Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

I’m Jemima L. Yeggs, a.k.a. Stinker.  Pink Lady Apple Yeggs, my landlady and my auntie, 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.

The Turtle team was back.  I will have my report out tomorrow on our week’s adventures, but as for today, we had a Sunday school class to teach, but would the two middle school kids be able to crank down the excitement?

Menzie had spent her spring break in the nursery when she and Emmett were not singing.  She helped in in the African Tropics section a little so that he had more time to practice.  They were going to do their first Kilted Duncan jazz set at the Snazzy Taz soon.  But when she was in the nursery, she got the feed Stormie the breast milk I left behind.  It wasn’t enough, but she and Jochebed took all the precautions so that Stormie got her own mother’s milk at least once each day.  She bonded with Stormie a little bit.

So, while B.B. was helping me, I looked over B.B.’s perfect everything…  Maybe once she gets pregnant, maybe everything won’t look perfect all the time, but somehow, I doubted it.  She could take a nap in the Turtle when we pulled an all-nighter and wake up without a hair out of place.

When we came out, Arabella announced, “Welcome, teammates!”

B.B. said, “We were teammates.  Now, you and Michael are back to being middle schoolers, middle schoolers with a report to write.”

Arabella giggled, “Michael and I are already ahead of that part.  I have the frozen soap bubbles, and he has the tornado chase.”

Emmett asked, “I thought the chance of a tornado was low?”

Dr. Ellie said, “Yeah, so low that I had Michael on the radar.  He found the hook echo.  He guided the Turtle to the tornado, and when the tornado knocked out power to a nearby house, Easy talked to them over the speakers to stay in the house.  They came out to check on the loss of power, and they could have touched the downed power lines.  So, the Turtle saved lives again.  Prevention counts as lives saved.  Besides, we didn’t have an Amazon with mad medic skills.”

Jos snickered, “Hey, you went for the television ratings and middle school education angle.  I am certified in CPR.”

Easy groaned, “Not with live power lines on the ground.  I have seen videos of first responders getting killed trying to rescue the person in cardiac arrest without clearing the line first.”

Jos moaned, “Ewwww!”

Kevin snickered, “Jos just thinks that she has amazonian skills, but I doubt if she could deal with 220 volts.”

Jos asked, “Shouldn’t that be 110?”

Kevin said, “The pole could be higher if that is where the transformer was, but the heater, water heater, oven, and such.  They use 220v.  Then your outlets are 110v.”

Easy smiled, “The tornado, what ended up as an EF1, hit the pole, snapping it in two right below the transformer.  Lots of sparks.  Knocked out the lines down the road and to the house.  We sat tight until the first responders got there.  We didn’t leave until the power company arrived.  The grass was just high enough to have difficulty in the cloud cover to see the lines.  The power company grounded the distribution lines on either side and had a new pole with a new transformer in no time.  The family in the house wasn’t very patient, but they cheered when the lights came back on.”

With that out of the way, Joseph led us in prayer with praises to God for a safe trip and a thank you for everyone involved.

Emmett asked, “Can we sing something that isn’t a worship song?”

I cringed, “This is not church, but the song is to put us in a worshipful mood.  What is it?”

Emmett shrugged, “Well, Menzie, Samuel, and I have worked on a song in the honor of the Turtle crew.  In the song, the line about ‘the one I love’ could be Jesus, but maybe not.  We were just thinking of the ones on the storm chase and thought this fits.”  Then he led us with Laughter in the Rain by Neil Sedaka.  Since this was a couples class, for the most part, they were holding hands and at least singing the chorus.  Everyone was laughing and smiling.

Dr. Ellie said, “B.B., we need to get permission to use that as our theme song for the reality show.”

B.B. nodded, “I’ll work on it.  It describes the Turtle team so well.  Sometimes we have couples, but there is love there regardless.  This song is perfect, and I could get clips of the team laughing, especially Stinker.  She laughs at everything.”

Samuel said, “Aunt Jemima, what is the attribute of God that we are studying today?”

I smiled, “Our attribute of God is His sovereignty.”

Arabella asked.  “Mr. Dictionary, I kind of know what that means.  A king is the sovereign.  Jesus is the King of kings, but what do you think?”

Easy snickered, “Let’s start with the dictionary.  Oxford language says that sovereignty means ‘supreme power or authority.’ You might understand power, but authority is the right to use that power.  My friend that’s a vet, I mean veteran, since Arabella wants to be a veterinarian.  We have to be specific there.  He says that you should never give someone the responsibility to get something done without giving them the authority to do it.  In other words, you could tell someone to help and then they stare at you and laugh if you do not have the authority to seek their help.  God needs no help, but as He reigns in power, He has the authority also.  He created all things, so the Oxford language dictionary is a little off.  God is sovereign with supreme power AND supreme authority.  The ‘or’ does not apply to God.  He’s both.”

Arabella giggled, “Thank you, Mr. Dictionary.”

I said, “I let new members have a chance to get the feel for the class, but this is your second week,”

Irusya (Deuteronomy 4:39): “Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.”

Irusya looked around and everyone was waiting on her to say something.  She said, “Did I read it wrong?  I get embarrassed.”

Zuzka smiled and said, “Ko tas nozīmē tev? What does that mean to you?”

Irusya tapped her forehead, “Now, I understand.  This verse not say sovereign or king, but it say God is only God.  And we have to know that in heart.”

I added, “And being God, the Creator of everything, God is a sovereign in that way.  Thank you so much, Irusya.  I should have explained how this works.  I don’t know who the first one was that made a comment on the verse that they read, but we’ve been doing it that way ever since.  And if you are stumped, your comment can be that you don’t know.”

