We Christians are notorious for giving information that is 100% accurate but 100% useless. To me, it has the feel of telling an alcoholic, “you know what your problem is? You drink too much!”

The term disease simply means that one’s body and mind reacts abnormally to situations. Everyone has problems but most people don’t get drunk or act out over them.

It does not absolve the person from the moral consequences as Christians often fear. Just like if I was told I have diabetes, it doesn’t absolve me from eating right – rather it means I have to do so all the more earnestly.

Expounding upon my addiction as a disease pinpoints the mechanism of exactly why I do what I do and why I feel powerless over it. Having established that, it means I have to seek God all the more earnestly because I have a vulnerable area that most people don’t have.

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We are grass farmers, let the cattle harvest it and sell the cattle. We are city refugees, been out here a few years now. We admire your courage, going without health insurance. Have you looked into some of the Christian cost sharing groups, such as Samaritan Ministries? That’s what we use, much less expensive than insurance. And I certainly understand the desire for home schooling. My kids are grown, late 30’s in fact, and one in particular bears the scars of government schools.

You live in a lovely part of the state, but I’m not so sure about the raw milk, haven’t had any of that since I was a kid!

Take care,
DFarmer.Tx

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“In 1945, New England’s Narragansett Beer sponsored the first telecasts of Boston Red Sox games, though neither the brewery nor the baseball team seemed overly confident about the then-infant medium. In fact, Sox management granted Narragansett the sponsorship rights free of charge, telling brewery officials, ‘We don’t know what we’re doing, and neither do you.’”

(Quote lifted from BeerHistory.com)

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I know Andree personally … and I know that she NEVER MEANT to offend anyone with ANY remark or words she says …not only here on this blog but in her own personal life.

Lets be kind in the words that are written…
Lets treat others with the same compassion that we want to be given to us…

IF SHE IS WRONG… LET GOD WORK IT OUT WITH HER.
THERE IS NO NEED FOR THE WAY THAT THINGS ARE WRITTEN HERE …(SO UNKIND AND UNCOMPASSIONATE).

IF I WERE HER.. I WOULDN’T READ THE COMMENTS B/C THEY AT TIMES ARE SO CRUEL …MAYBE ITS THE WRITTEN WORD AS OPPOSED TO THE SPOKEN WORD …
THAT SEEMS SO UNKIND…
EITHER WAY …

LET’S LOOK FOR WAYS TO BUILD EACH OTHER UP ..RATHER THAN ALWAYS ASSUMING THE WORST ABOUT EACH OTHER… IF YOU THINK SHE’S WRONG PRAY FOR HER.

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OK, when online I cultivate one way (e) but at home I cultivate in the dirt (d) too. I’m trying to learn all I can about high-brix cropping systems so my actual garden is pretty small for a farm. I do have a plow but I’m limiting myself to some rototilling and double-dug beds for the time being.

The livestock end of the farm is what we do ‘commercially,’ if you can call 4 cows, 3 sows, 6 goats and various chicken flocks a viable (part-time) commercial enterprise.

I was raised with mild Calvinistic leanings in a denomination that does not take a stand on such matters (C&MA). My wife is Reformed Baptist stock. We met at a Free Methodist college. We homeschool our children, drink raw milk, don’t have health insurance and live in the central part of the state.

I guess that summarizes most of my contributions to this site over the past months.

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Thanks for the clarification. I read Keswick, thought of instant sanctification and then read into the piece my own disappointment with ineffective recovery solutions.

Your ending has me puzzled. I have heard many pithy Christian slogans offered as recovery solutions: “Just turn it over to God”, “You have too much self”, “Just get more of the Word in you”, “what you have is a worship disorder”, “just reckon it dead” etc.

My addiction is a worship disorder? Am I not clapping hard enough? Do I need to be more focused? Is it the reading-the-bulletin-during-the-song thing? Do I sing too softly? Should I sway more?

I know you don’t mean any of these silly things I suggest but it is really not clear what it is you do mean and how exactly it relates to my fighting with myself in the car desperately wanting to stay on the road but overcome with a tidal wave of emotion that only wants to pull off and act out. Andree, I prayed, I cried tears, I quoted scripture, I tried to worship with all my heart and still failed miserably. What’s a broken Christian supposed to do?

For me, recovery has helped me understand exactly what I am powerless over (and will always be powerless over), at what point my insanity kicks in, and at what point God restores me to sanity and I find deliverance if I trust him for that day or that hour or maybe even thirty seconds. I might be able to write a tight paragraph or a 600 word piece to describe it, but there is certainly more to the problem and solution than the quick and pithy slogans frequently offered from my brethren in the church.

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“Note – I don’t have any argument with you…I just don’t understand your question, I guess.”

And I don’t understand your answer! Two ships passing in the night?

Initially, I was curious about Andree’s background, denomination, geographical location that she calls home, etc. I’m curious who I’m dealing with here on this blog, not just Andree.

And on the music, I’m not necessarily looking for a favorite, just something that doesn’t seem irreverent or offensive.

Oh, I guess you could refer to me as “DFarmer.TX” if I’m decoding yours correctly. (D for dirt)

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