Don Adkisson's Blog (118)

Echoes From the Campfire--May 17

     “Hardship was healthy; most people did not enjoy enough of it for their own good.”

               --Elmer Kelton (Stand Proud)

     "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

               --2 Corinthians 4:17 (NKJV)

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     I used to watch with my Dad, one of his favorite television shows--Stoney Burke. This particular…

Echoes From the Campfire

     “Why was it, he wondered ruefully, that when a man got of an age where he ought to be able to stand back and breathe good, enjoy what he had built for himself and take the pleasure of turning responsibilities over to his sons, he had to start putting up with things like rheumatism? If it wasn't in his hands, it was in his hips. If it wasn't in his hips, it was in his legs.”

               --Elmer Kelton (Shotgun)

     "I will be the same until…

Echoes From the Campfire

     “Each problem must be taken by itself, and you have to leave emotion out of it. Be stern with yourself. Don't pamper yourself.”

               --Louis L'Amour (Reilly's Luck)

     "Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge, But he who hates correction is stupid."

               --Proverbs 12:1 (NKJV)

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     It was 159 years ago, on April 3 in 1860 that a daring enterprise began. The trip consisted of speed and…

Echoes From the Campfire

     “Don't pray for more years.... Pray for better years. Don't pray for good times, or easy times. Pray for strength.”

               --Brad Dennison (The Long Trail)

     "For this is God, our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even to death."

               --Psalm 48:14 (NKJV)

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On this fine morning.... Oh it has to be for this is the day the Lord has made, we are to rejoice in it. He gave us this…

Echoes From the Campfire

     "The first article of the creed of the frontier is to be game. Good or bad, the last test of a man is the way he takes his medicine."

              --William MacLeod Raine (Crooked Trails and Straight)

     "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God."

               --Ephesians 2:8 (NKJV)

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     Stop! Right now, first thought--what comes to your mind when you…

Echoes From the Campfire--March 1

     "He had loved the smell of lonely campfires, the crisp feeling of awakening on a frosty morning."

               --Louis L'Amour (Heller With A Gun)

     "Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand."

               --Isaiah 41:10 (NLT)

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Some of you reading this will surely…

Echoes From the Campfire--February 21

"You can read a man's life history in his eyes if you know how to look for it."

--Robert J. Thomas (The Reckoning)

"Therefore, brothers, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we can appoint to this duty."

--Acts 6:3 (HCSB)

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I'm of firm belief that life consists mainly of two ingredients. Pie and coffee. Nah, just funnin' with you for a minute. Back to my…

Echoes From the Campfire--February 15

     "There's campfires...where you sit over a tiny fire with a million tiny fires in the sky above you like the fires of a million lonely men."

               --Louis L'Amour (The First Fast Draw)

     "He counts the stars and calls them all by name."

               --Psalm 147:4 (NLT)

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     When you're by yourself, alone, what is it that you think about? Most likely it has to do with circumstances…

Echoes From the Campfire--February 8

     "I assure you, if you pay attention you will make out fine, if you're slow to notice or learn it might not go so well for you. We have no room for shirkers, any not doing their fair share will be left behind."

          --Dave P. Fisher (Where No Man Rules)

     “Just ask the previous generation. Pay attention to the experience of our ancestors."

          --Job 8:8 (NLT)

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     There've been a few…

Echoes From the Campfire--January 31

     "His strength lay in the silent knowledge of his own abilities and courage."

              --Dave P. Fisher (Where No Man Rules)

     “Keep every command I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to cross into and possess the land you are to inherit."

               --Deuteronomy 11:8 (HCSB)

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     I recently heard a sermon where the preacher said we need to get away from the familiar.…

Echoes From the Campfire--January 24

     "I love mornings. It smells good, it feels good, and makes me want to do something."

               --Johnny Gunn (Terror on Flat Top Ridge)



     "Whatever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might...."

               --Ecclesiastes 9:10

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     Get up, you're a-burnin' daylight! Or maybe it was like the old sergeants I had in basic training, "get out of those racks you @$%$&*@@#." Now I…

Echoes From the Campfire--January 22     

"On a late afternoon when the clouds gather around the peaks and the lightning begins to play its games over the mountain meadows, the high country is no place to be, but it can be spectacular to watch from a safe distance. At such times the hills can be alive with a sound that isn't music, but it has a magnificence of its own."

               --Louis L'Amour (Passin' Through)

     "Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the…

Echoes From the Campfire--January 14

"It is important to listen with all the senses, and to feel.  Awareness is a way of learning, too.  In these days to come you must be alive and aware to everything.  Let the days leave tracks upon your memory."              --Louis L'Amour  (The Californios)

"The Lord directs the steps of the godly.  He delights in every detail of their lives."                                               --Psalm 37:23 (NLT)                                …

"Fear sets a man up sometimes for what he has to face. A little fear does no harm, just so it doesn't put a man on the run."

--Louis L'Amour (Matagorda)

"That’s the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty."

--Ecclesiastes 12:13 (NLT)

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     Sometimes I wonder, how about you? Why did the things that happened in 2018, happen? Where was God? Why did this obstacle lie in your path? I…

Echoes From the Campfire--January 2

"Each day must be approached as a unit; each day must be lived with care; and if this was done, the procession of days would turn out all right. Tomorrow must be a shadow at the back of his thinking, something of which he must think while living out today."

--Louis L'Amour (Last of the Breed)

"That He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and…

Echoes From the Campfire--December 4

     "Trouble was an odor that passed through any kind of wall and shook men alive."

               --Ernest Haycox (Canyon Passage)

     "He took Peter, James, and John with him, and he became deeply troubled and distressed."

               --Mark 14:33 (NLT)

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     I don't know what your year has been like, but this one thing I do know--it's almost over. You made have had a year of troubles and woes. Your…

Echoes From the Campfire--November 28

"Firelight danced upon their faces. There was the good smell of a wood fire burning, of coffee freshly made, and the smell of meat broiling, and of the stew."

--Louis L'Amour (The Ferguson Rifle)

"Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe."

--Hebrews 12:28 (NLT)

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     Now, I'm not one to complain much, but there are…

     "There's few things worse in this world than someone who knows what he's doing and doesn't need any advice...especially when he's a few years shy of twenty years."

             --Lou Bradshaw (Along the Way)

     "He will die because there is no instruction, and be lost because his great stupidity."

            --Proverbs 5:23 (HCSB)

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     I used to enjoy sitting around the table listening to my elders talk. I dare not interrupt, except in…

Echoes From the Campfire--November 6

"Tomorrow.... It's jes' a day between sleeps."

--Ernest Haycox (Free Grass)

“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today."

--Matthew 6:34 (NLT)

Tomorrow's going to happen; it's going to be there.  No matter what happens in the election.  It is important that we remember a couple of things.  

First of all, God is in charge.  He is never surprised, and He is…

     "But he welcomed any physical ordeal.  He saw how a great strife with the elements, a strain to the uttermost of his strength and his passion to fight, would save his faith, his hope, perhaps his mind."           --Zane Grey (Wanderer of the Wasteland)

     "And now the prize awaits me--the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return.  And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing."  …