redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimelek. I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line.”
“I will redeem it,” he said.
Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the dead man’s widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.”
At this, the guardian-redeemer said, “Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it.”

• Ruth 4:1-6

Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.’” Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town.

• 1 Samuel 20:42

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.

• John 15:13-17

The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friendof tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.”

• Matthew 11:19

Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.

• Luke 11:5-8

The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends.

• Acts 10:24

Greet Ampliatus, my dear friend in the Lord.
Greet Urbanus, our co-worker in Christ, and my dear friend Stachys.
Greet Apelles, whose fidelity to Christ has stood the test.
Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus.
Greet Herodion, my fellow Jew.
Greet those in the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord.
Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, those women who work hard in the Lord.
Greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord.
Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too.

• Romans 16:8-13

Boilerplate

I’m Harold Dykstra.  I’m retired, but I go to food bank distributions all over Tracy and talk to people that need someone who will listen to their story.  My time is well spent.  A police lieutenant suggested that I write down the conversations that I had with an angel.  I did not know she was an angel at the time.  The angel, for a little over a year, indwelled a life-sized posable action figure my children bought me, so that I would not be perceived as travelling alone.  And in a way, she was training me for what I do while talking to the needy.  She probed my heart to find out what I believed and how I express love for others.  She changed my life.

In her leaving, she said someone would come.  I had thought that was Jesus, in His second coming, but a new Babs, a little older, the model for the posable action figure arrived.  While I had no desire to start over with romance, Morrie helped her move in, thinking she was the other Babs who had returned.

This Week’s Question

Last week Babs needed a hug.  She was having problems regarding forgiveness.  I think she was on the right track, but she was overthinking it.  Forgive others as God forgives you.  There should be nothing complicated there.

But what she did next is something that I cannot be angry about, in that I approved it before she called.  Frankly, I had no idea that they would accept.  It wasn’t that they were drastically different than us.  The point was that they seemed to be the same kind of odd couple that we were, except they did not live under the same roof.

And when Dr. Kildare and Mags Lothrop were called, they agreed to go on a double date.  We had only met them briefly at the water lily drop in the Crystal Mountain on New Year’s Eve.  I picked up in the conversation that Dr. Kildare is a professor at the university and Mags lives and works at Lily the Pink.  They met while he was doing research of some kind inside the monster greenhouse.  She saw this solitary man sitting in the water polo bleachers and she started a conversation.  Other than our rough ages, we had little in common.  They were working.  We were retired.  But who knows?  It might work.

And thinking of that water lily drop, the engineers earned their pay on that one.  It was a carefully timed geared lowering until with about four seconds to spare, the lily was released from the mechanism and splashdown occurred at midnight in the pool.  They had the fireworks on the outside of the greenhouse timed to start at midnight, to coincide with splashdown.  Since the fake water lily floated and was easily retrievable, they can do it again next year, but whoever they are, they are clever and will probably not be satisfied with the same old thing.

We drove to Lily the Pink.  Supposedly, Dr. Kildare had been collecting data and Mags had just gotten off the day shift in enough time to freshen up.  Dr. Kildare insisted that we park and take his car.  He would have to return to drop Mags off anyway.

On the way to the restaurant that Dr. Kildare had selected, he introduced himself fully.  He was the head of the meteorological department at the university.  He was investigating the occurrence of indoor rain patterns inside the Crystal Mountain.  So much heat and humidity, it acted like a giant terrarium that kids often used as a science fair project.  I got the reference, but Babs and Mags were clueless.  Neither were science types in high school.  I got the distinct idea that Mags might have been boy crazy like Babs had been.  Dr. Kildare’s given name was James just like the movies and television show, and luckily the students these days had never heard of Dr. Kildare, Ben Casey, and only a few had heard of Dr. Quinn medicine woman and now that Ben Casey had married her, she had changed her last name to Casey anyway.

Mags talked about how she married soon after high school.  She had five children.  Her husband had been murdered.  Dev Yeggs solved the murder, a woman on a vengeance spree.  She did not make enough money to afford the house that she was in, and Pink Lady offered her a higher paid shift working job, an apartment for the family, a part-time job for her eldest daughter who works in the nursery, and bus service for the children.  The three that were still in school had lost a few credits, changing schools and mourning their father’s death.  They had transferred to Vitamin Flintheart from Central, and her son was in his last year at Moon Maid middle school.  Since I knew Tracy, Mags had lived in a rough neighborhood.

I told them that I had retired, and I volunteered at food banks all over Tracy.  I said that Babs had only been renting the upstairs apartment at my home for about six weeks.  The thought was that since she was younger, she could be my caregiver if that would be necessary.  For now, she helped at the food banks also.

