Author: Ira Paine

The Saga of Miles Forrest

by Ira Paine, Posted on
Again I observed all the oppression that takes place in our world.  I saw the tears of the oppressed, with no one to comfort them.  The oppressors have great power, and the victims are helpless.”  
–Ecclesiastes 4:1, NLT
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     I walked as a man on a mission.  It was half a dozen blocks up to the Glass Slipper.  I decided not to go up Blair Street; that would give notice that I was on my way if McGinnis had anyone watching.  I had just turned the corner when the wind picked up.  Between the buildings I felt a rush swirl around me, then on down the road picking up debris, dust, and anything else that might be on the ground.
     Now I wasn’t much into omens, but I had experiences with strange occurrences in my life.  Was it just natural, or some sort of supernatural phenomenon that blew past me?  I stopped at the corner leading onto Blair Street.  The Glass Slipper was up at the end of the block.  It was there the thought struck me–why didn’t I wait to get more help?  Then I caught myself smiling, who else was there besides Charlie and a deputy scared of anything that moved.
    Omen or not, the wind made me think of a time, when a rushing, mighty wind came upon those disciples in the upper room.  A wind that signified the coming of power.  It caused me to think of Parson Chapman praying for me at that moment, and I had to chuckle slightly as I whispered a little prayer.  “All right Lord, let’s get this done.”
     I didn’t hurry up the street.  It was cold enough that the doors were shut on most of the businesses of vice.  There were no hawkers or drunks around, just miners that were going in and out of the establishments, and one lone marshal.  
     Since the outer doors were shut I couldn’t look inside the saloon.  I tried peering through one of the windows, but to no avail.  Pausing to look at my situation, I tried to imagine what it looked like inside.  Was the bar in front of me, or to one of the sides?  Where would McGinnis be?  At a table, in an office, and what of this hot-shot Kid Mallow?  I could blast out the window, that would get everyone’s attention, but it might also hurt innocent bystanders.  Ha, that is if anyone in this place was innocent.
     At that moment there were three miners coming down the hill just finishing off their shift and were headed into the Glass Slipper.  I would just ease in with them.  I felt the breeze again around my neck as I joined them to enter.  One of them nodded at me, to which I returned a nod.
     Another one said, “Now only one beer tonight, Levi,” admonished one of the miners.  
    “Why’d yuh bring us to this place?” grumbled the man identified as Levi.
     “Closest one to the mine,” came the answer.
     The man who had greeted me grunted, “What difference does it matter?”
     I walked in with them, stopped at the entrance while they went on up to the bar.  I wanted my eyes to adjust and look over the people in the room.  The bar was in front of me with tables in front, I counted seven–lucky number or so some say.  To the right of the bar was a room, could be an office and leaning at the bar in front of the door was a young kid–Mally maybe?  Scanning the room I saw another man seated to my left, doing nothing but watching the crowd.  I’m sure there were more in the room if what Tanner had told me was correct.
     Time to introduce myself…

 

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

Something strong and strange was at work deep within him.”
                    –Zane Grey  (Fighting Caravans)


       “Therefore, keep up your courage, men, for I believe God that it will turn out exactly as I have been told.”
                    –Acts 27:25 (NASB)
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Hurry up, Lord!  Where are You?  Why aren’t You acting on my behalf?  Don’t You care?  We seem to always be in a rush, and probably more so than in years past as we’re used to fast…everything.  However, when we pray, our schedule is not what matters.  “True prayer is putting oneself under God’s influence.” (H.E. Fosdick)  True prayer is understanding that God is there and in control, however, do not be disheartened, He is aware of our need, the timing, and what needs to be done.  David, in writing Psalm 141 needed a quick answer to his prayer.

