Life is dangerous, from the second we are born until the moment we leave this world, but we can’t let fear rule our lives, or it won’t be a life worth living.”–C. J. Petit (The Gunsmith)
“Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward.”
–2 John 8 (NKJV)
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The preacher asked last Sunday if anyone knew where the richest place on earth was. He named a few places that may have been in the minds of some then proceeded to say that the richest place on earth is the graveyard. Ponder that–the graveyard. How many unfulfilled dreams lie beneath the sod? How many minds left untapped? How many talents lie buried beneath the sod, never put to use? Oh, think of the many things that are buried, never put to use, and now useless.
The key to his message was the concept of POTENTIAL. Everyone has some kind of potential, but so many just go through life never putting their potential into action, or to the wrong action. One of the things that drove me “crazy” as a teacher was the many, many kids who decided that their best was mediocrity. Those kids who had so much potential and were satisfied with just getting by. Sometimes the “spirit of slap” would come upon me and I would have to control my impulses. Waste, just like so many of the lives that are dead and gone never using the potential that was within them.
The preacher went on to bring a discourse on Matthew 25:14-30, one of the most sober parables of Jesus. There are, of course, two servants who were given talents and doubled what they had. They were profitable servants. They used what they had been given. But there is that one, that one that would eventually be cast out because he had been given a talent, but he had failed to use it. In verse 25, he tells his excuse: “And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.”
He was afraid! Fear caused him not to act on his potential. Fear made him not put to use the potential that had been given to him. One of the greatest deceptions used by the devil is fear. Man doesn’t use his potential because he is afraid of failure. He doesn’t use it because he won’t take the time to develop it–he is mediocre. Some, today, are using fear for not following the Word of God. People are not going to church because of fear. How then are they to grow in discipleship? How are they to pray and help other believers and allow believers to pray and help them? There are some so fearful that they have cloistered themselves in their houses, fearing to venture out and be salt and light unto the world. They have hid their talent, their light, under a bushel.
One has to question if they are truly believers for they are acting completely contrary to that very word–believer. Let me give you a few words from the apostle John as he writes his epistle.
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.”
–1 John 4:18 (NKJV)
“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world–our faith.”
–1 John 5:4 (NKJV)
If you are hiding your life because of a virus–shame on you. If you are living in fear–shame on you. It is time for you to trust in Christ. Do not hide your potential–do not go to the grave with it and allow it to be buried with you. Jesus finishes the parable with a somber note. The Master has the one talent taken from the man, the one that should have been put to use and tells his other servants, “Cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 25:30, NKJV)
The servant had been given potential and he failed to use it. Now…now it is too late. Too late! What could have been has been taken away, and remember that he was one of the Master’s servants. He hid himself, fear gripped him, and now he is in darkness. Oh ye of little faith–use your potential.
Author: Ira Paine
The Saga of Miles Forrest
Mateo was standing out in the street with his gun in hand when I burst out of the diner. As I was running toward him, he rushed to the jail and went inside. By the time I got there he was at the cell where Doc and Lucas were behind the locked cell door. Samuels was lying on the cot, bellowing, “He left me, he left.” Honor among thieves, ha.“He took the keys!” hollered Mateo, then rushed to the sheriff’s office where we kept a spare set hidden.I went to the cell where I saw Lucas holding his head with blood oozing between his fingers from a gash. Doc had his hand on his arm and was shaking his head while Samuels continued to blubber something between curse words and sobbing.My eyes focused on those of Lucas who tried to avoid them looking down. “Tell me what happened,” I ordered. Mateo was back working the key into the lock to open it. I was thinking as Mateo opened the cell, “Here we go again, jailbreak and Lucas is involved.”“Miles, it was my fault,” interceded Doc. “Don’t be blaming the kid.”Lucas sort of flinched when he heard those words. “Don’t be calliin’ him a kid, he’s a sworn in deputy. This cell is his responsibility and something happened and I want to know what,” I said harshly. I looked over at Doc, “You all right?”They were moving out of the cell, when I saw Mateo pick up a chair that was lying on its side. “What’s that chair doin’ in there?” I questioned with a scowl on my face. “And how did Lucas get that gash on his forehead?”“Miles, let me explain,” muttered Doc.“I’m waitin’ for the Deputy to explain.”Mateo had gotten a broom and was sweeping the floor putting the remnants of the prisoner’s lunch on the tray that he was now bringing out of the cell. Locking the cell behind him, he threw the mess out into the street where the birds and dogs would get rid of it soon enough.