In the Age of Information and Influence, Which Path Do You Take?
- Gordon Ellison
- Aug 29, 2025
- 5 min read
Have you ever ran into an old friend that you haven't seen in 20 some years? One that you used to see and hang out with quite often, but lost touch due to life choices, circumstances, all at no fault of yours or their's? I think that many of us may have had an experience like this, maybe at a school reunion or something like that. I recently had an experience similar to this and the experience brought me to ponder some things.
As the above picture shows and there have been many analogical thoughts and writings concerning a fork in the road, I recently realized how much I've been impacted by choosing to make efforts to utilize God's provisions instead of what mankind has come up with by adulterating God's provisions. This path of thinking has led me further and further away from the ability to relate to what I think is our cultural norm. Not that I can't identify with them, but I've noticed the lack of ability to relate to them as easily as I once did. Maybe you feel in a similar way?
I was once a person that was fairly familiar with the trends of culture and with little to no reluctance, I embraced them and the mentality that went with them. More interested in fashion than the sourcing and functionality of clothing, more interested in the taste of something than the deeper nutritive satiating purposes of food and drink, same way with a vehicle, relationships and all sorts of things... I'm not sure I'm able to clearly communicate all that this encapsulates in my mind, but to try and summarize the trend I see in me is that I was more consumed with pursuing self centered immediate gratification than with the motive of satiating my mind, body, and soul that can only be fulfilled by a Creator's design. This was a "fork in the road" in my life and I'm sure you can identify something similar in your own. Maybe even several.
One thing I see is that when I decided to take the fork in the road, it came by way of subtlety. I had a thought one day while consuming a 2-liter of diet soda (I used to carry one with me), why do you claim to know the Creator, yet you prefer so many of man's adulterations to what God provided for His creation? That may not seem very big to you, but it has impacted me tremendously. Now it's not that I'm condemning the consumption of soda, I do call out, my once practiced mentality, where I had grown unable to identify what the heck I was doing! I had been brought up on soda and all things popular. That's not inherently bad, if the things that are popular are stewardship of soul, mind and body, but that is rarely, if ever the case. We learn what we've been taught, and our parents learned what they were taught and so on and so on. There's a point to be made there because we have homes and families where things can be practiced that are different than the rest of the world. We have an opportunity within the walls that we call home to encourage each other to pursue the truth. What is the truth? The truth is that God has given us a soul, body, mind and planet to steward and the instruction book for that stewardship is experience. I'm not negating the validity of Scripture, it is supreme in my opinion, but the time that you spend in creation, identifying how everything works together to be mutually beneficial is a lesson that reflects the lessons in the Scriptures...if followed. We were not meant to live independently but rather inter-dependantly. That's what we see in nature and what I hope we can see within the walls of our homes, and our communities. If we can learn to appreciate what each one of us can bring to the table in a way that aligns with the truth, we can see homes change, communities change and even states and nations. The problem lies within our desire or the teaching to take the more convenient fork in the road.
I've realized that I've grown dissatisfied with the waxed and polished apple from the grocer and would prefer it right off a tree. Why? It's the way our Creator intended it to be consumed. That's aside from being concerned with the pesticides used, the waxes used, the gas ripened methods and being transported 1000+ miles. It makes me ask myself just what are we doing?!? How did we even get here?!?!? And why is this okay!?!? Hmmm... Convenience. Immediate self gratification.
This is what I see our culture has made as it's foundation and what's being built on the foundation of convenience is a temple of consumerism. Where every commercial tries to convince you that you are in need of something, and they have the answer. We don't care to ask ourselves "Does it really fulfill my need, or is it just another scheme to immediately gratify"? What's the long term effects of this solution? How does it affect other things? How long will it last? There was a time when our cultures had doctors endorsing cigarette smoking. Wow! https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1470496/
I mean we can have very little boundaries when it comes to trying to sell something. I won't get started on the FDA endorsed drugs that offer a paragraph of potential side effects to treat one thing. Just pay attention to the commercials. It makes me think about the war on drugs but not the war on "approved" drugs.
There is no lack of hypocrisy in the culture we live in and I think that most of you that read this will agree. What spurred this "pulling of the string" that has unraveled a quilt was that I felt isolated in my way of thinking when I spoke to my old friend. Maybe you've felt the same. The forks that we have taken may have led us to an unpopular narrative, but I think that truth usually leads there. I think about where it led Christ and His followers. Not that I am judgementalof where someone is on there journey because I too am on a journey. Maybe they're further along than I am. Either way, we must be intentional in finding like minded communities that can encourage us to stay strong on our journey. I hope this blog helps to encourage you or maybe even challenge you. Please feel free to comment on here or the social platforms where this gets posted. Let our comments be a platform to encourage one another on our journey to find and pursue the truth.
Farm News
Happy Labor Day Weekend
We will be processing as scheduled on Sept. 4th for pre-orders to pickup rotationally pastured, organically fed chicken. If you haven't yet pre-ordered please use the link below. A huge Thank You to those that have!
Our heritage dual purpose breed was moved out to pasture a few weeks ago and last weekend they took a huge hit from prdators! We took a 72% loss over two days! We have been trapping and releasing (way off farm) the predators as we catch them.
We also have 50 new freedom rangers currently in our brooder, growing closer to being out on pasture each day.
Both the the Freedom Rangers and the Buckeyes are able to breed themselves which reduces our dependancey on commercial hatcheries. Stay tuned for more updates!
We're all absolutely loving the cooler temperatures we've been experiencing. I give thanks to God for the seasons we experience in our hearts and minds as well as out in His creation.
I will be speaking at Full Proof Ministries Church this Sunday at 11:00am
I will be sharing some lessons that I've learned from the recent loss on the farm. Feel free to join us!
199 Jackson Street in Tryon, NC 28782
We appreciate each of our members and the journey of stewarding the truth as it is revealed to us. If we can help in any way, please contact us!
Gordon and Elizabeth
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