Hollywood and the Fever

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I looked across the trail, about 25 feet away and there she was, rested on her beautiful tan pony. She was smiling, wondering when I was going to catch up, so we could ride together over the ridge. We have been moving through the Black Hills most of the day. And so, we were near the Cheyenne River, at the south end of the Black Hills. Moving a little bit north and a little bit west towards the Wyoming border.

Watching the clouds dance over the horizon, Miss Tillie asked – Hollywood, are you enjoying the view on the Cheyenne River Valley?

Hollywood replied – Oh yes, as he was looking at her…

As they roamed, every once in a while, they could hear the cry of an eagle, telling Miss Tillie all about dinner, scurrying to safety. That eagle was deciding if she was going to bring dinner home to her kids or let that little creature move on for another day. Sometimes, the shadow of that eagle would get really, really close to dinner, but then that dinner would bolt to the left or bolt to the right and slip away from the eagle. We would watch and just smile; then the Eagle would move on. There is always another rabbit in the foothills.

Miss Tillie and I kept riding and just enjoying ourselves, talking about life, talking about things that had happened in her classroom, and talking about all manner of stuff around the ranch. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a little bit of smoke. I did not remember a cabin out in this area. Maybe we had better go over and take a look and see what that’s smoke is all about. So, Miss Tillie and I nudged our horses towards the smoke. It took us a while to get there. We were a fair distance away from the smoke.

As we got closer, I wondered what we were going to encounter. I reached down to my side and made sure I had my 45 unstrapped. I felt my back to be sure I had ammunition in my belt from the last time. I glanced at the side of my horse and saw my 30-30 Winchester; I unstrapped the rifle. Quietly, I checked Miss Tillie’s horse and saw that she also was carrying her 30-30. I did not say much, but I felt comfortable — we were fine and in a good position to defend ourselves if needed.

We drifted towards the smoke, looking, and wondering. As we got closer, I realized it was a campfire. And it was not any normal campfire, it was exceptionally large so that it could be easily seen in the daytime. I knew people did not do this sort of thing without reason. It is not wise to bring attention to yourself when you are out in the wild. So, we inched closer – I felt no immediate danger. However, at this point, I suggested to Miss Tillie we should both check and be sure that our 30-30’s were loaded. I was not expecting trouble, but just in case trouble was looking for us, I did not want us to be unprepared.

Finally, we got close to the fire and I could see there was a family there, but they were not moving. The man looked and waved his hand as if he wanted to get my attention.

So, we rode closer and I called out — your fire is exceptionally large. Do you need help??

The man said — Yes, we are extremely sick. All of us have something wrong. We do not know what it is. None of us can move far safely, so all I could do was gather wood, build a fire, and hope somebody saw the fire. God sent you to us. We are incredibly grateful that you came by. We need a doctor. We need help.

No one else in the family could even speak. Miss Tillie hopped off her horse and immediately checked the children. And she looked at me and I saw the look in her eyes. She knew these children were extremely ill. She said they have a temperature, their color is not right, and they have no energy whatsoever. This is serious, whatever it is.

So, I looked at the man and I said — we are going for help. We are going to leave water with you. We will leave our blankets. Do you have a weapon?

The man said – no I do not.

I Said — I will leave you my 30-30, do you know how to use it?

The man said – yes, I do.

I Said — OK. Do you have a lot of firewood??

The man said — I think so.

I looked at his wood pile and I said — Is that all you have?

The man said — No, there is more behind that tree.

I told him – I will move the firewood close to him so he could feed that fire into the evening. We might not get back before the sun goes down and need to keep that fire going so, we can find you. Plus, the fire will help to reduce problems with wolves.  We are going to get help. Our horses are swift. We have not been riding them hard. We can move. We promise to return.

Miss Tillie looked as the mom moved her hand ever so slightly. The Mom tried to smile and she mouthed the words thank you.

Miss Tillie said — maybe I need to stay with them.

I looked at her and said – No. You need to ride with me. If something happens when we are riding, one of us can still get through to the Doc.

Miss Tillie said — OK, I understand.

We turned our horses, planned the best route to travel, and off we went. We started pushing our horses to get to where we needed to be. I was sure we had about 30 miles, maybe 35 miles to cover immediately.

