The next morning I was packed and at the train station with a ticket to Pueblo. The weather was dreary with a drizzle of rain making it colder than normal. I had the Greener is my left hand and small grip in the other.
Molly held me by the arm. “Do you think this will bring an end to this?” she asked.
“I’m tired of you, my friends, and myself bein’ a target. The Lord’s had his hand on us so far, but, well, I’m tired of being a target. It’s time to put some pressure on Myers; hopefully he will lead me to Merker.”
We stood there, communicating without speaking. “I wish you’d come with me,” I remarked.
“Now, Miles, we’ve been over this. Marta is starting work today and is beginning to remember things. I need to be with her,” she paused, squeezing my arm. “Charlie is here, and I’m staying at their house until you get back. Lucas will take care of the horses. He’s excited since you told him to ride one each day.”
“But what if Merker shows up here?” I remarked.
“Quit second-guessing yourself. If he does, he does. We’ll deal with it. Tell you what, send me a telegram when you get to Pueblo that way I know where to answer you. I’ll send you one at the end of each day,” she informed me. “By rail you can get back in a few hours.”
The whistle blew and the conductor made a walk along the platform. “All aboard!” came his yell.
It must have been funny seeing me hug Molly, having her wrapped up in my arms holding a shotgun and suitcase. I gave her a kiss goodbye and headed off toward the car. The conductor nodded at me as I stood on the first step of the car. Molly stood there and waved, then I moved on into the car.
I moved on down to the far end, noting everyone seated in the car as I moved down the aisle. I sat with my back to the engine, that way I could see anyone entering the car and also all of the people seated there.
There were several passengers. One young lady, sitting a couple of rows back and across from me seemed fidgety. Finally, she spoke up. “Mister, must you carry that dreadful thing?”
I kind of looked around. “What thing would that be, ma’am?” I replied.
“That, that gun,” she said pointing.
“Why, ma’am, this is a genuine W.W. Greener, 12-gauge coach gun. Guaranteed to stop bandits, desperadoes, thieves, murderers and the like,” I said with a smile.
“That’s horrid!” she exclaimed.
“Yes, ma’am, that’s what it’s supposed to do, strike fear into the hearts of anyone that looks into the business end of the barrel.”
She shuddered and turned toward the window. The conductor came and sat across from me. “Business trip, Marshal?” he asked.
“Well, I’m not out for pleasure,” I stated then nodded my head to where the stove used to be. “Sure miss havin’ a stove with coffee brewin’ on it.”
He smiled, “that’s the way of progress.” He stood up and began moving down the aisle, checking tickets. I pulled my hat down over my eyes and leaned back in the seat. Thoughts began to mill in my brain like cattle on the trail. Stirring and spinning around and around, nothing making sense, there was no clarity.
“Lord,” I whispered, “You need to give me direction. Show me what to do. Tell me where to go and stay.” I sighed, “and keep Your hand wrapped around Molly.”
I must have dozed off, which bothered me some, but someone was shaking my shoulder, it was the conductor. “Marshal, wake up. We’re taking on water and will be here several minutes. I know in the work-shack there’s coffee. Boys wouldn’t mind sharing with you.”
It was a good chance to stretch my legs. When I passed the woman who said I bothered her she gave me a look. My, with that look she didn’t need a shotgun. There was something sinister about her expression.
I was about to take the step off the train when I had a gut-feeling saying, “Don’t.” I usually listen to those “feelings” for I figure it might be the Holy Spirit telling me something. Instead of getting off I stood on the steps of the car until the train started to move. The fresh air had invigorated me and just before I turned to go back inside I saw two men walk out of the work-shack with guns in their hands. They stared in my direction and one then spat on the ground.
Moving back inside I found the conductor. “Does this train happen to have a dinin’ car?” I asked.
“So happens it does,” he replied, then added. “No coffee in the shack?”
“Business to attend to,” I said. “Missed the opportunity.” I left him and walked through the next passenger car and found a dining car. I wasn’t hungry, but I did want a cup of coffee. Sitting down by a window I looked out and sipped my coffee wondering what had just happened.
“Does Myers know I’m comin’?” I wondered. “Maybe Merker…”
Author: Ira Paine
Echoes From The Campfire
The trail we choose, will greatly determine who we will become on the journey.”
–Dan Arnold (Bear Creek)
“So Lot chose the entire Jordan Valley for himself. Then Lot journeyed eastward, and they separated from each other. Abram lived in the land of Canaan, but Lot lived in the cities of the valley and set up his tent near Sodom.”
–Genesis 13:11-12(HCSB)
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Choices are always with us. There are always crossroads to take, forks in the road, situations that arise in the journey where we must make more choices. One thing we find in reading the Psalms, especially in Psalm 21, is that David always chose to trust in the Lord.
1 – Lord, the king finds joy in Your strength. How greatly he rejoices in Your victory!
2 – You have given him his heart’s desire and have not denied the request of his lips. Selah
3 – For You meet him with rich blessings; You place a crown of pure gold on his head.
4 – He asked You for life, and You gave it to him—length of days forever and ever.
5 – His glory is great through Your victory; You confer majesty and splendor on him.
6 – You give him blessings forever; You cheer him with joy in Your presence.
7 – For the king relies on the Lord; through the faithful love of the Most High he is not shaken. (HCSB)
Paul wrote that nothing can separate from God’s love. His love is divine, His love is secure, a covenant love, His love is faithful. Our obligation and requirement is to obey and trust. Frederick W. Faber wrote,
“For the love of God is broader
Than the measure of a man’s mind,
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind.”
Too often we look at the immediate, the need of the hour. We often do not take the time to look at the larger picture, the long-range view. We want our needs met and we want them met now, and in that thinking we make choices. Many times this choices prove to be bad, but then, there is the wonder of God’s love. Even in the bad choice He is still with us.