Elroy (Deuteronomy 32:39-41): “’See now that I myself am he! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand. I lift my hand to heaven and solemnly swear: As surely as I live forever, when I sharpen my flashing sword and my hand grasps it in judgment, I will take vengeance on my adversaries and repay those who hate me.”

Elroy said, “Wow! God means business.  He again says that He is the only God out there.  He is in charge of who lives and who dies.  He has wounded people, but He can heal them too.  But then He says that no one can deliver what is in His hand.  I guess that means those who love Jesus.  And then He says that He will judge everyone, and those that hate him are in deep kimchi.”

I shrugged, “I guess deep kimchi means a whole lot of trouble.”  He nodded eagerly.  Then I added, “So, again, like Irusya’s verse, it does not say sovereign or king, but it describes the supreme power and authority that God has.  So, we don’t need to see ‘king’ or ‘ruler’ or ‘sovereign,’ but we might see the definition of sovereignty.”

Tamara (Job 12:9-10) “Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.”

Tamara asked, “In reading through Job, it’s sometimes important to know who said what, but this is clear that our life and each breath that we take are in God’s hands.”

I replied, “And Job said that, in response to his friend Zophar.”

Arabella asked, “Zophar, Zo good.”

There was silence for a second and then people started snickering.  I just shook my head.

Rosie (Job 12:16-17) “To him belong strength and insight; both deceived and deceiver are his. He leads rulers away stripped and makes fools of judges.”

Rosie said.  “The strength and insight talk of God’s power, but when other rulers are led away and He makes fools out of judges, then God is giving us what King of kings is talking about.  No king on earth is safe from God making a fool out of him.”

I nodded, “And Blaise, I have been saving this verse for you.”  He groaned.

Blaise (Job 33:30) “Why do you complain to him that he responds to no one’s words?”

Blaise growled.  “What is going on?  I get the ten verses or more, week after week, then a short one?”

I said, “Hey! The verse says something about complaining…”

Blaise rolled his eyes, “Okay, you win.  I flipped back a page.  This is Elihu, who shows up at some point, or he was always there and didn’t say anything until halfway through the book.  But Elihu is getting irritated with Job.  He thinks Job is being self-righteous, and he thinks Job should not be elevating his appeal to God when God does not answer to anyone.  Is that what you mean by this verse?”

I smiled, “Your explanation is extremely and thoughtfully adequate.”

Blaise, in the same small sing-song voice as last week, “Thank you, teacher.”

Margarette (Jeremiah 18:6) “He said, ‘Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?’ declares the Lord. ‘Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.”

Margie asked, “What is that all about?”

Blaise said, “Read it from the beginning of the chapter, Sweetie.”

Margie read silently and then said, “Hmmm.  Boy, it would be nice having that kind of sovereignty over a boyfriend of mine.  He gets a little misshapen, and … POW!  Smash him into a lump of clay and start over!”

Blaise said, “I love you, too, Sweetie.”  He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

I said, “No kissie, kissie!”  Then everybody got into the act, except for the two all-female couples.  Tamara and Mary Jo just laughed, but Tammie and Rosie looked at each other, smiled, and said, “Nope.”

Tamara (Daniel 4:3, 35) “How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an eternal kingdom; his dominion endures from generation to generation.” And you said verse 35, ah, here it is.  “All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: ‘What have you done?’”

Tamara said, “It starts off with power and wonders, but we finally get to God having a kingdom that lasts forever.  When it says all people are nothing, I guess that means from the rich to the poor, from the nobody to the ‘leader of the free world.’  But what does it mean by ‘He does as He pleases?’  I have heard the pastor talk about how the modern view of doing what feels good to you is bad.  We are not supposed to do as we choose, but as God chooses.”

I asked, “Doesn’t that answer the question?  If God can do as He pleases, He is not answerable to anyone, but for us to live that way, we are answerable to earthly authorities and we are answerable to God.”

Tamara nodded, “Yeah, I think that works for me.”

Mary Jo (Nahum 1:3) Before she started, she muttered to herself: “Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk… Yeah! Got it!”  I had to snicker, some grade school Sunday school lessons never leave you.  “The Lord is slow to anger but great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet.”

Mary Jo smiled, “We started with a song about rain, and we ended with a storm.  But although God is all powerful and sovereign over everything, He is just, and He loves us.”

I smiled, “Thank you, all.”

Lauren came over from the play area and patted Menzie on the knee, “Mommie!  The buses!”

I smiled, “As we have been doing, let’s end with our benediction.  Everyone bow your heads in prayer.  ‘“‘The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.’”’” (Numbers 6:24-26)

Then Lauren came to me and said, “Aunt Jah mine, I love you.  You have a nice smile.”

I smiled, “Thank you, so much, Lauren.  You have made my day.”

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.

When I took Philosophy in summer school, a total immersion experience, I had my first experience with a carpool.  A guy from my church was a couple of years older.  He had an 8-track player and when he drove, we listened to Eric Clapton, The Carpenters, and Neil Sedaka.  The latter two would be on the variety shows soon after that summer, but I was a big Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass fan, the only contemporary group my parents would let me listen to.  While I wasn’t much of a Eric Clapton fan, I fell in love with the other two.  I don’t know why I did not think of the connection for the Turtle team’s theme music sooner.

And here is Laughter in the Rain sung by the Gaither Vocal Band: Adam Crabb, Wes Hampton, and Reggie Smith.  The song was written by Neil Sedaka.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.