The tracks were open to Silverton and I found out from Charlie Gold that his new deputy, Mateo Ramirez, was heading up to get a feel of the place. He was waiting on the platform when I approached.
“Mind some company?” I asked slapping him on the shoulder.
“Not at all,” came his reply. “Come on, let’s board.”
We moved down the aisle to find a place to sit down. From outside the voice of the conductor could be heard giving the last warning to board. I could see him standing on the steps of the train ready to wave to the engineer to let her roll when a man come running to catch the train; it was Parson Chapman.
He jumped on board and the train lurched to begin its journey up the canyon. He was panting as he entered the passenger car where Mateo and I were sitting. I had never seen him quite so unkempt. He began to tuck in his shirt, straightened his tie and jacket, and took his hat off to dust it and then place it straight on his head.
Walking to where we were sitting he smiled reaching out to shake Mateo’s hand first, then mine. “Heard you fellows were headed up to Silverton and thought I’d join you,” he said as he sat down in an adjoining seat. “Join me in a prayer: Heavenly Father, keep Your hand upon us. Make this trip profitable for Your servants. Amen.”
It was a treat to have the preacher pray as we began. My mind flittered through the times I had ventured out with only my prayers. Always nice to have company in one’s prayers. I’m not sure if Mateo knew what was happening, but he bowed his head then made the sign of the cross after the parson said “Amen.”
Mateo began to chuckle. “The Sheriff, he does not miss a trick. Sends one compadre to guard my body, and then the padre to guard my soul.”
I laughed with him. “Not exactly true, Mateo. I did hear that you were going up to Silverton and thought I’d ride with you. I can introduce you to the town and some of the inhabitants. Last time I was there Asa Stokes was the marshal,” I then pulled on my moustache, “but Silverton has been known to have marshals change every few months or so.”
“And you Rev. Chapman? What is your excuse?”
“Molly told me that Miles was going to Silverton. I like his company, plus I have some unfinished business there,” he replied then focused on Mateo, “and perhaps some new business along the way.”
Much of the snow had melted in Durango, but it was not far up into the canyon that all one could see was snow. There was ice on the edge of the river, but it was flowing. The mountains glistened with snow when the sun fell upon them, but most of the time we were in the shadows of the cliffs.
“Preacher, where’s your coat?” I inquired. “It’s goin’ to be cold in Silverton.”
His eyes widened, almost in a panic, he blurted, “I didn’t even think of one.”
“You know the train isn’t returning until tomorrow? Only one trip every other day through the winter unless the mines have a big shipment,” I informed him.
He sighed. “Guess I’ll just have to walk fast,” he put his hand on his upper lip then began to push his lips together from the sides. “I didn’t know I would have to spend the night.”
“Don’t be a-frettin’, Parson. Things will work out. You can stay the night in my room, and I’ll treat you to supper and breakfast.”
“Not so fast, my friend,” spoke up Mateo. “I will get the breakfast, por favor.”
It was a nice trip, seemingly short as we talked about family, friends, and Preacher Chapman couldn’t help expounding on the goodness of the Lord and gave Mateo a short salvation sermon to which Mateo replied, “I will think on this.”
The temperature was at least twenty degrees cooler than it had been in Durango. I sent Mateo off to get our rooms squared while I took the Parson to buy a coat. He gave me a sheepish look, then told me that he didn’t have the money for a coat.
“It’ll do me good to help out the man of faith. The coat is my gift to you,” I stated then got to the point. “You’re here to see Frank Black.”
“Yes, I want to check on him. I want to pray over his soul, but also encourage him to let his wife know that he is alive. He doesn’t need to be in hiding, but needs to come forth with the truth,” responded Rev. Chapman.
“I’ll let you go on your way. Be at the hotel dining room at 6:00,” I said, then headed back to meet with Mateo at the hotel.
When I got there he was standing outside. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
There was a flash of anger on his face. “Clerk inside said that Mexicans cannot stay here.”
Now there are certain things that jerk my jaws and that’s one of them. I brushed past Mateo before he could stop me striding up to the desk clerk. I slammed the Greener down on the counter to get his attention. “What’s this I hear about you not giving a room to an officer of the law?”
“I don’t know what you mean, Sir,” came the meek reply from a man about the thickness of a toothpick.
