Month: May 2023

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on
He had become a disciple of the old western adage that ‘brains in the head save blisters on the feet.’”
                         –Louis L’Amour  (“More Brains Than Bullets”)

       “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.”
                         –2 Corinthians 3:5 (NKJV)
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Psalm 96–instructions on how to worship.  The focus is always on God, or as Steven Lawson puts it, “True worship is purely theocentric and gives glory to God alone, not dumb idols.”  Worship is ascribed only to the holy one.

          7 — Give to the LORD, O families of the people, give to the LORD glory and strength.
          8 — Give to the LORD the glory due His name; bring an offering, and come into His courts.
          9 — Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness!  Tremble before Him, all the earth.
        10 — Say among the nations, ‘The LORD reigns; the world also is firmly established, it shall not be moved; He shall judge the peoples righteously.’
        11 — Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and all its fullness;
        12 — Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it.  Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the LORD.
        13 — For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth.  He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with His truth.  (NKJV)

       The whole earth, all of its inhabitants, are told to rejoice in the Lord.  The reason being is Calvary.  All have the opportunity to be saved; all have the opportunity to have fellowship with the Lord.  Yet… Yet there are many, oh so many, who reject His call.  “Give to the Lord the glory due Him,” and the world scoffs.  It is important to remember here that even though the opportunity is afforded to all, the world system is controlled by the evil one. (1 John 5:19)
       We are told to bring an offering with we go into His courts; when we enter to worship Him.  Wait a minute–money?  It could be for that is what kept the rich young ruler from following Christ.  The offering, according to George O. Wood is “that of a yielded, surrendered life (Mark 8:34-38), not a gift which costs me little or nothing.”  And how do we bring it?  Wood continues, “The trembling I feel in His presence need never be from terror of Him, but the reverence produced as I realize how unworthy I am to be in His holy presence.”  We bring to him ourselves, completely and unreservedly.  We offer to Him a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable (Romans 12:1).
       One of the things that separates the Lord from any other pseudo-god is His holiness.  We are to give Him praise because of His holiness.  Everything about God revolves around His holiness.  When we speak of His love it must be His holy love.  When we speak of His wrath, it must be His holy wrath.  Holy may be placed in front of all God’s attributes for indeed He is holy and everything about Him is holy.  “When approaching such blazing holiness, people should tremble that the LORD reigns.” (Lawson)
       The Psalm finished with the attention drawn down to earth.  What a Messianic message we have in verse 13.  “He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth…”  There is a day coming when all of the nations of the earth will bow down before the holiness of God.  Right now the offer is given, we have the opportunity to recognize God for who He is in all of His splendor, majesty, and glory.  All will eventually bow, bow now in worship or bow later in judgment.  Men today scoff and scorn.  Men today set themselves up as being autonomous–they are little gods.  Their truth is all that counts.  But notice my friend, “He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with HIS TRUTH.” (emphasis mine).  Man’s truth is relative, but God’s truth is absolute and eternal.

               “He framed the globe, He built the sky;
               He made the shining worlds on high
               And reigns in glory there.
               His beams are majesty and light,
               His beauties, how divinely bright!
               His dwelling place, how fair!”
                        –Isaac Watts

 

Coffee Percs

by Ira Paine, Posted on

Wind was rustling the dry palm leaves when he crawled out in the early dawn and stirred the coals to life to make coffee.”

                    –Louis L’Amour  (The Strong Shall Live)
 