          1 — LORD, I cry out to You; make haste to me!  Give ear to my voice when I cry out to You.
          2 — Let my prayer be set before You as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
          3 — Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips.
          4 — Do not incline my heart to any evil thing, to practice wicked works with men who work iniquity; and do not let me eat of their delicacies.
          5 — Let the righteous strike me; it shall be a kindness, and let him rebuke me; it shall be as excellent oil; let my head not refuse it.  For still my prayer is against the deeds of the wicked.  (NKJV)

     We want justice and we want it now.  I have been reading Habakkuk and that was the cry of the prophet, but when the Lord answered, he didn’t care much for His reply.  In other words, when we pray, we might not say it but we might have in our thoughts, “Do it now Lord, and do it my way.”  George Wood reminds us that “emergencies on earth are not always emergencies in heaven.”
     Notice what David said in regard to his prayer.  He mentions incense and the evening sacrifice.  “Prayer deodorizes the foulness of your circumstances by perfuming them with praise and trust in the Lord.” (Wood)  This prayer of David’s must have been in response or because of his enemies.  As you read the Psalms have you noticed how often David refers to his enemies being a thorn to him?  David had many enemies; enemies of various kinds.  Stop–think of it; we are faced constantly with the threat of the enemies of our soul–the devil and his minions.
     David then prays that the Lord guard his mouth.  He wanted to make sure nothing hasty or reckless came from it.  He understands that in the heat of a moment he might say something that would bring reproach to the Lord.  By our mouth, our words, we often want others to feel our pain, our trouble.  Why?  “Don’t surrender your tongue to revenge, rage, self-pity, and blame.” (Wood)  Take a moment to recall the struggle between Satan and Michael.  The great archangel said he dared not bring a slanderous accusation against the devil.  If he did that would find himself in a trap prepared by the enemy to make him slip.  Wood states, “Too many have shipwrecked their faith by acting like the devil when fighting the devil.”
     There will come a day when the wicked will be destroyed–evil will be chained and done away with and the Lord will reign in truth, power, and justice, but until then…  “Do not incline my heart to any evil thing.”  Remember the words of the Lord’s prayer:  “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Matthew 6:13, NKJV)  I like the way Phillips translates this:  “Keep us clear of temptation, and save us from evil.”  As the Lord knew, there was the “evil one” who is after our souls; as David prayed, as we should pray.  

               “Not so in haste, my heart!  Have faith in God and wait;
               Although He linger long, He never comes too late.
               He never comes too late; He knoweth what is best;
               Vex not thyself in vain; until He cometh, rest.”
                       –Bradford Torrey

 

Coffee Percs

by Ira Paine, Posted on

He sniffed his cup and didn’t recognize anything different about it and slowly brought the tin cup to his lips and took a sip. He immediately spat it out…”

                    –Grady Bryant  (Preacher and the Bounty Hunter)
 
Come on in Pard, yuh do realize that this is the last Saturday in April.  My mercy, one third of the year has already gone past.  Whoopee, and what is there to show for it?  That’s why I like readin’ Ecclesiastes for it tells the truth ’bout life.  Pard, I was thinkin’ some, not much, the ol’ graymatter don’t work in deep thoughts much any more, but here’s what I had on my mind.  Yuh know how I always teasin’ly remind you to check yur cinch.  Well, it’s in fun, but there is some truth there.  We just don’t know what might be come our way or what might be on the trail a-waitin’ for us.  Pard, yuh come be drivin’ along one of these asphalt roads and from four lanes away some fool takes off and runs right into yuh.  Why it almost happened to me the other night.  The missus and I were drivin’ home from the daughter’s and this truck came from nowhere, in the midst of traffic, goin’ close to a hundred and almost clipped me.  I had to haul up on the ol’ steel mount or he most likely would have got me.
     I tell yuh straight out, Pard, the wife and I sure were thankin’ the Lord.  Whooeee, it was a close one.  Gave me somethin’ to chew on for the rest of the way home.  What if the Lord hadn’t sent an angel to help me gather in the ol’ steel strawberry roan?  What if’n He decided it was time to go on up to that heavenly ranch in the sky?  Pard, we just don’t be a-knowin’, we do our best, and that’s all we can be doin’.  Why, I’ve come to realize that not all days are sunshine and waterin’ holes; Pard, let me tell yuh, there are those days that are mud, sweat, and blood.  The broncs yuh ride, well, Pard, some of them have a mind of their own, an’ yuh can get left high in the saddle and plunk down on the earth.  Why I heard one ol’ boy a tellin’ someone that he’d never been throw’d, but had himself some fanciful dismounts in his time.
     Now let me tell yuh one more thing whilst yur sippin’ on that coffee.  Good, some of that Black Gold.  Yuh do know that Folgers was the first major coffee company out in California to take care of those Forty-Niners?  But that’s another story for another Saturday.  Pard, the truth of the matter is like that ol’ bronc-buster who had the delightful dismounts; it’s all in the way yuh look at things.  Why that ol’ boy who wrote that the coffee was so bad he had to spit it out had an issue.  Was it bad coffee ’cause it was too weak, or too strong?  Maybe it was a cino, or full of cow juice, or bee’s fixin’s.  See Pard, I’ve learnt up to a point, still workin’ on it, that God is in control and He has everythin’ under control, even when yuh don’t check yur cinch.  So much of what we do, how we feel, and how we go about the day depends on how we deal with the obstacles or the wrecks or the hostiles that may come our way durin’ the day.  One thing we must never forget Pard, God don’t make no weak coffee; He’s there to make all things possible if’n we keep trustin’ in Him.
     Yuh needs to be on yur way, I know.  I notice yuh didn’t spit out none of my coffee.  Ahhhh, smile, drink it with the right attitude, and just because the good Lord is lookin’ out for yuh is not reason not to be a-checkin’ yur cinch.
      Vaya con Dios.

