Month: January 2026

The Saga of Miles Forrest

by Ira Paine, Posted on
It is better to spend your time at funerals than at festivals.  For you are going to die, and you should think about it while there is still time.”  –Ecclesiastes 7:2 (NLT)
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     It took twenty minutes to travel the short distance to Doc’s house as virtually nobody had been on the streets.  I saw a light on in Solly’s Emporium but the walks hadn’t been cleared.  Maybe since it had stopped snowing, movement in town would begin.  I smiled as I walked by Solly’s.  I had been meaning to ask him if the new name had improved his business.
     I banged on Doc’s door, and was quickly answered by Edith.  “Miles, what in the world are you doing out in this weather?” she questioned, while at the same time opening the door and waved me in.
    After taking off my hat, and wiping my boots off on the mat by the door, I replied, “I may be an ol’ grouch, but I don’t plan on hibernatin’ for the winter.  Besides, I need Doc up at the jail.”
    There was some movement coming from the kitchen.  Doc appeared from around the corner.  “Doc, you need to come with me.  The prisoner who was wounded is throwin’ fits.”
     “Give me a minute to put on some boots and grab my coat.  Edith, will you fetch my bag from the office?”  Fifteen minutes later we were trudging back up the trail I had made.  Because of that, walking was easier and we made better time.
     Lucas was adding wood to the stove and had kept the door to the cell room open so more heat could enter there.  Lucius was no longer sitting on top of his brother who was lying on the cot very still with his eyes open.  Lucas handed me the key and I hastily opened the cell for Doc to enter.
     “Doc, uh, is he dead?” questioned his brother.  “I’ve never seen anyone sleep with their eyes open, and I checked to see if he was breathing.”
     There was no answer as Doc was busy shedding his coat, then pulling out the stethoscope from his bag.  “Hmm, good, good…”
     Lucius turned to look at me; I just shrugged.  Doc put his hand over the man’s eyes then pulled downward.  It was successful and the man’s eyes closed, and a deep sigh came from him.  
     Doc scratched his cheek then looked at us.  “Tell you the truth son, neither have I.  He is in something which is called a comatose state.  I really don’t know much about it.  There are some studies being done back East, but it seems that the injury to his head caused it.”
     “Doc, he just jumped up, then started banging his head against those bars.  I had to force him down and after getting him on the cot sat on him so’s he couldn’t get up.  I thought he was going loco.”
     “Can I be of help?” came the voice from the doorway.  It was Rev. Chapman.
     “Sure, Parson, come on in,” replied Doc.  
     The preacher nodded at Lucius, greeted us, “Miles, Doc, Lucas…”  Walking over to the man he stiffened a bit then knelt down beside him.  Placing one hand on the man’s head, the other on his chest he began to pray.  In a few minutes the man took a deep breath, then another, then turned his head to the side to look at the preacher.  A half-smile formed on his lips then he closed his eyes.
     Lucius was watching, wide-eyed.  “What did you do to my brother?”
     “Just asked the good Lord to give the man rest, peace, and comfort.  Which I think is happening.”
     Doc stooped beside the sleeping man, then nodded at us.  “He’s sound asleep.  Let’s get on out and leave him be.”
     We walked out and Lucius continued with us until I put my hand on his chest.  Shaking my head, “Your home currently is in there.  Plus you need to keep an eye on your brother.”
     “Uh, Marshal, I don’t want to be a bother, but do yuh think we could have something to eat besides beans?  I know the kid means well, but there are only so many ways you can fix beans, oh, and by the way, he don’t know how to fix coffee.”
     “I’ll see what I can do,” then walked out to join the others in the office.
     Doc was questioning the parson about him being out in the weather.  
     “I need to be checking on my parishioners, plus anybody else who might need some sort of assistance.  Some of the older folk might be needing some help.  I’m heading over now to see Sister Greta.  Then on down the road just checking on others.”
     “Lucas, why don’t you run down to Peabody’s, see if he’s open, and buy something that you can cook up here for your prisoners.  Parson, when he gets back I’ll join up with you.”
     Doc was by the stove, holding the coffeepot.  “Think I’ll stay here a while, keep a check on the patient.”  He shook the pot, “and make up some coffee.”

 

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

Show me the sense of bein’ sore an’ unhappy, no matter what’s comin’ off.”
                    –Zane Grey  (Robbers’ Roost)


       “Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous!  For praise from the upright is beautiful.”
                    –Psalm 33:1 (NKJV)
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“I’m blest, I’m blest, I’m blest” (or blessed); do you remember the chorus?  Perhaps it should be, “I’m spoiled, I’m spoiled, I’m spoiled…”.  This one little word in the Beatitudes has significant meaning and is often overly simplified.  It is vital that we learn the meaning of this word before continuing our study.

