Written by Vince Wheeler

I think most humans have something inside them that longs to be free. The dilemma starts when trying to define what freedom is? I have spent time thinking about it and I’ll define what it means to me.

Spiritual Freedom

For myself, being connected to God is the first step in being free. When I’m walking with God, I’m a much more centered and a calm person. I tend to geniunely love the people I’m around and I’m kind. I’m at peace.

In periods of my life when I wonder away from God, I feel enslaved by my flesh. Some internal drive gets out of hand. Usually my anger. My despise for my fellow man is raised to a level that is toxic within myself and to those around me. I only see the faults in people.

The older I get the more I feel like Solamon in Ecclesiastes. So much of life is meaningless. So much is vanity for the gain of nothing! If Christ doesn’t return in a 100 years, nobody will likely remember you. Nobody will remember anything you do. It’s all like “chasing after wind”.

As the wisest man to ever live, Solamon found everything empty other than God. Since God is love, the only thing of value that last is love. The rest is wasted time. If you fail to connect with God and learn to love, you’ve missed the only thing of value. You’ve lost freedom.

I’m nowhere near where I should be or want to be in my walk with God. My path to freedom will be Christ-centered. Otherwise what are you trying to be free for? What value will you life amount to? I’m horrible at it right now, but I hope by the time I die, people that know me will feel loved by me.

To accomplish this goal, I’ve had to remove people from my life. I need the right people in my life. Others who also want to learn to be loving. I believe rich or poor, the more people you love and the more people who love you, the happier and more free you are.

Financial Freedom

A huge part of freedom is based in financial freedom. My goal for this website and my own journey is to figure out ways to cover my financial needs. This will include growing things on my land, making things I can sell, and other oppertunities I figure out on this journey.

Residential Freedom

Part of the problem with not “owning” a place to live is the fact you are beholdant to someone else’s whims. Consider the Covid lockdowns. How many people who live nomadic lifestyles found themselves in bad situations? I’d say almost everyone I know who lives nomadically found themselves in bad situations. People who rented while finding themselves out of work due to no fault of their own, quickly found out they were in debt with landlords and no way out. People living in RVs couldn’t find RV parks, state parks, or  federal parks to stay in. During lockdowns everyone went camping and those who lived the lifestyle quickly found themselves pushed out of camp grounds.

Owning land is a huge part of living free. The ability to control your immediate needs for shelter can’t be underestimated.

I believe freedom is owning your land, owning your house without a mortgage, owning your power and water supply, and owning your sewage desposal. If the only thing you need to pay for is property tax and some food and clothes, you are close to being as free as you can be.

Wrapping Up This Freedom Discussion

By the time I get “done” with my goals of this project, I will have the basis of freedom covered for my life. I want to be at peace with whatever happens. Our country is in bad shape. We have a major rip between the two political sides of our country. The food supply is constantly under attack. War is constantly being proposed as a solution for every conflict.

I want to feel secure with my God so I know where my eternity is based. I want to feel free because I’ve established methods to produce money in good times and bad. Money that pays for my needs to keep my land and pay debts. I want to be free because I can provide for my needs and the needs of those around me. Either because I’ve saved, stored, or used some other method to meet those needs in bad times.

I believe bad times are coming. My prayer is to be in the right place at the right time with the resources needed to meet my needs and the needs of those I love. If I reach that place, that’s as close to freedom as I believe I’ll in this life.