 

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on
The laws of nature only apply to God’s creation; they do not apply to the Creator.”
                    –Ken Pratt  (Legacies of Spring) 

       “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”

                    –Philippians 4:6 (NKJV)
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     Where are you God?  Why don’t you answer me?  Oh, then we give the trite answer, “He does.  He’s just saying, ‘No’.”  But wait…hold on, God does not always speak.
 
               “O LORD, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear?  Even cry out to You, ‘Violence!’  And You will not save.”   –Habakkuk 1:2, NKJV
 
The prophet cries, “why are You not hearing me?”  The CEV translates it this way, “Our Lord, how long must I beg for your help before you listen?”  Why is God not doing something?  Why is He not listening?  Ah, but He is.
     First of all, this is not a treatise on prayer.  There are so many of them out there:  how to pray, what method to use, what type of prayer, specialty prayers (i.e., Jabez).  This is just a simple comment regarding the prayer of Habakkuk the prophet.  It seems that he must have been praying in anguish for some time.  Nothing from God.  Listen!  God does not always answer our prayers.  I will not go into detail at this time on that but one example is when Peter states that a husband’s prayer for his wife may be hindered if they are not considerate and do not respect them.  Prayers are hindered because of inconsistency, a lack of faith, bad relationships, sin, and James reminds us that we do not receive because we “pray amiss,” or as the NIV translates it, “When you ask you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” (James 4:3)  On the cross, Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34, NIV).  God did not answer His Son.  So pause for a moment when you think that God is not hearing or answering.
     However, know this–God is active!  God is there!  Nothing is done by chance in this world, or in your life without His approval and knowledge.  Oh, we may sin, fall short of His glory, but He allows it, oh, and that may be a reason we don’t have an answer to our prayers, we have to get back in the right relationship with Him.  Understand this, “Prayer is not bending God’s will to ours, but surrendering to His will.” (Christopher P. David)  Look at verse 5:  “Look among the nations and watch–be utterly astounded!  For I will work a work in your days which you would not believe, though it were told you.” (Habakkuk 1:5, NKJV)  Hmmm, in other words, if God would have told him, he wouldn’t have believed it anyway.
     Following verse 5, God reveals to Habakkuk what is going to take place.  He doesn’t explain, but He does reveal.  Note that God’s response to Habakkuk’s prayer was totally different than what he expected or wanted.  I would assume that Habakkuk would want a revival, would want God to continue to protect the people, but it turned out quite differently.  See, when we pray, we know the kind of answer we want.  Habakkuk, the prophet, was no different.   Many times when a prayer is answered, not in the way we want, we will say that God did not answer our prayer, but in reality He did not answer it the way we wanted it answered.  Peter C. Craigie gives a little light on this, “We perceive the problem in a limited way and so we also presuppose the answer in a limited way.”  Remember, our ways and thoughts are not His!
     One more nugget before leaving for today.  Even though God was silent, Habakkuk still prayed.  Even though God seemed to not be answering, the prophet still entreated Him.  Prayer is not something we go to God for Him to pull out something from His goody-bag.  Prayer, (without ceasing) is communication with a Friend, with our Savior, with the Almighty God!   As Christopher David puts it, “The silence of God did not shake Habakkuk’s faith.”  And it should not shake ours.