Month: March 2026

The Saga of Miles Forrest

by Ira Paine, Posted on
Wisdom or money can get you almost anything, but it’s important to know that only wisdom can save your life.”  –Ecclesiastes 7:12 (NLT)
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     There was a chill in the air as I rode into Towaoc.  Not much of a village to say the least.  There was one adobe building, a corral with a stall for maybe two horses, and half a dozen jacals.  The adobe looked to be some sort of trading post, and it made me wonder if they were not selling liquor.  I needed information regarding the murders, but I’d also check into that.  
     I threw the reins over the hitching rail, I knew that Hawk wouldn’t go anywhere, then unbuttoned my coat.  I wanted to be able to get to my pistol if needed; I carried the Greener in my left hand.  Upon entering the building I took a couple of steps to my left knowing I needed to let my eyes adjust.  It was dark in the building, with only two small windows on each side and one in front.  There were two figures in front of me, one sitting at a table, the other behind a counter, but I couldn’t make anything else out about them.
     “Welcome,” came the voice from the man standing, then he added “Bienvendo.”  Perhaps he couldn’t see very well either and he wanted to cover both languages.  I gave a little wave then started towards the two men.  It was a homely place, a few blankets, pants, shirts, and some skirts and blouses for the ladies.  Some scarves and bandanas.  Not much else save a couple of ropes that looked to be made of horsehair.
     Moving up to the counter I nodded at the man sitting.  He had an empty bowl in front of him along with an empty coffee cup.  “Whiskey,” I ordered.
     “Senor, I do not carry such a thing.  You will need to go back to Cortez if you want to fulfill that desire.  We are poor here and most of our customers are Indians and it is forbidden to sell whiskey and the like to them.”
     “Coffee then,” and I pointed to the empty bowl.  “What was he eating?”
     A large grin appeared on the man’s face, “chili.”  
     “Bring me a bowl of that as well,” I ordered, then stepped to the table.  “May I?” I asked, pulling a chair from the table not waiting for an answer.  Looking at the man, I asked, “Is it good?”
     “Si,” he replied, then added, “muy caliente.”
     The man seemed to be in good shape.  He was thin, wiry to be exact and he looked as if he had seen hard times in his life, but had overcome them.  There was a little scar sitting on his cheek that ran to the top of a large, heavy moustache.  Sheepherder?  Doubtful.  
     As I sat, he asked, “Senor, what brings you to this little village?”  He paused with a smile on his face.  “Surely not to see if there was whiskey being sold.”  He let his eyes wander over me.  “Hmmm, not a marshal, certainly not the sheriff I know of Charlie Gold.”
     The bowl of chili was placed in front of me, so I didn’t answer the man until I had taken a bite.  I bowed my head first, saying a little prayer, then put my spoon into the mixture of beans, meat, onions, and pepper, I immediately felt the heat.  It was hot, which I didn’t mind.  Only when it is too hot to taste do I take a disliking to it.  I put on a little show for them and promptly hollered, “Aqua!”
     That brought a chuckle for the proprietor who offered, “Maybe you should pray again for relief.”  A smile appeared from the man sitting across from me.  He had caught on to my little act.
     After drinking half the glass of water that was given to me.  I took another spoonful, this time without reaction, swallowed, then looked at the man.  “To answer your question, I’m a Ranger.”  I took another bite.  “Perhaps one of you could give me some information.  I’m investigating the murder of some Navaho sheepherders.  Know anything about that?”
     The two men looked at each other.  The proprietor answered, “No, nothing in particular.  We too, heard there had been murders.”
     I nodded and continued to eat, then I asked, “I was told to ask for Charlie Two-Face and that he could give me some answers.”
     It became quiet and the proprietor left saying, “Let me get you some more coffee.”
     Looking at the man across from me, I took a chance.  “Charlie, what can you tell me?”

