I guess a man walks along the edge of the unknown all the time.”
–Wayne D. Overholser (Day of Judgment)
“Wisdom rests in the heart of him who has understanding, But what is in the heart of fools is made known.”
–Proverbs 13:33(NKJV)
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Oh me, oh my — “There we saw the giants…” (Numbers 13:33). These people saw things with one perspective, while there were two that said, “Sure there were giants but they are our meat.” Quite a difference. We are seeing that same thing with this “corona giant” that we are facing today. Wear masks vs. no masks don’t help. Stay inside vs. go about your own business. Don’t group up vs. get back to school. Who is correct? For sure this is a “giant.”
Even among believers there is a vast difference of opinion. Can all be wrong, for sure they can’t all be right? What about other giants that may come your way–a hurricane for example, do you board up and leave, or stay with your house and protect it? Do you err on the side of precaution, or err in the midst of the storm?
Let’s look at the account again and here I’ll borrow from Norman S. Marshall, as he tells the story.
“A point of view is exceedingly important. Israel’s spies sent into Canaan to estimate its riches, resources, and people brought back a majority and a minority report. Ten spies spoke highly of the land and its treasures. They saw walled cities and armies. They said to Moses, ‘Surely it is a land that floweth with milk and honey.’ However, they added: ‘The people are strong’; ‘The cities are walled’; We are not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we’; ‘There we saw the giants.’
The minority report came from two spies who saw all the same things and measured the same me, but they said to Moses: ‘Let us go up at once and possess the land’; ‘If the Lord delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us’; Only rebel not yet against the Lord.’
What a difference in report, in outlook, in faith! All of us in every age, in every situation, face enemies and temptations and fears. ‘If God is, then what ought to be can be.’ Love God! Trust God!”
Now we are not to be stupid, but we are not to live in fear. Fear counters faith. We cannot deny that many believers have died in their faith. There are those who died in war, by disease who were believers, did they not have faith? Why didn’t God keep them? He did! He kept them in the palm of His hand. In the midst of bullets flying, He was there. On the deathbed, He was there. Why didn’t He keep them alive may be a better question, but never deny that He did keep them.
Attitude is vital. “He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods…” (Daniel 3:17-18, NKJV). It would be better to be burned in the fiery furnace than to rebel against the King of kings. Rebellion is one of the keys. The ten rebelled against God’s Word, and against Moses. Fear replaced faith. They looked at the scenario in from of them and they knew they had a chance to die if they went into the land. Here we see that leadership failed, for they were leaders of their tribes, chosen for this special task. Yes, they might die, but they would serving God, but now, their bones would bleached white in the wilderness because of their unbelief.
Now that doesn’t answer your questions about the “corona giant” that we are facing. Or does it? Do not rebel against God’s Word. Do not let fear dominate your life. Walk forward knowing that God is with you, no matter what happens. And let me say, without sounding fatalistic or being morbid, when the Lord wants to call you home He will, no matter how many times you wash your hands, no matter how often you wear your mask, no matter how you try to avoid people, when your time comes you will go.
Month: August 2020
Echoes From the Campfire
He has to worry about what might happen, so he will be ready for it if it does not happen; and the only thing he can’t be downright sure of is that if what he was afraid of doesn’t happen, something else will.”
–Louis L’Amour (Chancy)
“So brace up your minds, and, as men who know what they are doing, rest the full weight of your hopes on the grace that will be yours when Jesus Christ reveals himself.”
–1 Peter 1:13 (Phillips)
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I can stand to be around most people, that is when I want to be around people. However, there is one group that just makes my stomach churn. If anything can come close to putting me in a rage it is this type of person–the whiny baby! There seems to be more and more of them showing up. Smiles that gloat, but don’t dare ask them for an honest day’s work.
The sniveller that is very annoying is the one who says “it is so hard to be an adult.” Poor baby, boo-hoo. Get on with life! I have many thoughts regarding adolescence, most are not so good. The old days are gone, at least in this country of going from childhood to adulthood. We have stuck that awful version of “teenager” in the middle. Perhaps it was necessary with the schooling that is now required, but in that same schooling we have coddled the juveniles for fear of hurting their self-esteem and have created a new being, call them the: snowflake, the twinkie, the cupcake.
These are those who are now currently crying out for the minimum wage to be raised to a ridiculous amount. Why, well, their reasoning is absurd, but underneath it is that they can’t handle more than an entry-level job. These are also the same ones who are crying for their student loans to be absolved, to be cancelled. Why? It’s a debt and they should have counted the cost before they took out the loan. These are the same ones that are begging for socialism; they want you to give your hard-earned money to them, the reason–so they don’t have to work. That shows how much they know about socialism for in that type of economic/governmental system the “state” places you in a position and the “state” gives you quotas.
