Author: Ira Paine

Coffee Percs

by Ira Paine, Posted on

He was waiting with a cup of water when the coffee began to boil. He poured the water in to sink the grounds, then dipped into the pot. He could barely see first light in the east.”

                    –Elmer Kelton  (Other Men’s Horses)
 
Come in this hyar kitchen, Pard.  Sit yurself down an’ I’ll get the coffee directly.  Go ahead, slurp on it.  Let’s get this first cup down ‘fore I unload what’s a brewin’ in my mind.  Ahhh, nothin’ like it, just makes the ol’ gizzard do flips.
     Yuh can keep sippin’ while I bring to yur attention something I saw this week.  Yuh know this ol’ world is upside down in its thinkin’ and livin’.  Sure glad there’s still plenty of good God-fearin’ folk around.  The Lord is always there, but I can feel in my bones something a-brewin’ up in the heavens.  Let me fill my cup and take a sip ‘fore I get started.
     Pard, I saw where a gay pride flag was raised over San Antonio City Hall.  Several writers were boasting that the city was declaring its support of diversity and equal and fair rights for all people.  However, in reading this, which by the way didn’t settle on my stomach so well, I didn’t see anything mentioned regarding moral purity, or God’s moral laws, or moral integrity.  There were plenty of statements beratting those who are intolerant.  I wonder, what would happen if the Christian flag was raised over City Hall?  What would be the response to that?
     Let me go on, get yurself another cup if’n yuh need it.  There’s a movement in the schools where the term “Family” is no longer to be used.  It has been determined that Family is a racist term that promotes “whiteness.”  The article further stated that the term “family” puts males in an authority position.  Duh….!  Course there could be a problem since there is one group in America where seventy-five percent of the households (I won’t use the term “home”) do not have a father.  The article indicates that it was the responsibility of teachers to help dismantle whiteness.
     “Chaos, confusion, bring it on”…is the chant of the lawless.  Can’t yuh just see ol’ Scratch a gigglin’ an’ cheerin’ them on?  John writes regarding many “antichrists,” but there will be one leader; one who will come forth in the midst of the chaos and confusion.  Pard, that day is approachin’.  Yep, there’s a great day comin’ and it may not be just bye and bye, but sooner than we think.  That’s why we have to be keepin’ our noses clean and ready for the comin’ of the Lord.  Yep, He’s a-comin’ back for His Bride, and nothin’ will be stoppin’ Him and then, oh my, the world will really see corruption, evil, and wickedness go on the rampage.
     Well, the pot’s empty, and the coffee in my cup is cold.  That’s what I get for a-preachifyin’ at yuh.  Yuh be havin’ a good week, ride straight and tall, keep yur bearin’ and be wary of yur surroundin’s, and keep yur gun and Bible handy.  Oh, an’ lest I forget, don’t be a-goin’ out without checkin’ yur cinch.  Yuh forget that and yuh might fall on yur noggin’.  That might cause yuh some confusion.
      Vaya con Dios.

 

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

Conversation there means your way of life, and without covetousness means to quit wantin’ everything you don’t need.”
                    –B.N. Rundell  (Tincup)

