Month: June 2024

Coffee Percs

by Ira Paine, Posted on

I poured. He took a long swig. ‘This coffee is horrid,’ he proclaimed. ‘You gotta be alive to taste.’”

                    –A.K. Vyas  (Dodge City)
 
Mornin’, Pard.  Yuh know if’n it ain’t one thing it’s the other.  Least wise my coffee ain’t horrid; it’s more delectable.  Makes yur taste buds howl in delight an’ yur ol’ gizzard starts to growl.  Hope yur doin’ well this Saturday.  
     Ahhh, this is good.  Finished the first rounds of appointments with the sawbones.  Round one went well.  My mercy, it seems that I almost find myself comin’ and goin’ to the doc’s office.  Least, I’m able to come and go, better than some folks I know.  I reckon I’m in pretty good shape for the shape I’m in, and that’s a fact.
     Gonna be celebratin’ Fathers’ Day today.  Some roastin’ ears, throw some steaks on the grill, an’ I think that Annie is makin’ a coconut cream pie.  Now, yuh put the three together and that’s a reason to be shoutin’ over.  I didn’t mention greens, but most likely some will show up.  Whooeee, I remember that day well, back in April of ’74 when I became a father.  The thought process changed for sure.  It became a solemn obligation before the Lord to raise her up right.  Now that, Pard, is a real responsibility.
     With the Lord’s help and plenty from my wife, both the girls have grown up to be stalwart in their walk with the Lord.  That’s always the main thing!  This day, there is so much evil around seekin’ to devour the souls of the younguns.  A father and mother have to constantly guard, and not get wearisome in their doin’ so the minds and actions of their kids.  Why Pard, an’ take a deep swaller ‘fore I tell yuh this.  Ready?  This is a quotation, “Disney’s latest Star Wars show ‘The Acolyte! features black lesbian space witches creating babies using the Force.”  Sick, depraved–yuh add that along with the drag queens readin’ to kids in schools and libraries–well, Pard, just how much will the Lord stand for?
     I’ll be lettin’ yuh go Pard.  I’ve got to get the wood ready, an’ then the fire started.  Always like to use a wood fire to cook steaks over if possible.  I like that edge seared and the steak medium rare.  Say, I ought to be a-closin’ with that poem on steaks, by Vance Wampler.
               Here’s to that steak
               Thick and juicy and sizzlin’
               Cooked in the camp tent
               When the weather was drizzlin’
               With scaldin’ black coffee
               Ate that steak with my knife.
               Now…what’s better in life?
Dad’s yuh be havin’ a good day.  An’ don’t forget the advice from this ol’ fence post–check yur cinch.  That’s includes raisin’ yur kids right–cinch them up.
          Vaya con Dios.

 

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

You old men are a different breed. I can’t even think the way you think. You smell danger five minutes before it happens. You make a lifetime of decisions in a split second of terror that would freeze most men. Then you put it all behind you with a joke. You go on back to living as if you haven’t just teetered on the brink of eternity.”

                    –Stephen Bly  (Shadow of Legends)

       “Even to your old age, I am He, and even to gray hairs I will carry you!  I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.”
                    –Isaiah 46:4 (NKJV)
—————————-
               “My hope is built on nothing less
               Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
               I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
               But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.”
                         –Edward Mote

