THE VICTROLA WILL NOT SAVE THE DAY, The Wooden Calf

Way back in April during our first garage sale, we had an antique Victrola (that's the first green audio gear for those of you too young to know) appraised by an antique dealer for $1750. He unfortunately could not take it since he already had too many in his shop. He did advise us to take the first offer above $750 even if it felt painful.

It felt painful to let it go at any price. MY value for it was considerably higher than $750 so even an offer for that would've seemed like a jilt to me.
Now it's garage sale time and no offers over $150. What's preventing me from selling it at $150? Pride. How DARE anyone even consider that offer? This is an antique after all. This gorgeous piece of early 20th Century craftsmanship has adorned the living spaces of several homes and has lasted through two marriages and 7 children. No garage sale offer could come close to the value I placed on the Victrola.

So I am trying to figure out how my "desire" to have this piece of merchandise fits in with my true needs. I really valued it yet what was the driving force behind that?

I think we felt  the large amount of truly wothless stuff we accumulated was a form of insurance. Surely selling all this stuff would help propel us forward into the next chapter in our familys life. Selling this amazing stuff would help us financially meet our basic needs.

The Victrola among other things had become a golden calf. I realized this clearly when selling it for far less than appraised value made me angry and upset. Instead of trusting in Gods provision, I had mistakenly placed all my bets on that Victrola. That Victrola should have paid for several plane tickets. It couldnt. It was just an old, decorative piece of wood.  It wasnt created or designed to support the heavy weight of all my needs and desires.

However God does promise us a future and a hope.  Our hope and faith had been mistakenly and momentarily misplaced.

All these idols get in the way of an incredible and intimate relationship not only with God but it also interferes with our relationship with other people. We are excited about living a life of simplicity, one that focuses on time-relishing relationships with people, not with stuff.

We can't wait to take all of you with us.  Imagine the places we will go!

PS: For those of you interested in what most professionals consider "true needs" you can continue reading here:

Recently, psychologists and cross-cultural anthropologists have generated lists of basic human needs. Notice there is no mention of a Victrola anywhere on the list.

From Wikipedia: " Doyal and Gough point to eleven broad categories of "intermediate needs" that define how the need for physical health and personal autonomy are fulfilled:
Adequate nutritional food and water
Adequate protective housing
A safe environment for working
A supply of clothing
A safe physical environment
Appropriate health care
Security in childhood
Significant primary relationships with others
Physical security
Economic security
Safe birth control and child-bearing
Appropriate basic and cross-cultural education.

More later.

I LOVE MY EMPLOYER

We're at Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, NC today (Sunday, June2) studying physics and biology through Landry Academy. Yesterday was whitewater rafting day on the Wautaga River (pics to follow as soon as we order them. I didn't bring my cellphone for obvious reasons). Within four days, Angie and I had two extremely opposite experiences with 20-somethings (Generation Y'ers) which illustrate our despair with this country and also our hopes for restoration.

But first, a few lessons from whitewater rafting day:
1. Never wear jeans if there is a chance of them getting wet. Jeans will get wet from rafting. I knew this from my one prior experience in Boseman, Montana and from being an avid ultralight backpacker (www.whiteblaze.net).
2. Wear scuba booties instead of athletic shoes.
3. Use waterproof sunscreen. Especially if you are white, balding, and haven't seen the sun in six months.
4. If the expedition leaders offer you a free t-shirt at the start of the trip, take it. Pride is cold.

Last Wednesday, the last day in our house, I took Angie out to eat at Uno's. While a corporate restaurant, you can find food that nourishes instead of fills. We met three Generation Y'ers working there: two females and our server who is male. For the sake of brevity, I am going to combine them into one umbrella person I will call "Jenny Wai." I know it's not nice to generalize especially while talking about negative aspects of a population, but I'm sure anyone who has to deal with them can relate. And every experience related here is true, word-for-word if in quotes.

When we explained to Jenny that we gave up almost everything intentionally and intended to tour the country before heading to Nicaragua, Jenny wanted to know if Nicaragua was a city or a country. We said it is a country and asked her if she knew where it was. "Europe," she replied. Really, it's not, Jenny. It's in Central America. "Well, I was close," she said as if we just kicked her in the head, holding her palms apart about 8 inches. Probably because on the last atlas she looked at, they WERE 8 inches apart.

Jenny graduated high school last year and is taking a year off before she heads to college. What does she intend to study? "I don't know. I like everything. Like maybe film making. Or computers. I'm having a hard time narrowing it down." How about cartography, I asked (heck, I am known for my sarcasm). "Oh yes, that's possible. I like everything." Do you like working here? "It's a job. I'm going to leave in a year to go to college."

Fast forward three days. After a great time on the Wautaga River, we were referred to a restaurant in Boone, NC by our raft guide Joshua. The restaurant is Hob Nob Farm Cafe (http://hobnobfarmcafe.com) and our server was a college student named Sophia. True name and very appropriate. That will be my nickname for all of the Gen Y'ers who have goals and some sense that there is a whole world out there that needs exploring and healing. She attends Appalachian State University. After high school and before starting college, she spent a year in the Peace Corps in Uganda. SHE knows where Nicaragua is. She understands that people there can live on $1 a day (she did it herself), and she knows that we can make things better for people. I will leave that "better" intentionally vague for now: first because it is dependent on each person's ability to interact with the world and second because I have my own concepts of to make the world better which I love and which I have developed over years of glorious and painful trial-and-error.

Sophia and her friend Emily (another server we talked to), renewed our hope for the future. The fertile ground for their growth was not the university but rather their employer, Hob Nob Cafe. When we asked Sophia if she liked working there, she replied with exuberance "I absolutely love my employer." Briefly, the owners grow most of their own food for the restaurant. For the rest, they buy from local organic farmers. Servers are limited to 8 so that each position is coveted by the local candidates. Employees are encouraged to make the cafe better and rewarded for their creative ideas. They are paid well since the cafe refuses to take credit or debit cards. The 2% fee they save goes back into the local economy instead of to the large banks that control the U.S. economy.

I'd like to thank Sameer, a college professor from Florida who was visiting here and who let Jon play on his tablet while I wrote this blog. I didn't even ask him: he just did it on his own. There is hope: http://wise.fau.edu/~hinduja/.

MINIMALIST SUPREME

So much has chnged in our lives since the last blog that what I wrote then seems superfulous now. We really thought that semi-retiring and seeing the world in an RV was "minimalist." After 6 weeks of a continuous garage sale (craigslist got tired of us I believe) and an unexpected dream job offer, we nixed the RV idea, changed our criteria for the material stuff we considered "necessary," and focused on carrying our house on our backs and with the car. Yesterday (May 30th) we crammed the last of our stuff into a car top carrier and left Slinger for good.
We have learned many life lessons in the few months I decided to sell the clinic. Since this post is just an update, I'm not going to wax philosophically today but plan on sneaking them into future posts.
I'm going to enjoy the Smokies now so God bless you and I'll talk at you later.