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 were joking around and trying to be serious about our makeup, when the bathroom doors opened.

Brooke said, “Carla said that the two of you hide out in here before class starts.  I’m a big fan of your Storm Chasing Channel.  I look at more of the educational videos than the reality show.  Reality shows are fake anyway.”

B.B. said, “Our reality show is edited, sure, but it is not fake.  Ask anyone who rides along.  If you are in the Sunday school class in another minute, you can ask Arabella, Michael, Joseline, or Kevin.  They all attend the Sunday School class, along with the regular Turtle team members.  Dr. Ben and Dr. Kildare are out this week on a storm chase with an all-rookie crew.  We may get data and reaction shots, but without a reliable photographer, I have no idea what they’ll get.  At least most of the video cameras are fixed.”

I asked, “Who is driving?”

B.B. shrugged, “I cannot see Dr. Kildare doing much of it.  Dr. Ben will have his hands full, but I heard it was those two that were in the Turtle when you and Easy started.”

I nodded, “But Easy had already gotten the driving job, but is someone going to introduce me to our fan?”

Carla snickered, “I thought you would know.  This is Brooke.  She plays third base on the Softball team.  Since you married Sophie’s brother, I thought you would be familiar with the team.  Brenton and I are back.  I apologize for not being in class last week, but we went to the early service, and we accepted Jesus together.  Brooke is on the outside, window shopping, I guess.  Goober, her boyfriend, will be the big man in the class.  I wanted Brooke to meet you before class started, since she watches the classes that you teach, Aunt Jemima, and none of it would become a reality without B.B.”  She turned to Brooke, “B.B. stands for Bossy Boss.”

Brooke smiled, but then she asked, “There won’t be a little Thai girl in the class, will there be?”

I asked, “No, Kanok is upstairs with her mother getting ready for church.  No, wait!  You’re Brooke and your boyfriend is Goober, right?”  Brooke nodded.  “Okay, Kanok told me about you and Sophie had to clarify what your names are.  Please, cut her some slack.  Kanok is two and a half years old.  And English is her second language.  She is adorable on Talk Like A Pirate Day.  She goes around saying ‘Arrr’ all day because the Thai language only has a rolled ‘R’.  So, she is so proud that she can ‘talk like a pirate.’”

Brooke reddened.  It was obvious that she took offense to her name being said wrong and that of her boyfriend.  Who wants to be known as the girlfriend of “Booger”?  And it almost looked like Brooke was here against her will.  There was a tinge of anger.  But she got to talk to people who are on television, if a streaming service counts for that.  Maybe that was her only reason to be here.

We were missing our baritone, but Emmett was going to try.  Emmett said, “I was thinking of a song that talks about God’s Goodness, why not sing God is Good All the Time, the Tina Sadler version? Don Moen wrote a song by that title too.”  With Carla, Menzie, Arabella, and Mercedes Lothrop singing the tune and alto and Samuel and Michael singing tenor, they could drown out Emmett’s attempt at singing at the lowest end of his range.  But the song was fun to sing.

Samuel asked, “Aunt Jemima, what attribute of God are we studying this time?”

I said, “We are studying God’s Goodness.”

Arabella said, “Goodie!”

Dr. Ellie said, “That’s it?  Fireball, where are the ten thousand words that follow.”

Arabella shrugged, “We just sang about it.  God is Good, all the time.  Do you want to hear the song again?”  She shrunk her head between her shoulders and giggled.

I said, “I have only one Scripture and I hope that gets everyone to think about God’s goodness.  It’s a long passage…”

Blaise said, “Here it comes.  She always picks on me for the long passages.  Okay, book, chapter, verses…  Or is it the entire chapter?”

Margie squeezed his arm.  “Blaise, you are such a good reader.  And your commentary is so insightful, Sweetheart.”

Arabella said, “Sweetheart?!”  And then she said, “Oooooo!” increasing the pitch.  She said, “I think that would sound better with others joining in.”  Then half the class joined in.

Margie said, “You’re just jealous that I got the best catch in the room.”

Sophia said, “I am not jealous at all.  I am grateful that you took the pest of a little brother off my hands.”

Sophia (Psalm 34:8-22): “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Fear the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to blot out their name from the earth. The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all; he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken. Evil will slay the wicked; the foes of the righteous will be condemned. The Lord will rescue his servants; no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.”

Sophia said, “Someone else can do a commentary.  I need oxygen.”

I huffed, “I picked you because I thought you’d have enough oxygen to get through it.”

