Jake Spoon Choices
I recently watched Lonesome Dove again. Let’s look into Jake Spoon again. Y’all remember the Hat Creek Cattle Company with Captain Woodrow Call and Captain Augustus McCrae. There were others like Pea Eye Parker, Josh Deets, and Newt Dobbs. They were characters from Lonesome Dove. I think it was supposed to loosely and fictionally parallel historical real-life characters Oliver Loving and Charles Goodnight.
Call was usually silent but would speak his mind when needed. He mostly let his actions speak for him. But Gus enjoyed life. He was sometimes known to talk just to dazzle folks. But both men were fearless. And then there are other men like Pea Eye Parker, Josh Deets, and the subject of the story today—Jake Spoon.
Together, these men formed a group nobody would want to take on. Each one brought strength to the group. They laughed, they cried. They had each other’s back. But Gus and Call made sure they rode on the right side of the law. In their minds there was no gray area. It was either black or it was white. And as long as they were together, all was good.
Jake Spoon seemed to have it all. (At least he thought he did.) He had the toughness of Woodrow and was brave like Gus. He could blend in with whatever company he happened to keep.
But Jake went on a tear and decided to strike it on his own. Jake didn’t intend no harm; he just needed to prove something. But having left those former Rangers and their brand of integrity, he fell in with a group of horse thieves who killed some sod buster farmers and burned ’em up! Jake knew he shouldn’t have been there. But leaving would have consequences as well. Jake is in trouble, and he didn’t even do any of the killing. He’s guilty by the company he keeps. But he doesn’t do much of anything to make it right either.
The Hat Creek crew finds the slain farmers and decide to track down the killers and bring them to frontier justice. They catch up to the killers–Jake Spoon is right there with ‘em.
Jake says, “Oh, you don’t need to tie me up, Newt. I didn’t kill anybody. I just fell in with these boys to get through the Territory. I was gonna leave ‘em first chance I got!”
And Gus tells Jake, “I wish you’d taken that chance a little earlier, Jake. A man who’ll go along with five killings is takin’ his leave a little slow.”
After more discussion, Gus tells him, “You know how it works, Jake. You ride with an outlaw, you die with an outlaw. I’m sorry, you crossed the line.”
Jake responds, “I didn’t see no line, Gus. I was just tryin’ to get through the Territory without getting scalped.”
Jake died at a rope that day. No, Jake doesn’t exactly die for murder, but because of the company he kept. If only he’d stayed with Call and Gus.
I’ve known folks who have tried the “church thing” for a while, and instead of turning to Jesus, they decide that churches are full of hypocrites or some such thing and they leave. Sometimes, the church doesn’t set a very good example. Anyway, similar to Jake, they cross the line. Oh, sure they may still try to look the part, but where is Christ. I keep thinkin’ back to Luke 9:23 where Jesus is talking about how that in order to follow Him, one must first deny himself and then take up his own cross daily. That requires a relationship with the Savior.
Jake Spoon went where the wind blew him. I remember how in Romans 13, we are to put on Christ; we don’t need anything else. When you truly wear Christ…when you truly ride for Him then there isn’t room for drifting into any place you don’t belong.
Choose Jesus, choose life and let your light shine! And find a Bible believin’ church where you “fit in” and know, grow, and follow Christ! Tell others! See y’all at church and keep PRAYIN’ for HIS HARVEST! Always thankful for the rain!