Safe in the Creed

Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve. So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. So he promised and sought opportunity to betray Him to them in the absence of the multitude. Luke 22:3-22:6

The campfire we had surrounded that once roared is nothing but burning embers, and the rest of this band of people I have traveled with along with the Pesos Gang have long called it a night and are in their bedrolls while I take first watch to ensure nothing attacks our campsite. Across from me, a member of the Pesos Gang keeps watch as well, one from each group that is what was agreed when our two groups combined forces.

But it is not the watch that is the only thing keeping me awake. It is the day to come when the sun rises, the planned action, and one burning question.

Is this the way it has to be, must this be the action that must be taken? But perhaps I am getting ahead of myself, perhaps you need a little backstory.

I am El Predicador, it is the masculine form of The Preacher in Spanish, and it is a name I have carried almost as long as I have walked these sands. Yesterday myself, The Acorn, a tall, powerfully built man with a cowboy hat he always seems to have with him if he isn’t wearing it, Black Jack, a thin but quick on his feet man, almost as fast as he is with a six shooter, Paco, a short but fit man, who has a nice sombrero if I do say so myself, having one of them of my own, though the Moccasins are interesting, I wonder what tribe he got them from and Miss Fanny Manny May, a short woman who seems to have this thing for wearing a long white dress and a large brimmed white straw hat rode in to the town of Rusty Barrel to find there may be some lawlessness going on, it seems a woman named Compact has been running the town rather corruptly with the help of “The Hand” her five enforcers. Sounds like lawlessness to me and our creed says we need to tame it. Along the way we met the Peso Gang, who at first were pretty mean guys, but once we got to know them, we realize aren’t so bad after all.

But as I sit here, I wonder, if there is a better way other than storming the castle outright. I mean there was this one town, Polecat Flats we came across with a similar situation, or so we thought. Turned out the person running the place had no idea how bad things were. They just got word from their enforcers that everything was good, the people were happy, and since they trusted the enforcers they took it at face value. That person had a good heart, a trusting spirit. One day the enforcers realized that and went rouge. Once we brought proof of the enforcer’s misdeeds, action was taken to correct it, sadly there was some bloodshed, as a man by the name of Standing Owl refused to back down from his wicked ways and learned the hard way “Never bring a Tomahawk to a gun fight”. He went for his weapon, Black Bart went for his and Standing Owl was standing in name only. I am not against shedding blood in order to get the Lord’s work done, but I like to keep it as little shed as possible.

If Compact is like that person we may not have a major problem on our hands, show Compact her enforcers are terrorizing the town, let Compact deal with it and step in to help only if we need to. There are of course other methods as well, we did identify one of the enforcers as the owner of a saloon and an altercation between Black Bart and the enforcer which almost lead to the death of an innocent resulted in me getting on decent if not good terms with the enforcer as I managed to deescalate things before people got hurt or worse. He offered to take me through the town and maybe find a building that would make a great permanent church in this town. Maybe if I agreed and I became part of the system and the system is indeed broken, either from the top, or from the enforcers themselves it is best to try and make repairs from the inside out, it would make things a lot easier on the town both to those in power and to those on the streets . Sadly though I and May are the only two who really do not like the violent options that could work just as well if not better than scaling the walls and leaving bodies all over the place.

I don’t want to be like Judas, who thought it was a good idea to betray Jesus, only to find out later he was not doing the right thing after all, but this town could very easily be torn apart what happens in the next few hours, I would seriously prefer not to have violence rule these streets. Oh Lord, what am I supposed to do?   

I would go for a walk at this point, find a place to be alone, to think and to pray, and I am praying as I think these things, but I can’t go for a walk, I am still on watch, and I am expected to get a rest after my watch is over so we can be ready for tomorrow.

The sad truth of the matter is my two options are as followed, or so it would seem. Option one is to go through this battle plan and more than likely cake the streets of this town with the blood of the hand and very possibly and option two is of course to go Judas on these guys and help out Compact one way or the other.

When I took this creed I thought this would be easy, I know doing the Lord’s work would be hard, but that is nothing compared to this creed. I see the Pesos Gang member waking up his friend, time for me to wake up Acorn and get some rest. Maybe a fresh mind will help me decide what to do. I sure hope so. Otherwise I may make a choice in the next couple hours that will make me not want to look in the mirror ever again.