As soon as the train pulled into the station I jumped off and headed down to the telegraph office. I needed to get a wire off to Marshal Blasco in Denver. I knew he wouldn’t be happy with the message, but I had to let him know what happened and what the situation was. I wasn’t even sure if it was Sam Fooy’s gang. I saw the faces of two men, but had no names to put on them.
I was tempted to go to Charlie Gold’s office, but thought I should let Molly know I was back. It was past supper time, but not time for the diner to close. Upon entering I saw a couple, Mr. and Mrs. Bert Crenshaw, owner of a carpentry shop. Nodding at them I went back to my table. I was surprised that neither Molly or Marta wasn’t in the room. I grabbed a cup from the shelf and poured a cup of coffee then pulled out a chair and sat down.
The coffee was hot and strong, it had been sitting a while, but it would do. I was bringing the cup up for a second sip when Molly walked out of the kitchen. I had to smile as she had flour all over the side of her dress and apron. Even though she wore an apron she tended to get flour on her backside from wiping her hands. She still hadn’t seen me.
She was visiting with the Crenshaws and finally when she turned she saw me. I was expecting her to run right over and jump in my arms, but all she did was take two steps and place her hands on her hips. It was then that she noticed there was more than a dusting of flour on her dress. Instead of coming to me, she rushed off to the kitchen. In a few minutes she was back out.
I stood up as she approached and gave her a big hug. She was still brushing at the flour. “Maybe you should wear a pair of chaps, instead of that apron.” Ooop, that didn’t go over too well from the look she gave me.
Going back to the shelf I grabbed a cup and filled it with coffee for her. She took a sip as I was getting myself situated, grimaced, “Ugh, this stuff is terrible.” She placed the cup on the table and pushed it away from her.
“That’s what you serve to your customers,” I said.
Well, that got me another look. “‘Tis not. We keep a fresh pot brewing in the kitchen, I’ll have you know.”
I took another sip, looked at her and made a face. “It’s not very good.” She gave a hearty laugh. I always like to hear her laugh.
“Where’s Marta?” I asked.
“We had a slow day, so right after the supper rush, I told her to take off. Without a marshal in town, Charlie stays right busy with town and county work. They don’t get to see each other much,” she replied.
I just shook my head. “I’ll stop by and see Foster tomorrow. I don’t know why they drag their feet.”
“Well,” she muttered.
“Well, what?”
“Well, you’re back earlier than I thought you’d be. Is that good news or bad?” came her inquiry.
Pulling at my moustache I gave her a big smile. “It’s good news for you that I’m back.” To which I received a snort. “But it’s bad news–the train was robbed.”
“Any clue as to who it was?” she asked.
“Same gang that robbed the bank,” I paused to try and take another sip. It was still bad, scorched. “The two that were in here that used you as a hostage did the same at the train. They had six women with them when the baggage car opened and took three with them to make their getaway.”
“At least you know what they look like,” she stated then added. “Hungry?”
“Wish I had a name to go with their faces. I’ll check Charlie’s wanted posters tomorrow, and yes, I’m quite hungry.”
She pushed away from the table. “I think there’s still some stew left in the back, along with the last of today’s bread.” She turned to walk back to the kitchen.
“By chance, any pie?” I hollered.
Turning she looked at me and just shook her head.
The next morning, after a good breakfast, I went over to the sheriff’s office. Charlie was just finishing making his morning rounds, rounds that should be made by the town marshal.
“Heard about the robbery. Anyone hurt?” he asked as we met by the office door.
“Engineer killed,” I disclosed.
His eyebrows raised as we went in. It was a nice place, new furniture. Maybe it was a good thing that the old office was destroyed. “That puts a different light on things,” he stated motioning for me to sit. He went to the stove to grab the coffeepot.
I nodded, “Murder now, not just robbery.” I reached for the cup, took a swallow, then wiped my moustache. “Mind if I go through your posters?” I went to sit behind the desk. “Let me see the one on Sam Fooy.”
Charlie had it on top of the stack since we had already been looking for him. I laid it to the side and began to go through them. It was hard to believe that I had the reports of so much evil in my hand. When I thought about it, my stomach became a little queasy.
