–P. W. Moore  (Where the Trail Leads)

 

Pard, come in, the mornin’ is short, time for coffee and then off to do the chores of the day.  Been hot, but say, it’s summer and it’s Texas.  I rarely complain about the weather as it is completely out of my control.  Don’t burn yur lips, that coffee is hot.

       I was reading from that ol’ boy, Moore, and thinkin’ ’bout how many times I used my bandanna to grab the handle of a coffeepot.  Not sure how many more times that I’ll be doin’ that.  I’m sure up in heaven, that we’ll have a special angel pourin’ the coffee for us.

       Pard, we’re pretty blind when it comes to what’s happenin’ behind the scenes, not only in this country but around the world.  I’ve always figured that the United Notions has to be part of the end-times scenario.  I read somethin’ this week written by the head honcho of the UN.  Here’s what he wrote, “I propose that the General Assembly provide the Secretary-General and the United Nations system with a standing ability to convene and operationalize automatically an Emergency Platform in the event of a future complex global shock of sufficient scale, severity and reach.”  

       Now, that sure sounds like a sneaky way to gain full power.  What is a “global shock”?  Another pandemic?  Famine?  War?  Breakdown of the electric grid?  Hmmm…  The article had more regarding the possible crisis and results.  Yep, Pard, we are sure livin’ in the last of the last days.  Just think, that could be the last cup of coffee we share together.  Life and coffee are precious, but they don’t hold a candle to what the Lord has for us in glory.

       In the meantime, you be checkin’ yur cinch.  Yuh don’t want to go meetin’ the Lord ’cause yuh fell on yur noggin’.

       Vaya con Dios.

                          –Elmer Kelton  (Texas Standoff)

 

Come in this hyar kitchen, Pard.  Been waitin’ for yuh to stop by and guzzle some coffee.  Good brew, called Drovers, from Ruby Cattle Company.  Ha, Pard, went up there to price their beef, and came back with a pound of coffee.  Only thing this poor ol’ fence post could afford.  Hope yur gettin’ along well.  I saw something where Festus said that it’s hot enough to be fryin’ horseshoes here in Texas.  Whoopee, ain’t that the truth.

       Go ‘head, take a deep swaller.  It’ll make yur gizzard light up in a smile.  I read somethin’ the other day, that began to float through and around in my grey matter.  Some bronc buster said, “If it doesn’t require change, then it’s not the life God called us to live.”  I’d go ahead an’ say a loud “Amen!” to that.  Now, ‘course we have to qualify “change.”  I know for a fact that the change in my pockets comes and goes quite rapidly.  I throw my quarters in my coffee bank, but the change goes.  That cowpoke didn’t mean that type of change.

       Good coffee, ain’t it?  Not too strong fer yur sensitive stomach is it?  Or too hot for yur tender lips?  Don’t go makin’ me forget what I was a-sayin’.  Change doesn’t mean what the progressive woke crowd says it is.  No matter what, truth ain’t relative.  The Lord demands change.  I never once read  where He healed someone and told them to stay the way they was.  No, we’re new creatures, and are bound to change.  Change for the better.  They used to call it “sanctification” but that has become one of those politically incorrect words.  An’ let me tell yuh Pard, that their sanctification is like coffee.  Sometimes it’s bitter to take, while other times it slides down the gullet smooth as silk.  We are in the process of changin’ constantly.  Some in spurts, like when yuh fall on yur head when yuh forget to check yur cinch, and some in long endurin’ trials and troubles.  But change we must.

       Let me pass on some words by Lois Chaney.  I tell yuh that gal tells how the cow eats the cabbage.  I’m sure she can make up a hassle of biscuits as well, but she says, “Be with my mouth in what it speaks.  Be with my hands in what they do.  Be with my mind in what it thinks.  Be with my heart in what it feels.  Work in me, through me, for me, in spite of me.”  Whooeee, that’s as good as hot coffee!  Change must come Pard.  Be a seein’ what the Lord is doin’ in yuh.  Take a glance at yur back trail once in a while and see how far yuh’ve come.

                Vaya con Dios

 

                         –Paul Bagdon  (Stallions of Burnt Rock)

 

Grab yurself a cup, Pard, coffee’s hot and strong.  It’ll tickle yur tonsils on the way down to yur gizzard.  Here’s a toast to progress.  Hey now, don’t be a-snortin’ in yur coffee!  Don’t be cleanin’ it up with yur ‘kerchief, I’ve got a towel hangin’ on the stove.  Sorry, didn’t know that I’d surprise yuh that much.  Yuh don’t think I like progress?

       Ahhh, that coffee is good!  But let me tell yuh ’bout progress.  It’s one of those things that’s gonna happen, sorta like the weather.  There ain’t much that can be done ’bout it.  Progress is like weather in other ways too.  Sometimes the weather is bad, and sure ‘nough there’s quite a few things in progress that ain’t so good either.  Why progress can bring out the idiots and the fools that follow the fads.  

