Month: February 2026

Coffee Percs

by Ira Paine, Posted on

A good life doesn’t require much. Quiet moments with coffee, sitting across the table from a loved one, will take you most of the way.”

                    –John Deacon  (Lobo)
 
Get yurself in here Pard!  There’s a little chubby flyin’ imp shootin’ arrows at people.  Nah, I’m jist a-joshin’ yuh, but there’s a whole lotta nonsense goin’ on today with the foolishness of cupid.  The Greeks with all their so-called wisdom shor enough did have plenty of foolishness as well, but that’s a story for another Saturday.  Soon as I get yur coffee poured I’m goin’ be philosophizin’ with yuh some.
     Ahhh, let me take a large swaller befores I get started.  Love, what is it?  Most people have it all confused and even for us unconfused ones it is still a grand mystery.  The missus will tell yuh–“honey, I love yuh,” then go right around and say, ‘oh, I jist love these shoes.”  What does that make a person?  Tell me if’n yuh know, an ol’ worn out shoe?  I love ice cream, plain ol’ vanilla–I love the cats–I love my wife–I love God.  Hmmm, and then throw on it the idea that I jist love my coffee along with a piece of pie.  Love, love, love…
     Don’t be sittin’ thar with yur mouth open – at least be fillin’ it with that strong coffee.  I want to be tellin’ two things that I think is true of love.  Shor thar’s more, but I want to tell yuh two things I think is true.  First un, love is a mystery.  No question since yuh can’t rightly define it, it must be a mystery.  It’s sorta like a package that yur given.  Finely wrapped with pretty paper, the edges all perfectly tucked in, an’ it’s all wrapped with a pretty ribbon an’ gorgeous bow.  See, love will sometimes come at yuh as a pretty package.  It gets yur attention; yur heart goes pitter-pat, and yur gizzard thump-thump.  My, my, yuh even might start to drool an’ that’s all ‘fores yuh begin to unwrap it.  
     It’s done up so nicely yuh don’t tear it open, but yuh begin to gently unpeel it until all that’s ‘fore yuh is a box full of something.  Pard, that’s it–it’s full of all sorts of things.  Things that’ll make yuh laugh, some that’ll make yuh cry.  Some will be bringin’ yuh joy, an’ some will have sadness attached to it, but Pard, as shor as yur sittin’ there drinkin’ coffee it’s all love.  Funny thing how folks say they fall in love, an’ I ain’t a-doubtin’ them none, but what I don’t gather in my thick-skull is the fact that they can fall out of love as well.  Don’t register with my pea-brain.  If’n it’s love how do yuh fall out of it?  My ain’t it a glorious thing that the good Lord don’t fall out of love with us–He’s jist not all that fickle.
     Let me take another sip, then I be goin’ on.  Mmmm, pure delight–just like love.  Now, here’s the second thing I know ’bout love.  Not only is it a mysterious phenomenon, but in my way of thinkin’ it is also a gift.  Jist like that thar package I mentioned.  It’s a wonderful gift.  Why is it yuh can love one person an’ not another?  Now, that’s jist bein’ real.  Only the Lord loves everybody the same, an’ I realize that it don’t say nothin’ in the Good Book ’bout it bein’ a gift, but it has to be.  Thar’s some folk out there that are jist plain unlovable.  Only the Lord can give yuh the gift to love them.  Some of these folk that get up an’ spout off, “I love y’all,” jist fried my bacon.  They don’t!  They say it, they might think they mean it, but they don’t know a lick of what they’re talkin’ ’bout.  Now, true, one of them true evangelists that is called in the Church might have that special love, an’ I know we’re supposed to love, but it’s downright hard sometimes, that’s why I’m a-sayin’ that it has to be a gift from the Lord to love everyone.
     Now, I’ve done run out of space, an’ yuh’ve run out of time an’ need to be gettin’ on down the road.  But say, Pard, did yuh love my coffee this mornin’?  Did it give yur gizzard fits?  Let me tell yuh as yur a-leavin’ that Annie and I are spendin’ our fifty-sixth Valentines together.  My mercy, Pard, that’s love.  The good, the bad, along with some ugly.  She’s stuck with me through all the dust that’s been thrown up over the years of travelin’ this journey of life.  Whoooeee, and I wouldn’t trade it for nothin’.  My ol’ rundown heart still palpitates with thought of her, an’ her bein’ by my side.
     Pard, yuh take care this week.  Tell someone yuh truly love them, then act like it.  I love yuh ‘nough to be tellin’ yuh to check yur cinch.  No need to be reachin’ those pearly gates ‘fore yur called.
    Vaya con Dios.

