There are moments that change us.

In 2020, political turmoil and division followed the pandemonium of the pandemic during the U.S. presidential election cycle. And as a result, I was changed, and so I decided to back up and look again at the bubble we were in. I was tempted, to be sure, same as before, to double down within that bubble and continue in my perceived conservative duties, seeking to help reclaim and protect my country from the ideas of the ideological left by presenting arguments and evidence for why my views were the correct ones. If I did this sloppily, I admit, I would simply play into the trap, adding my own ineffective, spiraling down part to a highly charged polarity. In truth, I knew that perceived outer threats were calling for strong inner convictions for people on BOTH sides of the political divide.

But American politics had obviously shifted away from the old order of procedural secularism and was now subjected to a more openly religious and programmatic secularism. (These distinctions are owed to Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury and were also referred to recently by the late Tim Kellor in a YouTube video interview with Carey Nieuwhof.) But not only was MAGA republicanism religious in nature (and I knew it was), when I learned that the freshly energized in 2020 movement on the political left itself had been dubbed “the Great Awokening” I also knew that not only the Evangelicals were overtly religious – a move that is normally expected religiously identified groups – but, additionally, now the secular humanists had also become outwardly religious. And so I knew that this new order of politics would get very, very messy.

At this time, I invoked some words my teen children had memorized as a school assignment and recited to me a few years earlier from C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity in the section “Christian Behavior”, specifically on the theological virtue of hope. These words would become my new personal mantra, and I , too, would commit them to memory. It begins as follows…

“Hope is one of the theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.”

Lewis then goes on to list examples of Christians in history who “set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire” and “abolished the Slave Trade”, etc. He submits the idea that these Christians did these things “precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven.”

As I recalled these words in late 2020, I realized in a new and deeper way than ever that my citizenship on earth is temporal and yet my actions/behavior here remain important. So I decided to try hard to align my thoughts with whatever this profound wisdom might mean. Later I purchased the domain name MyTrueCountry.com in an effort to claim a platform here on earth whereby to declare this truth about Heaven. It is a country that none of us inhabits yet. But Heaven is a goal, an eternal home. To quote Lewis again, in order to practice the Christian virtue of hope by which we are tethered to Heaven…

“… I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death...”

This website seemed to me like a good way to keep something good alive and interact with this little segue into C.S. Lewis’ thought and writings, while also enlarging on them as I seek to share some of my own experiences and thoughts in our current cultural and historical moment. After all, Lewis wrote these words 80 years ago. Much has transpired since that time. Much also remains the same.

The theme and structure of this website expresses symbols of the desire for Heaven as well as my own Christian desire to live faithfully on earth, and thus I have named the main sections “The River”, “The Mountain”, and “The Farm”. (These have symbolic meaning, but the farm to which I refer so often is actually a real place where my family and I once lived, but I will refer to other places, too, where I have lived, each precious and meaningful in themselves, but especially precious and meaningful to me as places in my lifelong journey.)

  1. THE RIVER represents the personal practice of dying… or ‘letting go.’ We can and we must actually learn this Christian way of life that is marked by prayer and sacrifice. Sacrifice of short term pleasure for long term benefits for ourselves and for others.
  2. THE MOUNTAIN means answering the high call of obedience to and worship of God, especially focusing on prayer (life in Christ) while also making behavioral progress (as we pretend to be like Christ).
  3. THE FARM has to do with loving a local and real place on earth and leaving behind a worthy legacy of land and narrative if at all possible.

There are places that change us.

In July 2022 I began reclaiming this one room in my house, dedicating it to a higher purpose… that of enjoying music, writing, learning, and prayer.

I got such a mess between my ears / Like dishes in the sink / Stuff I don’t believe just tumbles in / Until I don’t have room to think …

This could be a room with such view / But its covered up with junk / Blocking out the place the light gets through / So it keeps me in this funk …

I’d like to turn this place into my home / Instead of some place that I dread / It’s the only room that’s mine alone / And I’ll live here till I’m dead …

David Wilcox, What you whispered, Track 6 (“THe Inside of my Head”)

“Have some humility. Clean up your bedroom. Take care of your family. Follow your conscience. Straighten up your life.

Dr Jordan B Peterson, on X, Nov 2, 2021

There is so much to say and to explore here. So… I hope to see you out in the country!