Author: Ira Paine

The Saga of Miles Forrest

by Ira Paine, Posted on
The more words you speak, the less they mean.  So why overdo it?”  –Ecclesiastes 6:11 (NLT)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 
     “Dave Cook told me that you rode with McNelly down in Texas,” said McBride, matter-of-factly as he sipped his coffee.  Emelda made us one of my favorite breakfasts, I call it huevos verde, but it is really green chili that she makes, not just a sauce.  It’s right under biscuits and gravy as my favorite breakfast.
     I had to wipe some of the chili from my moustache before answering him.  “My, that was ages ago.  It was not long after the war.  I was driftin’ as many were, tryin’ to find a way to begin life over.  Both my folks were murdered during the war,” I paused, took a sip.  “Sort of a vendetta by some folks in Virginia as we went with West Virginia in her succession.  They burned everything.  I sold the land and came West.”
     Molly went out to the store ordering goods to carry over until spring.  It seemed almost a miracle the things they can put in cans to keep them from spoiling.  I like that term “miracle,” though it really was not.  It was using the good sense that the Lord gave us to progress.  The shame of it was that man often didn’t use much good sense in his progress.  I planned on going out on a hunt as soon as McBride left.  Ol’ Grizz crossed over the Great Divide and he did quite a bit of our hunting for the diner.  Of course, Mr. Thompson kept us supplied with beef, and once in a while Molly bought from Mike Fountain.  She purchased her chickens from Joe Dixon, and Greta still supplied eggs though Hannah had passed on a couple of years ago.
     “Well, if you’re half as good as Blasco and Cook say, you’ll make my job much easier,” remarked McBride as he used a tortilla to sop us the rest of the chili on his plate.
     Giving a little cough, I replied, “You don’t always want to believe everything those two gentlemen tell you.”
     McBride didn’t reply, but lifted his eyes to look over the rim of his cup as he drank.  I couldn’t quite tell if there was a hint of a smile on his face.
     “I don’t want  you out in the weather, but as soon as possible start making your rounds in the district.  Red Cower and Nick Jordan are Rangers for the Silverton and Ouray area.  Sim Jurgenson will be joining them come spring.  Introduce yourself to them.  One of them will be with any major ore shipments going out of the area.  Also Ab Loningr will be working over in Telluride.  We call him “Slick” and when you meet him you’ll understand why.  When he leaves with a shipment you might want to be in Telluride until he returns.”
     He paused for a moment, then added, “It’s up to you to inform me if we need anyone over in the western district.  I’ll be leaving tomorrow.  If I’m not home for Christmas my wife will send me on down the road with Santy Claus,” he said with a laugh.
     Molly came in at that time carrying two sacks of groceries followed by Jimmy Hopkins with a couple more.  McBride jumped to his feet to relieve her of her burden and followed her into the kitchen with Jimmy in tow.  I hadn’t paid any attention to the two men that followed them into the diner.  When my eyes finally went their direction I found that one was directly to my left and the other in front of me a little to the right of where I was sitting.  I felt a little foolish getting caught in this situation.  Now what to do about it.
     “I reckon that you two gents have something on your mind.  You might as well get it out.”
     I had to look at the man in front of me, and that made me vulnerable to the one on the left.  If I looked to the left I would lose contact with the other man.  The Greener was behind me leaning against the wall and I had a cup in my left hand.  My right hand was on the table.
     “You remember Lem Collins?” asked the man in front.  “This is for him.”
     As he pulled his gun, I fell backward, my hand going to my pistol, then…

 

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

The mystery of Christmas therefore lays upon us all a debt and an obligation to the rest of men and to the whole created universe.”
                    –Thomas Merton

       “My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him.”
                    –Psalm 62:5 (NKJV)
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I like the story that William J. Petersen wrote, “According to an old story, a traveler walked into a country store in the hills of Kentucky one wintry day in 1809 and asked, ‘Anything new happen around here lately?’  The proprietor almost laughed.  ‘Around here, stranger?  Nothing happens around here.  A baby was born in the Lincoln cabin last night; that’s all.’  Who knows the eventual impact of a life?”
     We all need to grasp hold of that truth.  Who knows who your life might have influenced?  Who knows what you might still do in the remaining years of your life?  Simeon knew the value of one life.  We see this in his hymn found in Luke 2.