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

It [the wilderness] was no place for a fellow who didn’t have a lot of sand in his craw and a boundless store of hope in his heart.”
                    –Ernest Haycox  (A Rider of the High Mesa)

       “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
                    –Isaiah 43:19 (NIV)
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Progress marches on, so they say.  Sometimes it is for the good, but often it is greed, selfishness, and vanity that pushes it forward.  I am often reminded of the verse in Romans, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (8:22, NIV).  There is a new house coming in where we live.  Now I don’t begrudge folks wanting to live out here where we are, but I hate to see the forest being torn down.  What was it John Denver sang?  “More people, more scars upon the land.”  Sigh.  Progress??
     With that being said, my mind goes back to the pristine forests of yesteryear.  The wilderness.  If you have found yourself in a wilderness, no matter what type, stop and look around.  Take a moment and see.  What is there?  Is it fearful or oppressive?  If you are truly in the creation of God’s making know and realize that you are standing in the Great Cathedral of His voice.  Standing there, gazing around, remember, “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands” (Acts 17:24, NKJV).  Perhaps that is one of the things to learn why you are in this particular experience–learn to worship God for Who He is, not what He does, or where you might think He resides.
     Yet even knowing that this is God’s place, the terribleness may be seen.  There is a vastness in its solitude; traveling through it can cause fear to deepen and even overwhelm you.  Gaze into the immense canyons and gorges, stare into the heat waves as they float above the desert floor, behold the awesome wonder of the majestic peaks as they push through the clouds, and even take time to look out over the vast, seemingly endless plains.  The dreadful, majestic power of nature looms over you as you traverse through it.  And still–God is transcendent over His creation.
     The wilderness may suggest danger, it may also beckon you to come to it.  Moses requested of Pharaoh that the Israelites be allowed to enter so they could offer sacrifices to God.  There is more truth here than what is seemingly on the surface.  Cannot one worship God anywhere?  Isn’t it more comfortable in a nice building?  The issue is that the wilderness demands attentiveness, focus, and sacrifice.  It demands diligence and solitariness, endurance and fulfillment.  To enter the wasteland of the wilderness may be to die to self so that you may live unto God.  Maybe that is the allusion that Paul leaves in Romans 12:1-2, to become, now, a living sacrifice.
     I have pondered many times why the Israelites had to go to the wilderness to meet with God and offer sacrifices to Him there.  Could they have not done this in the safety of Egypt?  Maybe it was because they could not properly meet with God in that location.  Possibly the atmosphere “of the world” would be a great hindrance to them; that part of worship required them to come apart and be separate.  In Scripture, Egypt often represents “sin” or “the world”; it was a place of bondage and oppression.  Is there part of the world involved when you try to worship?
     One more thought this morning–their leader was a man of the wilderness.  Moses knew life there.  He knew what it was to meet God in the wasteland, the desert, and the rocky crags of the mountains.  Could it possibly be that to really come to know God a person must face the same perils as the wanderers of the wilderness?  Perhaps God has now placed you in the wilderness to understand what worship truly entails.”

 

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

The nightmare, the attacks will happen, but He will see us through them if we trust and rely on Him.”
                    –Henry McLaughlin  (Journey to Riverbend)

       “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD.”
                    –Jeremiah 17:7 (NKJV)
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When I taught my apologetics classes, I always wrote on the board the first day of school three character traits.  These remained throughout the year and were often referred to during the year.  It might be: ENDURANCE–HONOR–ATTITUDE.  Or this:  INTENSITY–HONOR–FORTITUDE.  Always honor was in the middle.  Without personal honor we are nothing.  Look at what is happening in our cities–it is because there is a lack of honor.  Honor is necessary for a person, a society, a nation to survive and act within a moral boundary.  Those rioting are mocking honor and want to live by anarchy which has no honor or laws at all.  I was then thinking one morning, I do that once in a while and this came to my mind for Christians:

          TRUSTING—-THANKING—-PRAISING

     The Oxford Dictionary states that “trusting” means “showing or tending to have a belief in a person’s honesty or sincerity.”  Therefore as we go through this life we place our trust in the character of God.  We believe in His Word, the foundations of our lives are in this trust.  He is the God who is there; He is the God who is faithful and true and we place our complete trust in this.  Great is His faithfulness, great are His mercies.  We can trust Him!
     Second is “thanking.”  I wrote last week about the need to be thankful.  We cannot, as believers, go through this life without being thankful.  Thankful for the large things in life, thankful for the small, seemingly insignificant things in life, thankful for our salvation and His sustaining power.
     The third thought is “praising.”  Praising is an act of the will.  I am not speaking of jumping up and down spontaneously to an event, a speech, or an outcome.  Yes, we can praise an individual by indicating with a mode of exuberance, but real praise takes some thought; it comes from a purpose, knowledge, and an act of the will.  Praise and thankfulness can be mixed together, in fact, we can add trust to the mix.  Since God is faithful, we can trust Him, we can thank Him for being so, then we can offer praise for the fact that He is.
     Put that all together and we have the concept of living in faith.  “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7, NKJV).  “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20, NKJV)  This old hymn speaks of how we are to live.