A picture caught my eye and I set the posters on the desk. “This one…he’s one of them.”
The poster read: James Lamb (aka: Jim Lamb, Jimmy Lamb) Wanted for armed robbery, kidnapping, extortion. Often seen with his brother John Lamb.
“Do you have a poster on John?” I asked.
“If I did, it would be in that stack,” replied Charlie.
I stood up, poster in hand and started out. “I’m goin’ to show this to Molly, then have some printed up and posted around town.”
Month: August 2019
Echoes From the Campfire
It is remarkable how one’s vision becomes limited to nearby objects and what we expect to see.”
–Louis L’Amour (The Ferguson Rifle)
“O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies.”
–Daniel 9:18 (NKJV)
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Psalm 28 is a psalm from the cry of a heart. A heart that knows that survival only comes from being rooted in the Lord. A cry for retribution to one’s enemies. One thing for sure, you cannot read this psalm and not realize that David says it is the Lord who is his strength.
1 – Lord, I call to You; my rock, do not be deaf to me. If You remain silent to me, I will be like those going down to the Pit.
2 – Listen to the sound of my pleading when I cry to You for help, when I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary.
3 – Do not drag me away with the wicked, with the evildoers, who speak in friendly ways with their neighbors while malice is in their hearts.
4 – Repay them according to what they have done—according to the evil of their deeds. Repay them according to the work of their hands; give them back what they deserve.
5 – Because they do not consider what the Lord has done or the work of His hands, He will tear them down and not rebuild them.
6 – May the Lord be praised, for He has heard the sound of my pleading.
7 – The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. Therefore my heart rejoices, and I praise Him with my song.
8 – The Lord is the strength of His people; He is a stronghold of salvation for His anointed.
9 – Save Your people, bless Your possession, shepherd them, and carry them forever.
Verse one shows a person who is in a pitiful situation, whether real or imagined. If the Lord doesn’t answer him, he might as well be in hell. The NLT puts it this way, “Please help me; don’t refuse to answer me. For it you are silent, I might as well give up and die.” But, wait, stop and think of what is being said. Isn’t it true? If the Lord would forsake us what would be the use of going on, of living? One thing we should be eternally grateful for is that God is never silent. He is always there to speak with us, if we would only turn to His Word. Because we have the Bible, and we can turn to the inspired Scriptures we can hear the voice of the Lord speaking.
Look around you, if you dare. Look at how people mock God. Look at the liars, and those who spew hate. Look at those who take the life away from innocent ones. Look at the terror that is upon the earth. Go get them God! Get them good! Do is now! Ahh, but that is not the way the Lord works. We want punishment and justice now, but the Lord is patient. Eventually God will judge.
Then there is that other bunch. Those that walk around almost in a daze; those that are not tied into the real world. It is hard for me to understand how people can ignore God or be so nonchalant and lackadaisical about life. How can people be so blind that they cannot see the works of His hands, or is it that they choose not to?
In all of this, David turns back to recognize that God is his strength, his Rock of safety. He looks at the world around him then, he must smile, goes back to God. It is always back to trust and faith knowing that God is there and will never forsake His people.
“Strong in the Lord of Hosts,
And in his mighty power,
Who in the strength of Jesus trust
Is more than a conqueror.”
–Charles Wesley
Trust in the Lord and in His might. Ponder the words of the following prayer by George O. Wood. See if it might fit you in your circumstance this day.
“Lord, my emotions seem so much more powerful than my faith. In my heart, I know You’ll help me, but sometimes I get so desperate I scream inside myself for Your immediate intervention. As my Rock, You are the solid ground floor of my life and I thank You for stabalizing, strengthening, shielding, and shepherding me.”
Coffee Percs
Physicians say that coffee without cream is more wholesome, particularly for persons of weak digestion. There seems to be some element in the coffee which combined with milk, forms a leathery coating on the stomach, and impairs digestion.”
–The Buckeye Cookbook (1883)
Mornin’ Pard, it was shore hard to put that big toe on the floor this mornin’. Whew, but once I done it, I was able to move on to the kitchen and make the coffee. Yuh know, Pard, there are times I shore miss bein’ out on the trail, or campin’ up in the high lonesome. Good thing this ol’ fence post made memories to store him up for this time of life.