          “And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.  And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.  So he came by the Spirit into the temple.  And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said: (25-28)
          29 — ‘Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word;
          30 — For my eyes have seen Your salvation
          31 — Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples,
          32 — A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.’
And Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken of Him.  Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, ‘Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of man in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.'” (33-35, NKUV)
   
     A song from his heart, and then a prophecy regarding the Child.  Mary and Joseph had brought the baby Jesus to the Temple when He was eight days old, fulfilling the requirements of the law of Moses.  Simeon took the Child, sang a little song, then gave a stunning prophecy.  “He was standing at the turning point of all history, and he knew it.” (Petersen).
     Simeon told it straight.  Looking at Mary he said that Jesus would be the cause of whereby many will fall.  Think of it!  As Barclay said, “It is not so much God who judges a man; a man judges himself; and his judgment is his reaction to Jesus Christ.”  There will be a great refusal as well as a great acceptance.  The great choice of life:  choose Jesus and enter into the Kingdom, reject Him and enter into condemnation.  Jesus is the cause by which many will rise.  It is Jesus who offers His hand to lift “a man out of the old life and into a new one, out of the sin into the goodness, out of the shame into the glory.” (Barclay)  He will meet much opposition.  “Towards Jesus there can be no neutrality.” (Barclay)
     Mary was told that she would experience great sorrow as a result of her Son.  Man’s heart would be revealed, and now the rest of history hangs in the balance of accepting Christ or rejecting Him.  This season, celebrate the entry of Jesus into the world and all that it means.  Know that your life can never be the same since that day so many years ago–acceptance or rejection, the choice is yours, mine, and everyone else’s.  Because of Jesus, nothing else will ever remain the same.  One more little side note, that I’m sure that Simeon realized.  His death was now imminent.  When he held the Child, I’m sure the truth of the Spirit came to him.  But it was a gloomy time for Simeon, we see that in his song, and as G. Campbell Morgan states, “For Simeon to hold that baby in his arms was to have death revealed to him, not as dissolution, but as emancipation.  The great and glorious fact that would emerge was that Christ has abolished death.”

               “Thou didst leave thy throne and thy kingly crown
               When thou camest to earth for me;
               But in Bethlehem’s home there was found no room
               For they holy nativity:
               O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,
               There is room in my heart for thee.”
                          –Emily E.S. Elliott

 

Coffee Percs

by Ira Paine, Posted on

He lifted the blue enameled coffee pot from the top of the pot-bellied stove. ‘Coffee is all I have. But it’s hot and it’s good in this cold weather.’ He poured coffee in three tin cups.”                        

                    –Vivian Sinclair  (A Western Christmas)

Pard, come in this kitchen an’ tell me it ain’t true.  Give me the low down, I can handle it, but let me put the pot back on the stove and sit myself down first.  Did I hear right, yuh partook of some eggnog cino?  Oh mercy me, tell me it ain’t so.  What do yuh mean, it was only a little sip?  A little sip of cyanide would be as bad.  Pard, yuh come along way, an’ then yuh up and do this.  Yur not goin’ over to the cino crowd are yuh?  Those yuppies who prance around tip-toein’ through life not realizin’ that life is a battle, a fight, an’ yuh have to be ready to face it, not be drinkin’ eggnog cinos.
     Here, take this cup, it’ll wash down that cravin’ and get yuh back on the right track.  Good strong, black coffee, just the way that nature intended.  Wish I had some camp coffee, that would make it even better.  Pard, I’m glad it was only a sip.  But a sip here, a sip there and soon yur a-sippin’ all the time.  And if’n yur-a doin’ that, well, it means yur no longer just sippin’ but guzzlin’.
     Pard, yuh start with one slip then yuh’ll soon be dyin’ yur hair blue or chartreuse.   If’n yuh don’t watch out, yuh’ll become like the rest of what that ol’ puncher Rhodes called 
“rhomboidinaltitudinous isosohedronal catawampus!”  Now that’s sayin’ somethin’ an’ it’s a mouthful, but it’s a-describin’ some of them vomit-spewin’ liberals.  I don’t want yuh to be like what someone wrote about those liberals who can’t identify a woman, a criminal, a peaceful protest, dementia, or which bathroom to use, but they can identify a fishing boat when they see one.  Listen Pard, the world is confused enough to not be drinkin’ any concocption such as eggnog cino.  Why, Pard, that’ll make yuh forget to check yur cinch, and I’ll go out an’ find yuh a-lyin’ in the mud somewhere’s.
     Keep goin’ straight, upward an’ onward.  Don’t be lettin’ the ol’ world be teasin’ yuh with their spew but ride straight and true.  Keep to the words of the Good Book, and don’t falter in yur faith.  Let me be tellin’ yuh, the Lord is comin’ soon.  Yuh stay alert, ready, and watch not only the trail, but the skies for His return.  Now come, next week, I don’t to be hearin’ yuh tell me that yuh had eggnog cino.  If’n yuh want to drink straight eggnog that’s one thing, but don’t be a-mixin’ it with the true elixir.  An’ I don’t want to be hearin’ that someone had to be pickin’ yuh up ’cause yuh didn’t check yur cinch.  See, this life is rough at times, and we must be alert and doin’ right.
      Vaya con Dios.

