David or Solomon?

In one of the articles I've read by Howard King, he made a good case for the preference of an agrarian lifestyle. But then he surprised me. He didn't end with a rousing call for us to all ditch our corporate jobs and take to the hills. Instead, he talked about David and Solomon.

You see, David had a godly desire to build the Lord's temple. But God said, "No." David was not going to have that privilege. That privilege was going to go to his son, Solomon. But instead of giving up on his dream, what did David do? He spent years preparing, gathering materials, making plans; all with the purpose of making it easier for his son to fulfill that dream.

Many of us have the same dream, the same goal: to live off the land for God's glory. To work with Him to make the land fecund (that's one of those agrarian words I've learned), to be a part of the agrarian dream. But some of us may never realize that dream for ourselves. Perhaps we are too old, not physically able, too deep in debt, too deep within the corporate life that we would starve to death if we tried to feed our family through farming.

For whatever reason, we may be called to be a David. It may be our calling to prepare the way for our sons and daughters. It may be our calling to provide the land debt free, to install in their hearts the love for land and the outdoors, the love for hard work and honest toil.

I don't know whether I will get to be a Solomon or not. But if I only get to be a David, I want to be the best David I can. And by God's grace, we are making progress.

I have found out this month that I have gotten the official OK from bosses to work remotely. This means that I can keep my job after we buy a farm and move 300 miles from here. And if the Lord wills, I hope to be buying some land soon. We are considering buying some land within a small Amish community in western PA that is only a couple miles from a good church we've found. We are talking with an Amish man who owns the land and an Amish builder.

There is currently a not insignificant gap between what we think our house will sell for (minus paying off the mortgage) and what it looks like the land and house will cost. It is tempting to try to fill in the gap ourselves by borrowing, but we desire to live out our conviction that the Lord will provide for His children what He desires them to have. And so we are now looking to the Lord to close that gap by either our house being worth more than we think or that the property seller will come down in price.

We'll be sure to keep you up to date.