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.

I was on the toilet when B.B. came into our unofficial “green room.”

She heard me moaning.  Mary asked, “Stinker, are you okay?”

“It must be something I ate last night.” I replied.

She suggested, “Do you want me to ask Joseph to fill in?”

“No,” I replied, “I can do this, but if I have to slip off to the restroom midway through, he can keep the class talking.”  And then my thought was, ‘Yeah, talking about why I had to go to the bathroom.’

I flushed and emerged from the bathroom.  I said, “I took extra time to do my hair this morning, since I was never far from the toilet, so I think we can go in.”

B.B. gave me the once over.  “Sure, you look great!”  I was pleased and reached for the door handle when she added, “for the bride of Frankenstein.”

“Very funny!”  I stopped and let her hit the uncooperative spot with her brush.  “And that should be the bride of Frankenstein’s monster.”

“No,” Mary was giggling, “The bride of Frankenstein.  You did a good job.  I was just joking.”

I stuck my tongue out. “Maybe you should be the Stinker for a while.”

We entered the room and there was an interesting group that had gone on a Turtle Storm Chasing trip.  The high schoolers were out of school for the summer, so the Caseys, minus Joan, were storm chasing with Easy as the driver.  And Arabella was with them.  And then two meteorological students that showed some promise, Mitzi and Fred.  That took Mr. Dictionary away, but then, we did not need Mr. Dictionary, since Arabella, a.k.a. Fireball, was on the storm chasing team.  B.B. was going to have a lot of fun editing the in-vehicle conversations.  I had not met Mitzi or Fred, but Arabella would talk to anyone.

Joseph led us in prayer, a lengthy one to pray for Brooke’s medical issues and the safety of the Turtle Team.

Emmett led his choir.  The lead was sung by Menzie and Carla.  At alto, there was Brooke and Mercedes Lothrop.  At tenor, Samuel and Emmett.  No baritone.  And Goober sang bass.  Hmmm.  That reminds me of an old song, Goober Sang Bass, Emmett Sang Tenor.  But maybe those were not the words.  The hymn was My Heavenly Father Watches over Me.

I asked, “Why that hymn?”

Emmett said, “The transcendence of God can be looked at two ways, for Arabella three.  God is sovereign and we may have free will, but God’s sovereign will is going to be accomplished one way or another.  It’s like God hovers over us and moves the chess pieces this way or that way.  But we can also see it as God looking over us to protect us.”

Samuel said, “Aunt Jemima, since Emmett already mentioned what attribute of God that we are studying this time, I would like to ask Emmett, ‘What is God’s third way of God being transcendent?’”

Emmett shrugged, “For Arabella, we need to add the creepy way.  God is watching over us when we take a shower or go to the bathroom.”

I groaned, “Please don’t mention bathroom.  Let’s get started.”

I asked, “Do you need Mr. Dictionary?”

Mike Lothrop said, “Maybe.  I wasn’t here when you covered it before.  Either that or I forgot.”

Mercedes, his big sister, said, “You could go either way.  I don’t think we were here, but Mike forgets stuff, a lot of stuff.”

I groaned, “Okay!  Oxford Language says that transcendence is ‘existence or experience beyond the normal or physical level.’  That definitely is like God, but for a biblical definition, Grand Canyon University claims that transcendence is that God is outside of humanity’s full experience, perception or grasp.  But then they say that God’s immanence is that God is perceptible and graspable.  But A. W. Tozer defines transcend as ‘to go above, to rise above, to be above.’  So, God is all of that.  We need to tie three attributes together here.  God’s omnipresence is that God is everywhere.  God’s immanence is that God is within and through all things, not just the guy sitting in the corner of the room.  And God’s transcendence is that He is above all things.  Thus, Emmett’s explanation, without the creepy part, is a good way to look at transcendence.  God is a spirit.  We cannot see Him, thus we have elements of our perception and grasp that are unfulfilled, for now.  That is part of transcendence.  But with the Holy Spirit in us, we can feel that.  That is God’s immanence.  And God is omnipresent.  When we do not know Jesus, we are lost, but to be found, we must accept God who was always there by our side from the beginning.  But God is polite.  We knock before we enter a room, or we should, due to politeness.  But God is polite.  He will not enter us to stay unless we open the door.  We do that by no longer resisting God.  Yet, God was already looking over us from the cellular level, just not in a spiritual heart.”

Joseph (Psalm 91:4) “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.”

Joseph laughed, “I recently heard a pastor quote this verse and then ask, ‘Is God a chicken?’  Of course, chickens are not the only birds that gather their young under their wings, but this verse is a metaphor.  And it is a great example of God being over us, especially from the standpoint of our protection.”

I smiled, “B.B., the entire chapter of Isaiah 40.”