 

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

Men must struggle or they deteriorate.”
                    –Louis L’Amour  (The Californios)

       “But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.”
                    –Romans 8:10 (NIV)
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         “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness:  for they shall be filled.”  –Matthew 5:6 (KJV)

     Let me begin this with some background of the times in which it was written.  William Barclay does an able job explaining the life of the period.
               “The fact is that very few of us in modern conditions of life know what it is to be really hungry or really thirsty.  In the ancient world it was very different.  A working man’s wage was the equivalent of three pence a day, and, even making every allowance for the difference in the purchasing power of money, no man ever got fat on that wage.  A working man in Palestine ate meat only once a week, and in Palestine the working man and the day labourer were never far from the border-line of real hunger and actual starvation.
               It was still more so in the case of thirst.  It was not possible for the vast majority of people to turn a tap and find the clear, cold water pouring into their house.  A man might be on a journey, and in the midst of it the hot wind which brought the sand-storm might begin to blow.  There was nothing for him to do but to wrap his head in his burnous and turn his back to the wind, and wait, while the swirling sand filled his nostrils and his throat until he was likely to suffocate, and until he was parched with an imperious thirst.  In the conditions of modern western life there is no parallel at all to that.”
     I am thirsty just from reading that.  We may cry, “I’m thirsty,” but this beatitude is speaking of a deep thirst.  Not for real water but having an appetite for God.  There is an ongoing hunger for Him that is never fully satisfied.  The term means to have a “vehemet desire” or a “vividely expressed desire.”  Barclay refers to it as a “starving spirit.”  How thirsty are you for “righteousness”?
     There are actually three parts to righteousness.  The first is legal.  This is justification, a right relationship with God.  This was taken care of at the cross, but now we move into this meaning of this verse.  There is a moral righteousness which is an inner right-of-heart, mind, and motive.  Do you long to do right in all your motives?  Hmmm.  Then there is also social righteousness, this is outside of the private and is expressed in the community.  D.A. Carson says that the righteousness that Jesus is speaking of is “wholly to do God’s will from the heart.”  Barclay says, “It is the hunger of the man who is starving for food, and the thirst of a man who will die unless he drinks.”  That is the righteousness that we should and must have.
     The question is:  how intense is our desire for goodness, for righteousness?  The great author, Robert Louis Stevenson, wrote that “There is the malady of not wanting.”  Oh, we want all right.  We want this and we want that.  We want in our selfishness.  But…what do we hunger after?  We have a “jaded appetite.”  We want the calories of dessert or pizza or something that will fill the craving of our taste buds.  Friend that is not the same as spiritual hunger.  “Spiritual hunger is the characteristic of all God’s people.  Our supreme ambition is not material but spiritual.” (John Stott)  We want just a taste of righteousness but then we look at the things out there and we have a different type of hunger.  Listen, “Blessed is the man who hungers and thirsts for the goodness that is total.” (Barclay)
     We do not seek legal righteousness, that was taken care of at the cross.  To do this is crossing into legalism.  Longing and thirsting after salvation when it is already taken care of is not true hunger.  Our hunger should be after God’s righteous character.  To be like Him.  Oh, we can never reach that lofty goal.  But the key is, as Barclay writes, “Not necessarily the man who achieves this goodness, but the man who longs for it with his whole heart.”

 

Coffee Percs

by Ira Paine, Posted on

He went in and drank his coffee, black and hot, and returned to the yard, pacing out through the long-thrown shadows of the poplars. The weathered juniper poles of the corral showed whitely in the moonlight; across the valley the outline of the hills was very clear.” 

