Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

The hills bring it their produce, and all the wild animals play nearby.

• Job 40:20

The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.

• Isaiah 11:8

The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there.”

• Zechariah 8:5

“If you play the fool and exalt yourself, or if you plan evil, clap your hand over your mouth!

• Proverbs 30:32

Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little childwill never enter it.”

• Mark 10:15
• Luke18:17

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.

• 1 Corinthians 13:11

Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.

• 1 Corinthians 14:20

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 was grieving the loss of a snow angel when it rained.  So, we talked about how God used the weather for our good.

This week, I was worried that she was going off her rocker, or had completely gone…

I was washing dishes and Babs appeared at the hallway door.  She said, “Harold,”  and when I turned to look, she had her hands over her face and she opened them and said, “Peekaboo!”  Then she laughed and walked away.  An hour later, I was at the dining room table, which was becoming my desk.  I heard a tap on the window from the outside.  I looked up and she did the same thing.  A little later, she entered the dining room (my office) from the living room and repeated her silliness.

I decided that we needed a little discussion about growing up, or maybe when being child-like was okay.

When I called Babs down for supper, in saying the blessing, I talked about all God’s children.  While we were eating, spaghetti with meatballs, I asked if she had fallen and hit her head.

Babs looked concerned, “No, why would you think that?”

I replied, “You have been playing a children’s game all day.  I am concerned that your brain has scrambled the marbles or something.”

Babs asked, “Is it against the rules to play a child’s game?  Is a game that captivates you at a year old a taboo activity when you are older?  If so, at what age is it not cool anymore?”

I sighed, “But for you to suddenly get silly, it is concerning.”

She had a far-off stare.  “Harold, I was never a mother, but this past Sunday, they needed help in the nursery, and I found a new home.  The nursery coordinator wants me to come back on a regular basis.  The elders come by with the communion elements.  I won’t miss out on that.  I can still go to choir practice and sing in the Christmas cantata and at Easter.  But I love singing little songs with the children.  And then when the parents come to pick them up, they sing the songs to the parents, and everyone is laughing and hugging one another.  Just saying that Jesus loves me and the Bible says so.  It warms my heart.”

I softened my tone, “But, Babs, you have been wanting to woo me into marrying you, and now you are leaving me in the congregation alone, where all those eligible widows will have free access?  Can you take that risk, Babs?”

Babs made a pouty face, “Okay, maybe every other week, but Harold, I have never seen those old ladies make a move on you.”

I huffed, “That is because you were by my side.  With you gone, who knows what might happen.”

Babs gave me a concerned look.  “I still have my doubts, but since you don’t trust yourself, I will make it every other week.  But Harold, this is strange behavior on your part.  Are you sure you haven’t fallen and hit your head?”

I snickered, “I don’t have a dessert tonight unless you hid something somewhere.”

Babs brightened and said, “Nope!”

I nodded, “So, let’s look at Job 40:20.”

After I read the verse, Babs laughed, “I knew it!  I was getting to you.  Yes!  Let’s play!”

I corrected her, “No, let’s study God’s word.  This verse talks about the wild animals playing.”

Babs smiled, “And in Isaiah 11:8, it says that the infant will play near the cobra, but that is End Times type stuff right?”

I nodded, “Just like Zechariah saying in chapter 8 that the boys and girls will play in the streets.  I have heard that we will all be adults in heaven.  I don’t know where they get that, but we will enjoy our time in heaven, whether we play or work.  Joy will be the constant factor, but in Proverbs 30:20 the one who plays the fool should keep his mouth shut.”

Babs looked at me cross-eyed, “Duh!”

I asked, “Didn’t your grandmother tell you to not do that because your face might get stuck that way?!”

Babs threw up her hands, “I thought I told you that I never met my grandparents.”

I sighed, “Ah, you missed so much.”

Babs smiled with a twinkle in her eyes, “That’s what I hope to provide for your grandchildren.  I just love them to death!”

I cringed, “Okay, then, I am going to monitor your hugs from now on.  I don’t want any early funerals.”

Babs stuck her tongue out.  “You know what I meant!  But what about Mark 10:15?  Aren’t we supposed to have a faith like a child?”

I laughed, “You know that Luke 18:17 has the same wording in the NIV translation?  But you need to understand this verse in connection with what Paul tells the Corinthians.  In First Corinthians 13, he talks about understanding as a child, but now that he has matured, he has put away childish things.  In the next chapter he clarifies that a little.  He says that in regard to evil, be like an infant, but we should think like adults.  So, we reason things through.  But when it comes to evil, how does a baby respond when they do not feel comfortable in a situation or the food tastes bad?”

Babs grimaced, “That’s one of the reasons I want to volunteer more in the nursery at church.  I do not have first-hand experience as a mother, but what I have seen, the baby screams their head off if they are not comfortable and I suppose they will spit out the food.”

I nodded, “Right! And that is what Paul is saying.  When we face evil, we need to recognize it as evil and turn away from that evil.  But how do we recognize some of the evil in the world today?  It comes in a pretty wrapper and the latest stars in Hollywood say how wonderful it is.  That is why we must think like an adult.”

Babs smiled, “Thank you, Harold.  It’s my turn to wash the dishes.”  Babs got up and went to the sink.

I turned and said, “Babs!”  She turned around and saw that I had my hands over my face.  I pulled my hands away and said, “Peekaboo!”

Babs laughed gleefully and jumped into my arms.  “Harold, I knew there was a little boy in there somewhere who wanted to play.  I love you, Harold.”

“I love you, too, Babs.” I replied, and we hugged for quite a while.

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 was also playful.  She loved spicing things up with silly things, just for a laugh and to give the family a warm memory of how her love for each of us was real.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.