 

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

I mull the story of Christ’s birth, with its simplistic beauty and wonder if I saw the star, would I heed the call of duty?”
                    –Jack Burdette

       “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?  We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”
                    –Matthew 2:2 (NIV)
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Often I have thought of that trek so many years ago.  The wise men would have traveled from somewhere near Babylon to Bethlehem, a trip of around 900 miles.  That would mean it would take them around 50-60 days if not longer.  Were there three or twelve?  It really doesn’t matter, but the more there were the longer it would have taken.  Think, it would be a caravan similar to the wagon trains going West in our country or of a large caravan of freight wagons moving along the Santa Fe Trail.
     Something caught their attention.  They were looking skyward; they saw something, something unusual that made them want to find this newborn king.  I will say that there was also something in their heart that was longing, aching for it to be stilled.  The “Star,” the ache, but it wouldn’t have happened if they had not been looking upward.

          Star of the East, oh Bethlehem’s star,
          Guiding us on to heaven afar
          Sorrow and grief are lulled by thy light
          Thou hope of each mortal in death’s lonely night.
                    –George Cooper (“Star of the East”)

     The hope that they saw in the “Star” brought peace, and yet, at the same time anxiousness to find the newborn.  There was something in what they saw.  The answer, perhaps to death.  Was this the man spoken about in the Jewish Prophets?  The Redeemer of mankind.  They had to seek Him.  Think of the trouble it took.  Even if only three, they had to pack their goods, food for the camels, take along extra camels in case of accident, then hire men to work the camels, and remember, these were men of means so they most likely did not travel lightly.

          Fearless and tranquil we look up to thee,
          Knowing thou beamst through eternity.
          Help us to follow where thou still dost guide,
          Pilgrims of earth so wide.

     “Look up,” that was the answer.  No it wasn’t astrology; it was far more than that.  Think for a minute, that “Star” had to have been prepared to appear at just this moment in history.  It was prepared when the foundations of the earth and universe were spoken into existence.  All that the Incarnation holds, the complete story is too wonderful for me to understand, comprehend, and when I think of it I must take it in small amounts.  The wise men traveling, the “Star” that guided their way.  Was it a single star created by the great Creator or was it movement in the heavens that caught the attention of the wise men?  Either way, it was a marvelous undertaking that they began because of something happening in the cosmos.

          Oh star that leads to God above
          Whose rays are peace and joy and love
          Watch o’er us still ’til life hath ceased
          Beam on, bright star, sweet Bethlehem’s star.

     They spent many a night on the trail following the star.  Did they ever tire, or did the hope that was stirred deep in their heart keep them going?  No matter, the “Star” was ever before them.  The “Star” that would lead them to the Light of the world was always shining.  When they gazed briefly at the campfire with the smoke rising, they would hear the faint echoes of “Look upward” and it would bring hope and help steady their thoughts on the journey.  There was something they heard, they saw, they sensed that kept them going; their heart longed to worship the new King.

          Star of the East, thou hope of the soul,
          While ’round us here the dark billows roll
          Lead us from sin to glory afar
          Thou star of the East, thou sweet Bethlehem’s star.

     We know they reached the place where the Child was.  They brought and gave Him their gifts, but we must not forget how they reached their destination.  It was the constant echo of the campfire–“Look up!”  They began their trek by looking up and seeing something.  They continued following the light of that “Star.”  They didn’t waver from their journey; they continued to gaze upward and continued onward until they found the Child–the Savior of the world.  We can only imagine what went through their hearts and minds.  They knew they were in the presence of someone grand and unique; they understood that something majestic, mysterious was happening and they were warned in a dream not to go back to Herod.  Yes, something wonderful was taking place.  
     What happened to them, we do not know.  I am sure that their hearts continued to burn.  They had been a part of something glorious.  They didn’t falter along the way, but were steadfast in their desire to find this new king.  Onward and upward they continued.  Listen, perhaps you can hear the “echoes” of “Look up…for your redemption draweth nigh”.