The City is Moving to the Country

Today's post is certainly not meant to offend anyone.  We all have various and sundry ideas, preferences and opinions, and that is okay.  Somehow, in modern society, we've devolved into thinking that we must have opinions that are homogenous, that any speech that you don't believe in is "misinformation."  I don't subscribe to that line of rigid thinking.  We all have differences.  We all have different likes and dislikes.  How boring would it be if we were all exactly the same?  

Way back in Genesis 13 Abram and Lot were journeying.  They had many flocks and herds and the land could not sustain them.  Right there in the beginning of the Bible, we learn the agricultural concept of NOT over-grazing your pasture.  It's not good for the animals, and (as we learn) not good for people, either!  There was strife between their herdsmen and Abram told Lot that he wanted things to be peaceful.  He recommended they separate to ease the tension that had developed.  Blessed are the peacemakers!

Abram gave Lot the first pick of the land.  You pick first.  Lot looked out and chose the lush valley of the Jordan.  Abram, by default, settled in the land of Canaan while Lot "settled in the cities of the valley."  Later, in verse 18, the LORD tells Abraham that "the outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave."  The LORD was going to judge the city.  Abraham was concerned about the people in the city (Lot being one of them) and pleaded with the LORD for mercy.  Angels went to Lot and urged him and his family to evacuate the city prior to judgment.  They specifically told him, "Escape for your life!  Don't look back." 

That pretty much sums up my view on city life.  I fully realize there is sin and immorality in small towns.  I fully realize there are good people in cities.  I just have no need or desire to go there.  I am a country guy.  Statistically, the three largest cities in Louisiana, Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Shreveport, are seeing record homicide rates and an explosion in violent crime.  Thomas Jefferson had a few memorable quotes about cities:

Are we not seeing this?

That's my choice, too, Mr. Jefferson.  We live in the country.  It is close enough to town (population 12,000) to be able to enjoy shopping, restaurants, and access to anything else we need.  But it is far enough away from town to enjoy clean country living, elbow room, raise animals, watch the sunset and have wide open spaces.  Some of that is about to change.  Below is the field in front of the house.  It was formerly cultivated land for soybeans but has been fallow for years.  It has grown a mighty fine crop of Goldenrod (Ah Choo!)  and we used to pick dewberries out there for jelly making.  Now it is all plowed up.  Not for crops, either.

It is a sizeable piece of property.  It is all being developed into subdivisions.  People from the cities and towns are all moving to the country.  I don't blame them.  We did too! 

Zooming in, you can see the neighboring subdivision they are constructing.  Nice homes!  Nice people living in them.  88 homes will be built on 18 acres.

Who am I to stand in the way of progress and development, but I wish this field would stay classified agricultural and we could stay in the county.  I've always had an affinity for rural America.  The city is moving to the country.