Author: Ira Paine

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

It is good to see the beauty even when there is such evil.”

                    –B. N. Rundell  (Tincup)

       “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”
                    –Habakkuk 3:18(NKJV)
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I want to give a bit of assurance today–God is adequate!  He is there with each of us all the time and He is adequate for our needs.  “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31, NKJV)  or as the Living Bible puts it, “What can we ever say to such wonderful things as these? If God is on our side, who can ever be against us?”  
     There is no opposition that can crush us for God is our Sovereign Protector and has made an eternal commitment to us.  When days seem dark and gloomy be assured that God has not forgotten or overlooked our need.  The problem is that what we think our need might be could be different than what God knows our need to be.  Be assured when you pray, that He hears you.  Have confidence that He hears our cry.  Have the assurance, that trust, that He will belay all fear.
     As a child of God we can depend upon our heavenly Father.  As a child of God we should praise Him for who He is and for His wondrous deeds.  God always fulfills His word and revelation; His promises are sure and He will act accordingly.  As a child of God we should be prompted to pray.  It should be our purpose and aim to develop a deepening relationship with God.  Communion with Him should be life’s goal.  As a child of God we should pay our vows of faithfulness and thanksgiving.  

               “A sovereign protector I have,
                    Unseen, yet for ever at hand;
               Unchangeably faithful to save,
                    Almighty to rule and command.
               He smiles, and my comforts abound;
                    His grace as the dew shall descend,
               And walls of salvation surround
                    The soul He delights to defend.”
                             –Charles Wesley

     There is no good thing withheld from us.  Just ponder our redemption.  Think of the cost, how effective it is, and the consequences of our redemption.  Where is the accuser?  He has no hold on us for it is God who justifies.  No accusation from any quarter or person can ever disinherit us.  Know this–be assured–that Jesus is effective in His mediation.  The words of Paul should bring us comfort, “who can separate us?”  Rest assured–God is our keeper.  Rest assured–God’s love has no end.  These thoughts should help us keep our priorities straight.  Yes, Father, help us:  “When You said, ‘Seek My face,’ my heart said to You, ‘Your face, Lord, I will seek.'” (Psalm 27:8, NKJV)
     I would encourage you to contemplate the rest of the week, Psalm 16.  Read it over and over.  I will close with two verses from this magnificent psalm of assurance.  “O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot…  You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (16:5,11, NKJV)

The Saga of Miles Forrest

by Ira Paine, Posted on
Doc went to work on the man, shaking his head and muttering as he cut to get the bullet out.  Barstow and I stood by watching, there was nothing either of us could do.  Sometime during the operation, I heard someone come in the door, it was Mateo.
     “Miles, you need to come with me,” he said, touching me on the shoulder.  I looked at Barstow and Doc, then walked out with Mateo.
     “Take a look in the wagon,” he advised me as he pulled a tarp away from some gear and boxes.  One caught my attention–dynamite.  I looked at Mateo, who gave a grim smile, then pulled something from the corner that I thought were rags.  Instead, it was a sack with two holes in it for eyes; just like the ones that the men were wearing who attacked the Parson.
     I reached out my hand for the mask, placing it in my belt behind my back.  “Let’s go an’ have a talk with Mr. Barstow.”
     Going back inside, I told Barstow to come out with us.  He hesitated, but Doc said that he didn’t need any help, the man was out cold, and Doc had also given him some chloroform.
     When we got back outside, I took him to the wagon.  “You’ve got dynamite,” I stated.
     “What’s so unusual about that?” he asked warily.  “We use it in the diggin’s.”
     “We?” questioned Mateo.  “Who’s your partner?”
      “Uh, well, I meant I use it.  I had a partner, but he left an’ went off somewheres.”
     Reaching behind my back, I pulled out the mask, “Do you normally wear a mask while workin’ your claim?”
     He started to say something, but decided against it.  “You’re under arrest,” I informed him matter of factly.
     “For what?” he shouted.
     “Right now, suspicion.  When Doc’s patient comes to, I reckon we’ll have more reason to hold you.  Mateo, cuff him an’ take him to jail.”  I pulled his gun from the holster and checked him for other weapons while Mateo applied the handcuffs.
 
     Rev. Chapman stood stoically behind the pulpit.  I could tell he was in pain, not only from the injury, but also in spirit.  “I’ll not keep you long today,” he began, “and you’ll not see my exuberant self as I have to keep my actions to a minimum, but I do want to speak to you.”
     He went on to tell the congregation of his and Betty’s ordeal, of the soul-searching he had been doing.  I thought his text was unique, he read from Hebrews the ninth chapter.  “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.  So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”
     “Friends, the Grim Reaper comes!  None of us know the hour of our death or, as in my case, the hour in which we might take the life of someone else.  I’m still not through seeking the Lord over my deed yesterday, but I am at peace knowing that my Lord knows and understands.  I am at peace knowing that I protected my dear wife from un-fathomable trauma.  However, the truth of the matter is that you, and I, will one day face the Lord.  The man who lay dead on the floor in my home went straight to the judgment.  ‘After this the judgment.'”
     I got to hand it to the preacher, he didn’t let any of us off the hook.  He told us that we need to search our souls to make sure that we are ready for we know not when our time may be up.  We don’t know when the Lord is going to call us home or allow the Reaper to take our lives.  “Be ready,” he exclaimed, “after this the judgment.”
     All that Sunday afternoon the chorus of the closing hymn stuck with me. “Foot-prints of Jesus that make my pathway glow; We will follow the steps of Jesus where’er they go.”  Thinking of that chorus, I decided to walk down to Doc’s.  Because of his patient he wasn’t able to attend services.  Molly had prepared a basket of fried chicken for me to take to him, and had even made a buttermilk pie for him and Edith to enjoy.  I thought of snitching one of the biscuits, but I was already full from the fare she fed me.  While I went to Doc’s, Molly was going to see Betty.  She was at church, but was very demure and didn’t visit after service.
     “Come in, Miles,” Doc greeted me.  “What’s that you’re carrying?”
     “How’s the patient?” I asked, not handing him the pie.
     “Bad shape.  Oh, he’ll live, but he’ll limp the rest of his life.  It’ll be a couple of months before he’s able to walk.”
     “He able to talk?”
     “Wait until tomorrow, Miles,” advised Doc.  “I will tell you this…”

 

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

A man went ahead doing the best he could, but it always seemed there was more trouble lurking just around the bend in the road.”

                    –Louis L’Amour  (Hanging Woman Creek)

       “These little troubles (which are really so transitory) are winning for us a permanent, glorious and solid reward out of all proportion to our pain.”
                    –2 Corinthians 4:17 (Phillips)
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This morning we look at the second part of Psalm 121.  This is one of my favorite psalms and much can be gained by contemplating this short psalm.  If you use the NIV for your reading you’ll notice that the word “watch” is used five times.  That means, as George Wood says, “far more than the Lord looking at you.  He’s looking out for you, guarding and protecting you from the hardships and terrors of the trail, including exposure to sun and moon.”

          5 — The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade at your right hand.
          6 — The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.
          7 — The LORD shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul.
          8 — The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore.   (NKJV)

Notice that the Lord watches, He is your shade, He keeps, He stands beside, He preserves, He never sleeps or slumbers — do you think the Lord is trying to tell us something?  “He knows when the sun, the heat of circumstances, is too much for you.  He will give you shade.  But, He also knows when the moon tears at your viscera–when it brings you haunting memories of an action which caused you great injury…  He won’t let that ‘moon by night’ harm you.” (Wood)  
     Along the journey there are potential dangers and disasters that may come our way.  Jesus told us that we are not immune from trials; He said, “…In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer…” (John 16:33, NKJV)  We are not immune to trouble, just look at the life of Paul, or maybe better, take a glance at your own life.  No matter what, “we can never be separated from God’s love or God’s purposes.  He promises to preserve us from evil but not to pave over every pothole in life’s road.” (William J. Petersen)  Eugene Peterson explains further, “Christians travel the same ground that everyone else walks on, breathe the same air, drink the same water…The difference is that each step we walk, we know we are accompanied by God, we know we are ruled by God, and therefore no matter what accidents we experience, the Lord will preserve us from evil.”
     We are continually “going out” and “coming in.”  Every morning there is the getting up and going out to work, school, or some activity, and every evening there is the coming in.  Guess what?  The Lord was with you.  There is the going out to the workforce with all its complexities, stresses, temptations, and difficulties that may make the body weary and the heart sick.  Guess what?  The Lord is with you.  There is the peril of going out; there are dangers all around from terror, to threatenings, to shootings, to pestilence (remember COVID?)  There is the danger of being around those with “warped judgments, confused reckoning, and narrowed outlooks” (Percy Ainsworth)  Guess what?  The Lord is beside you.
     One of the real battles of life, says Ainsworth, is “not the toil for bread.  It is fought by all who would keep alive and fresh in their hearts the truth that man doth not live by bread alone.”  It is thus with all the other things that might affect.  There is also the coming in.  Ainsworth continues, “No home is safe unless faith be the doorkeeper…  Peace and safety were not of his making, but of God’s giving.”  There may be the coming of pain, of sickness, of death, but the Lord is there.  Even in the seasons of life there is the going out and the coming in.  Life moves on from one time in life to another; it cannot be stopped.  Once there was youth, now there is the graying of hair.  Once there was strength and vitality, now there is frailty and feebleness.  Guess what?  The Lord is there.  When troubles, doubts, pain, hardship, heartache, etc., approach, think of Jesus and remember — “it wasn’t until Easter morning that the preceding Friday was called good.” (Wood)

               “From God the Lord does come your certain aid;
               From God the Lord who heaven and earth has made.
               Above you watching, He whom you adore
               Shall keep you henceforth, yes, for evermore.”
                        –John Campbell

 

Coffee Percs

by Ira Paine, Posted on

That’s what I call a sunrise. Look at those colors.’ He had a fire going, coffee almost boiling, and was cutting some bacon strips for their cast iron frying pan.”

                     –Johnny Gunn  (Terror on Flat Top Ridge)
 
Mornin’ to yuh, Pard.  Coffee’s on, ready for yuh to guzzle, or sip, whichever fits yur fancy.  In the midst of this crazy, mixed-up world, some things are just downright enjoyable.  Yep, some things just lift yuh up an’ make yuh smile.  Yuh know what I mean.  From the first glimmer of graylight in the mornin’ to the dazzlin’ colors of a sunrise tellin’ yuh that yur still alive and breathin’.  The aroma of fresh brewed coffee an’ then the taste of that elixir flowin’ down yur gullet to yur gizzard. . . ahhh, delightful.  Or how ’bout the aroma of fresh-baked bread, or pie, then add to that the smell of bacon a-fryin’.  Yep, most of the time the simple things are the good things.
     Why you just showin’ up this mornin’ and sharin’ a bit of yur time with me–well, that’s a lifter.  I’ll share somethin’ with yuh that really made this ol’ fence post feel good.  I got a phone call yesterday from my ol’ pard, Bob.  Just made me feel good that he was a-thinkin’ ’bout me.  We talked a spell, shared some things–why, it was just like ol’ times.  Made not only my gizzard happy, but my heart as well.  We exhorted each other like the Scripture says, to stay in the faith and to guard the truth.  I recall, Pard, the writer of Hebrews says that we are to exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today.”  (3:13)  
     Go ahead, Pard, pour yurself another cup, there’s plenty and if we empty the pot there’s more makin’s.  Read the other day of an ol’ cowman who put the coffee on every mornin’ out of habit, even though his gizzard won’t accept it anymore.  Now, that’s bein’ faithful to friends who may, or may not show up.  The coffee’s there for them, sorta comfortin’ to know that folks think kindly towards one another.  I remember Grandma always had a pot of coffee on the stove in case anyone came by.  She never drank the brew, but it was always there, ready for a guest or friend.
     Yep, Pard, with all the evil around, and all the wicked folk who sit in high places we need each other to encourage us in this evil day.  “Comfort one another”, we are told.  So hope, my few words along with the coffee will give yuh some comfort this Saturday before yuh head out for the day’s duties.  Fact is, I’m comforted knowin’ that yuh checked yur cinch.  Sure does ease the mind.  Yuh be havin’ a good week!
       Vaya con Dios.