Mary asked, “Are you kidding me?  I mean, I don’t want to sound like Blaise, but can’t you break it up a little?”

I smiled, “Would the bride of Frankenstein kid you?”

Mary nodded, “Okay I deserved that one.”

Mary (Isaiah 40:21-24) “Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.”

Mary said, “That was a lot, but not as bad as the entire chapter.  The chapter is about consolation to the people.  In this group of verses, verse 22 sounds like all your definitions of transcendence.  God is above the circle of the earth and spreads out the universe like a canopy over the people who are so small they could be grasshoppers.  But then in verses 23 and 24, God can bring up a prince and He can cause that prince to wither and die.  So for the consolation idea, any wicked ruler that you have over you is not going to be there forever.  And God had His purpose to have that prince, king, whatever kind of ruler, over the people.  So, endure the punishment or the test of faith and then God will deal with that ruler.”

Jos said, “Like my parents always said, ‘Just wait until the next election.’”

Kevin added, “That only works if the country has free elections and there is someone running in opposition, but before you suggest another wrestling match, I get your point.”

Jos leaned over and they kissed.

I asked, “Brooke (Romans 11:33-36)”

Brooke panicked.  “Car, help.  Where is Romans?”

Menzie suggested, “In Rome.”

Carla snickered, “Here.  It’s in the New Testament.  It’s after the Gospels and Acts.  Now, just find Romans 11.  What verses were those, Aunt Jemima?”

Brooke (Romans 11:33-36) “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?” For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.”

Brooke said, “That looks like that university’s definition of transcendence.  God is so awesome that we cannot comprehend who and what He is.  But then it says that from God we have all things.”

Joseph said, “Amen and Amen.  And for a person who just accepted Christ a couple of weeks ago, that was a good summary.”

Brooke brightened.

Ricardo Francisco (Isaiah 57:15) “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.”

Goober smiled, “It’s Goober, Aunt Jemima.  But this says that God is way up there.  So, it says He is over us, but then it says that if we are lowly and have a contrite heart, He is with us.  And that’s pretty much how Brooke and I came to know the Lord.  We thought we had everything under control, until nothing was in our control.  And now, we don’t know what kind of a future we have.  I kind of know what contrite means, but I think Brooke and I are there.”

I smiled, “I don’t have the definition exactly, but it’s the feeling of remorse and guilt, penitence.  Something close to that.”  Joseph, who had it on his phone nodded, so I must not have been too far off.

Angus (Psalm 113:4-6) “The Lord is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?”

Angus scratched his chin.  “This has the ‘above everything’ in a physical sense, but still God stoops down to make a connection with us.  And there are no nations that are equal to Him, thus nothing on earth.”

Margie asked, “But how does this relate to us?  This retracing of the attributes of God and using new Scriptures is supposed to be an application type thing, right?”

I asked Margie, “Marguerite, if you knew God was everywhere, in all things, through all things, and hovering above all things to either do His sovereign will or protect us even when we stray, how would you live differently?”

Margie sat back, “Wow!  I know that I cannot get away with little sneaky things.  So, even if no one caught me doing something wrong, or maybe I did something unintentionally and never knew about it until later, I would need to confess it.  I might have to make amends for wrongdoing.”

Blaise said, “Sweetheart, you are going down a rabbit hole of wrongdoing.  You can confess later, but are their positives?”

Margie turned to him, “Okay, Smarty pants, what are the positives?”

Blaise shrugged, “If we have something bad wrong with our bodies and then we get a bad pain that the doctor needs to fix, the doctor may find the more serious thing.  I know a lady who had an unplanned pregnancy, and when the baby was delivered, they found a rare case of cancer.  By the time the cancer began to hurt, it would have been too late, but they got everything fixed.  My Mom had a urinary infection and during the exam, she passed a kidney stone that she did not know that she had.  Stuff like that.”

Mary said, “But just knowing that God has a plan for our lives and He hovers over the situation to make sure we do our part in glorifying Him, that is comfort in itself.  I had a requirement to graduate that I had not taken care of, and it was my last semester.  I had to go on a storm chase.  Now, you have to go on more than one, but this was not long ago.  So, I went on a chase with Dr. Ellie and Stinker and Easy.  I was supposed to only be on the team for a week, but then a terrible thing happened.  My replacement was murdered.  Since this left Dr. Kildare ill-prepared to replace me with someone else, he let me stay with the team.  That one very bad thing led to a lot of things.  The four of us gelled into the Turtle Team and when I showed my experiences to Dr. Kildare and the television people at the university, they got the idea of the Storm Chasing Channel and a streaming service for a reality TV show with our adventures.  And that has grown a great deal since then.  But more importantly, two other things happened.  The most important thing was that I accepted Jesus that second week.  And even more, I met Joseph Jones, and we became friends and then we became romantic friends and now we are married.  All of that came from God’s transcendence.  I went from not knowing anything about God to being on a team of loving people who talked about God to becoming one of them and then to forget about interviewing for a job because I had a job right here.  That is God moving a lot of chess pieces to make that happen.”