We let others, whether friends or family, peers, society itself dictate what is true and right instead of trusting God. I was talking to someone yesterday about how faithful God is. Divorce is bad, no matter what people say today, and I lived with my Dad, my Grandma, and Aunt. My Mother wasn’t bad by any means but she was not a Christian, neither was Dad, but Grandma and Bern (my Aunt) were and they made sure I was in church. If I had been raised by my Mom I most likely would not have become a Christian, but God had other plans. See, He was faithful in His love.
God in omnipresent; He is already in the future and He sees the results of our choices–the good and the bad. David was a person, the leader of the country, and his trust was always in the Lord. My, my, wouldn’t it be nice that our leaders would turn back to Him instead of dismissing Him, or mocking Him.
In the midst of your traveling down the road of life you will find yourself in all sorts of situations with all sorts of choices to make. You will have dry places, and then at times the rains will come and the winds will blow. You will struggle to climb mountains and you might find yourself in a valley of despair. Get into God’s Word. Seek Him. Remember, don’t be short-sighted, but look at the circumstance with eternity in mind. “Eternity gives us perspective on all of life’s valleys and mountaintops.” (George O. Wood)
Coffee Percs
She inhaled the aromas as if it were roses. It seemed that most elderly people she knew drew the breath of life itself from coffee.”
–Elmer Kelton
Welcome, Pard. What? You’ve been waitin’? Sorry, I was just lazin’ in the bed, watchin’ graylight come up. But the sun’s not up yet, or so you’d notice with all the rain clouds.
I was thinkin’ some ’bout Mother’s Day. Yuh do have a mother, don’t yuh, pard? As cantankerous as you get at times, I wonder. Well, I tell you it took three mothers to wrangle me when I was a young’un. Yep, there was my Mom, and my Grandma Adkisson, and my Aunt Bern. Why, goodness, a person couldn’t have asked fer more.
Mercy, pard, yuh sure went through that cup in a hurry. Don’t yuh be worryin’, I’ve got a whole pot full for us to be a-swallowin’. Oh, Jim Folger knew what he was doin’ when he formed his company back in San Francisco in 1852. I reckon this Black Gold coffee is a salute to him.
Yep, mom’s are good to have around. Why without them a person just can’t be born. And another thing, without them a person just can’t be nurtured and brought up right. With all the whoopin’ and hollerin’ goin’ on out there makes me wonder if any of them whimperin’ fools had a mother. Why the way they carry on at times, well, it sure makes me wonder.
Maybe here in the future, I’ll have some of that Arbuckles coffee. Originally, it came from Pittsburgh, yep, a couple of brothers John and Charles Arbuckle started it. For some reason the original company went under, but now it’s bein’ roasted again by some folk in Tucson.
Well, all the moms that raised me have been gone a spell. Still have the best one around though. My gal, Annie, she and I have shared many a cup of coffee together. The good Lord knew what He was a-doin’ by bringin’ us together. She shore did a super job raisin’ our two girls, and now they have followed her teachin’ and way and are raisin’ up a crew of God-fearin’ young’uns.
What? Yuh can’t linger this mornin’? Still have to get yur mom a gift. Well, yuh best be gettin’ on down the road, for the stores will be gettin’ busy. Now you be careful out there; the creeks are risin’ and there’s storms still on the way. If yur ridin’ through some of that high water, I sure hope you done already checked yur cinch.
Echoes From the Campfire
They were gentle hands, strong hands, capable hands; they were the hands of a woman, a mother, a woman to walk beside a man, not behind him.”
–Louis L’Amour (Taggart)
“She opens her mouth with wisdom, And on her tongue is the law of kindness. She watches over the ways of her household, And does not eat the bread of idleness.”
–Proverbs 31:26-27 (NKJV)
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The hardest job in the world is that of being a mother. She has to be a person that can handle many tasks. As in the quotation she has to have gentle hands, yet strong hands; hands that are capable of handling an unruly child yet hands that can soothe a sick one when she runs it along a fevered cheek.
I especially remember the hands of my Grandma Adkisson. She took in washing and did ironing for a living. Her hands would break out due to the harsh soap. At night she would rub a black ointment on the raw spots. Yet she never complained. Those same hands would be out in the kitchen getting my breakfast ready and while I was at school would be busy making something “good” for me to eat.
A mother is meant to be the nurturer of the home. She is the one to clean and bandage the wounds; to wipe away the tears. She raises a son, and weeps when he leaves in the service of his country knowing that he may never return, yet she knows she must let him go. However, she will hold him in her heart and pray for him. She is the one who raises a daughter, teaching her how to be a proper, virtuous lady then watch as her husband gives her away to some young man at the altar.
Over the years I’ve watched my wife be a mom to our girls. All during their years of growing up she was there, sometimes being called the “meanest mother in the world” she never wavered in her responsibility before God and to her daughters. She taught them how to be domestic, how to look at the world with a proper attitude, and how to willingly and faithfully serve the Lord. Even though they are married and no longer at home she continues to be a “mom” to them.
Now, my daughters are following in her footsteps and example. They are mothers and are facing the turmoil of a new world. I see them instilling the love of God in their children. As the storms have come to their lives they faced it with unyielding trust in the Lord, therefore, instilling that same faith and trust in their children.
No matter what this postmodern society says about womanhood and feminism, they cannot shake the faith of a real mother. I have been fortunate to be surrounded by ladies who understood the duty and responsibility they had as a mother before the Lord. All I can say is thank the Lord for godly mothers!
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Today in the Texas Revolution: The Mexican army reaches the Atascosita Road at Victoria.