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.

B.B. and I spent time in the restroom together.  I did my own hair, but she supervised.  And laughed.

When we came into Aunt Pink’s office, Arabella had a seat empty next to her.

I asked, knowing that I was making a mistake, “Where is Michael?”

Arabella said, “He’s got the swine flu.  They think he may have had the flu all week while he was at school.”  Arabella sniffled.  “We could all get sick.”

I said, “And we have little babies in the play area.  This is not good.”

Arabella made sharp raspy breaths, “Yeah.  I’m not feeling well.”  Then in a deep voice, for her, “Oink!”

Then, Michael appeared behind me, “Oink!”

As everybody laughed, Michael and Arabella said, “April Fool!”

I growled, “April first isn’t until Tuesday!”

Arabella laughed, “We don’t have Sunday school on Tuesday!”

“Joseph,” I pleaded, “Can you get me out of this?  Start us in a word of prayer.”

Joseph said, “One thing before I do that.”

I asked, “And what is that?”

Joseph said, “Oink.”  But after the laughter died down, he led us in prayer.

Emmett led us with Yes, I Know by Anna W. Waterman.  Emmett said that nothing is known about Anna Waterman other than the few songs that she wrote.  The Gaither Vocal Band made it a hit.

I started, “Thank you for that surprise, Michael and Arabella, since it is not yet April Fool’s Day, it was totally unexpected.  I want everyone to remember our Scriptures from last week: Psalm 89:1-2, 5, 8, 24; 1 John 1:9; 2 Timothy 2:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:24.  They all have to do with God’s faithfulness.  Thomas was telling us about how he had stepped out in faith to help with the feeding of the homeless and with every obstacle that came up, God was able to find a way past that obstacle.  Many of us don’t have a clue how he gets enough sleep, but his grades are great.  He must be getting enough sleep.  I know from chasing storms, you can go on marginal sleep for a while, but then you have to sleep.  I was about to say that you have to crash, as some people say when they need a lot of sleep, but that is something that storm chasers try to avoid, crashing that is.  Is everyone ready?”

Everyone nodded except for Bart.  I had talked to Tamara and Bart was struggling.  She thought he understood his need for a Savior, but he was not yet convinced Jesus was the only answer.  I would not call on someone who was not ready to talk about their faith, or their lack of faith.

I nodded, “Let me start with another verse that we did not mention last week.  Then, I will tell a little story about Easy and me.  We might just move as the spirit leads, I suppose.  The verse is Deuteronomy 32:4.  “He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.”  You don’t have to come up with a verse, but I thought an extra verse about God’s faithfulness sets the focus on God’s faithfulness rather than just telling a story.  But Easy saw me getting baptized in the river, from a good distance away, but it had to be a good distance.  It was in 2020 when everything was locked down.  I initiated the idea of a baptism.  It symbolizes God washing our sins away, and since we could not be around other people due to a virus, why not wash the virus away symbolically.  So, Easy recognized my Dad as his new pastor so he found me on social media.  We talked by messaging mostly, but sometimes on the phone.  Then we met at the mall.  We could walk and hold hands if we wore masks.  But we stopped in the food court and pulled down our masks for our first kiss.  A policeman saw us and quoted some regulation that had not been enforced since puritan days, not that there were puritans in Tracy then.  Easy said that his Dad was a police detective and they let him call Lt. Yeggs, even though he was not a lieutenant yet.  He argued all night and got everyone to keep our arrest off the books if we did tons of community service.  Well, having someone who could ask for such favors is possibly an accident by birth, if you wanted to argue that, but the community service became picking up trash all over Tracy.  Our relationship was cemented during those weekends picking up after the litterbugs of Tracy.  God took a bad situation, which Easy and I made worse by breaking a rule, and he helped us learn about each other.  If that had not happened, it might have ended as an infatuation of the moment.  God knew we needed each other, and the circumstance resulted in us having to maintain a safe distance but spending many hours together.  And the great thing is that it was a type of dating where we each saw each other’s bad habits.  When most teenagers and young adults date, they hide the embarrassing things.  Now, Easy, can you add to that or do you have something else?”