“The deputy sheriff came in for our rooms and he was told he couldn’t stay here! I want an answer!”
He squirmed and stuttered, “Uh, uh, that’s our policy.”
“Your policy just changed as of tonight! Why you’ve got Polish, Welsh, Italians, and the lot working in these mines, along with plenty of Mexicans!” I barked.
“I just can’t go and change the policy,” he stammered.
“You didn’t!” I exclaimed. “Tell them Deputy U.S. Marshal, Miles Forrest changed the policy. Now give us two rooms! Put one of them under the name of Deputy Sheriff Mateo Ramirez.”
We got the key then took our bags to our rooms. After they were deposited, I told Mateo that I wanted to take him to the Wells Fargo office then we’d look for the marshal. I had told him some of the times I had been in Silverton on the train up here and as I stepped out on the boardwalk from up the street came…
Month: February 2021
Echoes From the Campfire
Standing before the mirror I looked at myself, seeing the old scars, marks of old wounds…”
–Louis L’Amour (Mojave Crossing)
“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.”
–Colossians 2:6 (NKJV)
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There are so many lessons in the Word of God. Many things we cannot understand, many things we do not want to understand. There are things hidden to us and will not be revealed until eternity. But there are things that we ignore, things taken to heart, and things that open up to us throughout our lives.
Take time to read Mark 2:1-12. I have read this several times, have heard dozens upon dozens of sermons from this passage. There are many aspects to this story, but it wasn’t until recently that something new was brought to me. After you have read the complete passage focus on the following:
“I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”
–Mark 2:11 (NKJV)
I had never paid attention to the fact that the man who had been paralyzed was told to pick up his bed. Think of that! Most of the sermons deal with the reaction of the Pharisees or the faith of the man’s friends. But the newly healed man was told to pick up his bed. We are not precisely told how old the man was, or how long he had been laying on his bed–paralyzed.
That bed must have been full of lice and bedbugs. Dirty, soiled, smelly, yet he was told to pick it up and walk away with it. He most likely wanted to burn it, much less look at it. D.I. Telbat says that, “God left scars…to remind us how God brings us through the fires of life.”
Are you “carrying a bed”? It is no longer a “sick bed” but a testimony bed. People can see the change in you whether it is salvation and the old man becoming new, or a specific healing, or a specific miracle. It was only after the Pharisees challenged him was the man told by Jesus to pick up his bed. It was now a testimony to the Pharisees.
Life can be a struggle, you may have a bed of affliction, you may have a virus, you may have a house torn by ravages of cold or storm. Listen to the Lord, look at your bed and realize that it may become a testimony. Notice the next verse,
“Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, ‘We never saw anything like this!'”
–Mark 2:12 (NKJV)
Be ready to obey. When the Lord speaks to you, take up your bed and walk. Lift it high, show it to those around, speak words that glorify the Lord.
(I need to thank Gary Wilkerson for the inspiration for these thoughts. The sermon I gathered some of these thoughts came from “A Way When There Is No Way,” April 20, 2020)
Coffee Percs
The campfire felt good. Even with their coats and gloves, it was cold. They cooked a meal and ate, then cooked a second pot of coffee.”
–R.O. Nash (Will Fain)
Don’t stand out there in the cold, get in this kitchen. Yuh’ve been waitin’ for me? Well, right sorry about that. I was somewhat lazy, and felt good in the blankets. My mercy, this has been a week for the books. Can’t say I’ve had a week quite like this one before, and Pard, I don’t care for another.
I remember growing up in cold weather, colder than what I’ve seen this week, but I was younger then, more spry. And in Colorado we were prepared for such weather. But now that I’m on the oldward trend, the bones ache some, and I prefer to stay warm. Yep, time and Texas has spoiled this ol’ fence post,
I won’t go into our troubles, for there are many out there worse off than the missus and me. At least we have a place to stay, my youngest daughter and her family took us in. We are waiting for the insurance adjuster to check out the water damage in the house, so we can put in a new floor, etc, and move back home.
Pard, with the power out I couldn’t even keep the coffee going. I thought about building a large fire and makin’ some, but reckoned that I’d get even colder sitting outside. I’ve done that plenty of times. Side by the fire is hot and the backside is freezin’. I know that the rain falls on the just and the unjust, but my mercy, nothing is mentioned ’bout the cold. We had several people from our church come an’ help strip the floors; sure is nice to have folks to count on.
