The Summer Vacation

Yesterday I wrote to fight through today so that you improve your chances of having a lot of great days this year. The million-dollar question is... does anyone have that many great days? Here is a story.

Billy was spiraling downward. His porn and other vices were causing huge problems. He had a week's vacation coming, and he saw an ad for an authentic Holiness experience. He signed up because he had had a holiness friend as a kid. That kid always seemed to be happy.

On his arrival day, they served a hearty meal of Scrapple, which was a mush of pork scraps and trimmings combined with cornmeal, wheat flour, and spices. The mush is formed into a semi-solid congealed loaf, and slices of the scrapple are then pan-fried before serving. Delicious.

The next morning they were up at the crack of dawn to milk the cows. His host Aaron asked, “How is your life going?”

“Okay, honestly, I am here because my life is just not going great, and I have the feeling (based on my past experiences with the holiness movement) that I could learn a lot from how you live.”

“That is very wise, sometimes less is a lot more.”

“What are holiness values that make you so different?”

“Our faith includes humility, simplicity, and putting God and community ahead of the individual. For us, life is a spiritual activity, we focus on discipleship, forgiveness, and doing what the Bible says to do.

We make a priority of family. We eat meals together, attend church services, and other community events together.

Obedience of the Bible's commands is a key to our happiness. Generation after generation of our families have seen that following the Bible has made a great life for their elders. Because of that, a huge percentage of the children want to live just the way their parents did.”

“So here is my question. Do I need to throw away my computer and TV so that I can have a great life like you do?”

“That's not a bad idea. But the truth is... no matter how many things the holiness movement bans, one can get into sin anyways. And sin steals our joy.

But, when we are fighting sin we do find a great life. Then, we have the opportunity to help others because God helps us help others. I think those last sentences really are our secret.

Lastly, you're not from the holiness movement, but you can spend time with people who make Jesus a priority the way we do. They are out there and you can find them. They can help you find the way the same way that generations of holiness people have shown me the way.”

“Thank you. This may turn out to be the best vacation I ever had.”

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