As much as I love camping with my wild childs, it is so much more fun to share our traditions with new people and try new rhythms.
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We hit a piece of somewhat random gold while playing around with s’mores variations.
Could friendship also tear the State apart? Is Ron Paul’s Love Revolution possible? Can we dissolve the State’s monopoly on violence through fellowship and comraderie?
It sounds fantastical, but I have experienced the simple miracle of Good Friends. When people come together to listen to and provide each other’s needs, they no longer call for the force of government to take resources from one to feed another.
This episode of The Tom Woods Show scratches the mystery of friendship and offers several resources for digging deeper (links below).
My life has been transformed by loving friendships. I underestimated the power of these relationships for a long time. Now I wonder if this Love is so close to the perfect Love of God that it carries the strength to move populations out from under the yoke of governmental power.
There is much to mine here.
Friendship seems too to hold states together, and lawgivers to care more for it than for justice; for unanimity seems to be something like friendship, and this they aim at most of all, and expel faction as their worst enemy; and when men are friends they have no need of justice, while when they are just they need friendship as well, and the truest form of justice is thought to be a friendly quality.
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These words settle me. Hof’s voice is full of love and joy. No one delivers vulgarity in more beautiful tones.
This practice has built a small calm place inside me. It is there when I need it, when my reactions are poisoned with fear. It turns breath into dance. It turns breath into healing. It turns breath into a smile. It transforms my body into its own best medicine. I need not fear the aches, they become voices communicating their need for my attention and love. I need not fear the tightness in my stomach, it is a resentment I can release with an exhale. I need not fear the future for there is infinite healing and love in this moment.
Join me in healing yourself. Start right now. Wim Hof went searching for life-saving happiness and he found it outside in the cold and inside in the breath.
Our circle of allschooling families is growing like early spring blooms, but our core group is maturing into a mighty magnolia.
We have yet to remember a group photo. We’re too busy playing video games, laughing, praying, and sharing our troubles and celebrations with each other.
Today was a simple escape from the rain. It was an escape from the drama and confusion that seems to weave themselves into life’s banal tasks.
Last March, I wiped my reusable whiteboard calendar clean. I didn’t have the motivation until 12 months later to use it again. Heck, there hadn’t been anything to put there. But now, this month is full of activities, most of them with, or because of, these families.
I thank God for this new tribe based on nothing but some basic human desires for connection in a world that has put social distance on a hierarchical pedestal.
I don’t struggle with faith, exactly. I struggle with understanding, deepening, and living in harmony with my faith.
This conversation between Jordan Peterson and Jonathan Pageau is the first time I’ve heard Peterson identify as a Christian and volunteer the fact that he doesn’t go to church.
Perhaps my favorite thing about Peterson is the personal investment he brings to intellectual discussion. It can be painful, as important learning must be.
Attending worship services has never settled into routine for us.
Before we were Baptized, Mary and I sought community and stability. We thought we could find that in church. After we had children, Sunday mornings became more challenging. One Sunday, once we had two children and resolved to expose them to regular worship, Mary went to tears before they were awake. We never talked about it deeply, I gave her time. It was months before we started attending again. And then a few months later she asked me about faith.
Mary’s faith was easy. Baptism was a formal declaration of what was on her heart. I was, and am, the overthinker.
I’m confident that Jesus moved my heart, but Peterson did a lot of work on by brain.
Worship as a widower has been different. It feels lonely, especially when one son would rather read Deadpool comics in the front pew than listen to the sermon (mind you, he ALWAYS choses the first or second row as his reading spot). The scripture and the message never fail to carry meaning for me, but there’s something out of place about our little family.
This past year has been especially difficult. I tried virtual worship, virtual Bible study, and virtual Sunday school. It all fell flat for all of us. When I was invited onto a Spanish league soccer team that played on Sundays, there was no conflict. I had begun a daily and developing prayer practice and was feeling closer to God, despite missing fellowship with my Christian brothers and sisters.