How’s the coffee this mornin’? Daughter made it, she and my wife are out finding a laundry to wash, since some of the water is out at her house. I think I’ve taught her well, she makes a pretty good cup of coffee. As I was sayin’, the folk from the church sure helped out. That’s the way the Lord meant it to be, takin’ care of each other when needed.
Listen Pard, I’m goin’ to try to stay warm, and I hope to be seein’ yuh soon. Now listen, jist because it’s cold don’t mean that yuh shouldn’t check yur cinch, don’t be in too big a hurry to neglect that.
Vaya con Dios.
Echoes From the Campfire
The lives of men are dictated to an extent far greater than most men wish to admit, by events beyond their control. Man rides the ocean of history and does what he can to weather its storms.”
–Louis L’Amour (Under the Sweetwater Rim)
“So the men marveled, saying, ‘Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?'”
–Matthew 8:27 (NKJV)
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“Well, I left my soul out in the rain
Lord, what a price, I’ve had to pay
The storms of life are washin’ me away.”
–Randy Travis
I finished reading a book last week that depicted a storm in the middle of the second half of the 19th century. This storm, a hurricane, wiped out the thriving city of Indianola. The city at the time was one of the leading ports in Texas, but it laid in ruins only to be hit again a decade later. Twice, and the city never recovered, though it did cause men to warn Galveston to build a seawall–the warning wasn’t heeded.
There are all kinds of storms, and they come in different sizes. I’ve been through hurricanes, tornadoes, hailstorms, snowstorms, blizzards, thunderstorms, windstorms, duststorms, and add to that a storm of a different kind, drought. There is a key words I used–through. I’m still here, I wasn’t maimed or killed.
Then there are the storms of another sort. I’m speaking of the storms of sickness, sorrow, suffering, depression, despair, finances and debt, marriage, kids and their personal storms, death, and a myriad of other types. Currently we are in the midst of a virus storm. We wonder will it ever go away, will like return to normal?
Right now, stop–listen as I ask you–what about your next storm? Don’t shake your head for one will surely come. It may be minor, or it may be major. It may be sickness or it may be a terror attack. Storms are coming; storms are here; storms have always come. How will you prepare yourself? Let me take you to two men who prepared for the coming storm.
“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
“But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
–Matthew 7:24-27 (NKJV)
Two men, both build houses. Both sought shelter and safety from the outside, a place where they could come home and real safe. Both faced the same storm. One held firm through the storm, the other collapsed. There was a major difference in the two houses–the foundation. That also showed a character flaw. One depended upon a foundation built upon the sand–false ideologies, lies, cults, perhaps his own wisdom and because of this foundation when the storm it the house collapsed, and “great was its fall.” We are not told if anyone was injured or if anyone was killed, just that it was a “great fall.” The other man, not leaning on his own understanding, but built his house on the firm foundation. The rock–the Word of God and Jesus Christ.
One of my favorites stories in the Bible is about a storm. You might recall it. Jesus got in a boat and His disciples followed Him. He must have been very tired for He went to sleep, and while He was sleeping a massive storm arose. The waves rocked the boat and even covered the boat. Jesus slept on. Let’s continue reading,
“Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’ But He said to them, ‘Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?’ Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.”
–Matthew 8:25-26 (NKJV)
Fear struck the disciples because of the storm. Terror arose in their hearts. The Master didn’t care about them. I like the way Jesus handled the situation. First, He rebuked the disciples for their fear and little faith. Then, He rebuked the storm bring about a “great calm.” Who is this man? He is the rock upon whom you can build your house!
I don’t know your storm, or the ones you have been through. I do know that often we do not learn the lessons of the storm. We want this victory, or we want this to happen, but we often do not see what the Lord is doing. “Sometimes he works on our inside before he works on our outside. In doing this, he prepares our hearts for deliverance. You see, when we’re stuck, our only thought is, “I just want to walk again.’ Jesus’ thought is, ‘I want you to live.’ We think, ‘I want to run.’ Jesus’ thought is, ‘I want you to be whole in body, soul and spirit.'” (David Wilkerson)
Build upon the solid rock. Learn the lessons of the storm. Perhaps if the people of Galveston would have heeded the warning from Indianola there would not have been 8,000 (or more) people dead in the catastrophe of 1900.