The reader who sent me the link to the Kentucky farmer's blog, Greg Scott, moved with his wife and six kids from Florida a few months ago to a farm they bought in south central Kentucky. They cashed out and decided to go agrarian. His wife Amy Scott writes a great blog about the agrarian life. Seriously, the writing and the thinking here is great stuff. In a post from several months back, before they moved to rural Kentucky, Amy reflected on why they'd decided to leave:
I drove the back roads of our area, and it is beautiful. While enjoying the scenery, I was thinking about one conversation Greg and I had back in 2000. It was late and we were talking about where we'd like to be in 10 years. It never occurred to us that we could leave Orlando, as (1) that's where we were both raised and (2) because because. Yet, our kids couldn't play outside because of the traffic and crime, and we just felt restless. There were no sidewalks even if, let's say, there weren't gangs.Right around this time, I heard John Piper - back before he became a celebrity pastor - publicly criticize some men (not by name) who were being interviewed for the pastoral staff at his church. During the interview process, they asked if the area (downtown Minneapolis) was safe for their kids. Boy, he went off. He explained about how the Christian life wasn't about "safe" but that the only safe spot in the world is in the center of God's will. (I'm paraphrasing; if I use the phrase "God-saturated" or something, you might think I'm quoting, so I'll stick to this generic version.) I agree with this position, but I'm not sure how to unpack it.
In some way, I think it's OK to take risks for myself, but not necessarily for my children. And by that, I mean, calculated risks for the Gospel, not just stupid stuff. This idea impacted me in a big way, as you can see from my writing about it so many years later, and in some way, I feel the need to justify my decision to withdraw from the decay instead of raising my children among the moral cesspool. Sometimes. This doesn't mean that I'm wavering or unsure, just that I'm always thinking about how our lives can be wasted. How many of our life decisions are based on preferences and not on earnestly desiring that God's name look great? Not that there isn't moral degeneration wherever you go and you'll get away from sin by moving to the country. The counter-point to Piper's position is what Rod Dreher, the Crunchy Con, often talks about with the Benedict Option. In a lot of ways, I think it's a "both-and" instead of an "either-or" and it all depends on what you're trying to do.
Everyone has different callings, but no matter what, decisions ought to be based on faith and not fear. (Romans 14:23) Each side (one side being in the world, the other side being not of it-even though we're supposed to be both, we tend toward one side or the other)tends to claim the moral high ground, whether or not they found themselves there by default. In other words, I would think sanitized bragging rights belong moreso to someone who radically changed the course of their life, choosing the harder path, as we all usually just defend the position we find ourselves in, in order to justify our laziness or whatever. I'm just saying, as I'm guilty of it.
My current thinking is that it's possible to raise children in the middle of popular culture, but definitely harder and not without significant risks. That's my call as a parent for my own kids. With our situation, I began looking for ways to make this easier without having to stop having children. Again, this is where I felt sure of my calling, but all the other stuff seemed negotiable. I'm not saying we are 100% making the right decision, just that it was deliberate.
It was during the late night conversation in 2000 that we looked at each other and basically said, "You know, I don't hear God telling us to stay, so why don't we follow our dream?" With babies coming every year, it made sense to us to take steps in another direction, out of the city. We needed a place that I didn't have to lose my mind playing a helicopter parent. We could've made the concession to just stop having babies - don't-you-know-what's-causing-that --but in my heart, I felt that God did have that in His plans for us. We might have been foolish in the eyes of everyone, but I felt at peace with God.
More:
Anyway, the drive. Yes, I was driving and wondering and thinking and praying and just being happy. We've talked about this for so long -- the chickens, the berries, the creeks, the fresh milk, the flowers -- and it is given to us to enjoy. But I know that it's not nirvana. No matter where we've been - in the rented 2 bedroom California apartment, downtown Orlando, this pretty farm - we've always had Jesus. This is the reason the Christian has joy in poverty and in plenty.
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John Piper can urge people just to "stay in God's will" because he is a doctrinaire predestinarian. Nothing you do will ultimately affect your fate anyhow.
Ironically, he likely does fail to apply his philosophy to his health. I suspect he "avoids the risk" of drinking bad water, of checking out the food in places where sanitation seems sketchy, but hey, if the water nearby is bad, can't you trust God to keep safe from parasites? I also suspect he exercises lots of other precautions inconsistent with his "be safe in God's will" view of things.
So why not observe the precaution of living in a place where your chance of being violently killed is reduced? Especially if theologically you are not a determinist but believe that our choices, our stewardship of our one-and-only life, is a major question we must answer before the judgment seat of Christ? And if one decides to live in a dangerous place, that is a precious and sacred choice made after due consideration of whether the kingdom is served by the risk. Often, it is well served by such risks, other times, it's just unwise stewardship.
That judgment ultimately emerges from examination of scripture and conscience in accountability with others who can witness to us of God's will and calling.
Rod, I have not been that long. I guess I have an idea about what the Benedict option is based on a couple of your recent posts, but a definition would be helpful. Thanks!
My question about the Benedict Option (though I think it's silly because you love to talk about things you'll never really do, Rod, it's kind of lame), is what happens if a kid gets sick-- really, really permanently sick, like leukemia or cancer or something? And you're too far from a hospital, or too poor for health insurance, or whatever the problem is. Do you watch the kid die, and that's supposed to be God's will? I'm unclear on how it's supposed to work.
Now really, does anyone truly think that people are so far from modernized medical help that they would not use that urban hospital, medicaid that they would just let their child die. Let's at least be realistic in our comments, z. Even patients who can't pay are not denied emergency services in most locales, according to what I have read.
I live in the country, 5 miles from the closest small town (pop. 700) and we have a hospital and 6 doctors (with additional specialists there on a regular basis) just 10-12 miles away. This is in the smallest county in our state. If this hospital/doctors are unable to treat the patient they are transported by ambulance or life flight, 60 miles away to one of two regional hospitals in a metropolitan area of 100,000 or 100 miles away to one of the major metropolitan university or other urban hospitals.
Let's not generalize too much, okay?
Well, where I used to live it's more like 30 miles to the hospital, which is enough time to make a difference, and some people are talking about Benedictine communities in developing nations. So I'm not generalizing at all.
Also, you can't go to the E.R. for chemo. What's the plan-- get on Medicaid? Give up on Benedict?
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