<TITLE>13. Par 55-59</TITLE>L-55 He said, "Celebrate with us, Tim. Get the jug, Shorty." And they got the jug of whiskey, pulled the stopper out, said, "Have a drink, Tim."
He said, "No, I don't drink, sir."
And he said, "Oh, you don't?"
He said, "Sir, I never took a drink in my life. Thank you for the venison, but I'll be going on." And said, "It's not the fourth of July anyhow."
And he said, "You mean you never drink?"
He said, "I never drank in my life."
He said, "What do you say, boys? Let's make this Indian guide take his first drink with us...?..." That's the way. They was having life they thought.

L-56 So one fellow, little crooked legged cowboy, picks up a thirty- thirty rifle and jacks a shell into it, took the jug in his hand; he said, "Tim, if our venison's good enough to eat, then our whiskey is good enough to drink." He said, "You either take a drink of whiskey, or take what poison we got at the end of this thirty-thirty."
Now, they're not kidding. You know how a drunk is. Tim said, "Boys, I don't want your whiskey, but before you pull the trigger let me tell you my story."
He said, "I hail from the bluegrass country of Kentucky." Said, "Many years ago in a little old log house," said, "a little bed laying in the corner of the house with fence rails made a bed (That's the kind I was borned on), and shucks for the mattress," said, "as the morning light creeped across the bare floor of a little cabin, a mother lay dying."
And said, "A little barefooted boy of only five years old toddled around in the house, the only person there when a godly Christian mother was going to meet her Maker."

L-57 And said, "My mother called me to the bed, put her arms around me, and said, 'Tim, God will send somebody here to you sooner or later. Mother's going home. And I want you to promise me something, Tim. Your father died with his boots on. He died a drunkard. And that's the reason we've been in poverty. But promise me, Tim, as your mother, that you'll never take a drink as long as you live.'"
And he said, "When the breath left her body, and I pulled my little baby hands from her clenched hands," said, "sirs, from that time to this, I've never tasted whiskey. But I've served the Lord with a pure heart." Said, "Now, if you want to shoot, just go ahead."

L-58 And about that time, a pistol roared, and when it did, the jug in the hand of the man bursted. Out of the canyon just behind, stepped a little fellow, well-scarred and beaten, tears running down his cheeks, both guns sticking out.
He said, "You don't know me, Tim, but I know you." Said, "None of you know me." Said, "There's a price on my head. I'm an outlaw." Said, "I followed you all the way from the Sanabar range, and watched you here with that gold. And I thought when you got drunk enough, instead of putting a bullet in you, I'd just go down and knock you everyone in the head and take the gold. I was waiting till you passed out drunk, but, Tim, I also come from the bluegrass country of Kentucky."

L-59 Said, "I promised a dying mother the same thing, but I'm sorry I broke the vow." But said, "I'm sure she heard my pistol as it echoed through the big canyons of heaven; I signed a pledge. From this hour I'll never take a drink, Tim." And with the group of outlaws and the prospectors together, Tim led them to the Fountain of Life.
Brother, men that's ever meant anything has accepted that Fountain of Life. While we bow our heads just a moment... Sinner friend, you might've made promises too. You might think you're living good, but the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is Eternal Life through knowing Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour.


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