               “Living by faith, in Jesus above,
               Trusting, confiding in His great love,
               From all harms safe, in His sheltering arm,
               I’m living by faith and feel no alarm.”
                      –James Wells

     Living by faith is trusting in Him, thanking Him, and praising Him.  What a life!  We have this assurance as we walk on our daily journey–this journey of living by faith–that the Lord is with us each step of the way.  We trust Him for that, then we thank Him for being with us, then we give Him praise for all He does and for who He is.  Look now, as I close at two of the verses then go out into the world triumphant and trusting.

               “Tho’ tempests may blow and the storm-clouds arise
               Obscuring the brightness of life,
               I’m never alarmed at the overcast skies,
               The Master looks on at the strife.

               I know that He safely will carry me thro’,
               No matter what ever betide,
               Why should I then care, tho’ the tempest may blow
               If Jesus walks close to my side.”

 

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

You boys have saddled your bronc, now let’s see if you can ride him!”
                    –Louis L’Amour  (Conagher)


       “Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good.  Anyone who does what is good is from God.  Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.”
                    –3 John 11 (NIV)
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“The wise in heart will receive commands, but a prating fool will fall.”  –Proverbs 10:8 (NKJV)
“The wise of heart will receive commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin.”  –(ESV)
“The wise in heart accepts commands, but a chattering fool comes to ruin.” –(NIV)

We see again the contrast between the wise and the fool.  The wise receives or accepts commands, while the fool, always contemptuous is referred to as prating/babbling/chattering will come to ruin and that final ruin is eternal judgment.
     I understood rather quickly in Basic Training that when the sergeant said something you listened, then obeyed.  There were not any questions, no “do I gotta” or “why” in adhering to his instructions.  Let me digress, little questioners for there are always those one or two who don’t listen, understand, or think they know it all or know it better.  Why challenge the person in authority, why challenge the instruction of the sergeant?  But the prating fool would invariably do so.  “Foolish people refuse to recognize wisdom, even when it is right in front of them.” (Dan Dick)
     One time stands out in my mind.  We were on the firing range and had been given explicit instructions on how to act and react.  At no time!  At no time were we to lift our weapons and turn.  Of course, some fool, when his weapon jammed raised up.  Within seconds, or faster if that is possible, a sergeant had his pistol out and up against the recruit’s head.  He was just being a fool, not meaning to cause harm to anyone. but he almost had a serious incident and those sergeants on the firing line didn’t waste around.  Know this that it was right tense for a few minutes–all because of a fool who thought he knew what to do, but did not listen to the instructions given.
     Bob Beasley points out the with the clear illustration of people’s hearts being like soils (cf. Luke 8:5-8).  “Some hearts receive the Word and, like water on sand, it sinks deep.  These people grow in the Word and become sound in the faith.  They become obedient to the indwelling Word.  The chattering fool is just the opposite.  He may be continually exposed to the Word, but it runs off his mind without ever getting to his heart.  He may even chatter on about creeds and doctrines and theology, but without any real evidence in his life of the indwelling presence of the Word as applied by the Spirit.  This person will come to ruin.”
     Diotrephes, remember him?  He is not one of the most famous people mentioned in the Bible, and the mentioning of him is by no means flattering.  We read about him and his foolish actions in 3 John.  He was a malicious person, a chattering fool, who opposed the Apostle John.  Also he refused to welcome brothers in the faith.  John said that his evil actions showed that he had not seen God.  The evidence of his life pointed to the fact that the Spirit did not dwell in him.  Or as Charles Bridges says he was, “Bold in his own conceit, while his life and temper fearfully contradict his fluent tongue.”
     Some people talk a good talk.  Listen to them, they seem to know everything.  It is hard to interject a word when they are around, but when it comes to putting their hand and actions to where their mouth is they are not to be found.  Clear thinking leads us to God; our egos blur the view and there is a challenge to God’s instructions.  Why would we even think of challenging the instructions given by the all wise, all-knowing God?  But many, many do.  Dick relates that “It is the wise in heart who receive instruction gladly.  The fool stumbles down the road to destruction.”