The Amish

THE AMISH

From Keith,
To the Congregation.
Mark 6:31 “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

The lilt in his voice and the 574- area code tipped me off. Melvin Miller was calling to finalize the details on our Amish Homestay. But there were a few questions he wanted to ask. Would we be suing him if I got hurt? What kind of pay did I expect for my work? How old was I? I assured him we wanted nothing, and I had a strong back and a weak mind. He said we would make a good team. It took me a moment, but when I say team I think basketball when he says team he thinks horse collar. And then he ask if we had teenagers? The last question was a bit of an enigma till he explained. They have one of their eight children, all of whom still live under their roof, that was not walking in the "way". He didn't want that to upset us. We explained we have children. We understand. Not all of our children are following the Lord. But we told them of one who had wandered for a time and had come back to her Lord stronger than ever! And we added how love is a powerful apron string of faith. I could hear Rachel, his wife sigh. She said, "Perhaps God has sent you for our encouragement." The fact that there would be 14 people to cook for never phased he or Rachel! Then he ask his most pressing question, "WHY?" 

It reminded me of a time Delaine and I were in Shipshewana visiting. We struck up a conversation with an Old Order Amish couple at the hardware store. Not just any hardware store... an Amish hardware store. You could buy just about anything there as long as its origins dated to 1886. We stood at the side of their buggy the horse stomping impatiently. The two children were already aboard perfectly coiffed. He was about 9. She was 5. He wore his black button pants, blue shirt, suspenders and hat and she wore her plain dress, apron, and cap. (We might call it a bonnet.) The horse turned his head and nudged Mose with a plea to be on his way. 

As we spoke they indicated to us that they were about to go on a camping trip. The irony of Amish on a camping trip has been something I can't shake. We camp to get away; cook stoves, open fires, no electricity, no running water, outside privies... that's home to them. So why on earth are these folks going camping? Why? 

Their answer is no easier than mine. WHY? Living with the Amish was not going to be a vacation. It is going to involve hard work. Melvin is a dairy farmer, so we will milk (hand milk)  twice a day at 4am and 4pm. And thank goodness we scheduled our time during chicken killin' season. I will behead 200 chickens while Delaine chicken plucks! 

"WHY?", he asks.

It really isn't the religious conviction. Having spent time with an Amish couple, we know their devotion to their faith is not really that different than our own. But there are two things that draw me to this time away. I want to come off the grid. Not like some people speak of when they talk about not using their cell phone for a day, or fasting from Facebook. I need to decompress my lifestyle drastically and dramatically. And there is one other thing. I have a silly notion. I think somehow I am a man born out of my time. I know some men rant about the 350 horses they have under the hood, or boast about their steel horse. I have always longed for and loved just one horse under me. Winston Churchill stated,  “There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.” I know Churchill said it, but I wish Roy Rogers had initiated this quote. Still it expresses my sentiment! There is something deeply therapeutic in the smell of leather harness and sweat soaked horses. The scent of straw freshly spread in a stall and the sound of hooves on the halfbeat cadence swallows my cares and sings to my soul. 

WHY, is never an easy question to answer. But when The Lilly foundation, that awarded Ovid Community Church the sabbatical, ask what would make my heart sing I knew this was part of it. 

Quietly,

Keith