Don Adkisson's Blog (44)

Echoes From the Campfire     

     “There is a weariness of the flesh, and that can be borne. Beyond that is a weariness of the bone, far harder to abide, but possible. But the final weariness, of the nerves and brain, when a man may at any moment pitch unconscious from the saddle, is the worst and most unendurable torment.”

               --Paul I. Wellman (The Comancheros)

     "For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become…

Echoes From the Campfire

“A man can have a little bit and feel rich, or he can have a lot and feel poor.”

--Elmer Kelton (The Time It Never Rained)

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."

--Matthew 6:24 (NKJV)

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In my earlier years I spent some time learning how to tie knots. I figured that a person…

Echoes From the Campfire

     “When a man believes in a thing strongly enough, there is a price too high to pay. There is a point where compromise costs him too much.”

               --Elmer Kelton (The Time It Never Rained)

     "Then you shall again discern Between the righteous and the wicked, Between one who serves God And one who does not serve Him."

               --Malachi 3:18 (NKJV)

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     Complacency, compromise, and outright…

Echoes From the Campfire

     “This desert solitude was the storehouse of unlived years, the hush of the world at the hour of its creation. It was solemn, grand, incorruptible. It did something to one, something inexplicable; it drew one's narrow soul from out oneself, and poured in something big, so big it was almost too great to bear.”

               --Zane Grey (Captive of the Desert)

     "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who…

Echoes From the Campfire

     “If you stop pushing on, you lose.... It is always a little further to the top than you think.”

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

     "If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well."

               --3 John 1:16 (NKJV)

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     I am not much of a beach person, preferring the mountains. However, the times I have lived near the beach we enjoyed it. We liked to…

Echoes From the Campfire--June 5

     “They...know who they are, they know what they believe in, and their kind will last. Other kinds of people will come and go. The glib and confident, the whiners and complainers, and the people without loyalty, they will disappear, but the...will still be here plowing the land, planting crops, doing the hard work of the world because it is here to be done. Consider yourself fortunate to know them.”

               --Louis L'Amour (The Mountain…

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…