       Say, Pard, what did yuh do before cell phones?  Yeah, yeah, I know, yuh think I was fur ‘nough back that I used smoke signals.  Ha, perhaps back then we didn’t have as much to talk about as folks do these days.  Those fancy phones are a product of progress, and they’re like the weather as well; they can be used for good or bad.  They sure do take up too much time.  Can yuh imagine an ol’ pioneer walkin’ with his nose down in a phone?  Why, he’d be lible to step on a snake, or tripped up by a snare.  ‘Course it can happen to us as well, for the ol’ devil sure has plenty of rattlers around and has laid plenty of traps for us.  If’n we don’t take notice, well, bad things can surely happen.

       My eldest just purchased a new vehicle.  From what I’ve been tolt; it has all the bells and whistles a person could want.  I was just thinkin’ before she bought it that I’d like to have my ol’ truck back, with four on the floor.  Or a truck with a 3-speed on the column.  All I’d want is air conditioning, and that’s a good thing from progress.  I really don’t want a standard no more, my leg isn’t up to pushin’ in an’ out the clutch.  But the idea suits me.

       ‘Nother cup?  Why sure, we gotta get this pot drunk.  Now, ’bout ideas.  I’m ‘fraid not many ideas are much about progress as about agendas and destroyin’ the good and decency of the Lord’s ideas.  Those ideas are for the most part to get our focus off the things of God.  The devil wants the focus to be on ourselves, or on the destructive forces that he has out there.  The Prophet Jeremiah tells us to stick to the old paths, the good way and walk in it.  Then yu’ll find rest, yuh won’t be frettin’ and stewin’ and worryin’ over stuff–stuff like progress.

       Some things are tried and true and nothin’ will make them any better.  Why just think, if’n yuh didn’t have the good habit of checkin’ yur cinch, where might yuh end up?  Maybe some day they have some kind of AI to help yuh cinch up.

       Vaya con Dios.

                      –Elmer Kelton  (The Buckskin Line)

 

Howdy, Pard.  Do yuh realize that we are now, this very day, startin’ on the second half of the year.  My mercy, where did the first six months go?  The heat of summer is now here, and we’re starting on the wanin’ side of the yearly cycle.

       How ’bout that coffee this mornin’?  Is it to yur likin’?  Lots goin’ on in the world.  People aren’t satisfied, and if’n they were, they wouldn’t know about it as they’re too occupied with themselves.  I was doin’ some readin’, and the more I read, the more I see that folks are downright imbecilic.  Why, people clamor for freedom and liberty and yet they open themselves up to more and more state control.  Talk about delusional.

       Go ‘head, take a sip, an’ I’ll tell yuh a few things I’ve discovered.  Yuh know, with all of this AI stuff, and digital control, and hackers, and scams, why we could all go crazy with the digital age.  I see where in September of this year that the EU is requiring “digital identity wallets” and the projection is that 80% of Europe will be registered by the year 2030.  Yep, Big Brother will be followin’ yuh around wherever yuh go.  

       With all of the shenanigans they’re trying to pull a person soon will not be able to speak the truth, or they will only be able to speak the truth as the powers-that-be say what the truth is.  Listen, Pard, if’n yuh don’t realize it, the fight is on–there’s a fierce war ragin’.  “Digital fingerprints” for the purpose of determinin’ the truth or falsity of a statement.  Digital information connected to yur bank account and if’n yur one that is not in agreement with what is bein’ said, yur account can be frozen (shades of the coming government of the Antichrist).  WHO is requirin’ everyone to have COVID certification.  There is digital trackin’ on those who say things that indicate they are dissatisfied with the government and with leadership–yep, Big Brother is goin’ to monitor yur speech, gone is the 1st Amendment.  The UN will begin to police anyone who uses “hate speech” and they will be the ones who determine what it is.

       As Brother Paul wrote Timothy, “but know this, that in the last days perilous times will come.”  Did yuh get that?  “Know,” for a fact, it is certain–perilous times are comin’, and are even upon us.  Why, Pard, I won’t doubt that if yuh don’t drink a cino, and only the straight, strong coffee, yuh’ll get on their list.  Sure glad I wasn’t born no later than I was.  Now, Pard, I only spoke of some digital issues that are on the horizon.  I didn’t say a word about the racism that is so apparent that folks hide from it.  Why, from what I see, the folks that holler “racism” are the biggest racists, and the most selfish.  Then we have that group of folk that Brother Paul tells us about in Romans 1, those who flaunt an immoral lifestyle.

       Yep, Pard, confusion, and we know the devil is the author of that.  That’s why we need to guard the words of the Bible, why they need to be in our heart.  That’s why we need  to be ready for the comin’ of the enemy, and the comin’ of the Lord.  Pard, that’s why yuh need to be checkin’ yur cinch, so yur not fallin’ on yur head when yuh need to be sittin’ tall in the saddle.

        Vaya con Dios.