“Well!”Lucas, with his head hung down, began to speak. “There is no excuse, it is my fault.”“I’m not askin’ for an excuse, I want to know what happened. And lift your head up and face this like the man you are. You learn by your mistakes. . .if you live through them.”“I had opened the cell to bring the prisoners their meal. Senor Doc followed me bringing in a chair on which to sit. He sat the chair by the bed of the wounded man to tend him, and my eyes were upon what he was doing instead of the other man. He grabbed the tray from me, then slammed it against my face; I guess that’s how I was cut. It knocked me down. The doctor, he must have jumped up because I saw the man pick up the chair and swing it at Doc, knocking him down over the cot. That is all I can recall, I’m sorry.”Mateo and I listened. Part of what happened was due to inexperience, part due to the audacity of the prisoner, and I looked at the cell, and part due to the construction of the cell.Doc was now working at the gash on Lucas’ forehead. “He’ll need some stitches,” he said.“Well, stitch him up, then go get your horse. We’ve got a prisoner to catch.”“Senor, you want me to go with you?” he asked.“Your prisoner, think it best you go after him. Don’t you?”“Hold still!” yelled Doc as Lucas jumped to his feet. “I need to finish this off.“I’ll go saddle my horse while Doc finishes with your head. He is all right to ride, ain’t he?”I looked at Lucas, the excitement had left and his face was downcast again. “Senor Marshal, I have no horse to ride.”“Mine’s right out front,” declared Mateo. “You can ride him.”“Be ready to go by the time I get back,” I yelled at the doorway. “Mateo, when Charlie gets back, see if he can find someone to find a way to get a dinner tray into the cell without opening it.”I hurried up to the cabin, where I could saddle Star. The man went off to the south again, but with a little lead. There may have been a rifle on the horse he stole, but he would have a hard time using it with his hand in the shape it was. I just wondered as I rushed up the hillside why he would ride off to the south again. I saddled Star then rode to the diner to inform Molly of our plans before going back to the jail to pick up Lucas.She was waiting for me outside so I didn’t dismount. Coming over to me she placed her hand upon my leg. “You be careful, Miles Forrest…and take care of Lucas.”“Tell Marta, he’s with me. Mateo or Doc will fill you in on what happened. Hope to be back today, or tomorrow at the latest…”
Echoes From the Campfire
That was the trend in this new century: throw away whatever was old and traditional, grasp whatever was regarded as modern…”
–Elmer Kelton (The Smiling Country)
“Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God.”
“Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God.”
–3 John 11 (NKJV)
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Boy, howdy, if Psalm 69 isn’t for us today, I don’t know what is. Just look at the first few verses.
1 — Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck.
2 — I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.
3 — I am weary with my crying; my throat is dry; my eyes fail while I wait for my God. (NKJV)
Maybe we could read it this way. “For the virus has come and overflowed me.” We worry about this, we worry about that. We are perplexed–one shot, then two, and now maybe three or more. What is the answer? Oh, help me, the world has gone crazy and I am in the muck, stuck with no help in sight.
Then David goes on to write about other problems and issues. His problems are beyond just the issues of the day, they are personal. His enemies are attacking him, and he bemoans his own mistakes and sins.
4 — Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head; they are mighty who would destroy me, being my enemies wrongfully; though I have stolen nothing, I still must restore it.
5 — O God, You know my foolishness; and my sins are not hidden from You.
6 — Let not those who wait for You, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed because of me; let not those who seek You be confounded because of me, O God of Israel.
7 — Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; shame has covered my face. (NKJV)
Perhaps people don’t understand you and, therefore, they persecute you. You try to do right and they attack. You do wrong and they mock and ridicule saying, “he says he’s a Christian, but look at him.” Jeremiah was hated because of his prophecies regarding Jerusalem. The religious leaders and pseudo-prophets told him he was wrong. Jeremiah had to listen to their taunting and ridicule–until that day.
The same was true of Jesus. He was attacked by the religious leaders of His day because He wasn’t “religious” enough. “He was seen as a Sabbath breaker, a Temple defamer, and ultimately a blasphemer.” (Peterson). Eugene Peterson goes on to say, “Closeness to God sometimes means alienation from men.” There is more truth to this than you might think. As you get close to God you begin to alienate yourself from the culture of this crazy, mixed up world. Tozer writes, “All of the Christians I meet who are amounting to anything much for God are Christians who are very much out of key with their age—very, very much out of tune with their generation.”
“On the light of God’s own presence
O’er his ransomed people shed,
Chasing far the gloom and terror,
Brightening all the path we tread.”
–Bernhardt Severin Ingemann
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Boy, howdy, if Psalm 69 isn’t for us today, I don’t know what is. Just look at the first few verses.