       Also [Jesus] told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not to turn coward (faint, lose heart, and give up).
                    –Luke 18:1 (Amplified)
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No, I haven’t forgotten that this is D-Day, the invasion that started the end of the Nazi regime and Hitler’s agenda in Europe.  It has been eighty-one years that 2500 Americans gave their lives on that day.  That brings me to a scripture and thought that has been going through my mind–prayer, and the verse is Luke 18:1, “…men always ought to pray and not lose heart.” (NKJV)  or as the NIV puts it, “never give up.”
     I’ve read recently that as believers, we don’t need to pray since God already knows what is going to take place.  But then why did He instruct us in so many places that we are to pray?  There is something to prayer!  Why I’m dealing with this subject two days in a row I don’t really know.  Perhaps I need it, or maybe you do.  I’m one of the world’s worst prayers, and there are so many good sources on prayer–Bounds, Rinker, Murray, and a host of others–that I shouldn’t be the one to write on prayer.  Yet, more and more I see the importance of it.  Not so much as to get something from God, but just to talk with Him.
     When I start to pray I have something on my mind:  a need, a request, a grateful heart, fellowship, but then when I start to pray there are a thousand thoughts that begin to wander through my mind trying to get me off into some box-canyon.  I have to stop, concentrate and focus–is that the way it should be?  I am going to borrow from Alistair Begg this morning and he brings this thought:  “in His sovereignty, God has ordained both the ends and the means to those ends, and we will not reach God’s intended ends without His foreordained means.”  Duh???  What?  Yes, indeed a mystery.
     But we are told earnestly to pray.  How God uses the prayers of His people in His plans remains a mystery.  We don’t and we won’t have all the answers to all our questions about prayer, but we are told to pray and it works.  “We can be confident that God ordains means such as prayer for His eternal purposes.  And knowing that is enough to bring us to our knees so that we might enjoy the privilege of knowing in all eternity that our prayers were used as part of His sovereign purposes to save His people.” (Begg)
     Along with that we come in closer fellowship with the Father when we pray.  Remember, He is the Father, not a “sugar-daddy”, not a buddy.  We have the intimacy of a dad, but He is also to be revered as Father.  As Ray Stedman writes, we do not address our prayers to the Chairman of the Committee for Welfare and Relief expecting a handout.  Neither do we pray to the Grand High Secretary of the Treasury to help finance our needs.  We come to Him as a child, one who recognizes Him as a loving dad and a heavenly Father.
     Prayer–sometimes it is hard, sometimes it is only a word or a feeling within our souls.  Sometimes it involves petitions and needs.  Mostly, prayer should be a conversation with our Father about life.  I close this morning with a word from Lois Chaney’s book, God Is No Fool.
               One morning I awoke with a desire I wanted to fulfill.  It concerned a way I wanted to be.
               This was a matter to lay before God.  This was a matter for prayer.  The desire was for a power and goodness, and I wanted the prayer to be right.  I would preface my request with an acknowledgement of my unworthiness.  This wasn’t false; I knew it, and God would accept it.
               All day phrases and words escaped me.  My special prayer lay limp and wouldn’t take shape.  I would set aside a time.  I would approach Him in truth.
               In the evening I closed myself away from others.  I read from His word.  I fought for phrases and words–I felt embarrassed and mute.  And the world got bigger, and God got greater, and I got smaller.
               Frustrated, I jerked to reality, and suddenly I was flooded with the answer, and I was the way I wanted to be.
               But I felt confused…I had wanted that moment of communication with God, but I had found myself impotent and alone.  Then I thought I heard something.
                       “I heard you this morning.”
               I think I have a lot to learn about prayer.

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

Every day is a beautiful day when you have rested, eaten, and enjoyed those you are with.”
                    –B.N. Rundell  (High Country)

       “Never stop praying. Be thankful, whatever the circumstances may be. If you follow this advice you will be working out the will of God expressed to you in Jesus Christ.”
                    –1 Thessalonians 5:18 (Phillips)
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There has been so much written and said regarding prayer.  I wonder, I just wonder if we read more about prayer and write more about prayer, yet do less praying?  Then we ask, is there a particular way to pray, or a particular form I should pray, and we get caught up in thinking about praying and don’t do it.  However, prayer is perhaps one of the most important things a person can do in the course of a day.

          “In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice; In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch.” –Psalm 5:3, NASB

     Does that mean we must pray in the morning?  Yes and no.  I would say you do not have to get up and pray at a certain time every morning.  On the other hand it is a good way to start one’s day–in prayer.  God has given us a new day so why not start the day with Him?  It is a privilege to begin the day with the Lord.  Someone has said that, “the morning is the tuning fork of the day”.  If that is so, then prayer helps us tune up for the day.
     The ESV puts a different slant to the above psalm, “O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.”  I have never thought of a morning sacrificial prayer.  What is the sacrifice?  Maybe it is nothing more than getting up a few minutes early to spend time with the Lord.  It might be to pray that during this day you will present your body as a living sacrifice unto the Lord (Romans 12:1)
     Prayer should be a habit that we develop, a duty if you will, but more than that, prayer should be a part of our life.  It should be an attitude of our heart and mind, that is praying without ceasing.  We should be able to talk with the Lord anytime throughout the day.  Too busy to pray?  Then you are too busy.  Prayer doesn’t mean you have to bow your head and close your eyes, in fact, when I pray I do what the Lord said, “watch and pray” and I seldom close my eyes.  I like what Ray Stedman has said, we pray when we think it is necessary, we pray when we feel like it.  We should pray in every context that we find ourselves involved in.  We should always be thinking, or praying, “Speak through me in this.”  In this email, in this business transaction, in this interview, in my daily duties and chores, in my interaction with people and family.  Speak through me in my studies, in my work, in my recreation (oh, that’s a good one), in this walk I’m going to take, in the road upon which I am driving.  Do you get it–pray without ceasing, pray always in every circumstance and situation.
     Remember, prayer is not just asking God for things.  There is the earnest prayer that comes from need.  And don’t be surprised if God doesn’t answer some of your wants as long as they are not detrimental to our walk with Him.  Prayer is fellowship, communion, and conversation with our heavenly Father.  I have seen it put this way:  Prayer has five elements:  ACTS — adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication, submission.  Don’t get hung up on those.  If you leave one out, don’t fret over it.  If you get them out of that order, don’t sweat it.  
     Yes, we should be like the disciples, “teach me how to pray,” but we don’t let that stop us from praying.  As we pray, we learn.  As we go through life, we learn to pray.  And with that I would encourage you to take a few minutes each morning, if that be your “sacrifice” so be it, and pray.  Remember, prayer is actually conversation with the Lord.  Use it to develop a deeper and better relationship with Him.

