Yesterday I was at a crawfish boil that my friend Craig hosted for friends and family. Craig also happens to be a farmer and butcher who left a stable job working for a large bank in Charlotte because he felt the Lord calling him to actually do something that served people in a more meaningful and personal way. He has a young, beautiful and growing family. He homesteads and homeschools. He’s not afraid to share his faith with those around him as it is integral to his testimony and his “why”.
The vast majority of the meat we eat as a family now comes from Craig because we know he cares about sustainable farming and either raises his own livestock or knows personally the people that he buys his cows, pigs, sheep, chickens, deer, rabbits and all sorts of other animals that he sells.
This post isn’t about Craig though, but about culture and community.
As I was learning the subtle art of eating crawfish, standing at a table covered with delicious mushrooms, potatoes, whole garlic cloves, sausage and hundreds of pounds of crawfish, I watched dozens of kids running around barefoot playing together in the rain. I watched people with shared values who had never met one another become instant friends talking about how they could help one another. Live music was played and the laughter and joy was palpable for hours, even while it was dumping rain all around us.
I have another friend, Jason, who’s been instrumental in teaching and showing me just how important surrounding ourselves and our families with those who share our faith is. I will forever remember when he said to a group of people (of which I was among), “How can we expect our sons and daughters to learn how to be Godly men and women if the only Godly men and women they know are their parents? Why are we not proactively seeking communion with other families so that our kids can see other examples of families, fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters who are on the same journey to follow Christ?”
The statement is so simple and yet so profoundly true.
I have spoken with dozens of men who love God and do their best to serve him every day who now have kids that have completely “lost their faith” and are now estranged from their family. In nearly every case, this happened because these men, and their wives, trusted the public education system, colleges and universities, and other worldly institutions to somehow steer them in a direction that wasn’t… worldly.
Related, did you know the Amish population is among the fastest growing in the country?
Not so much because new people are joining their communities in vast numbers, but because their retention rates are extremely high. Those raised Amish tend to remain Amish when they are older. The reason for this is rather straightforward. Nearly their entire existence, from the moment they wake to when they sleep, is spent surrounded by other Amish. They also pool resources in a way that the early Christian communities and Church did for centuries before the culture of “the world” started to take precedence over the culture of “the Church”.
I’m not saying we should become Amish, although I’ve learned a lot from them (and you could too) about alternative ways to live independent from centralized infrastructure and systems.
I’m saying culture and community are key. Especially for those raising families.
The enemy wants us to feel alone, trapped and isolated. We speak to customers every week who share with us that they feel this way, as they start to wake up to the lies of this world and begin their journey to resist and find alternative ways to be IN the world but not OF the world. They’ve surrounded themselves for decades with people who are still fully bought into the Matrix and now that the veil has been lifted, all they see are walking zombies and slaves.
As I’ve traveled this country over the past few years attending events and speaking to various communities of people interested in digital privacy and security, I’ve learned definitively that those of us who are actively seeking Truth in Love are NOT alone and that, with every passing day, there are more of us.
If you feel isolated and alone, I encourage you to start talking to those you think have that spark of someone who’s living with the knowledge that they are loved by their Creator.
That’s the tell. You’ll know it when you see it.
They carry something that doesn’t make sense given what’s happening around them. A peace that passes understanding. Paul wasn’t being poetic when he wrote that. He was being precise.
The crawfish boil broke up just before dark. Kids still running. Adults who’d never met exchanging numbers and making plans.
That’s what the enemy is trying to take from you. Not just your data. Not just your money.
Connection with people actively seeking Truth in Love.
At MARK37, we talk a lot about digital sovereignty. The longer I do this, the more I am convicted that sovereignty isn’t a product someone buys. It’s a lifestyle. It’s a culture. And it’s a whole lot better lived in community than alone.
If you’re wanting or seeking a community near you and don’t know where to start, don’t hesitate to reach out. We’ll try and point you at a few groups or individuals we know in your area to get the ball rolling for you.
Blessings,
Sean Patrick Tario