Easy said, “Sweetie, that was great, but I was thinking about our storm chasing.  We chase storms so that people can be warned about what is coming.  We also take measurements and videos, time lapses, and photos to document the storm and use the information in the classroom.  But then we double back and check out the people who are affected by the storm.  Sometimes, we are in the right place at the right time.  We have provided first aid.  Josline stopped an arterial bleed and went with a woman to the hospital.  She saved the woman’s life.  Just a couple of weeks ago, a powerline fell in a family’s front yard.  They went out to check on the power outage and I spoke over the speakers for them to stay in the house.  If not, someone might have been electrocuted.  It’s not a total accident that we are in one place or another at that time, but God knows where we are needed, and He is being faithful to the storm victims when He guides us to that spot.  We even delivered a baby…”

Mary Jo said, “Hold it, Easy!  That’s my story.  My little boy is over in the play area.  In July, he will be two.  I was not faithful to God, but God was faithful to me.  I was a stripper and the gentlemen’s club had a silent partner who liked what he saw.  I moved in with him and he said that he would marry me when the time was right.  That was a lie as it turned out.  He beat me when something wasn’t perfectly clean, so I got really good at doing detail cleaning.  Jochebed says I take too much care, but I don’t want any germs in the nursery.  But then more than two years ago, I got pregnant, and he refused to marry me.  He wanted me to get an abortion.  When the hurricane came through, he ran off with his other girlfriends and left me stranded.  Darrell and Sally Mae and Darrell’s sister, Emma Rae, volunteered to drive me to the university in Gainesville, Florida, but the road was blocked.  We found out later the RV my boyfriend ran off in was wrecked, blocking the road in both directions.  We saw lights on in a house and we knocked on the door.  Dr. Ellie delivered the baby, but at one point, my baby was breach, and B.B. reached inside me to straighten him out.  All I have now is my baby boy, and I owe that to the turtle team, but God was faithful to me when I was not faithful to Him, and I will do anything to help others.  I owe it all to God.  And I had never seen snow until I got here, and my little boy loves the stuff.”

Menzie asked, “Can I go next?”  I nodded.  She continued, “When we went to testify at grandmama’s trial for human trafficking among other things, namely the murder of my Aunt Clare, an investigator told me that I should not have been there to be rescued.  The people who had bought me on the slave market had their flight cancelled.  That set one connecting flight after another out of whack, and they were a week late, arriving right after the rescue.  They escaped prosecution, but that tells me that God was in control all along.  My Daddy, Angus, hired Sophie and she saved my life just in time, but it would have been too late if there had not been a violent storm on the far side of the world, just at the right time.  Sorry, Mommy, I never told you that.”

Missy had tears in her eyes.  She ran up to hug her daughter.  Missy said, “Mine is nothing that good, but I remember a little Sophie along the effluent to the wastewater treatment plant, testing something that Blaise had invented.  She had done something naughty earlier that summer and was restricted to the property.  I went down to check on her and I heard strange music, but I liked what I heard.  Then I heard Sophie called her Dad about finding a dead body.  When I arrived on the scene, Angus was arguing with Sophie.  In the end, we found out that he was trying to find his brother, the rock star, finding the brother’s illegitimate daughter.  She had been given up for adoption.  All of that happened before I fell in love with Angus, and Angus insisted that he had to know my true past before he would propose.  I had been hiding from my mother, but Angus paid Sophie to find out.  So, without that encounter in the woods right here on the property, Menzie’s story would have never happened.  God is Good, all the time.”

I asked, “Dr. MacDougall, do you have anything to add?”

Angus said, “Angus, please, Lassie.  Doctor seems so formal.  But I am amazed how my brother hung in there long enough to say good-bye to me, Missy, Menzie, and Cassie.  I was rushing to get the DNA testing done.  And then about the time of Missy and I being married, the doctors thought he might die before we could get there.  But he hung on just to say good-bye.  As Missy said, God is good, all the time.”