Brooke said, “But it does not make sense.  We just sang a song about how God is good and then the Bible verses said that the righteous person has all kinds of troubles.  What good is a good God if He let’s you suffer like that?”

Blake asked, “Can I give my testimony?”

I smiled, “Sure, Blake, we know you have not been a believer long, and only a few of us know what struggles you have had.  Remember, relate it to how God is good.”

Blake nodded, “Penny and I were neighbors, and we hung out together.  She was a basketball player, and she started hanging out with her teammates.  I went along just to be with Penny.  Well, Penny got in with some girls that liked girls, if you know what I mean, and they hated that I was with her.  At the time, I liked popping pills, and Penny’s new friends started giving me pills.  I thought they were just letting me get high so they could have fun with Penny, but they were trying to turn me into a girl.  Well, by the time Penny and I found out what was happening, it was almost too late to reverse it, but Penny married me anyway.  I was good at construction, but my drug habit kept getting in the way.  I lost a few jobs.  We got evicted a couple of times.  Then, Pink Lady came to the rescue.  I had finally stayed sober for a while, but I had a reputation.  Her construction contractor here was the only one who would hire me.  Mommie Pinkie took special interest in Penny and me.  We got an apartment here.  We started going to Vespers, then this class, and we finally accepted Jesus.  But because of what happened to me, we couldn’t have a baby, at least not then.  But I did that to myself.  God did not do that.  God lets us make bad choices, and my bad choices left me in a place that I could not get myself out of.  Living here, Penny had a good job in the cider house, and I was staying sober.  Mommie Pinkie hired me to be the minor plumbing and electrical repair guy.  If anything major is broken, we have to call for a licensed professional, but a clogged toilet, or a light switch that doesn’t work, I’m your man.  So, I did a lot of bad things, and I did not believe in God, but God believed in me.  God loved me, and He knew I have potential.  He was good to me in my rebellious years.  I never had an overdose.  When I was taking the wrong pills, I did not take so many that it couldn’t be reversed.  All of that was God keeping me from going too far, and believe me, I would have taken more pills if I had more to take.  But then, Mommie Pinkie believed in me, and Penny believed in me.  And once I was saved, they built the platforms on the Big House roof to access the top of the Crystal Mountain.  Mommie Pinkie said she wanted a BBQ grill up there and I said I could do that.  My Dad had built one, and I thought I remembered everything he had done.  And my boss, Jim Kaiser, encouraged me to think of modifications to it.  Now we have a few patents pending and we have built a ‘BBQ Thing’ at the Niblicks and Deviled Yeggs and on the roof of Amy G. Dala’s building.  Each with more modifications.  We’re looking to make it lighter, and we need people to use it a lot to see how the lightweight refractories can hold up.  So, I went from a loser to someone who might soon share in a few patents and have a business making and selling barbecue grill systems.  God is so good.  He never gave up on me while I wandered around in the wilderness.  Sure, I suffered, but a lot of that was my doing.  The doctors said that I would probably never be a father, but Penny is expecting.  God is good, all the time.  Even when we are not that good at all.”

Penny smiled and leaned over to kiss him.

Joseph said, “But there are a lot of things in this psalm.”

I snickered, “That’s why I picked it.”

Joseph rolled his eyes.  “The psalm says that those who are His ‘holy people’, in other words those that love the Lord, lack nothing.  We could argue that the poor lack a lot of things, but God sends people like Easy’s father in to feed the homeless, and they get spiritual food too.  Our own Thomas ver Waarloosd is a big part of that team.  But then it talks of the lion going hungry.  What does that remind you of?”

Mary Jo said, “Jesus said that God has His eye on the sparrow, and we are more precious to Him than many sparrows.  But then, does God not like the lion that much?”

Joseph smiled, “Thank you, Mary Jo. I wanted someone to make that connection.  The lion gets hungry, but that just motivates the lion to go out and catch some prey.  There is provision there, but being a carnivore, the lion must hunt for fresh prey, while the sparrow flies around and can find something to eat.  God provides for the sparrow, the lion, and us.  But the psalm next talks about fearing God, but then it says to have long life, we need to keep our tongue from evil and not lie.”

Angus said, “Aye, God also puts that promise on honoring our mother and father.  I guess God keeps us around if we are obeying Him and glorifying Him in what we say and do.  In other words, we are still useful for His kingdom here on earth.”

Sophie said, “And I have been learning lately that fearing God is not like cringing in fear.  It is being in awe of His power and majesty.  And I guess that is why we are studying the attributes of God.  We are learning just how awesome God is and in what ways we should fear Him.”