I’ve been tryin’ to get folks from puttin’ that stuff in their coffee–dilutin’ it they are. Well, there’s documentation that it shouldn’t be done right at the top of the page, and it’s from a doctor who put it in a cookbook back more than a century. I know Pard, there’s some who just have to be flavorin’ the pure thing. Ahhh, but it’s good.
Believe it or not, this is my eldest granddaughter’s birthday. Yep, she is goin’ on seventeen, my mercy, where does the time go? She’s shore grown up. Thankful that she is bent on servin’ the Lord; after all, there’s nothin’ more important than that. Pot’s still half full, what’s the matter Pard, usually yuh’ve swallered a couple cups by now.
Let me tell yuh somethin’ else. There’s a great day comin’ and I think it’s been written on the calendar. No, yuh fool, I’m not talkin’ ’bout next year’s election. I’m talkin’ ’bout the Day of the Lord. It surely must be arrivin’ soon with all of the bizarre wickedness that is out there. Yuh mark my words–if the Lord don’t make it back soon, there’ll be more evil. Pity the person is around after the rapture when wickedness will abound and rule. We had all best be ready for that Day.
Swaller than last cup and let’s get ready for the day. I’ll be headin’ for a birthday party, don’t know what you’ve got planned. Whatever it is Pard, yuh be shore and check that cinch.
Echoes From the Campfire
Truth is, just ain’t no getting away from who we were and what we might have done—good, bad, or indifferent.”
–J. Lee Butts (Gun Works)
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
–2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)
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Ponder the following from Dave Roever:
“Yet, here we are with open arms embracing the religious and political radical ideas of the perpetrators of 9/11 as though they are the answers to the questions we are not willing to ask.
There is a story of a cold snake who promised a young boy that he would never bite him if he would pick him up and put him in his shirt. The boy did so and when the snake was warmed, he bit him. With his dying breath, the boy asked the snake, ‘Why did you bite me? You promised not to hurt me if I warmed you.’
The snake responded with a hiss, ‘You knew what I was when you picked me up!’
We are holding a snake in our hands and pretending to be safe and secure knowing that what we are embracing will destroy us.
In the last decade, worldwide, 900,000 Christians have been martyred for Christ. That’s 90,000 every year…nearly all at the hands of jihadists.”
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The past has helped make us who we are. Some of the things we cannot escape. Some of the consequences, good or bad, still follow us and some might even haunt us. The dreams of the past, those unfulfilled, are exactly that–unfulfilled. Perhaps that is for the better, but no matter, they still did not occur. Some may argue, “they still can happen,” but I would beg to differ because most of the dreams of the past were of a time when we were younger; age has a way on interfering.
However, the past does not necessarily have to dictate who we are. The Lord can make our past work for our good, if for no other reason than lessons learned. The past does not have to dictate our future. “I was once a sinner…” the old hymn begins, and then there is that powerful word, “BUT”. “But I came, pardon to receive from my Lord…” Then ponder the last phrase of the old chorus, “With my sins forgiven I am bound for heaven, nevermore to roam.” (C. Austin Miles)
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Ponder the following that was say of Ulysses S. Grant.
“We are in reality a Christian nation which owes much to the teaching of the Bible through the Churches and Sunday schools. There can be no question, in his opinion, as to the fact that the various humanitarian institutions in the several States owe their existence indirectly to the teaching of Christianity. He was glad to notice that there was so much religious activity in our country; and if the Churches and Sunday schools continue to do their duty, the danger of growing out of lawlessness, anarchy, and the secret machinations of a countryless enemy will be diminished and overcome.”
(Rev. M.J. Cramer)
Ask yourself, have the churches discontinued doing their duty? As Terry Tuley writes, “We can never vote our way back to God, but if we will proclaim God’s Word and teach the moral and ethical principles found in it, our nation could and would turn back to its spiritual roots.” This country can only be destroyed by moral deterioration and this can only happen when the Church forsakes God’s Word.