Echoes From the Campfire

I’ll let the future take care of itself. Whatever falls, I’ll be ready.”
–Zane Grey (Riders of the Purple Sage)

“Look, I will come as unexpectedly as a thief! Blessed are all who are watching for me, who keep their clothing ready so they will not have to walk around naked and ashamed.”
–Revelation 16:15 (NLT)
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“What had once been straightforward reporting and investigative journalism was now a witch hunt for the next salacious tidbit that they could throw across the airwaves.”
–T.R. Kohler

I tried to stay away from it, but there was no way it would leave my mind. Cotton-pickin’ it, I just could not let it go. It kind of reminds me of the Scarecrow of Oz who had a headful of straw, but this particular person must have a head full of cotton, it is so soft. Anyone you thinks that a display of cotton is insensitive and racist must have a soft head.
My mercy! My Grandma picked cotton in the fields along with the kids. Now, I must admit Grandma was only half Irish, however, the other half was Choctaw. Let me give you at least three clues from history.
1) Ten percent of plantations owned 30 or more slaves.
2) Most white southern farmers did not own a slave.
3) The small farmers who owned a slave or two worked in the fields right along with their slaves.
Oh, and let me throw in one more little fact. There were Indians, especially the Cherokee that owned black slaves, and earlier in U.S. history even white slaves. One more thing, most Indian tribes would make slaves of black or white captives.
So people, get a life!
I will add a couple of more thoughts to the quotation by Kohler. Journalism just ain’t what is used to be or should be. Sure, there have always been those who would make up stories; go back to Hearst and Pulitzer with their “yellow journalism.” But, not only today are their witch hunts nonsensical, there is what is now called fake news. Back in the day, that meant they were liars. There are particular groups out there, for some reason very left-wing and liberal, that have an agenda, that despite any truth or facts presented refuse to see it. Now, friends, that ain’t ignorance–that’s stupidity.
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We have spent most of the week walking the beaches in Delaware, watching the effect of Jose. The waves were crashing and the power of that mighty ocean with just a little wind was an amazing thing to behold. The result of the physical laws of nature that God created often result in storms. As I mentioned last week, this very God rides the wings of the storm. In fact, Scripture portrays Him sitting with a storm around Him.
“Out from the throne came flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder, and in front of the throne seven blazing torches burned, which are the seven Spirits of God [the sevenfold Holy Spirit].”
–Revelation 4:5 (AMPC)
Take it or leave it, but I believe there will be more and more storms, of all various kinds, because nature is groaning. Phillips writes in his translation, “It is plain to anyone with eyes to see that at the present time all created life groans in a sort of universal travail.” (Romans 8:22) That was in the time of Paul, and if you study earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes and tornadoes, the frequency and ferocity have increased.
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Pray for the victims of Harvey and Irma and for those in the islands, especially those in Puerto Rico. Also remember those in Mexico facing destruction and death from the earthquake, and also those in Montana and the West with those ferocious fires. And that is just within our hemisphere.