Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

“Then they will call to me but I will not answer;
    they will look for me but will not find me,
since they hated knowledge
    and did not choose to fear the Lord.
Since they would not accept my advice
    and spurned my rebuke,
they will eat the fruit of their ways
    and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.
For the waywardness of the simple will kill them,
    and the complacency of fools will destroy them;
but whoever listens to me will live in safety
    and be at ease, without fear of harm.”

• Proverbs 1:28-33

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

• Romans 3:23

If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

• James 4:17

So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.

• Romans 14:22-23

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

• Romans 6:23

Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say:
“You are just in these judgments, O Holy One,
    you who are and who were;
for they have shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets,
    and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.”

• Revelation 16:5-6

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

• Ephesians 2:8-9

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

• Colossians 3:2

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 found her calling.  She read a story to the preschool children with such passion that the Christian Education Director wanted her to be the new preschool Sunday school teacher.

Then, on Labor Day, we got lazy, avoiding as much labor as possible.  But then after a phone call from the pastor, Babs went around the house in a daze.

“Babs,” I asked, “Penny for your thoughts?”

Babs moaned.  “Harold, you only offer a penny?”

I reached into my pockets.  “Sorry, I have a nickel.  I think my coin pouch is in my little tray next to the bed.  I might even scrape up a dollar.”

Babs sighed, “I doubt if my thoughts are worth anything.  The pastor said that to teach Sunday school to children, they do a background check.  He knew what I used to do, and that did not need to be made public.  I told him I was never arrested for anything. Not even a traffic violation.  I said nothing about how I avoided a couple of speeding tickets.”  My heart skipped a beat.  She continued.  “He said all they will do is go to the states where I lived and check outstanding warrants, arrest records, and anything to do with children.  But Harold, I just feel unclean.  I feel like walking through the neighborhood shouting ‘Unclean, unclean!’  I simply do not deserve to be a preschool Sunday school teacher.”

I groaned, “I think when you said that you would do it, and the people in charge were excited to have you, resigning two days before you are to start might be a worse thing than looking for an arrest record, when you say you were never caught.”

Babs gasped, “That was a horrible way to put it!  You are supposed to be on my side!”

I smiled.  “Babs, I am on your side.  You said that there was no arrest record, but I am sure that some of the things that you did were beyond the usual naughty things.  Thus, not having an arrest record could have been due to not getting caught.”

Babs sighed, “Yes, there were times that we got video in locations where they would not have wanted us there.  I will not admit that I drew the line any time they said we had to do a scene at a particular hour.  And a few times, we had extra security at the door.  I was not a Christian at the time, and I thought that doing something naughty made it more fun.  I had no lawyer explaining, this activity was forbidden on the premises.  But Harold, I want to know what I deserve.  People always said that I was the best and I deserved even better.”

I groaned, “Romans 3:23 says that we have all sinned.  Then if you think that means committing a sin, then you add James 4:17 to that and whatever we should do and we do not do is also a sin.  That way, we are sinners coming or going.  Sins of commission are like adultery, murder, and theft.  Sins of omission is pretending to be sick and missing a food bank distribution or not going to church or not teaching Sunday school after you promised to do it.  But I like the second half of Romans 14:23, anything that is not faith is sin.”

Babs moaned, “So, you are saying that my entire life until about a year ago is one long continuous sin?”

I moaned, “Babs, that is the same with everyone.  Romans 3 is talking about ‘all.’”

Babs smiled, “How many adult films did you star in, Harold?”

I back peddled.  “Not a one, Babs.  And I have watched none of yours.  I had a friend tell me that his wife got upset when she caught him eying a pretty girl.  His reply was that being on a diet did not mean that you cannot look at the menu.  But, yeah, it can, and it should.  I am not guilty of the sins that you speak of, but I have sinned in many other ways.  The young Babs would call me out every time I got angry at another motorist.  I would never speed up and run the other guy off the road, but I would mutter my disgust.  Then she would tell me that his wife had cancer or his three teenaged daughters are all pregnant and none of them know who the boy is.  She would bring me to a point where I felt sorry for them.  I prayed for them, but the only thing that I knew about them was that they cut me off in traffic and if I had not been paying close attention, there could have been a multivehicle collision.  Now, I never knowingly cheated a customer.  A couple of times, I was given an inflated estimate.  It did not seem the right number, but my boss said that the engineers crunched the numbers a few times, and that was the best they could do.  I found out later that they knew that the customer would pay any price at all.  The customer had screwed up and they were desperate.  Lost production cost was more than we were offering for the repair, and the speed in repair.  But if I knew that fudge factor was in there, I would not have offered it to the customer.  Yes, I am goodie two shoes here and rotten there.  We all are, Babs.”

Babs laughed, “Yeah, I can imagine you have been naughty, but not like me.  But regardless, Harold, Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death.”

I smiled, “Read the rest of that verse, Babs.”

Babs grumbled, “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus.  Yeah, but that is a gift.  What do I deserve?”

I countered, “Revelation 16:5-6 says that the angel in charge of the waters tells God that God’s judgment is good because they deserve whatever punishment that they get.  Many think that this angel is speaking of the people of the End Times will be so bloodthirsty that they will kill just to kill.  And with these mass shootings, it seems we are there.  I do not think that we are in the End Times yet, but we are close.  And I do not see the hatred getting less.  No one knows how to have a civil confrontation that is peaceful.  Universities have created a bubble so that the students do not get offended by any other viewpoint other than the one that the university supports.  And since I think money drives the entire thing, where does this money come from and what are their end goals?  Who, other than the media, profits by everyone being angry at everyone else because everyone else is wrong.  I am right. And their existence scares me.  Who profits by that kind of attitude?  Who wants to foster that attitude in the world.  For one thing, they are very rich so that no matter how much mayhem they create, they are safe in their gated communities.”

Babs sighed, “Wow, this discussion went down a very dark rabbit hole.  But what do I do, Harold?”

I smiled, “You smile.  You teach your class.  You read the Bible story and make the story come alive.  And you love those children like they were your own.  We have all sinned, and nothing that we do can clean that stain of sin away.  But Jesus already paid the price.  We are saved by grace through faith.  We did nothing to obtain the gift God gave us.  Now, you give your gift of storytelling to those children.  Let’s not focus on what we deserve.  Let us focus our gratitude toward God for giving us the gift that He gave us.  And let’s not focus on praise from this world.  This world gives us sorrows.  We deserve those sorrows.  God gives us Love, Hope, Peace, and Joy.  Let’s focus on God and what He gives us, and let’s forget what this world offers.  Then we can have that love, hope, peace, and joy when teaching a Sunday school class or distributing food at the food bank.”

Babs said, “Thanks, Harold.  You are the best.”

I laughed.  I wanted to say that my best would never be good enough, but that would come in time.  She needed reassurance that she would do her job well.  Babs gave me a long hug and neither of us talked for a while.

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.

Most churches have a system of background checks to prevent a convicted, or even suspected, child abuser from becoming a Sunday school teacher.  These checks are usually not cheap, but protecting one child is worth it.

And I may not have mentioned it a week ago, but my wife was a marvel at reading to little children. She changed her voice with each character. She changed speed. She changed tone in her voice. She used sound effects. And she did that by pulling a book off the shelf, a book she had never seen before, maybe having the coordinator give her the book just before the class started and then the children were transported into a world that seemed to come to life before them. They drew in close, and no one dared misbehave. They might miss something.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.