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.