               “Then He [Jesus] opened His mouth and taught them, saying:  Blessed are…”

Thomas Watson sets the tone when he says, “Transitory worldly things are not commensurate to the desires of the soul—therefore they cannot render him blessed.  Nothing on earth can satisfy the souls’ desires.”  This world has nothing that can truly bless us.  Those in the world seek many things:  power, wealth, fame, fancy clothes, fine food, and other material things to try to satisfy their inner longing.  Jesus is trying to show us the true picture of what being “blessed” is all about.  
     I have heard many times from parents on various different occasions, “I just hope they’re happy.”  I wonder if they know what they are saying.  Yes, we want happiness, but we want more than that.  We want to be blessed.  Happiness is good, but it is not lasting.  That is why the translations that use the term “Happy” instead of “Blessed” are missing the mark; it is only partially correct.
     To be “blessed” goes far beyond being happy.  “Happy” does not give the complete thought, however don’t throw it out, for happiness is indeed part of being blessed.
Thomas Watson writes, “Yet many are digging for happiness here—as if they would fetch a blessing out of a curse!”  Do you get that?  How can we be happy in this cursed world, when man, himself, is cursed?  Where is lasting happiness?  It is here for a moment, like a wisp-o’-smoke or an echo from the campfire, then gone.  Happiness, therefore, is fleeting.  “Happiness by any art or chemistry, can be extracted from the world.” (Watson)  “I’m happy, I’m happy” but only for a while.
     Here is the gist of the meaning, I am blessed because of what God thinks of me.  O the blessedness of being a child of God.  O the blessedness of being saved.  O the blessedness of going to the heavenly Father.  “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful.” (Psalm 1:1, NKJV)  True blessedness cannot come from “things.”  Perhaps the Amplified will give us a better picture, “happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous—
with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions.”  See, happiness is involved, but it is only part of what being blessed is all about.
     The problem is that we often try to fulfill our desires, to be happy, by worldly means.  The soul is a spiritual thing so how can we satisfy the spiritual with the natural?  How can we think we can gain happiness/blessedness by the riches of the world?  Thomas Watson puts it this way, “Happiness is too noble and delicate a plant, to grow in this world’s soil.”  Therefore we should not look to worldly things to fulfill this longing of the soul.  This blessedness that Jesus is speaking of is a declaration of what is truly the best way to live.  This blessedness, this joy cannot be taken away by the things of the world, the turmoils, the battles, the storms, the terror, the material things that are there.  We are blessed because we are in Christ.  Therefore, it is unthinkable to be a gloomy Christian.  We are blessed!  Man seeks for this but it is beyond his scope, his grasp.  “Blessedness is the perfection of a rational creature.  It is the whetstone of his ambition, the flower of his joy. Blessedness is the desire of all men.” (Watson)  Man desires, but he can only receive temporary happiness.
     As we delve into each of the Beatitudes it is important to keep this concept in mind.  The blessing of each is related to our relationship with Christ.  Grasp hold of the words of David, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.  Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.” (Psalm 32:1-2, NKJV)  The NLT translates the first part thusly, “Oh the joy of those whose sins are forgiven…”  Are you beginning to get the picture?  I like the words of William Barclay in regard to the Beatitudes, “The very form of the beatitudes is the statement of the joyous thrill and radiant gladness of the Christian life.”

 

Coffee Percs

by Ira Paine, Posted on

He sipped the coffee and found it bitter; it had been heating too long. But it was coffee, and that was the stuff of life around most cowcamps he had ever stayed in.” 

                    –Elmer Kelton  (The Good Old Boys)
 
