I’d been traipsing around Idaho Springs and went up to Georgetown for a week. Molly and Dave said that I shouldn’t even go; there wasn’t anything I could do and I shouldn’t provoke any trouble with Wray. He was pardoned, and it would be best for me to just stay away.
They were right. What would I do if we made contact? The court had pardoned him. The main thing I wanted was to see if there would be any contact with Henderson and Iverson. Iverson should not be set free; he had other counts against him.
Before I left, Dave and I had a conversation over the state of things and how they were changing. “The old ways maybe weren’t always the best, but what things like letting these crooks free just ain’t right,” I remarked to him.
“Lawyers and politicians care very little for the common man. Look at the ones you’ve known. What have they promised to do, and then compared that to what they did? Mostly they are selfish, money-seeking vermin who thrive on power.” Dave was getting philosophic on me. “Just look at what happened to me here in Denver. Moved from the marshal due to the police force whose chief hasn’t a clue as to what is happening. That’s one reason for forming the Agency.”
Now sitting here at an eatery in Idaho Spring, I wondered if it was time for me to move and get away from the farce of politics. Maybe it was time for the Pale Rider to collect his dues on me. But here I was pitying myself; at least the meal was good and the coffee was soothing the gizzard. I wondered if there was any pie.
I ordered a pie of chocolate pie and was mulling it in my mouth, savoring the flavor and had just reached for my cup when in through the door walked Wray and Henderson. I loosened the tie on my pistol and made sure it would side in my holster then put the Greener on the table. Sitting back against the far wall they didn’t see me when they sat down.
Prison didn’t seem to hurt him much, for he was well-dressed as was Henderson. The waitress brought me another cup of coffee and Henderson’s eyes followed her and then he nudged the one-time judge. They both then glared at me. I raised my cup in a salute to them and I guess that action made Wray get up and come over to my table.
“I am quite surprised to see you here Forrest,” he said. “Any particular reason for you to be here or is it just a coincidence?”
“To tell the truth,” I spoke, “I was checking up on you. Heard you were released.”
“Stalking is against the law. I might have to get an injunction against you; maybe even bring harassment charges brought as well.”
“What’s your beef with me?” I asked.
“It’s not you in particular, or at least it wasn’t, it’s your kind. People who hang on to the past, who refuse to progress with the times. Now, it seems that maybe I do have a particular hatred of you.”
“In other words, people that get in the way of your agenda,” I replied sharply.
“Because of you, I can’t practice law any more. I was pardoned, but they wouldn’t let me back on the bar. No, Forrest, I’m not through with you yet.”
He got up and took a step back to his table. “Oh, have you and your wife noticed many strangers around your place? Too bad those bounties were sent out on you.” He tipped his hat and joined Henderson.
I saw them talking and laughing. Funny, how when things like that happen you think they are talking and laughing about you. His words kind of gnawed at my stomach, but I saw the rest of the pie and figured that I wasn’t going to let a low-life like him upset my dinner. I motioned the waitress over and had her pour me another cup of coffee.
Molly warned me about getting into trouble. She has a habit of doing that, but when I left I just had to walk by their table. “You’re wrong. No matter what you and others say truth is still truth. You can’t bend the law to meet your desires,” and I paused and looked at Henderson. “And you can paint a skunk white, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a skunk.”
Henderson flinched and put his hand on his gun. I jerked the Schofield and placed it in his ear. Looking at Wray, “See, he smells the same, no matter what.”
Now I was hoping that I had thrown some bile in their gizzard. “Enjoy your meal. Reckon there’s a chance I’ll be seein’ you.”
Wish I had a horse so I could leave town. I had seen him, and I didn’t get a good feeling from him. I decided to check on the train schedule instead of going back to Denver on the stage. That’s when I saw him trailing me… .
Month: June 2016
Echoes from the Campfire – Summer Edition
“It was his way, to balance all things against the ranch. He could not escape that loyalty…. There was this simplicity about him, with always a slowness in coming to judgment, and always a hard adherence to those judgments when he had made them.”
–Ernest Haycox (Deep west)
“‘Bring the full tenth into the storehouse so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this way,’ says the Lord of Hosts. ‘See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure.'” –Malachi 3:10 (HCSB)
One of the big problems in the Christian community today is that very few live life in light of heaven. People do this and that, but they do not think of it is terms of eternity. We should be living this life in relation to heaven, and not for reward, but for service. When we make a decision is eternity in mind? When we go someplace or do something do we have eternity in mind?
Where is our loyalty? Many would say to the Lord, but few then carry it out that way. Some say they would die for Him, but to die for Him means that we should be living for Him now. Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commands.” (John 14:15, HCSB) Are we loyal to Him by keeping His commands or do we just do our own thing?
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Peter said we have faith and then to add virtue/courage, and then to that add knowledge. There are different types of knowledge: there is professional knowledge, the things you know about your career, and there is general knowledge. There is a knowledge of facts in which you can play Jeopardy and there is a knowledge that can be used in given situations.
The word “knowledge” here is a practical knowledge, the ability to apply to particular situations the knowledge a person has gained from learning, from experience, and from wisdom. This knowledge enables a man to rightly decide then to act honorably and efficiently in the day-to-day circumstances of life. Life is not to be a haphazard walk, but one where intelligent choices are to be made. To make these choices there must be knowledge.