Soccer shifted indoors and to different days just as I was invited into a new fellowship. There hardly seemed to be a choice to make when I had the opportunity to meet new people and worship unencumbered by regulations that do not ring true to the way I believe Jesus showed us how to behave.
We are becoming a part of this new fellowship. We have been welcomed and I am leading a small in-person study group.
And soccer season approaches.
Not all the games will interfere with worship, but many will. My body craves the level of competition and comraderie of this league and team. My sense of loyalty and gratitude is activated by last year’s invitation to play “normal” soccer when nothing else was. That one invitation has led to dozens of hours of soccer in places where white people don’t usually get welcomed.
I thank God every day for my actively physical life. Mary knew better than I how important soccer is for me. I’ve embraced that somatic need and I feel closer to God when I thank him for my gifts.
There is an ego-driven piece of me that fears explaining to my Monday group that I missed service for soccer. I wonder if this makes me “less of a Christian.” There is comfort in knowing that Peterson has a similar disconnect in his Christian life. I also try to take heart in God’s Grace not being a thing that humans can sort out among themselves. Being Saved isn’t about works, but what is in one’s heart. God knows that better than we do ourselves.
It’s the aim that counts. I can love God and play soccer in an effort to honor the body that God gave me. I don’t worship the game or the body, I worship the Creator and strive to aim at His Kingdom every day.
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My older son and I are slowly working through a fantastic history of the Berlin Wall and how the Soviet Union collapsed. The satellite states split off in largely peaceful ways.
Could the United States of America do the same? I’d like to think so.
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The learning lifestyle, home education, and unschooling are minority interests. Few people have an honest curiosity about them (honest curiosity being at the heart of all three concepts).
My message and lifestyle won’t be heard nor understood by many.
That doesn’t deter me. The world changes one person at a time. Taking on these responsibilities is a highly personal decision and can feel isolating. I have been blessed with a platform from which to speak and a heart prepared to listen.
I sat with a homeschooling mom who was feeling something all parents feel, that our choices will not lead to successful adulthood for our children.
I started with the universality of the sentiment and an assurance that it was good and natural to have fear creep in at times.
I went on to talk about the infinite number of paths available to young people and highlighted how many of us left the school system completely lost and unprepared to tackle life. I also shared my story of being listless in my 20s and taking a long road toward experiencing success. I shared my own fears and how I’ve engaged them and put them to rest.
I see my children developing social cooperation skills across a wide range of ages, ethnicities, and backgrounds. I see them engaged in a world that has put isolation and disengagement at the forefront of priorities. I see them exercising their curiosity on a daily basis, learning how to learn.
This won’t be for everyone, not yet. But until everyone embraces the learning lifestyle, I’ll continue to write and talk about it.
It is never too late! I didn’t start deschooling myself until I tried home educating my children.
If things are stressful at this pointin the school year, think about a full break from school work. After all, with Spring Break, the school year is almost through anyway.
Look into deschooling and the various educational philosophies before worrying about curriculum, hours per day, or any of the logistics.
I wish I had been more thorough in my research before starting home education, but I would not have delayed the start. All of the mistakes I made provide me with the experience to be more confident in my present learning lifestyle approach.
The bottom line is that you’ll do fine. You love your child and there is no one who cares more about his or her development.
I photobombed this kid a couple years ago. His dad has been playing against me for close to ten years and his mom took this picture before a match. Unbeknownst to me, this boy liked watching my boys and their rough play. When pizza showed up, he displayed interest and they shared a slice.
None of the adults involved actually met each other until this summer when my friends and I formed a type of ignore-the-Lockdown club.
Now his mom is a close friend and I’m playing more soccer than ever (losing the beard didn’t hurt). Our children are friends too and I look forward to seeing his dad on the pitch this coming season.
I can outplay that bearded Jason. I’m fitter, stronger, and smarter than that guy.
As spring approaches, a new Jason is ready for a new season.
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