Otto asked, “Can I ask a question?”

I laughed, “I only ask people to take turns when two or three people try to talk all at once.  You are a welcome member of this class, Otto.”

Otto nodded, “Most people here know me as one of the bakers, but before Dad started the bakery, I had been in prison.  My name was Rotten Yeggs at the time, and I was rotten.  Zuzka taught me how to be something other than rotten.  But the reason for me being in prison, I had pulled a prank and somebody died.  It was a dare from my stupid friends, but I guess I was more stupid than they were.  It says in this psalm that evil will slay the wicked, and the foes of the righteous will be condemned.  Now that God has washed away my sins, I am not condemned, but evil killing the wicked…  What does that mean?  Sometimes someone that kills someone does it in self-defense.  Or in my case, by accident,”

I smiled, “Well, Otto, it does not say an evil person will kill a wicked person.  It is talking about the condition of being evil.  Evil is like a cancer inside people who do not accept Jesus as their Savior.  They may even seem to be rather nice on the surface, but then, the evil within them continues to corrupt even the nice parts of them so that they consume themselves in wicked ways.  But as long as there is breath, there is hope that God can come into their heart and not just forgive them of their sins, but God can provide remission of that evilness that was growing throughout their body.  And I know you, sweet cousin of mine.  You are just as sweet as those cakes that you bake.  You are going to be a wonderful father.”

Otto nodded and Zuzka rubbed her baby bump.

Lauren came from behind Menzie and patted her on the knee, “Mommie!  The buses!”

I smiled, “As we started last week, let’s end with the Mizpah benediction.  Everyone, bow your heads in prayer.  “May the Lord keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other.’” (Genesis 31:49b)

Lauren then saw Brooke and Carla, “Brooke!  Carla!  Yay!”

Menzie said, “Don’t Sophie and I deserve a cheer?  We’re always here.”

Lauren giggled, “But you are Mommie.  You are always here.”  And then she jumped into Menzie’s lap for a big hug.

Menzie said, “Hugs are better than cheers.”

Arabella walked up to me and said, “I hope next week can be a better week.  We didn’t need Mr. Dictionary today!  We keep going like this and Mr. Dictionary might not show up!”

I shrugged, “You do know, Fireball, that Mr. Dictionary and I are married.  If he is not out chasing a storm, he will be here.  And we might not need him next week.  The topic will be God’s Justice.”

Arabella asked, “What kind of Justice?  Margie’s last name is Justice.  We have a Justice of the Peace out at the county line for the Stout County side of the farm.  There are supreme court justices.”

I interrupted before she could keep going.  “I hope that Mr. Dictionary will be here.  You just made an easy lesson become a hard one.”

Dr. Ellie asked, “How far apart should contractions be before you go to the hospital?”

Jochebed asked, “How far apart are you now?”

Dr. Ellie shrugged, “I was hoping it was something else.  This is my first.  But they are about five minutes apart.  I have been having them for over an hour.  I just did not want to make a fuss in class.  But Jochebed, my husband is on a storm chase.”

Easy said, “We can call him and find out where he is.  He can fly home, and I can fly out tomorrow.”

Dr. Ellie said, “They are a couple of states south of here.  Things are percolating, just like they are here.  And there is a spare seat in the Turtle.  Maybe you and Stinker can fly down.”

Jochebed nodded, “We will go to the hospital, but they may send you home.  They look for contractions three or four minutes apart.  Mr. Easy can get your husband here.  Georges and I will act as your coaches in his absence.”

And a quick note: Mother and Daughter are just fine.  Joan Casey, seven pounds, 19 inches, is healthy, and her mother is ecstatic.  After so many years of avoiding pregnancy and living the wild life, Dr. Ellie now knows what she was missing.

We were not there for the birth.  We were flying into Oklahoma City while Dr. Ben was flying home.  Our little Stormie was staying with grandmother Naomi and her aunt Gloria Grace “Gigi” Yeggs, although Gigi was just a year and a half older. The Casey baby wasn’t born until the next day.

Credits

I am now starting to use the David E. Fessenden study guides for The Attributes of God, A Journey into the Father’s Heart by A.W. Tozer, in two volumes. Again, no quotations, just some Scriptures that keep the flow going.

International Talk Like a Pirate Day was started by two men from Oregon playing racquetball, but it caught on and went viral when the columnist / humorist Dave Barry got wind of it.

And here is God is Good All the Time sung by the Gaither Vocal Band (Guy Penrod, David Phelps, Mark Lowry, Bill Gaither).

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.