PLAIN VALUES

            I'm now writing a monthly column for the magazine PLAIN VALUES and this is a plug for everyone to subscribe.  Historically it has been aimed at the Amish-Mennonite community (people who dress plain) but its success is moving to a broader base.

             I'm part of that morphing as it seeks a toehold in the politically and religiously conservative community of our culture.  As people get jittery about where things are going, we face two options:  get angry or get busy.

             PLAIN VALUES says "get busy."  What does that mean?  It means first getting our heads in the right spot about how to see things.  For many years I've talked about "what if everyone spent money like me."  Consumerism, debt, entitlement, and victimhood are cancerous.

             Learning how to minister to those in need, develop lasting relationships for resiliency, create and build practical solutions to dysfunction and deficit in food, resources and vision--these are all themes within the pages of the magazine.  If you're looking for a remnant, this is your home.

             My column is titled CONFESSIONS OF A STEWARD; this platform affords me the luxury of not dancing around my spiritual and religious "why" or even applying our farming systems as object lessons of eternal, divine truth. 

             My friend and colleague singer-songwriter Rory Feek is joining the columnists as well.

             If you've been looking for a slick, professional presentation of a conservative, God-based foundation for living against the culture's grain, celebrating authentic farming, soil building, and communal legacy, you will find encouragement and inspiration in these pages.

             My hope is that this publication finds reception in all those conservative Christians lined up at Chick-fil-A supporting anti-God, anti-soil, anti-health.  We can rail against things but when we offer a positive alternative, a pro-active opportunity to do better, that's when true progress can thrive.

             I'm sure some folks may say writing in this publication indicates a siloing of my own outreach.  On the contrary, I see it as a development that inherently grew out of cancel culture.  I find it liberating to be able to address topics within my whole philosophical context and not have to hold back, to walk on eggshells, to avoid taboos. 

             I'm energized by being affirmed and having an opportunity to be positive about things in a crazy, insane world.  Negativism and railing against the system only gets you so far.  At some point, you need to present positive solutions.  Condemnation must eventually morph into construction.

             What is a specific positive reaction to the world's insanity that you did in the last month?