Our Purpose… and yours

 

We spent many years pursuing those things the world finds valuable-- good careers, a nice home and cars, enough money to go on vacation, and children who fit in with their friends at school. We were soccer parents (and ballet parents, and hockey parents, and, well, you get the picture). Yet, we never seemed to overcome our discontentment. While we had all the appearances of a successful family and good careers, we had no peace. That is, until we came face to face with two important realities. First, our sense of lostness was just that-- we were lost, separated by sin from a God who loves us, yet because of His righteousness, necessarily considered us his enemies. Second, we had to come to an understanding of the gospel. Culminating in His death on the cross and resurrection three days later, Jesus Christ accomplished several things. He fulfilled prophesy. He lived a sinless, obedient life which qualified him to make a payment for the sins of others so that His death was, in fact, an effective propitiation that satisfied God. His resurrection, a historical fact, proved that Jesus was the Messiah He claimed to be. 

Peace with God will never be attained by doing enough, being enough, or trying hard enough. Peace with God can be obtained by believing that Jesus is who He claimed to be, that He died with your sins on His shoulders, suffering the wrath you deserve, so that you could be free to enjoy Him and the Father forever, in a close relationship with the One who loves you beyond all measure. The Bible promises that, if you place your faith in Jesus's death, burial, and resurrection as complete payment for your sins, then God will remember them no more. Peace with God-- something the world can't offer, and something we have found. Praise God.

Considering these truths, we desire to live lives pleasing to Him out of the gratitude that flows in abundance from our hearts for His immeasurable grace and countless blessings upon our lives. So, after we moved to our farm, and we decided it would be fun to have a few animals, industry practices were among the topics of our research. We learned about the horrific conditions of CAFOs ("Factory Farms") leading to the lack of sanitation, presence of disease, absence of nutrition, and grievous abuse of not only the animals, but of many employees, themselves, in the modern day food industry. Because we were now spending our time with a variety of animal species, we came to fully appreciate that these creatures are not simply "meat-producing mechanisms" but animals that can experience and express joy, anxiety, frustration, pleasure, satisfaction, and friendship. They are not machines. They do not belong in a system that keeps them in dark, dirty buildings or on drylots, overcrowded and chronically stressed, kept alive with constant infusions of antibiotics, and fed substandard food that isn't appropriate to their species, simply to fill their stomachs and make them grow. They are God's creatures, and we were called to be good stewards of all He has given us to enjoy, and that is what we strive to be at Whitney Creek Farm.