Dr. Kildare talked about the Turtle team, and the Storm Chasing Channel.  He especially liked the fact that Jemima, code name Stinker, had led both Dr. Ellie Casey, nee Quinn, and Mary Sheltie Jones, the graduate assistant professor and director of the television channel, to become Christians.  They openly talk about their faith on the channel.  Their idea is that if you get offended, you can change the channel.  And Dr. Kildare was like me.  His wife had died a few years ago, me roughly two years, and he was not really ready to date, but Mags had sat next to him and asked what he was doing, and he joked that he was counting raindrops inside the building.  Whenever she was available to sit with him, she would.  She was learning meteorology, and he had someone to talk to, but they rarely dated.  This was the first time when it wasn’t an event at Lily the Pink, like weddings.  They had been to several weddings, a few of them double weddings.  I asked if they had been there for the mayor’s wedding, and Dr. Kildare laughed since Jemima, Stinker, married the Turtle team’s driver, Easy, as part of the mayor’s double wedding.  The mayor had more official guests that were dignitaries, but the teenagers had fans that tried to crash the invitation only event.  Security is excellent at Lily the Pink, according to Dr. Kildare.

At dinner, Babs mentioned that we always had a Bible study after dinner.  I tried to say that we could wait until we got home, but Mags loved the idea, and I think Dr. Kildare thought he might learn more about us in a Bible study than simply having a chat.

I said, “I am going to use the Scriptures from an old lesson that I researched about friendship.”  Babs beamed, having seen the lesson in a dream.  That was when I met John Downing, but the Bible Study had not stuck to the Scriptures that well.  I said nothing about the younger Babs, my former travel buddy.

I started, “We can start with Deuteronomy 13:6-8.  If a family member or a close friend leads you toward worship of false gods, you should not yield to the temptation, nor should you show them pity.”

Mags started to tear up.  “Can I say something about why my husband was murdered?  I followed in my older sister’s wild footsteps.  I lived on the same cul-de-sac as the girl who would become the wife of Pink Lady’s brother-in-law.  I led Naomi down that wrong path, but she was reserved, afraid to go too far.  A couple of other girls were with us and when one of them died, the other went off her rocker, wanting to kill the other friends who led her astray.  It should have been me instead of my husband, but she killed him first.  Your first Scripture made me feel how horrible my sin was to lead them into a wrong path of sex and drugs.  Sorry, maybe too much sharing since I hardly know you.”

Babs said, “No, I appreciate it.  I was led astray also.  I retired early.  I then became a Christian.  And then I moved to Tracy, away from my past.  If my past catches up with me, in that someone recognizes me, I will simply say that was someone who has been redeemed and forgiven by Jesus.”

Dr. Kildare said, “It sounds easy, but when the time comes, it may not work out to be easy.  This first Scripture might have touched us all.  I was hooked on porn at one time.  It took a miracle and a lot of prayer, but I got my life back together.”  Babs had flinched, thinking there might be a chance that Dr. Kildare might recognize her, but it seemed he did not notice the flinch.

I asked, “What do you think of Deuteronomy 23:3-6?  Is God being wrong in commanding the Israelites to not sign a treaty of friendship with the Ammonites or Moabites?”

Dr. Kildare pursed his lips.  “God does not make mistakes.  He points out that in ten generations, they had not repented.  They tried to curse the Israelites, at least the Moabites did with Balaam, but the point was they should have been friendly and offered bread and water and let them pass through.  After all, these two tribes were the offspring of Lot, Abraham’s nephew.”

Babs scrunched her nose, “But to not show mercy?  It seems harsh.”  Mags nodded in agreement.

I added, “But on the mercy side of things, Ruth was a Moabitess who was the mother of Obed, the mother of Jesse, the mother of King David.  But Ruth accepted her mother-in-law’s God and all the rules that went with it.  And the others from Moab lured Israelites into sin and false god worship, getting back to the first Scripture where we are not to show them pity.”

Mags nodded, “Yes, God drew a line in the sand that the Chosen People ignored.  That should tell us to be careful who our friends are…  Getting us back on the topic of friendship.”

I laughed, “Yes, ma’am, I was a sales manager, and I allowed conversations to ramble, but I still knew when to close the deal.  My next Scripture was when Jephthah’s daughter is about to be sacrificed, but she asks for two months to be with her friends, for she will never have children.”

The others said that they had no idea how to process that, so I moved on.  I continued, “My next example was from Ruth 4.  Boaz went from a friend, to a kinsmen-redeemer where he married Ruth and produced a son.”  They talked animatedly about that love story.

Dr. Kildare smiled and asked, “What’s next?”

I said, “1 Samuel 20:42.  David and Jonathan swear their unwavering friendship.”

Mags groaned, “I heard people say they were gay.”