I knew it would not be very safe at night if that fire burned down. We started riding, hats pulled tight, focused on the destination. We watched where we were going. We made sure that the horses were taking the safest route possible, but the most direct route. It was as if we were racing. First, I was up front, then Miss Tillie was up front, then I was up front, but we were determined to get to where we needed to be. We were riding for somebody’s life.

Finally, we got to the town, we found the Doc just as he was locking up his office. We told him what we had seen, asked him if he could ride. He did not have a riding pony. I went and rented a pony for him and put him on the horse. I rented two more fresh ponies for me and Miss Tillie. We picked up medical supplies, warm blankets, food, everything we thought this family might need.

We headed back with the Doc as the sun dropped low, it was getting hard to find our way, but fortunately we had left some markers on the trail. We looked for our markers and we kept pushing ahead hoping that he kept that fire alive. Eventually, as the wind died down, we could smell the smoke. We knew that we were close, we kept riding, then, we could see them. We could see the fire, but it seemed so far away. We kept riding.

The Doc turned out to be a good rider, he kept up with us. Finally, we got back to their camp. The Doc looked them over and started pulling things out of his black bag to help them. He pulled out some medicine. He gave each of them a shot, and he settled down and he said — I think I will spend the night here with you guys. I will make sure they are OK before I leave.

So, I asked him — what is wrong with them?

Doc said — they have a strong fever and Pneumonia. But you found me in time and we can help them recover.

Miss Tillie and I started praying for them and we just stayed in prayer even as we helped keep them comfortable. A couple of days later, they started moving around a little bit. They started healing up. The doc had left medicine with us to give to them. We kept giving them the medicine. We just stayed with them. We made broth to help them get stronger.

Miss Tillie showed me a song that she had written while looking after the family. This is what it said —

I remember a time of deep trouble, on the bank of the Cheyenne Creek,

Found a family down with fever, so sick they could not speak.

We headed out for the Doctor; I knew you would not let me fail,

We swam the wild Cheyenne, we pushed hard on the ole trail.

We pushed across the prairie, racing the antelope in play,

The smell of rain in the air, thunder chasing us all the way,

Found the doctor in our town got him on a horse in time.

We rode back to the family, because of You, God, they were fine.

And gradually, bit by bit, this family came back alive. It was a remarkable thing to watch. Eventually we looked over the area and found their horses grazing a few miles upstream. This family was fortunate that God had kept the horses near. Eventually we got them back on their horses and got them on their way. We followed them for a long time till they were safe in the village with the doctor. And then we headed back to our house. We stayed in contact with that family for years. The oldest daughter became a schoolteacher.

Luke 10:30-37 — Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denariiand gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’  Jesus asked, “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”  The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Please note: In 1956 a cowboy poet, Jim Jennings, published a short book about his experience working at ‘dude’ ranches in the west. My Great grandmother, Goldie Livingston, obtained a first edition copy of Jim’s self-published book in the fall of 1956. The poetry in this story is adapted from Jim’s book.

Captured By Him

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It has been my observation while reading Romans that we were captured by the reconciling death of Jesus while we were still sinners (Romans 5:6–10). We were captured by God’s sovereign election before the earth was framed (Ephesians 1:4). We were captured by the indwelling, sealing work of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13). We were captured through his predestination to be adopted (Ephesians 1:5). We were captured by regeneration and focused calling (1 Corinthians 1:24).

Romans 5:1-6 says   Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. … at just the right time, … Christ died for the ungodly (NIV)

When I read this section of Romans, I smiled because of the hope derived by the Glory of God. The faith I carry, a small seed of hope in God’s Glory is given to me, creates peace within me, sustains me through the troubles and suffering, and enhances the pleasures associated with walking in the shade of Jesus. Please do not mis-understand, I am not claiming to have a close walk, I am simply aware of the grace and the peace granted to me from the works of Jesus. We run together to obtain the prize, already gifted to us, just waiting on the shelf for our benefit when we graduate to Heaven. We were not redeemed to sit in the stands and watch the racers, we were redeemed to participate. When we were powerless to redeem ourselves, Jesus stepped in and addressed the problem. So, we are not redeemed to sit in the stands nor sit on the side of a pool with our feet and ankles cooling in the water. We were redeemed to engage. We were bought with a price. We are here to bring Jesus to the forefront.

Romans 5:7-11 says — Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation (NIV).