So hard, oh so hard to be an adult. Well then, you probably weren’t raised to accept responsibility. I had a student once ask me if I thought he was an adult. My response was, do you accept responsibility? He sort of hung his head and walked away. I hope he has learned some lessons. One of the most important things a parent can do is to “train up a child.” Training involves discipline. The job of the parent is to get a child ready so they can be an adult, not a whiny baby.
The whiny baby is seen in Proverbs 26:13, “…There is a lion in the road! A fierce lion is in the streets!” The next verse continues, “As a door turns on its hinges, so does the lazy man on his bed.” (26:14, NKKV) Can’t you just hear the sniffing and the whiny as he makes the excuse, “I can’t be an adult, I can’t go to work–there is a lion out there”?
One more thing to consider were the whiney-babies that Moses had to deal with. “Oh, no, we’re but grasshoppers; they’ll kill us,” and with that whining they wandered in the wilderness until they were all day. Beware of the whiners, the snowflakes, the twinkies for they will most certainly cause you problems. Just think, whine, whine, whine and they were kept out of the Promised Land.
So “brace up your minds,” or as the NKJV states, “gird up the loins of your minds,” or the NASB, “prepare you minds for action”! Don’t be a namby-pamby, frilly, whiny baby sort of person. Fulfill your purpose, grow up, face what the Lord has allowed come your way whether by your own foolishness, someone else’s, or the devil’s evil plans. Just for goodness sake–quit whining!
Echoes From the Campfire
Well, when the time comes that He wants to call me home, I’m willin’ to go. I leave things to Him and don’t let worry mess with my sleep.”
–Elmer Kelton (The Way of the Coyote)
“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland.”
–Hebrews 11:13-14(NKJV)
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There are two places I like to do my morning devotions and reading. The first is a rocker in the living room; it sits by a little stove and in front of a window that faces the east. This is my “reading station #1” The other place is on the back deck. We have a little table and I enjoy sitting there while reading, my chair there faces east. I cannot see the sun on the horizon as it rises, but soon it is high and the rays shine through the trees.
The other day I was sitting at station #1 and some thoughts meandered through my mind.
“I will meet you in the morning,
Just inside the Eastern Gate;
Then be ready, faithful pilgrim,
Lest with you it be too late.
I will meet you, I will meet you
Just inside the Eastern Gate over there;
I will meet you, I will meet you,
I will meet you in the morning over there.”
–Isaiah G. Martin
“Signs of the time are everywhere
There’s a brand new feeling in the air,
Keep your eyes upon the eastern sky
Lift us your head redemption draweth nigh.”
–Gordon Jensen
Then I thought of the verse in Matthew, “For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” (24:27, NKJV)
The eastern skies, the Eastern Gate are all related to the coming of the Lord. We may use them metaphorically and symbolically, but they are more than that. It was through the Eastern Gate that Jesus went from the Mount of Olives and entered Jerusalem. “The Eastern Gate was sealed shut in AD 1540-41 by order of Suleiman the Magnificent, a sultan of the Ottoman Empire. It’s believed that the reason for the closing of the Eastern Gate was to prevent the Jewish Messiah from gaining entrance to Jerusalem. Jewish tradition states that the Messiah will pass through the Eastern Gate when He comes to rule. The Muslim Suleiman was attempting to thwart the Messiah’s plans with sixteen feet of cement.” (GotQuestions)
There is much bickering and argument among scholars as to the gate, which one was the original, and other things that keep things astir. However, there is much written, especially in Ezekiel about the Eastern Gate and Zechariah also mentions it. In all of this the key thought is that we are to be looking for the coming of the Lord. It seems that so many Christians are becoming bound to the land. They are not homesick for heaven, their eternal home. Perhaps it is because they have not seen it, but more likely they don’t want to leave “Sodom.” They are satisfied here, becoming complacent and comfortable. Roots have been put down instead of a tent that is moveable. No longer do they consider themselves pilgrims but residents of earth.
As for me, every morning when I sit and look at the eastern skies and see the sun shine through I will look for the coming of the Lord. Listen, Christians, it is time to unshackle yourself from this old earth and begin to look up, stay alert, and be ready.
“Keep your lamps all trimmed and burning;
For the Bridegroom watch and wait;
He’ll be with us at the meeting
Just inside the Eastern Gate.”
–Isaiah G. Martin
The Saga of Miles Forrest
Charlie and I arrived in Silverton amongst a stir in the crowd. There were several folk gathered at the station and on up the street to the Wells Fargo office. It was the first time I had ever seen people line up for a parade of gold bullion going down the street.
