Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women followed her, with timbrels and dancing.

• Exodus 15:20

When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain.

• Exodus 32:19

Whatever mission Saul sent him on, David was so successful that Saul gave him a high rank in the army. This pleased all the troops, and Saul’s officers as well.
When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with timbrels and lyres. As they danced, they sang:
“Saul has slain his thousands,
    and David his tens of thousands.”

• 1 Samuel 18:5-7

Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.
As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.

• 2 Samuel 6:14-16

You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,

• Psalm 30:11

Praise the Lord.
Sing to the Lord a new song,
    his praise in the assembly of his faithful people.
Let Israel rejoice in their Maker;
    let the people of Zion be glad in their King.
Let them praise his name with dancing
    and make music to him with timbrel and harp.
For the Lord takes delight in his people;
    he crowns the humble with victory.
Let his faithful people rejoice in this honor
    and sing for joy on their beds.

• Psalm 149:1-5

Boilerplate

I’m Harold Dykstra.  I’m retired, but I go to food bank distributions all over Tracy and talk to people that need someone who will listen to their story.  My time is well spent.  A police lieutenant suggested that I write down the conversations that I had with an angel.  I did not know she was an angel at the time.  The angel, for a little over a year, indwelled a life-sized posable action figure my children bought me, so that I would not be perceived as travelling alone.  And in a way, she was training me for what I do while talking to the needy.  She probed my heart to find out what I believed and how I express love for others.  She changed my life.

In her leaving, she said someone would come.  I had thought that was Jesus, in His second coming, but a new Babs, a little older, the model for the posable action figure arrived.  While I had no desire to start over with romance, Morrie helped her move in, thinking she was the other Babs who had returned.

This Week’s Question

Last week, Babs started making plans of moving all her stuff downstairs.

But this week, she had me in a small conference room at Lily the Pink.  Brodie MacKenzie and his girlfriend, Beatrice, were thrilling Babs with their ideas for our wedding, still eight months away when you consider the Babs idea of dressing me up like a leprechaun.

Bea said, “I am so glad you came to me with more than half a year to the wedding.  Bro and I are going to donate our time, as much time as you need, to get a dance number as husband and wife.  Who are you thinking of for your wedding party?”

Babs groaned, “Harold and I have not talked about it a lot.  We have Harold’s grown children who have agreed to be best man and matron of honor.  Morrie has two teenagers.  Wilhelmina’s children will be the ring bearer and flower girl.  As for officiating, we have two choices.  Our pastor would rather have the service at the church rather than here, and he is pointing to Willie’s husband as the best choice anyway.  I think he is thinking about how this used to be a brothel.”

Bea groaned, “Please do not remind me.  I was kidnapped, sold into the human traffic market and landed here.  Praise the Lord, it was not for long.  I have my man.  Our business is growing, and we have not started any advertisement campaigns.  We have a big demonstration at the Snazzy Taz in two months.  If that gets the phones ringing, then we may tie the knot about the same time that you do.  If you do something that most people your age might not be expected to do, and in only eight months, then us doing this for free will be a big boost in our business.  Bro and I doing a dance is nice.  We are the professionals, but you two are going to do something special.”

Babs said, “Thank you, so much, but we can pay.  We both have some money saved, and we live off some of my investments and Harold’s Social Security.”

Bro said, “No, you and Harold devote so much time to the food banks all over the city, and you volunteer at nearly every feeding the homeless thing.  What’s that called?”

I grumbled, “I guess my ad campaign needs more work.  It is Feeding the Homeless At Tracy (FHAT).”

Bro said, “Is that a bit confusing?”

I shrugged, “Maybe. It also is the acronym for Flood Hazard Assessment Tool.  Since some of the people have been homeless since the flood a few years ago, that fits, unfortunately.  Sorry, my work at food banks is mostly talking to people.  If they can’t afford food, they can’t afford therapy.  I may not be a therapist, but I listen to them, and we pray.  And most come back the next time, saying that I was missed.  I can’t be everywhere with every distribution.”

Bro smiled, “Help us out here.  We get advertising, and you get our services in honor of what you do.  We can’t give back to Pink Lady.  She is like you two.  She is too busy giving to others.”

Bea said, “What I was thinking is that you can start very slow.”

Babs said, “Wait.  Before Harold and I decide anything, we have a Bible study.  Many denominations do not have dance in their worship, but in Exodus 15, they danced when Moses and Miriam led worship.  They have successfully escaped the Egyptians.  They walked over the sea bottom on dry land, but the Egyptians were bogged down.  The waters came over them and destroyed Pharoah’s army.  So, from early on, dance was part of the celebration.”

I muttered, “But in Exodus 32, they were dancing around the golden calf.  That was not a good way to worship.”

