The Daily Paine

“We are a good and moral people, and we form a nation that is the hope of mankind–quite possibly, the last hope of mankind.”         –Eric L. Haney

“The earth for us is a place to live in, where we must put up with sights, with sounds, with smells, too, by Jove!–breathe dead hippo, so to speak, and not be contaminated.”         –Joseph Conrad

It smells rotten and it jerks my jaws!  Maybe it’s that poor, underprivileged prima donna of a quarterback.  I would wonder how much of his money has he given to help?  Has he been to Baton Rouge to help the people there?  I saw where Convoy of Hope was on the scene but haven’t seen a truck from BLM.  Rebel rousers don’t show up when there is work to be done, only when there is a means to cause strife and division.  Helping people is not part of their agenda and it stinks.
Is that a dead hippo I am beginning to smell, or is it the rotting soul of America?  What in the world are we doing when we allow a few to make policy for the many?  How can we continue to make the pretense of a Christian nation (oh, that’s right our pseudo-president said that we no longer are)?  How do we go on without being contaminated?  I think Kipling had it right when he said, “We’ve go to do what we can till after the war.”  The problem is that so many do not realize that we are in a war.  The war is raging and it seems few are fighting.  There is a war against the very foundations of morality in this country.  The nonsense should be stopped, but then maybe people are becoming immune to the smell of the massive corpse.
Remove the cross and the Bible and the foundation stones of the country have been removed.  The cross represents several things.  First, the suffering, sacrifice, and death of the Savior for the sins of mankind.  Remove the cross and hope is removed.  Mock the cross and the Savior and what is left?  Second, the cross leads to the tomb which states that the act is finished.  Jesus was removed from the cross, placed in a tomb, and rose again.  That brings up a third reason; it is a reminder of the hope that is ours.  One day those who died under that cross will again tread this earth with the Savior.  The cross is important because it represents sacrifice, not decay.  So many have sacrificed, some given their all for this nation.  They died for the fellow man; they died for the future of this country.
What really stinks is those who spout their mouths, spread lies, fill their pockets and spit on the sacrifice of those gone before.  We must keep fighting the war.  We must not become contaminated by the garbage that seems to surround us.

“How long, foolish one, will you love ignorance?  How long will you mockers enjoy mocking and you fools hate knowledge?”          –Proverbs 1:22 (HCSB)

Coffee Percs

Campire“Taking my tin cup from the saddle bag, I carried it to the fire and pot.  That’s the way I like it…hot and strong.”           –Lou Bradshaw

Moving some slowly today pard, burnin’ daylight, but I made it up in time to get the coffee on before you rode in.  Ahhhh, good stuff, and the way to start the day.  Good way to end the day as well.  Hmmm, I’m a-thinkin’ it’s good most any time of the day.
The pot at school ain’t workin’ so well.  Have to wait most twenty minutes for a cup to come out.  They have that thing-a-muh-jig called “K-Cup”.  Not bad, but not the best coffee either.  More to be convenient.  Might have to start takin’ the thermos.
Been stayin’ away from the news; I don’t want my gizzard all riled up.  Lord help us if that perpetual liar gets elected.  Lord help us anyway, but she is something else.  School’s been good.  Kids better get ready and with the program; they had a wake up call this week.  I had one that was shocked that I would tell her to be quiet and sit down.  I didn’t even use my riled tone, but her eyes got big and I could see she thought “How dare you.”  Whelp, I’ll certainly dare.
Here’s a good one though.  For some reason a student asked what my favorite pie was.  I gave a sensible answer, “covered and uncovered.”  The whole class asked what kind that was.  It was time for a good lesson, and as I was gettin’ ready to present it, one girl began to laugh.  She got it, pie covered is with a crust on top, pie uncovered is without.  That’s my favorite, either way.
Now there should be some kind of moral there.  Let me take another sip and ponder a second.  Hmmm, the K-Cup is nice and convenient like some folk like their worship in church.  Run the water through quickly and let me enjoy.  Nothing like smellin’ the coffee, puttin’ it on to boil and get the aroma movin’ throughout the place, and then sittin’ back and enjoyin’ the presence and the warmth and the comfort.  Yep, there sure is something different about the real thing and convenience.
One thing hard to take–an empty cup and an empty pot, but that’s where it’s at now.  Guess that means time to get movin’.  You have a good week pard.  In your travels this week, don’t you dare mount up without checkin’ that cinch.

The Daily Paine

“Happiness is inward, and not outward; and so, it does not depend on what we have, but on what we are.”         –Henry Van Dyke

What does it take to make you happy?  Is it a gold mine or a gold medal?  Perhaps it is having the newest phone or video games.  Let me tell you that the things of the earth will never satisfy.  Technological advances and revisionism will not, actually cannot satisfy the soul.  The great Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes noting that the things of this world will never satisfy.
Now me, I take satisfaction is a few simple things:  a piece of pie, a cup of coffee, sitting in the cool of the morning with my wife, watching the smiles on the grandkids.  True, these things are still external, but they are something that I don’t go out and seek, they are things I just enjoy.  I recall reading several journals and letters from those who traveled west.  Many of those would write that happiness was a donut (bearsign) or a good cup of coffee or when visiting a home having some jelly to put on a biscuit.  Simple, yet satisfying.
Real, true satisfaction and happiness comes from inside a person.  It is not something conjured up.  It is not something that can be purchased.  It is not something that can be lusted after.  The truth of the matter is that it is something put within the soul of man.  Paul writes, “They show that the essential requirements of the Law are written in their hearts; and their conscience [their sense of right and wrong, their moral choices] bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or perhaps defending them.”  (Romans 2:15, Amplified)
Don’t give me the cry–legalism.  God expects us to be godly–righteous.  Sure the heart can become insensitive or callous, why do you think there is such an outcry against the law that is written in their hearts?  They cannot get away from it, so they try to subdue it or challenge it or ignore it.  One of the troubles that I see today is that folk of this sort get away with it, whereas in times past they were called to task.  These unspoken responsibilities and duties written on the heart are not for a time and place but for every dispensation in life.  Violators used to be expelled from society, incarcerated, or even judged with death.
I know, I know, we cannot change the world.  However, you can make the place in which you reside a better place.  You can listen to that code written in your heart and fulfill its obligations.  Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments.

“You reveal the path of life to me; in Your presence is abundant joy; in Your right hand are eternal pleasures.”         –Psalm 16:11 (HCSB)