Last weekend I went to a wild and wooly town in Montana called the Yaak. It is just a few miles as the crow flies from the Canadian border and I’m told is surrounded by 50 million acres of wilderness area.
Actually I use the term “town” loosely, because the Yaak only consists of two business establishments, the Yaak Mercantile and Saloon, and the Dirty Shame Saloon. One is a combination general store, eating establishment, and saloon and the other serves food and is a saloon.
My friends have a nice cabin along the Yaak River and we went up to do some trout fishing. Aside from fishing and hunting there isn’t much to do in the Yaak on most days, but last weekend was different. The Dirty Shame Saloon hosted a two day Crawfish boil, dance, and celebration. This event was highly advertised throughout the mountainous region and on Friday folks began piling in and began putting up tents and campers all over the parking lot of the Dirty Shame Saloon.
Of course we decided to attend; I mean how can one be in the Yaak and miss an event of this magnitude? Our wives wanted to know if they should change clothes and dress up; my buddy and I looked at each other, smiled, and casually said, “No you’ll be fine just like you are”.
What followed is almost too bizarre for words. I walked in the dimly lit saloon and noticed two large black brassieres hanging from the rafters. Our waitress could have contributed one of them, because it was obvious that she wasn’t wearing one. I’ve been on prison yards and not seen so many tattoos and scraggly looking people. (Just the opposite was true if one was trying to find a full set of teeth in even one person’s mouth; most patrons were missing several. I thought that my dentist could have a field day in this place.)
The owner had flown in a thousand pounds of crawfish from Louisiana and they were delicious. After stuffing on several plates of them, we went outside of the dimly lit bar to an area that had been setup for the band. Perhaps fifty folks were milling around outside, most looked to be in a drunken stupor. Just about everyone was wearing a huge cowboy hat, including a guy they had hired to do lariat rope tricks. The problem was that he was so drunk/stoned that every time he lifted his lariat up and brought it down and around his body it knocked his hat sideways on his head.
Music was being loudly blared over some speakers and we noticed a morbidly obese woman dancing a lewd dance which consisted of gyrating her hips in and out. She was facing a morbidly obese teenage boy who was doing the same dance. Both of them had their big bellies exposed and all of that flesh rolling around made me queasy.
Sick!
Many people were “dancing” and obviously highly intoxicated and oblivious to anyone. It was a scene I tell you. One guy was about six foot seven and wore an Abraham Lincoln style black top hat that made him look even taller. One girl had dyed black hair the color of a raven and she looked meaner than a witch. It looked like the Adams family partying down with the cast from Deliverance. It was a carnival scene to remember.
My friend looked at me and said, “Let’s get the heck out of here!” . . . And we did. As I was flying home last night I wondered about all of those people and their relationship with God. The Bible states that the very hairs on our heads are numbered. While some of the inhabitants of this wild place may have drifted far from Him, God has not forgotten those who live in the Yaak. He loves them beyond comprehension and wants to save them.
Unfortunately satan hasn’t forgotten them either and he is intent on destroying their lives. He has launched a “Yaak attack” and appears to have gained some momentum.
That isn’t good news, but I’ve got some good news for you; God hasn’t forgotten the Yaak. As we left midday on Sunday I saw one church that was located in the Community Center with many cars parked out front. The remnant is alive and well in the Yaak my friends and my buddy told me that he is going to attend that little church the next time he visits the Yaak on the weekend. What a perfect remedy for a Yaak attack . . .
Duet. 4:29
But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.
June 19, 2014 – Click here to listen