We were welcomed as we stepped off the train by Ken Maxwell, a Secret Service Agent. He was tall and very thin, which made him look like a stringbean especially as he was topped off with a derby. Walking down the street to the Wells Fargo office he filled us in on the protocol of the shipment.
These people had seen gold shipped out, but I could see what all the higgledy-piggledy was about for there was a contingent of soldiers from the relatively new Fort Crawford over in Montrose. Six of them were standing guard outside the office. As we approached one brought his rifle to bear until Agent Maxwell spoke with him. Inside the office I nodded at Morgan Appleby and Dick Fletcher, both Wells Fargo men that I knew, a new man looked up when he saw them wave.
There were six more guards in the office posted in the four corners and two by the safe. Maxwell took me to the desk to introduce me to the agent in charge.
“I should have known it would be someone like you,” I said in disgust. “Always sittin’ down on the job if I remember right.”
The man jerked up, anger showing in his features, then a genuine smile broke forth through his moustache. “Miles Forrest!” he exclaimed. “I would have thought you’d be pushing up daisies by now.” He reached forth his hand to shake mine. It was Josh Gibbons, an agent I worked with in the short spell I was in the Secret Services employ.
“Ah, you two know each other?” asked Maxwell.
“No!” exclaimed Gibbons, “I always allow strangers to insult me.” He then shifted his attention to a man at the other desk. “This is Lt. Oliver Rosecrans Evanston; he’s in charge of the army patrol. Lieutenant Evanston, I want you to meet Deputy U.S. Marshal Miles Forrest.”
I reached out my hand, but he didn’t bother to stand, nor bother to take mine. Reckon they don’t teach manners and proper etiquette to officers anymore. “Lieutenant,” I gave a nod since he didn’t take my hand and I pointed to Charlie. “This here is Sheriff of the county, Charlie Gold. If we can be of help…”
I didn’t finish, as he abruptly interrupted. “We have it all under control!”
Looking over at Gibbons, I shrugged as if to say, “is he for real?”
“Miles, we have one more agent who is currently out to lunch. I’ll introduce him when he gets back; fellow by the name of Troy Linton. Have a seat and I’ll fill you in on the plan.”
Glancing at the Lieutenant I noticed that he had propped his feet up on the desk and was leaning back, very nonchalant acting as if he were above shipping gold to the treasury in the capitol.
After I sat, I nodded with my head toward the lieutenant. “Kinda brash for a youngster, ain’t he?”
“He thinks he’s another Custer,” remarked Gibbons.
Looking at the man again, “Well, Josh, I can tell you he’s no Custer. I served with the General, and sure he was arrogant, up to a point, but he was also courteous and very appreciative of his troops. Reckon he’s more like his name sake.”
Gibbons gave a shrug as if to say that’s enough about him then got down to business. “Here’s the plan. It’s no big secret, I wish it was, but these troops will stay with the train until we reach Las Animas where they will be replaced by troops from Fort Lyons. They will then travel with us to Kansas City.” He gave a smile and wiped down his chin. “You’ll be leaving us there.”
“Why bring Sheriff Gold up here? He has no jurisdiction outside the county,” I inquired.
Gibbons looked over at Charlie, “No meaning to slight him, but I wanted it done mainly as a course of protocol. I’ve worked with law officers enough over the years that to trample on some’s jurisdiction they can get riled. The sheriff will not be going with us but I wanted to include him in the plan.”
Charlie nodded with a smile. I knew he wasn’t hankering to travel all the way to Kansas City, in fact, neither was I but it was part of my job. I liked knowing that Josh Gibbons was in charge of the operation.
“We have two hours before the turn around is complete, and the cars placed appropriately,” Gibbons began again. “I couldn’t say much about the Silverton-Durango train, but was able to get the passenger cars behind the baggage car. From Durango to Las Animas there will be only one passenger car. I had hoped to have none with us, but can’t stop the power of the mighty railroad completely.”
“You fellows hungry?” asked Gibbons. “No, Molly prepared us a lunch which we ate on the way up. I could use a cup of coffee though, if there’s some made.” I knew there would be or Appleby and Fletcher were falling down on the job.
“Gilcrist!” hollered Gibbons and the new Wells Fargo man lifted his head. “Would you be so kind to bring the three of us some coffee!” it was not a question.
He had just sat the coffee down on the desk when in through the door walked a man dressed similar to Agent Maxwell and Gibbons. They just needed to do something about dressing more appropriately. What they were wearing might be fine back in Philadelphia or Boston, but they were a dead giveaway in Colorado.
I turned my head to see the man then frowned. I peered over at Charlie to see his expression. His was frowning, his forehead all wrinkled up.
Gibbons waved him over to the desk. “Marshal Forrest, Sheriff Gold, this is our other agent Troy Linton…