“Oh the wayward wind is a restless wind.  A restless wind that yearns to wander…”  What’s the matter, Pard, yuh look green under the gills.  Yuh don’t like my croonin’?  What?  Yuh think I sound like a bull a-snortin’?  Take a sip, it’s strong enough to clean out yur ears, in fact, yuh might want to put a drop or two in yur ears–wouldn’t hurt yuh none.  “Oh, I was born the next of kin, the next of kin to the wayward wind.”  
       Ahhh, the coffee is good this mornin’.  That, along with my singin’ sure does wonders for the soul.  Oh, not so much for yurs though.  The wind, I’ve always enjoyed a breeze or a slight wind, don’t care much for those twisters or hurrycanes.  I remember that ol’ pioneer, Bob Nolan, who told us to “listen to the wind.”  But then he left us a-hangin’ for we don’t know what it’s sayin’.  That mountain boy, John Denver, wrote a song about the Wind.  There is just somethin’ ’bout the wind.
       I was readin’ some words from Solomon this past week.  He said, “God’s ways are as hard to discern as the pathways of the wind…”.  Now, ol’ Solomon was reported to be the wisest man, but Pard, let me tell yuh somethin’–he shore ‘nough done some stupid things.  He couldn’t understand the ways of God, but God done told him not to marry those foreign wives who’ll bring in their false gods.  Yuh know, it wasn’t until he was gettin’ up there in years that he could look back at the whole of life and see some of the foolish things that he an’ others had done did.  
       Get a good whiff of that aroma ‘fore yuh go guzzlin’.  It’ll lift yuh right out of yur doldrums.  But, back to the wind, even Jesus talked of the wind.  What was it He said, “The wind blows where it wishes, and yuh can hear the sound of it, but yuh cannot tell where it comes from or where it goes.”  Boy howdy, ain’t that the truth.  Growin’ up where I did, most of the time the wind came rushin’ in from the West right down those canyons.  Oh, Pard, an’ one more thing, the blessed Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost came in like a rushin’ mighty wind.  
       So don’t be on me ’bout my singin’.  It’s just like the wind.  Sometimes, it’s a whisper, an’ other times I just cut loose and let it fly.  My singin’ is a joyful sound, at least to my ears.  I don’t from whence it comes, sometimes from a thought, an’ other times from down deep in my innards.  If’n yur in the way, well, just be hopin’ I hit a right note now and again.
       Say, Pard, it’s time to be gettin’ on down the road.  Nice little breeze outside for yuh to be ridin’ in.  Yuh take yur time, don’t be in a rush, and if’n I’ve told yuh once I’ve told yuh a hundred times, be checkin’ yur cinch.
       Vaya con Dios.
             
 
(note:  Wayward Wind written by Herbert Newman)

 

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

You can tell a lot about a person by their eagerness to share what they have with strangers and how well they cook coffee.”
                         –Cliff Hudgins  (The Cry Not Heard)

       “When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged all of them to remain true to the Lord with a firm resolve of the heart.”

                         –Acts 11:23 (HCSB)
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Good morning, Greetings, Howdy, Hey You-all, Hi, Hello, are all terms of greeting.  Stop, now and think how you greet people, not just in the morning but throughout the day.  First impressions are important so if you have never met or seen a person before, how do you greet them?  Do they see Christ, or a growly, grumbly person?  How about employees, if you’re a boss, or fellow-workers if you’re a colleague?  Most people grumble and complain when Monday morning rolled around, but my favorite day at work was Monday.  A new week, a fresh start–let’s go get ’em right out of the chute!
       I was reading my devotions this week and a verse in Ruth caught my attention.  “Now behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, ‘The LORD be with you!’  And they answered him, ‘The LORD bless you!'” (Ruth 2:4, NKJV).  New worker or old familiar hand, they caught immediately the temper and character of Boaz.  His relationship with the Lord also became clear.  “Boaz lived with the awareness of God’s presence, and it showed in his daily routines.” (Alistair Begg)  What would happen in the workplace if the boss had an attitude like Boaz?  Or, what would it be like if the workers didn’t grumble and complain, but greeted their employer as Boaz was greeted?  My, my, wouldn’t there be a change in production, in attitude, in relationships.
       Deuteronomy 6:6-7, “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.” (NKJV)  Boaz was not flippant in his greeting, it came from a daily walk with the Lord.  He did not throw out the Lord’s name, he did not OMG with an exclamation.  No, he honored and revered the name of the Lord.  
       “He set the tone for his workers by blessing them.” (Begg)  We should examine ourselves to see what type of “tone” we are setting wherever we are.  Paul states that whatever we do we do it as unto the Lord, and in that he includes the term “heartily.”  (Colossians 3:23)  If you are blessed by the Lord, you have an obligation to then bless others.  Remember, a blessing doesn’t have to include money, though it might.
       “You’ll never be able to bring others into the presence of a God in whose presence you do not live.  Speak of Him in your conversation.  Bring His presence and promises to mind in the small triumphs and difficulties of your day.  Seek to form a habit of conversing with Him throughout your waking hours.  Live with an awareness of God’s presence, and it will show in your routines and reactions.” (Begg)  As I have said earlier this week:  Life is Living.  Live in pessimism, live in despair, live a life of complaining and you will hurt yourselves, those around you, and the kingdom of God.  Recognize that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit, therefore, represent Him properly throughout the activities of the day.
   