Jesus is the author of my faith. As the author of my life, he created the book before I existed. But I was unaware of the book. I did not even know that the author of the book (Jesus) had me in mind before my faith was present in my heart. I was not inclined towards the things of God. Then, I found myself standing in front of the one true living God. I do not believe for a second, I could have visualized how things would work out. I think, if I knew how my life was going to progress before I got started, I might have turned away out of fear. But I did not know. Then, in His time, I was equipped for my tasks by Jesus – he became the author of my story. I had nothing to do with the plan, but I did have plenty to do with the deviations from the plan. Thank God he has a long arm and a very persistent affection, he chased me and nudged me back on the path over and over.

For I was “born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13). I found peace and security in the immense truth of God. Selah. The less I struggle, the better life gets.

I choose Jesus.

Making Good Choices

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CS Lewis created a small work titled “Meditation in a Toolshed.” He took a look at the ability of people to assess meaning from the outside of things. I felt his message was useful for our discussion on the merits of Meditation.  Other than the final paragraph, this essay is a long quote from CS Lewis.

Lewis said — I was standing today in a dark toolshed. The sun was shining outside and through the crack at the top of the door there came a sunbeam. From where I stood, that beam of light, with the specks of dust floating in it, was the most striking thing in the place. Everything else was almost pitch black. I was seeing the beam, not seeing things by it.

Then I moved, so that the beam fell on my eyes. Instantly the whole previous picture vanished. I saw no toolshed, and (above all) no beam. Instead, I saw, framed in the irregular cranny at the top of the door, green leaves moving on the branches of a tree outside and beyond that, 90 odd million miles away, the sun. Looking inside the beam and looking at the beam are quite different experiences. But this is only a remarkably simple example of the difference between looking [inside something] and looking at [something].

A young man meets a girl. The whole world looks different when he sees her. Her voice reminds him of something he has been trying to remember all his life, and ten minutes of casual chat with her is more precious than all the favors that all other women in the world could grant. He is, as they say, “in love”. Now comes a scientist and describes this young man’s experience from the outside. For him it is all an affair of the young man’s genes and a recognized biological stimulus. That is the difference between looking [inside] the sexual impulse and looking at it [from a distance].

[This distinction] raises a question. You get one experience of a thing when you look [inside] it and another when you look at it [from the outside]. Which is the ‘true’ … experience? Which tells you most about the thing? … It has been assumed [by progressives] … that if you want the true account of religion you must go, not to religious people, but to anthropologists; that if you want the true account of sexual love you must go, not to lovers, but to psychologists; that if you want to understand some ‘ideology’ (such as medieval chivalry … ), you must listen not to those who lived inside it, but to sociologists.

There [is a] fatal objection to discounting [the participants view]. … You discount the person’s ability … to think accurately. A physiologist, for example, can study pain and find out that it ‘is’ (whatever ‘is’ means) such-and-such neural events. But the word pain would have no meaning … unless he had ‘been inside’ by actually suffering. If he had never [suffered], he simply would not know what he was looking at.

The very subject for his inquiries from outside exists for him only because he has, at least once, been inside. This case is not likely to occur, because every man has felt pain. But it is perfectly easy to go on all your life-giving explanations of religion, love, morality, honor, and the like, without having been inside any of them.

The answer is that we must never allow the [degradation] to begin. … The inside vision … must be truer than the outside vision which sees only movements of the grey matter; for if the outside vision were the correct one, all thought (including this thought — itself) would be valueless. As you might guess, this is self-contradictory thinking. Thinking in a circle.

I presented this notion of inside looking vs outside looking with the belief it could influence our decision to dig deep into scripture through meditation (intensive study) vs casual reading of scripture (as if we are reading the news). Meeting God face to face is far better than sipping lemonade on the sidelines. Reading is the right place to start. But eventually, we can benefit from meditation on scripture.

I choose Jesus.

Hollywood and Two Friends

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In the early years of Hollywood’s cowboy life, he roamed the range and he worked on many, many ranches. He took a task from one ranch for a few weeks, then went to help someplace else for a month, and sometimes for an entire summer, but he was not very stable.

Gradually, Hollywood took a liking to ranches called Dude Ranches or Guest Ranches. People would come from the East Coast and spend all summer learning how to wrangle a cow. People came to the ranch to understand what it was like to be in the wild. Hollywood enjoyed teaching people the cowboy way, they would visit with him asking questions, and he would lead them around all through the day, showing them all about looking after cattle. Hollywood would tell stories and help them understand things. In some cases, he got to know them pretty well and they would become friends. But he was quick to say friendship did not always happen. Once, Hollywood made friends with two men: Buck and Jim. Buck started writing poetry and singing songs, and this was what Hollywood’s new friend sang —

Two friends spent the summer, on a ranch where I was a guide,

Mattered not what I was doing, they were working by my side.