I wrote last Friday regarding the losses that occur during life.  Since I received a few comments I decided to look at the remaining losses that come our way according to the article I read.  One thing I want to say, all the things that the writer said weren’t bad.  During life there will be losses and change will occur no matter what we try to do to stop it.  Aging will happen, the seasons come and go, life hits us, health issues arise, career changes or no long is apart of our lives.  Friends move, die, new ones come.  Yes, life is full of changes, my real problem with the article was that there was too much humanism.  Rarely did it speak of going to God’s Word for the answer, or seeking the Holy Spirit’s help in guiding, or praying, or ….  See my issue?  So let’s continue.
     Hmmm, I can’t remember what I was going to write…oh, that’s it, the sixth loss that comes our way is the loss of memory.  Here’s the answer:  nutrition.  Yep, health issues lead to forgetfulness, but also nutrition.  Avoid desserts, eat more rosemary and turmeric.  Change things in your life.  Sounds so simple.  But why not try prayer?  Do we forget the comic “B.C.” where the man goes up the mountain to the old sage?  The old with their sound advice.  Yes, sometimes things will be hard to recall.  Yes, some people do get dementia and Alzheimers.  Fear might come when these terms are mentioned, but where is God?  Moses’ eye was not dimmed, can we not have faith that our mind will be the same way?  And if it does, I go back to my major premise–trust in God.
     Here is another one I do not understand–the loss of faith.  It would seem to me with a life of living for the Lord that faith would abound.  I know for sure that the devil attacks using the mind, and he will use different thoughts and tactics as we get older.  My Mom, bless her, would sit in her recliner, twiddle her thumbs, and get angry over the past.  Regrets would flood her.  I used to talk to her and would ask, “is there nothing good from to the past to reflect upon?”  But she preferred to dwell upon her regrets.  The past is gone never to return so why use it to buffet yourself?  Hasn’t God been faithful?  Dwell upon Him.  His mercies are new every morning.  Don’t age the winter of your life bring your faith low for in actuality it brings us closer to God.
     Dreams.  Dreams are gone, things you never did or achieved are no longer accessible.  We have the notion that we must complete our “bucket list.”  I could deal with this area for some time, but I will suffice that dreams that did not materialize are a gift from God.   I fully believe the words of Psalm 37:23, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way.” (NKJV)  God delights in our way and He directs our steps.  Dreams didn’t work out–thank God.  Many times they were false, materialistic and self-centered.  Get a grip on the Word of God, not on lost dreams, and perhaps not even on creating new dreams.  Thank God for “unanswered prayers.”
     Then there is the loss of passion.  Woe is me, nobody likes me…do I really have to get up?  There goes our mind.  The author says that the excitement about new projects is gone as is the fervor to set new goals.  Why?  Put this and dreams together–if someone would have told me I was going to become an educator when I was young I would have laughed.  When strangers would come to the house I would run and hide underneath the bed.  Then when I took my first practicum in college, I said no way!  No way!  I would not teach.  Ah, but God had a different plan.  I would not have dreamed of teaching and I spent a year short of forty doing just that.  Isn’t God grand?  Writing?  I would never have thought that I would be writing books, yet I have now written fourteen novels.  See…the bottom line is that God is in charge.  Don’t try to create something that is not to be, yet allow God to work in your life.
     The last lost are the “piles of losses” in our lives.  Throughout life we tried to accumulate.  For what?  Loss upon loss.  Perhaps we try to live too complex a life, we seek more, then more and have lost the simplicity of serving God in whatever capacity we can.  When we dwell upon all our “losses” are we not being self-centered?  Are we not seeking something more than the kingdom of God?  Maybe we have forgotten that we should “hunger and thirst for righteousness…” (Matthew 5:6)
     Yes, change is inevitable.  No matter what, the gray hairs, the feeble knees, the wrinkles are going to come.  That is if you live long enough.  Too many losses?  Hmmm, count the years, look at the miles–see where God has brought you.  More and more I find myself trusting in the Lord.  More and more I find my mind looking at the kingdom.  More and more I hear the old hymns well up in my soul.  Yes, we all have losses throughout life.  But we also have the Good Shepherd.  “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”  (Psalm 23:4, NKJV)

               “It will be worth it all, when we see Jesus;
               Life’s trials will seem so small, when we see Christ;
               One glimpse of His dear face, all sorrows will erase,
               So bravely run the race till we see Christ.”
                        –Esther Kerr Rusthoi

 

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

Trust is a wonderful thing.”

               –Ernest Haycox  (Guns of Fury)

       “Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.'”
               –James 4:15 (NKJV)
———————————–
               “There is a God
               Almighty God
               Creator of heaven and earth and all there is.
               There is no other
               All will discover,
               When time is through and eternity begins.”
                       –unknown

Our thoughts of God are too human!
     Enough said, that should do it for today’s devotion.  But then again, how else can God’s creation think?  I hate the phrase, but we are only too human.  That’s one reason why God uses metaphors, analogies, and other means of speech to describe Himself.  We have really no idea of the majesty and august supremacy of God.  We only have the Bible that records some of His deeds on behalf on His people.
     As I have written before, man tries to lower God.  He tries to bring God down to his level.  One reason is that man cannot comprehend the infiniteness of God and all of His attributes.  A second reason is that man doesn’t like to think of himself on a lower level.  My, my, shades of Lucifer.  No wonder Jesus told His disciples to just be glad that their names are written in heaven and not be prideful of what God had given them.
     Man, with the aid of Satan, has always tried to bring God down.  He has made images of an invisible God.  He has worshiped idols of God made by his own hands; idols that cannot do a thing.  He manufactures God into what he wants Him to be, and to be around when he wants Him to be around.  Ahh, but God is always there.  God will do all that He has designed to do.  Even at the end of the Tribulation when the Antichrist declares war on God, God’s will will win out.  All that He has decreed He performs.  As the psalmist wrote, “But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases.” (Psalm 115:3, NKJV)
     Isaiah carries this thought, “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.'” (46:10, NKJV)  Look at the mess the world is in.  Wars, famine, pestilences, terror, confusion, and guess what–it is only going to get worse.  That’s why we need to put our trust in the Solid Rock.  The Ancient of Days is our fortress and our foundation.  We cannot comprehend the supremacy of God, but we can trust in Him.  I don’t care, Democrat or Republican, demagogue or tyrant, king or dictator, none of them can stand against the decrees and supremacy of God.  Maybe it would be good for all of us to read Revelation over and over.  Just ponder for a while the following:

          “Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse.  And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.  His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns, He had a name written that no one knew except Himself.  He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.  And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.  Not out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations.  And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron.  He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.  And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:  King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”
                    –Revelation 19:11-16

     I know this is very similar to last week’s study on the decrees of God, but it is so pertinent for us to realize that our God is supreme!  No one or being can thwart His purposes and that includes His care for His children.  We can count on Him; know that He is there!  Because He is supreme we can trust Him with and in every aspect of our lives.  In the words of Arthur W. Pink, “Here then is a sure resting-place for the heart.  Our lives are neither the product of blind fate nor the result of capricious chance, but every detail of them was ordained from all eternity, and is now ordered by the living and reigning God.”

 

The Saga of Miles Forrest

by Ira Paine, Posted on
I had only been inside this church one other time.  It was when I was town marshal and had to chase down a man who cut up one of the saloon girls.  He claimed what he called “sanctuary.”  Now I know to respect the church, but from what I recall only the Levites could declare a sanctuary and there ain’t no Levites today unless they’re up in Mormon country.  I remember thumping him on the head with the Greener and dragging him out and down the street.  If I recall right, he earned twenty-five years in the penitentiary.  I didn’t know who the priest was then, but Father Damien had come into the diner a couple of times with Parson Chapman.  
     Mateo led me to a little alcove just outside the church and another small building which I assumed was where the priest lived.  He was gone a couple of minutes when he hollered, “Miles, get in here quick!”
     The priest was half leaning on the side of a bed and laying on the floor.  There was blood around him and he was unconscious.  I looked at Mateo, “Is he alive?”  
     “Si, but I think in bad shape.  You stay here, I’ll go get Doc Jones.”
     Nodding to him he rushed out.  I wasn’t sure if I should place him on the bed, but he looked so uncomfortable in the position he was in.  I didn’t think his neck was broken, and maybe I did wrong but I lifted him up and laid him down on the bed.  His eyelids fluttered a few times, and I thought I heard a moan, but he didn’t come to.  I stayed with him, uttered a prayer on his behalf.  I’ve heard that in an unconscious state a person sometimes can hear you and it sure wouldn’t hurt the good man to know someone was praying for him.
     Ten, maybe fifteen minutes later, I heard voices.  One couldn’t miss Doc’s grumbling.  “Caught him just in time,” uttered Mateo bringing Doc into the little room.
     “I was heading out to the Fordhams.  Phoebe’s expecting and one of the boys was sent to fetch me, so this better be urgent,” snapped Doc.  Then when he saw the condition of Father Damien, he exclaimed, “O my mercy!  Get out of the way Miles, so I can look him over!”
     I stood away then began to examine the room.  It was small, a cot for a bed, a table upon which a couple of books lay along with a candle.  There was a trunk against the far wall and by the doorway another stand with a basin and pitcher.  
     “One of you hand me my bag,” commanded Doc.  Mateo reacted first giving the bag to Doc from which he took a pair of scissors.  He began to cut the shirt away.  After he was barechested Doc started his probing.  Then he requested that the basin of water be given to him.  Taking a clean cloth from the bag, he began to clean the blood from the man’s face, and the one side of his head.  There was also a deep cut on the back of his right hand of the priest in the form of an X.
     I moved so I could get a closer look.  “That appears to be a cut from a knife,” I muttered to no one in particular.
     “Very astute, Miles,” retorted Doc.
     I glanced at Mateo.  “Ever seen that before?”
     He shook his head along with a shrug.  “It must mean something, but no, I have never seen it before,” he replied then paused.  “I wonder if it was among the marks left on the church.  We’ll have to wait to ask the Padre.”
     Doc stood up, rubbing his chin.  “If you get the chance.  I don’t know if he’ll live or not.  He’s resting now, but I’m concerned about internal injuries and I don’t like the looks of that head.  The skull has been crushed in this one spot.  I need to get him down to the office, but I darst not move him.”
     “I need to get on out to the Fordhams, but I don’t want to leave him alone in case he regains consciousness.  After I return I’ll bring something to bandage him, and look at his head in a better light.  That is, if one of you two could find a couple of lamps.”
     He started to move on out of the room, then stopped to turn to look at the priest again.  “Shame, downright shame.”
     “What do you mean, Doc?” I questioned softly.
     “A man of peace treated worse than a cur dog.”
     Mateo had already left to find someone to sit with the priest until Doc could return.  “Can you tell me anything?”
     Shaking his head, “Not really, except that he’s in bad shape.  If he comes to he might be able to tell you something, but mind you, that’s a big if.”
     The last time I had seen this man, he had just performed a wedding and had a large smile on his face.  He was laughing along with Rev. Chapman, and now, now…I would find the man or men who did this…