                    –Ernest Haycox  (Saddle and Ride)
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          “Spring has sprung,
          And grass has riz,
          And everything that looks
          Like a weed, is!”
Now, Pard, that’s some fine verse for the springtime that is now upon us.  It was given to me by the missus, so reckoned I’d use it since Spring is now officially here.  These last few weeks has shor been some ride with the weather.  Cold, snow, and then some of the hottest weather on record in Arizony.
     Careful, Pard!  That coffee’s hot!  Yuh should be testin’ it before yur burn all the hair off’n yur tongue.  Be aware, cayn’t yuh feel the heat before yuh open your mouth?  That bring me to a thought.  I was out driving the highway the other day, yep takin’ my life into somebody else’s hand, and I noticed, and it’s not the first time, that there is little awareness of folks out there in those steel mounts.  They go over into yur lane likes they own it, then swerve back.  They’ll move from the far left to make their exit four lanes over to the right.  Just not bein’ aware of where they are or what they should be a-doin’. 
     Pard, lack of awareness can get yuh hurt mighty bad, or even kilt.  Yuh need to be aware of yur surroundin’s, of possible obstacles.  Why even walkin’ in the woods, yuh must be aware for an ol’ rattler or copperhead may be lurkin’ nearby.  Yuh might step in a hole, and break an ankle or worse fall on yur noggin’.  Pard, lack of awareness can get yur tonsils burnt if’n yuh swaller that hot coffee too quick-like.
     Yuh ponder that whilst I takes a swaller now.  Ahhh, good-delicious!  Pard, the same is true travelin’ our journey on the gloryland trail.  Ol’ slewfoot is out there with a myriad of devices, snares, traps, and deadfalls.  We travel, but we must be aware of what is around us.  Why we know he’s a prowlin’ ’round like an ol’ mountain puma.  But as the ol’ Apostle said we are not ignorant of his devices, traps, and snares.  An’ for shor our Guide will be pointin’ them out if we are aware of His instructions.   
     Pard, the good Lord has put another day, and hopefully another week in front of us.  He has made them for us, but that don’t negate our responsibility to be aware as we go through each and ev’ry day.  Pard, we have to cinch up tighter, look harder, sit straighter and have a clear focus on the trail ahead of us and what might jump out from the sides.  As the pioneers and settlers came they had to be aware of their surroundin’s.  There were vicious varmints, snakes, rocks and ruts in the trail, hostiles, and renegades waitin’ to do harm to the unsuspectin’.  It hasn’t changed much–the enemy is the same and he is still waitin’ for us to be droppin’ our guard.
     So Pard, check yur coffee ‘fore yuh drink.  Tighten yur cinch, keep yur Bible handy an’ yur gun loaded.  Keep movin’ onward an’ upward.
     Vaya con Dios.

 

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

Don’t be a drifter. Always have some sort of a plan. It may not be much, but don’t travel through life aimlessly. The plan may change; it may be vague, but have some purpose in where you travel and what you do.”
                    –D.C. Adkisson  (The True and Unbiased Life of Elias Butler)

       “For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
                    –Matthew 7:14 (ESV)
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     Give praise and thanks to the Lord that you are traveling this path that some call the narrow way, others the gloryland trail, while others the highway to heaven or the heavenly trek.  No matter what you call it, know this, that it is uphill and hard.  Always uphill, or upward to glory.  It is always onward as well, there is no turning back.  I recall the first stanza of one of my favorite hymns penned by Johnson Oatman, Jr.
               “I’m pressing on the upward way,
               New heights I’m gaining ev’ry day;
               Still praying as I’m onward bound,
               ‘Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.'”
     As Christians we are all on the same upward trail, or trek.  It is the same path for every believer, however, on this journey each of the travelers face different obstacles along the way.  There may be storms, battles, disease, death, financial problems, sorrow and sufferings of a myriad types, and on, and on, and on the list continues.  And we all face these trials in different ways depending on our experiences, training, attitude, personality, and character.  But now no matter what, it is upward.  We continue on.
     Some will walk the road slowly, but with certain steps.  Others will take great strides at times, but then falter and slow down, while for others there seems to be little progress just inching along, but onward and upward is the road.  That is certain.  Another certain thing, this road is not a tip-toe through the tulips waltz.  But is very often along a precarious edge of a cliff knowing that a misstep could be fatal.  That’s when we reach out with assurance to grasp the Master’s hand.  He is with us all along the way, but it is on those strenuous parts of the journey that we feel the touch of the Savior.  The words of Elmo Mercer come to my mind.
               “Each step I take I know that He will guide me;
               To higher ground He ever leads me on.
               Until some day the last step will be taken,
               Each step I take just leads me closer home.”
     There are those of you who say, “wait a minute,” I’m not always going upward.  There are times I’m down in the valley of depression or the slough of despair.  If you have ever traveled in the Rocky Mountains you will know that even in the high country there are small valleys and ravines that must be traversed.  In Colorado, there are those lark parks:  North Park, Middle Park, and South Park.  They are not rugged, yet they are at a high altitude so when you are in them you are clearly in the high country.
     You must walk the journey alone, yet in another sense there are others walking with you.  You face your trials and obstacles alone, however there are members of the “family” who are there to pray and help escort you along the way.  You work out your own salvation, but you know that others have gone the way before you and that others are following you so leave clear footprints for them to follow.
     Weariness may try you, but take time to look back at where you once were.  Look at the experiences you have come through and rest in the knowledge that the Holy Spirit was with you each step of the way; therefore rejoice and smile.  Keep moving, don’t stand still, the journey continues and you’re moving toward eternity and home in heaven.