Mercedes said, “Mom became a Christian and finally got off drugs when I was really young.  She has been sober almost all my life and all of Mike’s life.  If not, we would have been in bad shape ourselves.  You can ask our big sister Madelaine who just went full-time in the nursery here at Lily the Pink.  But Mom brought Mike and me up the way you should.  We both accepted Jesus.  But because of all the things that happened to bring us here, we stayed to ourselves in our apartment and the Drivers asked us to be Mary Jo’s partner and now Mike and I have new friends.  And there is no condemnation in the class over how we each got here.”

I looked around the room.  “Mary Jo might have never had her son, Frank, if Darrell had not seen the lights on inside the house we were renting during a hurricane.  Joseph might have never met Mary if he did not arrange for people who had lost everything in a tornado to stay at the same hotel where we were staying.  Angus might have never met Missy if he was not looking for Cassie and Missy responded to Sophia finding a boy who had overdosed on drugs and was found in the creek where Angus was practicing his bagpipes.  Then if Angus had not hired Sophie to find Missy’s true identity, Grandmama Collins would still be making babies and selling the grown children to human traffickers.  Really, forcing her children and grandchildren to get pregnant for monetary gain is a different form of human trafficking.  But the bottom line is that Menzie had already been sold, but the transfer to the human traffickers was stopped.  Look at your partner.  Sure, some of you are paired just to have someone to study the Bible with.  Arabella and Michael would have not gotten together other than a long string of things that may be unbelievable, but they all had to happen for them to be boyfriend and girlfriend.  Margie just thinks she pulled the strings to catch Blaise, but God was seeing over that too.  Now, you can each talk to your partner to try to think of all the strange things that happened so that you could be a couple.  But our next topic with be God’s Omnipotence.”

Joseline said, “Wait a minute, Stinker.  What things happened for you and easy to hook up?”

I sighed, “For Easy, he loved looking at clouds.  It was during the lockdown, and he went to the river to observe the weather patterns.  Then he heard laughter in the river and my Dad was baptizing each of the family members.  But I was the one that suggested that we go to the river.  There was a lockdown, and I felt we needed to get clean and presentable before God, for the virus could go away.  Dad may not have followed my logic, but we thought it was a great way to get out of the house.  Easy and I met over social media when he recognized my Dad as the new minister at First-Third.  But Rev. Tozer had to retire or the position would not have been open.  My Dad would have been in another town and I would have never met Easy.  Then, Easy and I might have met other people when the lockdown was over, but we met at the mall and kissed each other.  A policeman saw us and arrested us over a law that is no longer on the books.  But Easy’s Dad, Lt. Deviled Yeggs, pulled every string he could find to keep our kiss off the books.  Can you imagine that you would get a criminal record because you kissed your boyfriend?  But times were a bit weird during the lockdown.  But we had to do a lot of community service and Easy and I learned a lot about each other as a result.  We liked what we learned.  It is strange how something that was bad got us together, just like something bad got Joseph and Mary together.  God’s transcendence uses the good and bad things for His good and our good.  His plan comes together, and we get to worship and adore Him.”

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

I smiled, “As we have been doing, 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)

Joseph thanked everyone for replying to his request for prayer requests.  Everyone had given a prayer request, but since many were for other people in the class, there were some overlapping requests.  He’d have the list printed for everyone the next week.

Brooke came over and picked up Stormie’s carrier and went with us to the bus.

But before I joined her on the bus, I went back to the bathroom and Brooke held the bus until I got there.

I think Brooke and Goober had their own story, but that could come in another month or two.  There were court cases to settle, and the pains are too raw at the moment.

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.  But I will admit that I did a search on the topic and found most of the verses that I used this time.

I know a lot recently about bathroom issues and having to have a bathroom within quick access.

The line about Goober Sang Bass, Emmett Sang Tenor is a play on the song written by Carl Perkins, Daddy Sang Bass, Mamma Sang Tenor that became a hit for Johnny Cash and June Carter.

And the woman with the cancer found when delivering a baby during an unplanned pregnancy and the woman with the unknown kidney stone are true stories.  I know the first woman and she may want to keep that private, but the second was my wife.  She amazingly had a kidney stone fall into the doctor’s hand, and she never had any pain from it, but the medical procedure helped “deliver” the kidney stone.

Here is Sandra Entermann singing My Heavenly Father Watches over Me.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.