Babs groaned, “That wasn’t the dancing that was bad.  It was what they were worshipping.”

Bro and Bea snickered, not knowing how we did our Bible studies.

Babs said, “But in 1 Samuel 18, the Israelites danced and sang every time David had a victory.”

I added, “Which made Saul jealous, and he wanted to kill David.”

Babs said, “But then in 2 Samuel 6, David strips down to a linen ephod, and he danced around the Ark of the Covenant as they moved it into Jerusalem.  Again, dancing was part of great celebration.”

I added, “Yeah, and Michal reminded David that he was not being very kingly, and Michal was sent away from the royal family.”

Babs came in really close.  She purred as her perfume reached my nostrils.  “And would you want to be saddled with an old fuddy-duddy that did not like having fun, that would not dance, and would not show his love by celebrating like it was 1999?  You would not want to be married to someone like that, now would you?”

I shook my head.  She had me.  “No, dear, I would not.  And before you make it seem that I do not know to what you refer.  The song was 1999, written by Prince.  Okay, I am in this thing for eight months.  We will get our calendars out and see what a good time will be.”  She snickered and kissed me.

Then I added, “I just hope I don’t break a hip, and we have to postpone the wedding.”

Bea said, “The Bible verse that kept me going when Baldwyn was in charge here was Psalm 30:11.  And three and a half years ago, God turned my wailing into dancing.  Then Missy needed bride’s maids, and I hooked up with this handsome guy.  So, even more dancing.  Now, no more talk about breaking a hip.”

I sang, “Dum, dum da dum, dum da dum dum dum da dum.”

Bea laughed, “Bro, I have an idea.”

Bro asked, “What do you need, Bea?”

Bea snickered, “Harold was just muttering the tune of Chopin’s Funeral March.  We’ll have someone announce that Harold Dykstra was footloose and free, but those days came to an end.  Then Emmett and the band can play Chopin’s Funeral March.”

Bro shrugged, “That is kind of a buzz kill, but okay.  Do you know the official movement?”

Bea nodded, “Third movement of Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. 2.  Marz Zalobny in Polish.  Do you need the French?”

Bro shook his head, “I can ask Jochebed for that.  I am sure she knows, but this is a happy celebration.  How is this happy?”

Bea giggled, “They do a slow dance to a few measures of Chopin.  Then we can switch to something else.  Some kind of giving a little and taking a little.  I have no idea.”

Bro said, “I think you do.  You gotta give a little, take a little, let your poor heart break a little, that’s the story of, that’s the glory of love.  That’s a William Hill song.  That’s good for an older couple.”

Bea pulled out her laptop and showed us a video.  It was a video of Dietmar and Nellia Ehrentraut, who have a lot of Youtube videos of themselves dancing.

I groaned, “I can’t do that.  Babs will be in her wedding dress.  What if she gets hung up in it?”

Babs giggled, “Harold, other than a few times where Dietmar uses his feet, he mostly follows Nellia around.  Look at one part at a time, and you can see yourself doing that one part.  In eight months, we will have all those one parts tied together.”

Bea said, “And what is your celebration of your marriage supposed to be, Harold?”

I shrugged, “It is praise to God for His wonderful provision.  He crowns the humble with victory.”

Bro asked, “Isn’t that a line from Psalm 149?  The crowning the humble part.  So, I will get with Emmett for the music for the Chopin Funeral March and The Glory of Love.  He can look for Music to my Ear by Little Neal and the Blue Flames, but if I can’t find it, he’ll find something with the same rhythm.  Basically, rockabilly.  Emmett can put an arrangement together, but isn’t the wedding way off?”

I groaned, “With me learning how to dance, it may take all of that time.”

Bro said, “Harold, God created the heavens and the earth and everything in them in seven days.  He can help you learn a few dance moves.”

Bea said, “With the wedding dress consideration, we may have to change a few things.  I will choreograph what you two can do.  And we will practice with the shoes you will be wearing and a skirt that is the same length as the wedding dress.”

And with all the smiling faces around me, I had to smile too. “Okay, so let’s get started!”

But I was thinking, ‘What have I gotten myself into?’

Credits

All these conversations remind me of my conversations with my wife.  We would talk about anything and everything.  And most of the time, it sounded like a discussion in a Sunday school class.

My wife loved to dance, but in our early attempts to dance, I was so bad that she thought I was trying to mug her.  Sadly, she figured that was part of the worse and she stopped dancing, waiting for the better that never much developed.  But we loved each other anyway.

Here is the video of Dietmar and Nellia. And Nellia is about six years younger than Dietmar. When this was recorded, Dietmar was about ten years older than Harold. They can do this.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.