To be able to recognize poison ivy is one thing. To recognize it and make the decision as what it is and what it can do and therefore avoid it is another. Hmmm, perhaps one of our problems is that we no longer recognize sin. Then we do not have proper spiritual knowledge.
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Some more from the farmer:
–Every path has a few puddles.
–When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.
–The best sermons are lived, not preached.
–Most of the stuff people worry about ain’t never gonna happen anyway.
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Here’s a very philosophical question posed by that buckaroo bard, Waddie Mitchell. What does it mean when you say “It’s a rainy day”? I’ll start it today and finish it later in the week.
“We can talk to the same people with the same tongue everyday
And still what’s said and heard can vary in some very different ways
And that’s because we’re individual in the way we look at life
Let’s take for instance, with an old phrase, what I heard as did my wife.
She drove home in rain and anger and had quite a lot to say,
Because I’d bought a hat with money we saved for a ‘rainy day.’
Sez I, ‘Dear, just what does that ‘rainy day’ phrase mean to you?’
Sez she, ‘It is the bad times that you save for to get through.'”
Hope this day isn’t one of those rainy days for you. If it is, still remember that this is the day the Lord has given you. Maybe you just need to check your cinch :-].
Coffee Percs
“It has become a place I could not leave alone, or my quiet talks with her, nor the good coffee in the candlelight.”
–Louis L’Amour
Whirlwind weekend pard, but the coffee is on. The new pot didn’t work, so was ready to boil. New-fangled contraptions just don’t seem to last as long. That brings me to my point this morning. Take a sip and I’ll tell you. She ain’t new fangled, and she ain’t a contraption, but she’s seen the toil of the years of puttin’ up with this ol’ fence post. Today, 45 years, she has put up with me. This is our anniversary!
Yep, I knew she was a keeper that many years ago and more. The first time she stared at me, I was hooked, just didn’t know it yet. It took a while for me to convince her that I was the one, but once I did, well, she stuck around. So we don’t, never did have nothing fancy, but I took a fancy to her, and still do.
Time’s a-wastin’ for we need to get on down the road. Made one trip yesterday and here I go again. Let’s finished that coffee pard and head our different ways. Don’t you fret none, I’ll check my cinch, your just be sure and do the same.
Echoes from the Campfire – Summer Edition
“It’s a rough land, but a man is better off if he rides his trail knowing there may be trouble about. It simply won’t do to get careless.” –Louis L’Amour (The Sky-Liners)
“Be alert, stand firm in the faith, act like a man, be strong.” –1 Corinthians 16:13 (HCSB)
I gave a little hint the other day concerning Christian Classics that should be read. Here is a suggested one-year reading list from Glaspey’s book.
January — The Confessions, Augustine
February — Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyon
March — Penses, Blaise Pascal
April — The Imitation of Christ, Thomas a’Kempis
The Practice of the Presence of God, Brother Lawrence
May — Interior Castle, Teresa of Avila
June — The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
July — Samples from the “Theologians”, Summa Theologica (Pt 1, Questions 1:26), Thomas Aquinas
On Christian Liberty, Martin Luther
Institutes of the Christian Religion (Bk 1), John Calvin
The Journals of John Wesley, John Wesley
August — The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer
September — Christian Poetry……Songs of Innocence and of Experience, William Blake
Holy Sonnets, John Donne
Ash Wednesday and Four Quarters, T.S. Eliot
selected poems by George Herbert
selected poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins
October — The Man Who Was Thursday and Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton
November — Mere Christianity and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis
December — The Way of the Heart, Henri Nouwen
The Pursuit of God, A.W. Tozer
(for extra credit it was suggested to read some works of John of the Cross)
Now to say that I have read all of these would not be true. I have not been able to get through them in a year either. However, there are great truths and great lessons in these books. I have read two-thirds of them. Try at least one this summer.
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D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones writes that “Our faith is to be a living, energetic, active faith, and we are to see that, on our part, we give all diligence to making it so: ‘add to your faith virtue.'” This word virtue simply means “excellence”. It can be rendered “courage” for to make faith alive it does take courage.
The word translated “virtue” or “courage” does indeed mean excellence, and it has two ways in which it may be seen. The first is that there is an operative or efficient excellence. This is what makes a man a good citizen and a friend. This person is an expert in the technique of living well. The second meaning is that it is not an excuse for cowardice. Faith, therefore, must issue in a life effective in the service of God and man; it must have the courage to show whose it is and whom it serves. (thoughts from William Barclay)
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I keep hearing the nonsense about people not voting because neither Clinton nor Trump are Christians. That is foolishness. First of all we live in a country, a place where God has placed us, and there is a responsibility to be governed by the rules of that country. We have an obligation to live in this country by the guidelines of the country. To not vote is to give up that responsibility. It is using the name of Christ to be a coward.
Second, to use that they are not Christians is a poor excuse. How many people in the White House were actually born-again believers? I don’t know and neither do you. We will find out one day, but for sure not all were. Then there is one more item. Look at the platform of the parties. In some cases they are similar because both have given in to the dictates of the stupidity of political correctness.
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A few more from that savvy farmer:
“Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.”
“It don’t take a very big person to carry a grudge.”
“You cannot unsay a cruel word.”
“Every path has a few puddles.”