               “Are you giving to the world a smile,
               Helping lessen someone’s dreary mile?
               Do you greet the world with song as through this life you pass along
               Cheering those you may meet along life’s way?

               …Let your life so be that all the world might see
               The joy of serving Jesus with a smile.”
                         –Otis Deaton

 

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

They were men, all of them—men of that stark courage that clings to self-respect rather than to life.”
                         –William MacLeod Raine  (Mavericks)

        “See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.”

                         –1 Thessalonian 5:15 (NKJV)
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               “I’m just driftwood on the river floating down the tide,
               I don’t care where this old river carries me….”
                         –John Klenner  (recorded by Ernest Tubb)

Does that describe your life–just floating by?  No purpose, no rhyme or reason to it, just a warped old log floating with the current.  We shouldn’t just get by, we should pursue.  Ah, but pursue what is the question?  Pursue life!  Pursue the kingdom of God!   There are some things we cannot change.  The laws of nature we should not try to break.  The weather, we complain about it but for what use?  We cannot change it, and with saying that I, for one, refuse to be a slave to the weather channel.  What did we do before we had access to so much media about the weather?  We went along with our business and plans.  The person who is so cautious that he must wait for the ideal time before he makes a move is doomed to fail.

               .3, If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth; and if a tree falls to the south or the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it shall lie.
               .4, He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap.
               .5, As you do not know what is the way of the wind, or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, so you do not know the works of God who makes everything.
               .6, In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not withhold your hand; for your do not know which will prosper, either this or that, or whether both alike will be good.
                                  –Ecclesiastes 11:3-6 (NKJV)

Dare to live, no matter where, no matter at what age.  Here are some things I found regarding some “Old Folks.”
               –William Gladstone took up a new language when he was 70, and at 83 he became Prime Minister of Great Britain for the fourth time.
               –Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote “Crossing the Bar” when he was 80.
               –John Wesley at 88 still preached daily.
               –Michaelangelo painted his “The Last Judgment” when he was 66.
               –Wendell P. Loveless, penned, “I don’t go out much now because my parents won’t let me–Mother Nature and Father Time,” when he was 90.
In other words, live.  Live despite the age, the discrepancy, the aches and pains.  There is more to living than physical activity and exertion.  There is an attitude, an outlook to living.  Don’t doubt, but trust in the Lord.  In the evening of your life don’t look for a place to hide out–trust God regardless.
       Remember the old hymn and know that it does not necessarily refer to the time of day, but it may also refer to the time of life.

               “Sowing in the morning, sowing seeds of kindness,
               Sowing in the noontide and the dewy eve…

               Sowing in the sunshine, sowing in the shadows,
               Fearing neither clouds nor winter’s chilling breeze;
               By and by the harvest, and the labor ended,
               We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.”
                                 –Knowles Shaw

       For those who dare, no matter the age, start activating your life and never quit!  In your life remember that wisdom must accompany action, therefore, do not go out foolishly or haphazardly.   There is a battle raging and it does not stop because of age, or infirmity, or situation, or …  Be careful to always be aware of your situation and place in life and watch out for the enemy’s attacks during a lull in the action.