Legends & Lies
Try to pronounce Hassayampa, a legendary old time cowboy word. Some good words like that can’t be let go, even if you don’t know the definition. Cowboys might forget the original source by giving a word a new meaning. For instance, down in Arizona you’ll find a stream named by the Indians as Hassayampa Creek. To the best of my ability, I believe that word translates in the Mojave language to “the place of big rocks in the water.”
But this legendary word can’t be left alone, to a cowboy’s way of thinking. And so a story soon developed that anyone who drank from the Hassayampa Creek couldn’t ever again tell the truth. That especially applied to prospectors who evaded a direct answer about the location of their claim. Or those who made wild assertions about how good their find. They explained their lies by saying they drank the Hassayampa and couldn’t tell the truth if they wanted to.
Legendary Title
Before long, all liars or folks who didn’t seem capable of truth telling received the title Hassayampas. In a world where people’s lives and existence depended on honesty, no one envied that term. If you accused another of being a Hassayampa, you’d better make sure he hailed from out of state or was a lousy shot.
Of course, telling the truth remains a virtue in all days and ages. In fact, the Bible warns, “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Colossians 3:9,10). Every lie, no matter how small or large can distance you from God. And every time we stick to the truth, even if we don’t come out looking good, makes a little bit more like Him.
Pretty easy to say. A lot tougher to do.
Let the state patrol pull you over and ask how fast you thought you were driving. You’ll find the truth difficult to confess. Or what about when you’re asked what you shot on the back nine holes of golf? Or when your child inquires why you didn’t make it to the school play like you promised?
That’s why we’re exhorted to put on a new self, as in putting on a coat. Actively and continually strive to clothe yourself in truth. Your spiritual survival, as well as that of those around you, may depend on it. Because, as we all know, there’s a little Hassayampa in all of us.
Stephen Bly, circa 1995
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Listen to “The Lesson of Hassayampa Creek” by award-winning western author Stephen Bly on this AUDIO PODCAST. Sponsored by BlyBooks.com Legacy Series.
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