We would ride the trails together, Dakota plains were the place,

Almighty God brought his mercy, hearts were changed by his grace.

These two guys, Buck, and Jim spent a lot of time on their horse with Hollywood. They would ride all over the foothills on the Wind River Ranch. After a while, they started asking him, why do you do the things you do? You are not like everybody else. Down here you have kindness and gentleness, but yet you have strength and the way you act and the way you speak and the way you handle yourself. How is it you are this way? Who taught you these things?

And Hollywood would just say –well, you know, I learned these things from my mother and from my dad.

A few days later Buck asked — why do you think the way you think? I mean, most people would not react the way you do to trouble. You do not seem to be flapped by much of anything.

Finally, Hollywood said. Well, the answer is simple. Are you sure you want to know?

Buck says – sure…

Hollywood replied — So tell me, do you know anything about Jesus?

Jim smiled, he kind of laughed, and he said — ohh yeah, I read about him once.

Buck mused — Who’s that?

Hollywood looked at him with amazement and said — you do not know who Jesus is at all? You have not ever been to church?

Buck said — Yes, I have. But I do not remember much. I was just a kid.

Hollywood replied — This is how we are going to do this. I am going to get my Bible tonight and I will bring it with me tomorrow, and I will show you a few things to help you understand who this Jesus is. You have questions. I will try and help you find some answers.

So, the next day, Hollywood showed up with his Bible. He just started reading stuff. He read aloud. He told them to listen to the message and to stop him when they had questions. So, he would read a piece of scripture and they would talk about it. And then he had read something else and they would talk about it. And sometimes they would make fun of the scripture and sometimes they listened. Very carefully.

But over the weeks their views started to change and they started to really understand what God was about. They started to understand what the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus was about. They started to understand what it was to Walk with God and how to make Jesus Lord of their life.

Then they both wanted to know what to do.

Buck said — We do not really, really want to become an old guy who carries a Bible around, talks a lot, and makes people want to run away. But we like this message – it resonates with us. We like what you are saying, both of us. We talk about it when you are not around and we think about the things that you say and we ask each other questions. Then we ask you questions, and you have answers.

But you are not pushy, Hollywood. You are not a raving, loud person with a frivolous message to share. You are gentle and kind, you know your job, you really know your message, you look after the cattle, you teach us well, and you make sure we are safe. And you do not let us get into too much trouble without providing a little bit of scolding to bring us back where we belong. You are so gentle, kind, and firm all at the same time. We want to understand more, tell us more about the principles that drive your life.

So, all through the rest of the summer, Hollywood explained the wisdom of God and finally, one by one, each of these men gave their life to Jesus. So, they came out west, not knowing much of anything about the wisdom of God, and they went back to the East Coast as Christians.

Hollywood followed up with Buck and Jim. He wrote letters and they wrote him back and told him about the things that were going on in their lives, how they were gradually growing, and bringing glory to God in the way that they were living. They were instructing their children and their friends about things that they learned about in the wild west on the Wind River range. So, one of them wrote this prose for Hollywood. Jim wrote —

From the top of the Rainbow Mesa, good news shared under the sage,

Break the hold on long shadows, over a hundred miles of range.

I loved every moment, we learned on eagle wings to ride,

Soon the winds of autumn came, and we had to say goodbye.

When Hollywood got a letter in the mail from Jim near thanksgiving, the letter had these 4 lines. He just sat down, smiled, and tears came to his eyes.

Miss Tillie said — what is the matter, Is there something wrong?

Hollywood said — no, no, these are tears of joy. Look at this! My friend sent me this poem. She looked at it and tears came to her eyes.

Miss Tillie said — you know, it was an incredibly good summer for you and for those two men, a very good summer indeed.

Romans 1:16-17 –For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

Please note: In 1956 a cowboy poet, Jim Jennings, published a short book about his experience working at ‘dude’ ranches in the west. My Great grandmother, Goldie Livingston, obtained a first edition copy of Jim’s self-published book in the fall of 1956. The poetry in this story is adapted from Jim’s book.