 

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

Some people spend most of their lives out in the darkness of the world and need help moving to the daylight.”

                    –Cliff Hudgins  (Viejo and the Hunted Ranger)

       “You should give that word your closest attention, for it shines like a lamp amidst all the dirt and darkness of the world, until the day dawns, and the morning star rises in your hearts.”
                    –2 Peter 1:19 (Phillips)
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     There are some who have what they call “a life verse.”  I don’t have a problem with that.  It can be a verse that is the rock to which one clings in rough times.  I have found, however, in my life that there are many verses that reach out to me, or rather I should say, I cling to.  In the last decade Proverbs 4:18 has been one of those main verses.  I have used it in all of my novels.  I really like the way the NLT translates it.

          “But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.” (NKJV)
          “The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, which shines ever brighter until the full light of day.” (NLT)

     One of my favorite things is to sit by the window in the early morning, before dawn, drinking my coffee and doing my morning studies and devotions.  I like to see gray light begin to appear which will turn into an array of colors.  They may be red, orange, pink, purple, but that is the breaking of dawn, the sun is not up yet.  However, soon light begins to appear through the tops of the trees indicating that day is now upon us.  Soon, the sun will be shining in its brightness stating that day is now here.
     Christ is dawn’s early light when we accept Him, and He continues to shine in brightness as we follow Him.  J.L. Flores refers to this as “the highway of holiness.”  It is referred to as the narrow gate (Matthew 7:14).  Interestingly, upon reading several translations I only find the NIV and KJV referring to it as a “narrow way.”  Other translations use the terms, “difficult,” “hard,” “difficult,” which could definitely imply “narrow” or “constricting.”  But the entrance is small, hard to see, maybe like the dawning there is little light.  But as we enter, despite the hardness or the difficulties of the way it begins to open up.  As the sun shines more and more brightly we find more knowledge, more holiness, and more joy.  We are walking in “a holy security,” (Matthew Henry) following the way of Christ.  People speak of progressiveness, then this is the true and right meaning of progressive.  This is the path to take as it shines more and more.
     Note, however, the next verse.  There is a vast contrast.

           “The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.” (NKJV)

     The ESV and other versions say that it is “deep darkness.”  Oh, the entrance is easy to see.  There is a carnival atmosphere around it.  Lights are glowing, false lights not like that of the sun, enhancing the entrance.  But as one enters it proceeds to get darker, the path is more narrow.  Charles Bridges writes, “The way of the wicked is darkness, without direction, comfort, safety, or peace.”  There is confusion when a person is in darkness, they begin to grope about, they stumble and don’t even know what they tripped over.  The darker it gets the more they stumble.  For “Wickedness puts out the eyes of the soul.” (J.L. Flores)
    Isaiah writes, “…we look for light, but there is darkness!  For brightness, but we walk in blackness!  We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes; we stumble at noonday as at twilight; we are as dead men in desolate places.” (59:9-10, NKJV)  “The darkness is a darkness that may be felt.  It constitutes our eternal chains.”  (Samuel Miller)  Gone are the lights and the atmosphere of the grand carnival, and now there is fear, stumbling, groping, and the road continues to restrict and lead downward.  How dark will be the day of perdition until finally they find themselves as Jesus said “in darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 22:13; 25:30)
     There are two paths:  one has a narrow entrance but the way gets brighter.  The other promises a carnival, a circus, but upon entering the way become lawless, and darker.  Man has been given light to find the right path, but it is up to him to choose.  The light from the godly also indicates the entrance to the way of Christ.  The wicked, however, shut their eyes to the light and they choose to take the way of stumbling and will eventually fall into the depths.  Thank the Lord, we have been called out of darkness into the Light of the grace of God.