Who is Jacq McIntosh?

Who is Jacq McIntosh? No he is not the inventor of the computer with that name. He is a big strong man with a shop on the north end of Knotty Pine at the intersection of two roads. Jacq is Knotty Pine's blacksmith. He and Bill often see one another because Jacq shoes all the rangers' horses at Big Pine National Forest. He cares for the horses both in his shop and also throughout the national forest. Bill describes him as a man so strong that he uses a 5-pound steel maul like it was a tack hammer. Jacq is a happy Scotsman and loves to sing as he works. And the most important thing about Jacq is that he is a Christian.

Jacq is married to a good woman, Annie. He also has a fine boy by the name of Ernie.

The lives of the entire McIntosh family were turned upside-down one day when Annie was canning some pickles. The stove blew up, badly burning her and blinding her with bits of glass. A police car took Jacq to the hospital from his shop. Bill was there and locked up for Jacq. Ernie arrived from school as Bill locked up. Bill gave Ernie the news about his mother. The boy rushed to the hospital on his bike before Bill could offer him a ride. Ernie was hit by a car on the way. His leg was seriously injured crippling him. Jacq was devastated by these events.

While struggling to deal with his family's pain and injury, another disaster struck. Jacq's shop caught fire and burned down. Most of his tools were either damaged or destroyed. Jacq was forced to borrow the use of an old garage across the street to keep working. The garage was too small for his needs, so Bill stepped in to help. Bill called in favors from a draftsman, a concrete company, some masons, and a construction company to create his version of the TV show Extreme Makeover. Bill managed to get a new blacksmith's shop built for Jacq in only one week.

Shortly after the shop was completed, Annie's injured eyes began to recover from the explosion and her sight returned. Now Jacq sings even louder, longer, and with more joy of his Redeemer.

You can listen to this wonderful story of Jacq McIntosh and his valley of bitterness, despair, and depression in the Ranger Bill story The Wrong Valley (RB108).