Staycation, Firewood, Hope of the Gospel

It feels good to feel good again. Getting back on my feet after being under the weather has given me a rejuvenated outlook on the spring season at hand and an extra pep in my step that will be much needed as our busy season approaches. Being sick was no fun, but sometimes a day or two of being sick results in a greater appreciation for health. As always, Amy stepped up to take on extra farm chores and filled orders by herself on top of the load she was already shouldering. 

Amy and I for years have tried to plan a little cabin staycation in March here on the farm before diving head first into chicken season. Our second rental cabin was finished almost a year ago, and we’d yet to stay there overnight. We had planned to stay at the new cabin a couple nights last week, but sickness changed those plans. So this week, the six of us piled into the one room cabin and enjoyed a two night get away right here on the farm. 

The kids loved it. Their favorite part was the hot tub. The not quite 600 square foot cabin was built for two. Not for six. The kids slept on the floor and sat on the floor to eat dinner. I wouldn’t call it a vacation. We worked during the day, but it was a nice change of scenery. Actually, I guess the scenery didn’t really change. We just enjoyed looking at the same scenery from a different angle. As I’ve said before and will surely say again, there’s no place I’d rather be than this valley. If I could get away from the valley, to the valley I would go. If you’re looking for a quick and quiet getaway, check out Old Rich Valley Cabin and Valley View Cabin on airbnb. 

Tuesday night we put 3 whole briskets and 3 Boston butts on the smoker. Wednesday the kids helped me gather firewood while Amy pulled and packaged smoked brisket and pulled pork. Not only was the cabin stay a lot fun while we were there, it produced almost twice as much work output from the kids in between our nightly stays. We hinged the second the night at the cabin to how well they worked loading wood. Turns out it was pretty good incentive. They worked hard loading wood and slept well that night. 

With today being Good Friday and Easter Sunday around the corner, I’ve been listening to “The Hope of the Gospel” by George MacDonald who is one of my dad’s favorite Christian thinkers. I didn’t realize how influential MacDonald’s writings were to C.S. Lewis when Lewis converted to Christianity. 

The gospel as presented from many pulpits today is incomplete, focusing only on what Christ did for us. The good news of the gospel is not something Christ did 2000 years ago for us, it’s what we allow him to continue to do in us and through us. Jesus was willing to leave heaven, pursue earth, take on flesh, and submit to death in order to restore his relationship with us. But that’s only half of the gospel. No relationship is real or meaningful if not pursued from both directions. Without Jesus pursuing us, we can’t have a lasting relationship with God. But the flip side of that same gospel is: Without us pursuing him, God can’t have a lasting relationship with us. God will not force us into a lasting relationship with him. What kind of relationship would that be? 

Just as Christ let go of heaven to pursue us on earth, we must let go of earth to pursue him in heaven. As he was willing to take on flesh, we must be willing to leave flesh behind. As he surrendered to death, in hopes of a new life with us, we must also surrender to death, in hopes of a new life with him. A one way relationship is not a real relationship. Which means what he did for us is not enough to accomplish the eternal family that God desires. The gospel is made complete when we pursue him with the same passion he pursues us. When we choose to love each other the way he chose to love us. 

According to MacDonald, without repentance the gospel is incomplete. He addresses how the church has turned repentance into a religious word misrepresenting its true meaning and power that comes with it. Here’s what MacDonald says about repentance: “I would not even suggest a mistranslation, but the idea intended by the word has been so misunderstood and therefore mis-taught, that it requires some consideration of the word itself to get at a right recognition of the moral fact it represents.”

“The Lord never came to deliver men from the consequences of their sins while yet those sins remained. That would be to cast out a window the medicine of cure while yet the man lay sick… Yet men, loving their sins and feeling nothing of their dread hatefulness have consistently with their low condition, constantly taking this word concerning The Lord to mean that he came to save them from the punishment of their sins. The idea, the miserable fancy, rather, has terribly corrupted the preaching of the gospel. The message of the good news has not been truly delivered… A multitude of teaching men have taught their fellows that Jesus came to bear our punishment and save us from hell. They have represented a result as the object of his mission… The mission of Jesus was from the same source and with the same object as the punishment of our sins. He came to work along with our punishment. He came to side with it and set us free from our sins. No man is safe from hell until he is free from his sins.”

“Wrong is always generated in and and done by an individual… And that no evil can be cured in the race, except by its being cured in its individuals… There is no way of making three men right, but by making right each one of the three. But a cure in one man who repents and turns is the beginning of the cure of the whole human race.” 

“A man is right when there is no wrong in him. The wrong, the evil, is in him, he must be set free from it. I do not mean set free from the sins he has done; that will follow. I mean the sins he is doing or is capable of doing, the sins in his being which spoil his nature, the wrongness in him, the evil he consents to, the sin he is which makes him do the sin he does.”

“He will carry us in his arms til we are able to walk. He will carry us in his arms when we are weary with walking. He will not carry us if we will not walk. Very different are the good news Jesus brings us from certain prevalent representations of the gospel…”

Have a good week.

Will