Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

to him who rides across the highest heavens, the ancient heavens, who thunders with mighty voice.

• Psalm 68:33

Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea— the Lord on high is mighty.

• Psalm 93:4

The Lord’s right hand is lifted high; the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!”

• Psalm 118:16

Reach down your hand from on high; deliver me and rescue me from the mighty waters, from the hands of foreigners

• Psalm 144:7

The Lord detests all the proud of heart.
    Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.

• Proverbs 16:5

“I was high and mighty,
How I laughed at love
And the stars above,
Then you came like a gentle flame
And helped me to find my way!
I was high and mighty
And I told my heart
Where to stop and start,
Now I find that I was blind,
I’m learning it day by day!
Love can change things,
Rearrange things,
Oh, what strange things
Love can do!
I’m not high and mighty
But I have what’s worth
All the gold on earth,
I have you and I give my heart
Forever and ever to you, you, you!”

• Ned Washington (music Dimitri Tiomkin, The High and the Mighty

This song was assigned to Dimitri Tiomkin for the theme song of the movie The High and the Mighty.  John Wayne was one of two producers, and he filled in as the co-pilot of a doomed aircraft bringing 17 passengers back from Hawaii.  It is said to be the mother of all disaster films.  John Wayne had Spencer Tracy for the co-pilot role and he backed out.  Several leading women also backed out in that the women on a doomed aircraft had to show their weaknesses.  Oddly, the ladies that took their places were nominated for academy awards, but only the musical score by Tiomkin won the Oscar.  Two ladies did win Golden Globes, only one being the same as the Oscar nominations.  And even John Wayne’s character was unlike anything he’d ever done before, walking into the darkness with a limp after the plane landed.  Oops, spoiler alert.  Wayne’s character had crashed a plane before, and he lost his wife and child as a result, as an example of the inner turmoil among the crew and the passengers.   So, the theme of the movie was how the flight crew overcame their inadequacies and took care of the passengers, while finally making the best decision and saving everyone onboard with no margin of error at the end.

The first four Scriptures above are from Psalms, the only mentions of “high” and “mighty” in the same verse in the NIV.  Note that all four verses refer to God being high and mighty.  But as the proverb states, God does not think kindly of those who are too high and mighty – meaning arrogant.

So, in reading through the lyrics without this preamble, you would think this a love song or a worship song.  It all depends on who the “you” in the lyrics is.  If the people worshipping know that the “Love” is God or Jesus, along with the “You,” I see no need to change anything.

In fact, it is much like a three-part testimony.  The first two verses speak of what it was like before Jesus came into the singer’s life.  It mentions meeting the “Love” and “you,” and then abruptly speaks of what it is like afterward.

One of our biggest problems in accepting Jesus is that we think too highly of ourselves.  We can solve our own problems.  I guess being a pilot on a plane that has gone past the point of no return (not enough fuel to turn around and go back to Hawaii), and an engine catches fire, then nearly rips off the wing.  And to make matters worse, all the damage leads to a fuel leak.  With one engine down and less fuel than normal, could they reach San Francisco or would they have to give a May Day and ditch in the Pacific Ocean?

Okay, that’s the plot of the movie, but when that kind of situation hits all of us, just different circumstances, we realize that we are not that high and mighty.  We might need someone else.

Then when we give our lives to Jesus, everything changes.  We are no longer thinking of the next exciting moment.  We are thinking of forever and ever and ever.  We are thinking of Jesus.

Here is Billy Eckstine singing The High and the Mighty.

I really like Billy Eckstine’s version of Lullaby of the Leaves.  It may not be the next “Old Song”, but it is in the queue.  Besides, Billy Eckstine was a native of Pittsburgh, PA.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.