Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Yes, We Are Strange....By Most Folks Standards!


"Be hospitable to one another without complaint.  As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold  grace of God" (I Peter 4:9-10).  James put it a wee bit stronger, "Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin" (James 4:17).

Hey Gang:  Yes, I and my bride are strange.  We often drive two and a half hours to a tiny town with a quaint restaurant for breakfast.  Why?  Because the food is so fabulous?  No, that has nothing to do with it.  It happens to be in the midst of Amish and Mennonite Country, which allows me to return to some of those by- gone days when I was able to rub elbows with some of these folks.

I would move down there in a minute but can't afford it.  You see the economy is so strong, in the land of the ‘Plain People’, that even others tend to plant their roots for life.  But it is an economy that most folks, that the Amish refer to as Englishers , have no idea how to achieve.  It is an economy based on being debt free, living on what you earn, purchasing only those things that you need ,thus living a very plain life.

Years ago, I had the privilege, and I emphasize the word 'privilege' ,to work for a dairy where I went into the milk houses of 53 Amish farmers and picked up their milk for processing. Hard work?  You bet your sweet bippy!   Loading more than a hundred and fifty 85 pound cans of milk on a truck that was as high as my chest was hard work!  But the fringe package that came with that job was fabulous.  I got to learn so many wonderful lessons about living a truly good life, which prepared me for that day when I would have a bride and little bambino's.

On one of our trips to Shipsy I noticed a steady stream of buggies, some with tools, some with provisions, some with building materials, all in route to Brother Yoder's farm.   You see Brother Yoder's barn had burned the week before and this was the work day to rebuild it.  Buggies came from the surrounding Amish communities, some a far distance for horse and buggy.  The men 'raised' the barn while the women folk cooked.  The children were the go-fers who supplied the materials to the builders and cooks.

Soooo, Yes, I would move to Shipshewanna, Indiana, in a minute, for there is something there that I have longed for, a community that really cares for each other.  Sunday mornings are fabulous as you watch the buggies and listen to the clip-clop coming from all directions to the meeting place for their time together to worship Abba Father. 

O, one last point before I close this epistle and send it along to you, if the sky or the economy does fall, if the electricity does go kurplunk, if there are no groceries on the super market shelves, the Amish will survive for although they live in this world, they are dependent on Father God and not on the government or things of this world. 

Blessings,

Gramps

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