1 — Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck.
2 — I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.
3 — I am weary with my crying; my throat is dry; my eyes fail while I wait for my God. (NKJV)
Maybe we could read it this way. “For the virus has come and overflowed me.” We worry about this, we worry about that. We are perplexed–one shot, then two, and now maybe three or more. What is the answer? Oh, help me, the world has gone crazy and I am in the muck, stuck with no help in sight.
Then David goes on to write about other problems and issues. His problems are beyond just the issues of the day, they are personal. His enemies are attacking him, and he bemoans his own mistakes and sins.
4 — Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head; they are mighty who would destroy me, being my enemies wrongfully; though I have stolen nothing, I still must restore it.
5 — O God, You know my foolishness; and my sins are not hidden from You.
6 — Let not those who wait for You, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed because of me; let not those who seek You be confounded because of me, O God of Israel.
7 — Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; shame has covered my face. (NKJV)
Perhaps people don’t understand you and, therefore, they persecute you. You try to do right and they attack. You do wrong and they mock and ridicule saying, “he says he’s a Christian, but look at him.” Jeremiah was hated because of his prophecies regarding Jerusalem. The religious leaders and pseudo-prophets told him he was wrong. Jeremiah had to listen to their taunting and ridicule–until that day.
The same was true of Jesus. He was attacked by the religious leaders of His day because He wasn’t “religious” enough. “He was seen as a Sabbath breaker, a Temple defamer, and ultimately a blasphemer.” (Peterson). Eugene Peterson goes on to say, “Closeness to God sometimes means alienation from men.” There is more truth to this than you might think. As you get close to God you begin to alienate yourself from the culture of this crazy, mixed up world. Tozer writes, “All of the Christians I meet who are amounting to anything much for God are Christians who are very much out of key with their age—very, very much out of tune with their generation.”
“On the light of God’s own presence
O’er his ransomed people shed,
Chasing far the gloom and terror,
Brightening all the path we tread.”
–Bernhardt Severin Ingemann
Coffee Percs
Coffee’s cookin’ on the stove in the corner. Go right on ahead and pour yourselves up a steamin’ cup. ‘S good coffee. Guaranteed finest kind.”
–J. Lee Butts (Gun Works)
Come on in Pard, an’ take a weight off’n yur feet. Surely hope yuh had yurself a good week. I did, but my days were all messed up. I thought Tuesday was Friday, then Friday was Saturday. Guess that’s what happens when yuh jist sit ’round the fire, enjoyin’ life and coffee. Right now there’s no pie–fastin’ pie for the month of January.
I’m in an unusual situation. My mind is normally percolatin’ with a bunch of thoughts stirrin’ around. My problem then is to sort them out, but Pard, right now, there’s nothin’ stirrin’ in the ol’ noggin’. Oh, I could get goin’ with the same old rant about the virus and vaccine along with power and control, but what’s the use? I could write about the economy, the price of bacon, an’ inflation. If’n I took a notion, I might say something about the President, and others up in Washington, but then my liver and gizzard might get in an uproar.
Don’t worry, just grab the pot and pour whenever yur cup runs dry. Don’t make me no nevermind–just do it. Hey, let me tell yuh ’bout one of my Christmas presents. I received a special gift of coffee–a coffee of the month. Each month, I’m to receive coffee from a different place in the world. So far I’ve had coffee from Ethiopia and Uganda. Nice present, and I’ve enjoyed it. Ha, see you are too.
Yuh know, thinkin’ of those yokels in Washington the ol’ song comes to my mind. “Won’t it be wonderful there?” Heaven that is, not the grand monoliths of political power. It’s a sad thing to say, but when I look at some of those faces I get downright ill. I don’t bother listenin’ to their spiel, which are mostly lies. I’d rather hear the porkers oink and grunt in the neighbor’s yard next to Kimberly’s.
Speakin’ of songs, I’ve tried to keep one current everyday. Sorta like a resolution. We know the heavenly Father has given us each day and we’re to be doin’ our best for Him each and every day so I thought. “I woke up this mornin’ feelin’ fine. I woke up with heaven on my mind. I woke up with joy in my soul, for I knew my Lord had control…”
What, yuh don’t like my singin’. I thought it might be worth a cup or two of coffee. See, and if yuh look closely, yuh can see that I’m part of the “woke” crowd. No, not those whimperin’, snibblin’, lily-livered whiners, but a member of the Kingdom of God.
Well, yuh need to be on yur way an’ I need to be workin’ on my latest book. It should be out sometime next week. Yuh take care, and don’t forget to be checkin’ yur cinch from time to time.
Vaya con Dios.