I'm Back!

WOW! It has been a long time since last I posted here. Lots has happened; some good, some not so much. In it all, God has shown his goodness and faithfulness. Several times I have thought to make a posting but, to tell the truth, I couldn’t remember how to get back here. Yesterday I decided to make a new blog and in the process, found my way back to this one. I am so happy with this!

We live in times that hold abundant peril requiring preparations be made to establish a sustainable, life-sustaining lifestyle. My work here on our homestead has taken on a new sense of importance and urgency. By God’s grace, I am now able to devote my full attention to it.

As a husband and a father, it is and has been my responsibility to be provider and protector to my wife and to our children while they were in our care. Scripture mandates and largely defines this position of responsibility. Paul wrote regarding the responsibility of providing for one’s family to Timothy:

“But those who won’t care (provide) for their relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true faith. Such people are worse than unbelievers.” (Timothy 5:8)

This verse appears in the context of caring for widows within the church. However, it is rightly expanded upon to include providing for one’s family, in many ways; providing clothing, food, and shelter at least.

To the Ephesians Paul wrote:

“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it…” (Eph. 5:25)

Can there be any doubt that giving one’s self for his wife is an act of providing for her? What riches Christ provided to the church when he gave himself for it! Without a doubt, this entails providing protection from harm.

Likewise, scripture provides stern warnings to those whose function and responsibility it is to watch for and warn others of impending harm or destruction.

“…take a man from their territory and make him their watchman, 3 when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, 4 then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. 5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his life. 6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand. ” (Ezekiel 33:2- 6)

Whatever my performance of these God-given responsibilities in the past, I am not excused from performing them now to the best of my ability. To this end, I offer the following:

For months I have been reading and hearing reports concerning events in the U.S. and around the world that cause me concern. I won’t try to list them all here. Let it suffice to say that the political, economical, and social news does not bode well for the future in this country or in most other parts of the world. I firmly believe that America, as we have known it, is about to change drastically and suddenly. The current standard and means of living that we enjoy in this country are not sustainable. Our system of government, economy, and society, being completely intertwined, will collapse under their combined weight. Those people, who are attached to the “system” and dependent upon it for their sustenance, will find themselves displaced, disenfranchised and in many cases, desperate. The wiser individuals, seeing the icebergs ahead will get off the boat. They will position themselves out of harm’s way.

That is what I am trying to do here. Trusting God for his care and provision, I seek to follow his leading. In future posts I will share with you some of the things taking place here in the hope that you will find my efforts informative, helpful, or at least entertaining.

Hard Scrabble Times

The other day I was exploring the web site http://www.homestead.org/ and came across an article by John Molloy entitled The “Swiss Army Knife” of Homestead Tractors. The following paragraphs caught my attention:

What used to be pretty well accepted as “normal” life is likely where we're all headed – tougher times.

Most people deluded themselves into believing that the last several decades of post-modern decadence would last forever. It was the “easy life” characterized by a second mortgage-credit card existence securely tucked in an endless immigrant-groomed suburbia and required little more than showing up for some completely unproductive and over-paid 9 to 5 job. The denizens produced absolutely nothing of tangible value, and that era is crashing to a close.

High five and six-figure salaries are vaporizing like the morning fog off river bottoms, as the harsh light of economic reality burns the hazy illusions away. When you have off-shored the manufacturing of products that have true and measurable value, and the Corporatists have turned our formerly productive economy into one based on nothing but “service”, well, we can only wash each other's clothes for so long before the money runs out. The multiplier effect is dead, particularly once you have to import the soap.

“Hard Scrabble Times” alright, maybe even the “Real McCoy” of economic depression is probably what awaits.

The last President who ascended to power after the wheels had come off the economy once said, “Nothing happens in politics that isn't planned.” Economics and politics are pretty well all intertwined these days, just as they were back in 1933. Who am I - a lowly occasional scribe and creature of the land - to argue with such a respected intellect and connected man as F.D.R., therefore I shall simply agree with his premise.

Men with plans perhaps nefarious, best laid, now coming to a devastating
fruition.

Wow! Do you suppose that is true? I think it probably is. No, I am not wanting to "dog pile" on former president G.W. Bush. A debacle like we are experiencing and are about to experience has taken more than the last eight years to develop let alone plan. If it was planned, it was certainly not planned by one single person or political party. Many entities and persons are complicit in this mess. One thing we can count on is that many of the same people involved in getting our country to this point are ready and waiting with a great deal of enthusiasm to jump in and "fix" the problem by redesigning and redirecting the role of government through this crisis.

What concerns me more now is what can I do, what can you do, to deal with the situation.

Three things come to mind: pray, plan, and prepare.

Pray for wisdom and guidance after praying for forgiveness.

"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him." James 1:5

Plan because right thinking leads to right actions. How will you stay warm in cold weather or provide a cooling breeze in hot weather if the power goes down? What will you eat if the factory food production and delivery system is disrupted? How will you get to work (if you still have a job) if the public transportation you depend in is disrupted or it becomes too expensive or dangerous to drive? What will you use to barter if "real money" becomes scarce or worthless? Where will you go if civil unrest overtakes your town or city?

Prepare now. One of my greatest struggles right now is putting into action the plans that I have made. Some how, taking the first steps toward preparedness seems to make the probability, the reality, of the coming storm more real. Can you relate to that?

I have received most of the garden seeds that I ordered for planting this spring. But there are canning supplies to lay in, food stuffs like flour, sugar, salt, etc to buy and store. The hog pens are not yet ready nor the feeder pigs purchased. I still need to complete some fencing projects when the weather permits. Chicks and rabbits are still to be acquired. Provisions need to be made to pump and store water from the well if the power grid fails, a catch water system installed and myriad other tasks.

In the midst of all this planning and preparing, I think it is very important to plan and prepare so as to be able to share with others, beginning with our extended family.

One thing I won't do, and I encourage you not to do it either: I will not look to the government to provide for me and mine.

Beware the government big enough to give you everything.