Pard, there’s some truth in that sayin’ above.  I heard an ol’ boy say the other day that folks often get so busy with life and the toils of life that they forget to live.  Hmpf, I see yuh made yurself at home, grabbed a cup, an’ filled it from the pot.  Well, that’s what it’s there for.  But what I’m a-sayin’ is that life is meant to be lived an’ enjoyed as the good Lord intended.  Sure there’s bad spots, but just like travelin’ down the road, there’s good, smooth roads, but then once in a while a pothole is there an’ sometimes it jist can’t be avoided.
     Go ‘head drink up; that’s good coffee.  Now as good as coffee is, an’ as much as I enjoy it, I’ve had some bad coffee in my day an’ I’m not talkin’ ’bout cinos.  Whooee, let me tell yuh, I have had some coffee so weak it would best be used as dishwater an’ I’ve had it scorched–burnt and thick.  I sure do like my coffee strong, but I’m not carin’ much for scorched coffee.
     Folks go ’round life sorta the same way.  They either don’t enjoy it, they live it weekly (pun intended).  Others are jist plain ol’ sourpusses, while some jist want to have an excuse to git their gizzard all riled up.  I figure that some folks are happy unless life treats them bitter and they show their happiness by bein’ grumpy or loud or obnoxious.
     Pard, it’s only been ten days into the New Year and I’ll tell yuh, there’s a lot of stuff goin’ on, much of it is downright stupidity.  Besides that new mayor of New York City, and few other scoundrels around the country I read that the governor of New York declared January Muslim American Heritage Month.  My mercy!  One of the audacious things she’s done is to illuminate green on Friday night the World Trade Center lights to celebrate Muslim culture.  Talk ’bout a slap in the face.  Then there’s those Somalis who are claimin’ that the Foundin’ Fathers were of Somali descent.  Sometime’s Pard, all I can do is shake my head.  Sorta of like drinkin’ scorched coffee.
     Well, Pard, I’m not goin’ to be a-steppin’ on my lower lip.  Get yur cloggin’ boots on an’ join me since we’re in the kitchen.  “I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, down in my heart.”  Come on Pard, or are yuh a-waitin’ for the next verse.  Well, let’s get it goin’, hold tight to yur cup, yuh don’t want to spill any coffee on the floor.  “If the devil doesn’t like it, he can sit on a tack, sit on a tack, sit on a tack.”  Yeehaw, the joy of the Lord is our strength.  Yuh be havin’ a good week, don’t take any wooden nickels, and be a-checkin’ yur cinch.
     Vaya con Dios.

 

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

It’s amazing how God can paint such beauty in the midst of all the terrible things that happen.”
                    –B.N. Rundell  (The Trail to Rebellion)

       “He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He set forth in Him.”
                    –Ephesians 1:9 (NASB)
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I don’t understand it.  Man tries to explain in his feeble way.  God spoke and the worlds were created and all that is in them.  Man for some reason has trouble with that.  They instead make idols to explain.  Then as man progressed he realized that idols were not right, so he made the ultimate idol–himself, and has come up with the answer to creation–the Big Bang or other such theories.  Man wanting to be rational and logical chose not to accept the only rational and logical reason for creation–GOD!  
     Then there is the issue of evil.  I do not understand how it all happened.  Get this, evil and sin were not created!  We read in Ezekiel, “You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created,Till iniquity was found in you.” (28:15, NKJV)  Other translations use the terms:  wickedness, evil, unrighteousness.  Here we see the only perfect being.  Lucifer–perfect in his being, perfect in his ways, who had access to the throne room.  Then…then he looked to the One on the throne and saw someone who was–more than perfect.  I don’t understand perfection, much less more than perfect.  Lucifer looked at Him, and sin/iniquity was found in him.  Paul mentions this “mystery of lawlessness” in 2 Thessalonians.  It is indeed a mystery.  Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit–sin came, death is now a part of life.  A mystery!
     Paul also writes about the mystery of faith, the mystery of Christ, the mystery of God.  We see now only as through a glass darkly (1 Corinthians 13:12)  It is a mystery, but as we continue in this verse we read, “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” (NIV)  Tell me about mercy and grace.  It is a mystery.  John Newton wrote, “We judge things by their present appearance, but the Lord sees them in their consequences…”  
     Look at the agony in Gethsemane.  What do you see?  The physical and mental anguish of Jesus.  Look at the cross.  What do you see?  Jesus in agony, brutally whipped, beaten unrecognizable, and bleeding.  But is there a mystery?  Is there something hidden from our view?  Absolutely!   F.W. Krummacher says this, “His being taken prisoner, His being brought before the bar of judgment, His condemnation by the Sanhedrin, and His passage to the cross, are only symbolical representations of infinitely more exalted events, which were behind the veil.”  We do not, and thankfully so, have the view of the supernatural at this time.  We cannot see sin as it touches the loving Savior, only in His cry, “It is finished.”  What did it look like in the spiritual realm?  Thank God, we cannot see the fullness of the agony of Christ.  We cannot see the devil, and the imps rejoicing at the death of Jesus.  I could go on–the tomb, the burial, the days before the resurrection, the resurrection itself–what did it look like in the spiritual realm?
     We must be careful.  Eastern religions and Cosmic Humanism seek to find the spiritual world.  While we are told to leave that to the Holy Spirit within us.  There is continual activity in that mysterious realm, but do not dare to enter.  One day that mystery will be opened to us as well.  “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” (1 John 3:2, NKJV)  We shall see Him in all of His splendor, majesty, and glory.  The mystery will be over.  As Jesus came in the fullness of times, the mystery of time will be over, and we will be forever in the fullness of eternity.