Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power
    and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
    for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, Lord, is the kingdom;
    you are exalted as head over all.

• 1 Chronicles 29:11

Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

• Mark 10:43-45

The New Boilerplate

My wife filled a small book with “Angel” on the cover.  It was hidden with a box of crafting things.  On 18 July 2025, I thought I had posted the last of these.  But this little angel book held a prayer, followed by 71 quotes.  So, the “with a little help” series is back in business for a while.  And it will be fun for me.  She did not attribute any of the quotes.  The first quote was from James A. Garfield, the 20^th president of the USA.  The next one was disputed, with some thinking it originated with Teddy Roosevelt and others saying Fred Astaire.  After the prayer, these might be on the lighter side.

Her quote

“Greatness is the dream of youth realized in old age”

• Alfred de Vigny

The Discussion

I do not know of many who could say they were successful based on this 19^th Century poet and novelist’s quote.

The dreams that I had in my very young age were to be the best cowboy ever, but then I was bucked from a horse as an infant and did not want anything to do with them ever since.  Then as the Mercury program was starting to show humans going into outer space, I wanted to be an astronaut.  I went through my football craze until I had an abusive head coach and that squashed that idea.

One childhood dream that I released at about 11 years old was to be a sergeant in the Army like the Sarge on Combat!  I thought the lieutenant was not the kind of guy I wanted to emulate.

But then circumstances led me to being a lieutenant and then a captain in the Army.

My point is that as a single digit in age, we often see ourselves as the best.  Thus, reality tones that down a bit even if we choose that career path later on.

A lot of college kids, forget youth, but the young adults have no idea what they really want or what they are cut out to do.

I won two presentation awards in college presenting technical papers.  Both were won due to having good ideas.  I was horrible as a presenter.  But a few years later, God helped me overcome my fear of public speaking and I have made presentations from a classroom of four to a classroom of roughly 400 people in attendance.  Do not tell the Monroeville Fire Department, but my presentation attendance exceeded the fire code, so no one would admit how many were in the room.  They were there for the ground-breaking computer work that we were doing, but I was cool and calm in front of the group.

But my point is that the changes in my desires and abilities did not form until I was thirty years old.

I might be an outlier, but I am sure others had no idea what they wanted to do.  Thus looking back at my youthful dreams, I never accomplished any of that stuff and I feel most people would say the same.

Then again, are we really meant for greatness?

I was great at getting other people promoted and then they forgot how they got that promotion.

And that points to what Jesus is saying in Mark 10.  We must become a servant to all.  If they recognize our contribution to their greatness, that wasn’t why we did the work.  We were glorifying God.  God knows the truth.  He knows our unrecognized hard work.  And that is all that matters.

That boss that you got promoted will be soon forgotten, but God will recognize you for the selfless service you provided for others.

That dream that you never had becomes your greatness when you stand before the bema seat, the judgment seat of Christ.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory