Coffee Percs

Coffee Percs

by Ira Paine, Posted on

She held out a mug of coffee for him and then took a drink from her own. Curls of steam rose off the bitter brew, twisting like small ghosts. She stared at the black coffee like it was a mirror.”
                    –James Leonard  (The Sun Never Sets)

Pestilence is coming Pard.  No, don’t be a-lookin’ in yur cup, that’s pure delight.  I wouldn’t be givin’ yuh no poison to be drinkin’.  But Pard, yuh remember that thing they were callin’ COVID?  Say what yuh want about it, folks got scared, did crazy things, and many did die.  A forerunner of what is to come?  Could be, but it does show the state of people and the power of the government and the press.  Get them all a-frenzy, promise a solution and they’ll grasp for it.
     Yuh keep a-starin’ in yur cup.  Don’t be frettin’, go ahead an’ take a sip.  Ahhh, see it’s downright good.  But back to this year’s thought of pestilence.  I read that there’s a new screwworm workin’ its way towards Texas.  No, I’m not speakin’ of the liberal politicians though they have the same effect.  This new pestilence is supposed to be devastatin’ to wildlife, pets, livestock, and even human beans.  The symptoms are a stinkin’ bloody mess from the wound, and irritated behavior, head shakin’ and the like.  Hmmm, the more I think of it the more I see it already infectin’ us two-legged species.  My mercy, Pard!  Are those folks infected with a spiritual screwworm?  Look at ’em.  They have the symptoms.  What was it that ol’ John wrote in the Revelation.  “And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.” (6:8, ESV)  Ol’ Miles Forrest said that he could at times smell the rider of the Pale Horse.  Take a whiff.  Listen, with all that poison bein’ spewed and the lies, don’t be surprised if’n yuh don’t start smellin’ the rider of the pale horse.  Pestilence is part of his arsenal.  Again, not to be alarmin’, but is this another wake up call?

     Pard, yuh don’t be drinkin’ none of the poison that’s bein’ offered yuh.  Don’t be a listenin’ to all them lies tryin’ to get yuh on their side.  Compromise has no place in our lives.  Pard, these left-wing folks are not a pretty blackbird, but a hideous buzzard ready to pluck out yur spiritual eyes.  Evil is out there to get yuh, to trick yuh, to connive yuh.  Look at them, listen to them–they spew the very vile from the pit.  Some of them are even tryin’ to take spiritual overtones, a sorta pseudo-Christianity.  Don’t be fooled by the sweetness that seems to come from their lips for in the end it will be worse than strychnine. 
     Hey Pard, what’s that smell?  No, it’s not yur armpit, it’s something far more sinister.  Is the Pale Rider mounted and ridin’ this way?  Pestilence, beware, watch who yuh bump into along the way, as they could infect yuh.  But ride tall in the saddle, be wary, and keep goin’ onward and upward.  
    Vaya con Dios.
  
P.S.  Don’t forget to check yur cinch.  That could be one of the ploys of the pestilence.

 

Coffee Percs

by Ira Paine, Posted on

He walked to the fire and tried some of the coffee out of their pot. Usually they made fair coffee, but tonight it wasn’t fit to drink… He sipped a little and turned the cup upside down.”             

                    –Elmer Kelton (Captain’s Rangers)
 
     Come on in, Pard.  Yep, yuh caught me shakin’ my head.  Pard, just how fruity can these fruitloops get?  My land, they’ve put a whole new spin on the ol’ Sage Solomon’s words, “There is a time for everything.”  I was watchin’ a clip from that cowboy blogger, Chad Prather, and on it was this “wonder” sayin’ that “queer and trans people actually experience time completely differently from cis-het people?  It’s a concept called queer temporality.”  Oh, an’ I had to google what in the world is “cis-het”.
     Oh man, sorry Pard, I didn’t mean for yuh to spurt out a mouthful of coffee.  No worry, it’ll clean, there’s no varnish on that table to be worryin’ about.  But I understand…  Do folks sit around dreamin’ these things up, or do they eat enchanted mushrooms to illuminate what little brains they have?  Pard, there’s still a drop on yur chin…
     More an’ more I see what Paul meant when he said that the Lord will send a great delusion.  Why, half the folks now are in that stage; it wouldn’t take much more to push them on over into never-never land, or maybe it should be wonder-wonder land, the land that time forgot.  Yuh think it’s bad now with all the nonsense and foolishness and chicanery, it’s hard to imagine what it will be like after the saints are taken on up to glory.
     Ahh, good coffee, an’ see I didn’t spill a drop.  Don’t know if yuh look at social media much, but I see more an’ more junk regarding new and/or personal interpretation of the Bible.  Woe, that is dangerous pard.  That’s like sleepin’ next to an ol’ rattler hopin’ yuh won’t roll over on him in the night.   Those folks are addin’ to the visions and dream, and what the Spirit has already laid out for us.  Mostly I think it’s ’cause they want to feel high and mighty ’bout themselves with their new revelations.  Why I saw where one preacher said that there needs to be a third testament.  One that fits our culture.  What she really meant one that fit her agenda and lifestyle and morals and ethics.
     Whooeee, ol’ Pecos Bill would have trouble ridin’ some of the lyin’ broncs out there.  Yuh know, I’ve been studyin’ Proverbs, and my oh my, there’ a lot in those words regarding the use of the mouth.  Liars and shysters…we know who their father is.  Yep, ol’ slewfoot hisownself.  Imagine wantin’ to have the devil as a father.  Goodness the extent fools will go to…
     Well, Pard, yuh be sure to speak the truth.  Do it with yur mouth and with yur life.  Yur actions speak loud, so watch what yuh be a-doin’.  Have yurself a week, remember it’s one the Lord has given yuh so be using it wisely and for His glory.  Yep, yur right, that includes checkin’ yur cinch.  Why some youngster may be a-watchin’ an’ if’n he sees a grown up not doin’ what’s right he might get some ideas of his own that ain’t plumb proper.
     Vaya con Dios.

 

Coffee Percs

by Ira Paine, Posted on

He made up the difference with black coffee, boiled strong enough and thick enough to pass for blackstrap molasses.”

                    –Elmer Kelton  (The Good Old Boys)
 
Get yurself in this kitchen, watch yur spurs though when yuh sit.  Coffee’s comin’ right up.  Take a taste an’ yu’ll find it’ll suit yur innards.  Strong, and tasty, but don’t yuh go to guzzlin’ it or yu’ll burn the hair off’n yur tongue.  Hope yuh had a good week, Pard.  Cayn’t have too many of them.  I see yur a-packin’, guess that’s to keep all the crazies away.
     Ahhh, that is good coffee.  
     Pard, I tries my best not to be watchin’ the fools, the bureaucrats, but onct in a while they catch my attention.  Listen, Pard, the Lord must be a-comin’ soon.  Things are a mess and the minds of folks are worse.  This clown runnin’ for senator in Texas.  My mercy, the way he’s a twistin’ the Holy Writ to fit his purpose and agenda.  Lord, have mercy…what ends some folks won’t go to.
     Since that COVID turmoil I’ve been noticin’ more and more the truth that the ol’ Apostle Paul wrote.  It was in 2 Thessalonians, if I recall right, where he writes that the Lord will send a powerful or strong delusion so that folks will believe the lie.  Deluded, crazy, livin’ in a fantasy world.  Pard, I went an’ looked up the meaning of delusion and what I found was a firm, fixed, and false belief that persists despite clear contradictory evidence.  They live in a fantasy world sorta like Peter Pan’s “Never Never Land.”  They think they have special gifts of knowledge or powers and woe to anyone who is contrary to them.  And anger, my mercy, anger just shows in their countenance.  Anger and hatred, an’ that ain’t good for the disposition, theirs or anyone around them.
     Take a good, deep swaller of that coffee yur a-holdin’ in yur paws.  Taste it, swirl some around in yur jaws.  That’ll take away any delusions yuh might have.  It’ll waken yuh up right quick.  See, Pard, what we need is a good dose of the Bible.  Get it in our mouth, swaller it, and let it work in our inner bein’.  Yuh look at those with delusions an’ yuh can see how easy it’ll be for that ol’ outlaw Satan to take over.  Worst part, folks will believe his lies.  Now they have the truth, and discard it, mock it, but one day soon, the Lord will let them believe the lie.  But get this Pard, it’s jist like yur empty cup.  Full for a while, then empty.  The Lord will allow him only so much rope, then He’ll rein him in, send ol’ slewfoot to the Bottomless Pit and his cohorts to the Lake of Fire.  Pard, an’ let me tell yuh, they won’t be livin’ in no delusion.
     So Pard, yuh right in the light of God’s Word.  Sit tall in the saddle, don’t be listenin’ to no false jabberin’ like we’re a-hearin’.  Keep yur gun oiled and ready, along with the Good Book.  Be wary, for there’s snares along the way, rattlers, hostiles, scorpion, and all sorts of things the devil will throw at yuh.  Lots to be careful of journeyin’ through this world, and on top of that yuh still need to be checkin’ yur cinch.  Don’t get lax in nothin’.
     Vaya con Dios.