I looked around the room for an eager look.  I chose Penny.

Penny said, “We haven’t been Christians for long.  Blake and I have had a hard time getting pregnant, but I am finally an official member of the expectant Mommie’s Club.  We saw Dr. Mel this last week.”

Everyone erupted with cheers.  A few were talking about a party, maybe the Sunday school class, but definitely the Mommie’s Club.  Besides a support group, the Mommie’s Club found any and every excuse to throw a party.

When the excitement died down, Tamara asked if she could go next.  I nodded.

Tamara said, “I came here after a mass murder happened right before my eyes.  I met Bart at that moment, and we did some things we shouldn’t have done.  Morally it might have been wrong, but we were avoiding the effect of the trauma.  But now that Bart is caught up with his work, we are starting to attend vespers, and I am finding out that I still like him.  So, Mommie Pinkie separating us for a while has benefited both of us, and we are back to a normal dating mode.  For a while, it looked like we might not get back together.”

Bart leaned over and squeezed her hand.  He was one of the few that did not seem to have anything to say, but it looked liked his attitude had mellowed.  I heard something about Mommie Pinkie giving him homework.  Don’t ask me, but that rumor sounded weird.

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

I said, “But wait, it’s not time!”  I heard a honk from the circle in front of the house.  “What’s going on?”

Missy said, “Cool it, everybody!  I just got a text from a couple of the drivers.  It says, ‘April Fools!’”

I growled, “Arabella, did you put them up to this?!”  She only sunk her head between her shoulders and giggled.

I said, “Okay, Fireball, you tell your story about how God is faithful.  That is, if a thirteen-year-old has such a story.”

She straightened and said, “I do!  I love animals.  I spend as much time as I can at the farm.  We got the llamas, and then we got the goats.  Then, I met this dreamy boy who sat in front of me in a few classes.  That might have been the end of it, except the goats at the farm belonged to Michael.  So, here I was wanting a boyfriend and the boy that I thought was dreamy was the owner of the goats, and I have been kidding ever since.  For those that don’t know, kidding means delivering baby goats.  Michael and I work together, and we go to school together.  This school year has been wonderful.  And I think that is God being faithful.  When you are friends with someone and the more you get to know them, the more you have in common.  Is that good enough?”

I nodded, “I think that was very good, Fireball.”

I said, “Time for one more.”

Joseline raised her hand.  “Can I go?  I had never given God a thought until Kevin and I were brought to Lily the Pink.  We started going to vespers and church, and since I wanted to become a doctor, Mommie Pinkie put me in the nursing station and on the safety crew.  I get to teach the safety classes.  I thoroughly love it.  But more importantly, I grew to love Jesus, and Kevin took a little longer, but he did too.  What I am saying is that when you are among God’s elect, He won’t give up on you.  That is the ultimate in being faithful.  God was right there by our side, even when we did not believe in him.  And now we have our little Misty.  Like Missy and Angus have said, ‘God is Good, all the time.”

I asked, “Kevin, do you have anything to add?”

Kevin nodded, “I was hesitant in accepting Jesus since I was studying to be an engineer.  The historical science, which is not science at all, not really, conflicts with Scripture.  But then I kept asking the question, where is the evidence?  So, it took me a little longer to accept Jesus.  And in accepting Him, my eyes are open to how the biblical record is true.  We do not have to give up rational thought to become a Christian.  It is the other people who have irrational faith in a godless system.  The universe screams of careful design as every new discovery is made.”

I looked at Bart and he whispered something to Tamara.  I think they were going to visit Jos and Kevin soon.

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 I added, “We are going to finish the Attributes of God in a few weeks, but I want to return to God’s faithfulness and then move onto other ways we can respond to those attributes.  We may have to wing it, but we need to use what we have learned.”

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.

And here is Yes, I Know sung by the Gaither Vocal Band.  The Vocal Band is comprised of Guy Penrod, Wes Hampton, Marshall Hall, and Bill Gaither, probably between 2005-2009.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.