Dr. Kildare said, “We discussed that, Mags.  Even their kiss was a socially acceptable greeting in those days.  The focus on the story should remain that they did not let each other down, even though Jonathan got in trouble with his father, the king, over their friendship.  A loyal friend is hard to find.  I may not be ready to start a new romantic relationship, but I know that I can count on you.  Time will tell about the rest of it.”

Mags moaned, “I get what I can get, but I will insist on that ‘friendly’ kiss.”  Then she started laughing.  Babs and I took a long look into each other’s eyes, thinking that we were starting to get into that situation, but the laughter broke off the gaze.

I said, “Next is John 15:13-17.”

Dr. Kildare said, “Well, that starts with one of my memory verses.  The greatest act of love is to lay down one’s life for one’s friends, but what does Jesus say after that?”

I smiled, “He talks to the disciples about how they will be friends as long as they obey.  And they did not choose Jesus as their friend; He chose them.  He also talks about having taught them what they need to know, but those things were in a muddy soup in their brain until the Holy Spirit came upon them at Pentecost and they understood what Jesus had been saying.”

Mags said, “James, we need to take our Bibles to the bleachers next time.  This is interesting.”

Dr. Kildare said, “Mags, I have to keep my eyes on the rain, but I will agree to that.  You can do the reading.”

Babs giggled, “What’s next?”

I shrugged, “In Matthew 11:19, Jesus says that others claim Him to be a friend of sinners and tax collectors.  But wisdom is proven by Christ’s deeds.  Luke 11:5-8 is a lesson on continuous, relentless prayer.  One friend bangs on the door of another friend in the middle of the night, begging for bread.  The friend has unexpected guests, and they need something to eat.  Because he persists, the friend gives the one knocking some bread.  And in Acts 10:24, Cornelius is about to meet Peter, and he has gathered his family and his close friends.  He wants them all to know the Lord.  That is not much to ask, but in its way, it can be effective, as it was here.  And we should be in the business of making friends.  Just look at Romans 16:8-13.  From Ampliatus to Rufus, Paul is rattling off friends, friends that he has never met.  Remember that in Romans 1, Paul is talking about not having been to Rome yet.  He counts these people as friends by reputation.  My wife would fuss that I had a friend on the internet.  I had never met the person.  But when you share your innermost feelings over social media, and that includes blogs since you can comment and interact, you may know this person that you have never met better than the friend down the street.”

Dr. Kildare laughed, “That’s a good one to end on.  You two are retired, and you have taught me a lot of various aspects about friendship.  Since Mags and I are still employed, we will pick up the tab.”

I was about to argue that we split the tab, but Babs grabbed my arm and smiled.  I think she had the idea of inviting them to our house the next time our schedules allowed it.  I had known her six weeks, but I was starting to interpret her body language.

After we got back to our car in front of Lily the Pink, we each hugged Mags and while Babs hugged Dr. Kildare, I shook his hand.

On the way home, Babs said, “I have a feeling that they might be close friends in the future.  When Mags and I went to the restroom after we had placed our order, Mags asked me what I had done for a living, and I told her, Harold.  She hugged me for a long time and said that few would ever ask, even if she is recognized, if I stay around good Christian friends.  For one, they would be embarrassed to admit they had seen a porn film.  And for another, they would know that was not who I am now.  I nearly cried.  That has been my fear ever since I retired.”

As we entered the house, Babs said, “It was a lovely evening, Harold.  It was a double date, but we now have something that really was a date.”  She turned to walk up the stairs, but I stopped her.

I said, “Aren’t you forgetting something?  If this was a date, we need to end it properly.”  She stepped back into my arms, and she proffered a cheek.  While still hugging, I said, “Look into my eyes, Babs.”  And then I kissed her on the lips.

Babs had tears in her eyes.  It was only a kiss for one or two Mississippi.  “I have wondered what the first kiss after a date would be like.  It was wonderful, Harold.”  She turned and floated up the stairs.

Credits

All these conversations remind me of my conversations with my wife.  We would talk about anything and everything.  And most of the time, it sounded like a discussion in a Sunday school class.

My wife would get upset with me calling people in the blogosphere my friends.  I had never met them.  But then she thought she knew someone, and she accepted a friend request from someone of the same name from a totally different background.  They had never met, but my wife felt that this woman that she had never met had more common interests and commented more, back and forth, than anyone else.  She might never admit it, but they were friends.

And my wife loved the dinner table.  With family, it was a must.  She hated the idea of taking our food and going to the living room to watch television and eat.  She wanted conversations.  And that was true with friends also.  Until her health started failing, she invited people to our house to dine.  As the Scripture from Matthew 11 speaks of Jesus having friends in sinners and tax collectors, it says that people accused Jesus of being a glutton and drunkard.  It is odd how those that do not like you can create an insult out of simply being hospitable, indeed, being friendly.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.