Month: May 2017

Coffee Percs

by Ira Paine, Posted on

We put together a fire made coffee and friend up what we had in our saddle bags then we waited for morning.”
–Lou Bradshaw

Know something that just jerks my jaws, pard?  Let me get the coffee and I’ll give you a good dose of what makes my ol’ gizzard ill.  Take a sip, and I’ll get started.  I despise cheaters!  They rank right up there near the top with shysters.  Those out there that that want something for nothing.  They prey on the hard work of others for selfish gain.  Yep, they are some of the worse kinds of people in my book.  They’ve always been around, but my mercy, they seem to be on the rise.
Ahhhh, now that’s some good coffee.  My gizzard sure needs it.  Come to think of it, the sluggards and slackers seem to be on the rise as well.  Listen here, pard, with the rise of that bunch it just naturally flows into the realm of the cheater.  Take for example, a test–do they think they are entitled to the answer that another person has spent time studying over? 
Cup dry, here I am rantin’ and ravin’ and didn’t think to fill it up again.  Sorry, some things just grate on me.  One thing for sure, time and circumstances will take care of them.  One way or another it will get them if they don’t mend their ways.  Sure didn’t mean to rain on you this mornin’, and speakin’ of rain, we’re supposed to get some.  Sure need it, put down some new sod.
Pot’s empty, gizzard is satisfied, now guessin’ we should be on our way.  You stay on guard for those kinda folk are out there, not beggin’ anymore, but demandin’ your hard work.  That’s why when you mount up, you have to check your cinch.

Echoes from the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

He abhorred the drones of life. The desert taught how useless were the idlers–how nature ruthlessly cut them off.”
–Zane Grey (Wanderer of the Wasteland)

“We give you this command in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: Stay away from all believers who live idle lives and don’t follow the tradition they received from us.”
–2 Thessalonians 3:6 (NLT)

The Daily Paine

by Ira Paine, Posted on

Hey, hey, hey snowflake,
My pretty little snowflake….”
  –Jim Reeves

“It’s bred into him to want to work.  He ain’t like a lot of people, lookin’ for a cool shade and a soft chair.”
–Elmer Kelton

This concept of entitlement is making my gizzard riled.  There have always been sluggards and sloths around us, but they were the minority, but now this new varmint is slouching around.  Previously they had mostly been quiet and in the background, but now they are everywhere and are very vocal.
These people are complacent and compromising and seek to be coddled and pampered by all around them.  The reason why? –just because.  This ideology is very dangerous for many reasons, but I want to look at the church.  These are the sons and daughters of those who used to sing “bless me, bless me, bless me” when they were really meaning “spoil me, spoil me, spoil me.”  Since I have taught more than a few years, one of the hardest groups of students to work with are the spoiled brats.  It is worse today and now it is dangerous as well.  There is the physical danger that one of them will simply go off their rocker and shoot, but there is even a more sinister danger and that is to the soul.
Jesus is seeking true disciples.  Those who take the call of Christ and commit themselves to serving Him with all aspects of their lives.  They know that they will never turn back.  But there are other “disciples” out there.  Those that will talk the right talk and say they will never turn back, but when the hard times come, when the disappointments and despairs of life hit them, they are likely to turn away.  This type of “disciple” does not heed all of the words of Christ.  They pick and choose what appeals to them and what they can get from it.
Read some of the sayings from Jesus.  Digest them, for He meant what He said.  He did not say to do this if you felt like it.  It was not pick out what you want in life, but He gave commands and expected obedience.  There is no one to appeal to for He is the final authority.  We must listen to Him if our discipleship is to be genuine and consistent.  True disciples do not and cannot reject and ignore the words and commandments of God.
So when I see these new “snowflakes” (the ones I always called twinkies, cupcakes, or creampuffs) who are now vocal and seem to be whining and whimpering all the time, I wonder how can they pick up their cross?  One thing to recognize about a snowflake is that any rise in the temperature and they cease to exist; they simply melt away.  I like what A.W. Tozer wrote, “I am just afraid that some of us have carried no cross this year.  When we die, we will have no collar sores, no scars on the shoulder that comes from carrying the cross.”

“So Jesus said to those Jews who had believed in Him, If you abide in My word [hold fast to My teachings and live in accordance with them], you are truly My disciples.”
–John 8:31 (AMPC)

Echoes from the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

He liked people, but he felt there was nothing like being alone in the desert or among the mountains, for it is then you begin to know them.  The wilderness does not share its secrets with the noisy or the talkative; its secrets come to you with silence.”
–Louis L’Amour (Callaghen)

“This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: ‘Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength. But you would have none of it.'”
–Isaiah 30:15 (NLT)