Some More Conversation

(The following is some more private conversation had between myself and another homesteadblogger concerning spiritual matters.)
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Original message from janaeel:

Hi Eric,

Just wanting to let you know I appreciated the message you sent. What I got most from it was I need to lead by example with hope others will see how it is working for me and want to follow along. I fear this will be a long process not only with others but with myself because i've many bad habits to improve on. It is hard to take advice from someone who wont follow there own. My dad is an alcoholic and a heavy smoker. Us kids grew up with him telling us not to drink or smoke or there would be trouble. His words fell on deaf ears.
I am so looking forward to being at peace rather than self inflicted turmoil. I want you to know your words were not skimmed over but read and reread.

Hope you sabbath was wonderful,

Bill

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Original message from Purewater:

I had a blessed Lord's Day, even though it started out in distress.

Our 900 pound boar chose to visit our house just a half hour before church time, so I had to change back into work clothes and try to herd him back up the hill to his lot. There is not much man-handling an animal of that size. Whe he wants to move, he moves, and when he wants to lay down in the creek next to our house, he is staying there until he wants to get up! I knew the gate was broken, but as long as he stayed up there everything was fine. But we can't have him rooting up our front yard or getting out into the road!

Long story short, Simon (9 year old) and I was able to lead him up the hill, get him in his lot, fix the gate, get washed up, and was able to get to church to participate in the last half hour of the service! God is great!

About "bad habits" you need to improve on. If you were already "perfect" you likely would not see much need of God. Jesus wants us just as we are, and then He works out the miracles of improving us and taking away our destructive habits. He doesn't ask us to change on our own. You know, he picked 12 men with terrible bad habits to be his apostles! He worked in their lives and used them despite their imperfections. He didn't tell them they had to improve before they could come to Him, he just said, "Follow me." It doesn't have to be a long process.

God bless, you, my friend.

Eric
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Original message from janaeel:

Hi Eric,

Wow 900 lbs!! What can you do with a hog that size, Is he still able to breed? Are your sows large? I dont envy you in the task of moving him around as i have moved hogs myself but they were not quite that large. I'm glad you still had a great Sunday. Your 9 yr old must be quite the trooper to work around that big ole hog. Once again thank you for your words. They keep me thinking and have me ever so slightly leaning in a better direction.

Have a great week Eric

Bill

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Hey Bill,

I just noticed that I had not replied to your last message yet.

The 900 pounds is just an estimate by measuring his heart girth and length and putting it into a formula we got from a book. It works very well getting the weight of market hogs of 200 -250 pounds, but I'm not sure how accurate it is with giant hogs. One of our sows measured to be about 800 pounds and the other a bit over 700 pounds.

I'm glad to hear that you feel like you are leaning in a better direction, even if it is ever so slightly! I was wondering what kinds of experiences have you had with local churches, if any? I'm just curious.

Hope you are doing well.

God bless,

Eric