 

Coffee Percs

by Ira Paine, Posted on

He rose in morning’s dark, and he rose stiff and cranky and drank half a pot of coffee before his mind would move or his muscles would respond.”

                    –Ernest Haycox  (The Earthbreakers)
———————-
Whooee, Pard, it was dark this mornin’.  I wanted to linger in the bed, but knew that yu’d be over soon.  Out in the woods there was nary a light that I could see, not even the stars were shinin’ as I looked up through the trees.  Made me wonder, that dark gloomy day, that Saturday after the crucifixion when the body of Jesus was in the tomb, did the stars cast their light on the earth?  Perhaps it was overcast, overcast like the hearts of the followers of Jesus.
     Oh, let me pour yur coffee.  I don’t mean to be negligent, Pard.  Sometimes I get caught up in my thoughts.  Never had this particular brew before.  The middle granddaughter brought me coffee from her spring trip to Colorado, Delta I think it was.  Made it strong, as usual.  Ahhh, not too bad, not too bad atall.
     I was readin’ from ol’ Luke where he said that Jesus, “Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit.”  Look at that Pard–that is faith.  In His dyin’ He never wavered from His mission and His fellowship with the Father.  Pard, Jesus never doubted that He would rise again.  He didn’t much look forward to the agony and death, but after that, yuh might say it was a cinch He would win, defeat the grave and death, and rise again.
     But ol’ Peter, and the rest of the bunch were livin’ in a fearful time.  They had lost hope.  Somewhere along the line they must’ve got together again.  Maybe they came to wherever they were stayin’ one by one.  Perhaps there were a few of them huddled in there already, moaning, fearful as they saw their Hope die.  Yep, seems they had hope in death but not in the Master, at least not the eternal type of hope.  Not only was it dark that Saturday mornin’ it was dark down in their souls.
     Smell that brew, take a good taste, breathe deeply, then say “ahhh.”  Makes yuh feel good.  Pard, that Saturday was a bad day for the disciples.  But as ol’ preacher Lockeridge preached:  “Sunday’s comin’!”
     Let’s enjoy our coffee, ready for the dawnin’ of a new day.  We don’t live in forsaken hope, He is risen!  Hope is alive in our breast, and yuh better get yurself ready ’cause Jesus is comin’ back–soon.  There’s are new hope.  The death and resurrection are past–hallelujah!  Listen now for the hoofbeats.  Better have that spiritual cinch tight, ’cause Jesus is comin’ back just as He promised.
     Vaya con Dios.