Norm was thumbing through one of his books stacked by his living room chair. Norm leaves books all over the house but usually next to his chair or on the kitchen table. It’s sloppy and reminds him of photos of eccentric men of the past. It is sort of pleasing to understand that the mess of books could be a lot worse mess. Brandy bottles. Perhaps ash trays filled with ..ashes. Norm imagines Winston Churchill’s sitting room. Brandy and cigars and books of wisdom and history. Books written with voices crying in the wilderness. The oldest man of God, Abram, believed in the Lord and it was accounted to him as righteousness. It brings the best comfort to Norm as he was doomed to condemantion, fully deserving of death but the Lord saw me there and because of His great love, He saw me there, because He’s rich in mercy and he made me alive when I was dead and He raised me up, and seated me with Christ. And it’s by His Grace that I am saved and it’s through Faith, the very gift of God. That’s in one of Norms earmarked and favorite books. You know which one that is.

On top of one of the nearest piles was a book with a quote from Dorothy Sayers. She was a brilliant poet and novelist from Oxford that was a contemporary of C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton.

Norm casually started reading about her and stumbled upon a short quote of hers about work and religion. It made Norm realize what he has been running up against for a while. Some of the short pieces and columns he has been writing, some of them published, have been critiqued as ‘too religious’ An oxymoron. A dichotomy. Norm does not have much time for ‘religion’ as it is understood by the world. It’s not about names, places, clothing, being good. Follow the rules and you’ll be all right, that’s religion.

Dorothy’s quotes made that issue come to life and with her usual brilliance, gave Norm inspiration to somehow write a short paragraph or two to illuminate what him his answer to critics of his writing. What am I doing wrong? He has even been asked to tone down the ‘religious’ stuff to make it more acceptable to the commercial purveyors of tabloids and such. Fatih is not an opinion, it’s not working it up. It’s a gift, to you. You don’t deserve it and you cannot earn it. I know these things, it’s a gift that took me years to open and embrace. He opened my eyes one night and I realized the truth. Jesus is my Lord and King. Unshakeable, the gift of God. A rock I can stand on. I get weak and he holds out His mighty arm and an outstreached hand and helps me to stay on His highway of holiness. A choice to accept His righteousness.

Dorothy wrote strongly that a big mistake is being made to separate work and religion. The workers of our world are instructed to be nice, don’t indulge in drunken revelry and attend worship at least once a week. How can anyone who works be interested in religion that does not address 90 percent of his life? After all, the man who wrote most of the Bibles new testament was a tent maker by trade. Norm cannot imagine him, Paul, being admonished for being too religious when he was working. It’s a bit of a stretch, but perhaps you are getting the picture.

Our constitution expresses the freedom of religion, not the freedom from religion. Our faith pervades our lives and it is a big mistake of the world to ignore that. “The biggest mistake the church has made is making work and religion separated departments”a. The early church was telling Paul that the first demand his faith was putting upon him was to make really good tents. The church (meaning the people) in the first century was not filled with ceremony and rules. Revealing the faith was essential in those times, even if it meant persecution and anger from populations in the areas. Not understanding or comprehending how faith in the Messiah changed everything about people and how they related to one another. Love, not judgment. Treating everyone with love and respect. Our faith is meant to permeate every aspect of a believers life. Not being known as just a ‘good person’

Norm realizes that his faith is not separate from his work either. After ‘retiring’ from his automotive repair business, he has heard how well customers were treated by him. Quite a few times Norm was treated badly by customers. It was tempting to return the favor. Encouragement continues to highlight the strength and well being given to Norm by his faith in Jesus, King of the Universe. ‘Religion’ is not mandatory and that is good and right. The choice to be shown the road of holiness is ours. That path is our life and you don’t walk it only on Sunday morning.

The title of Norm’s new book reflects this conviction. ‘A fools highway to redemption’ Life changing behavior from Attitudes to Zeal for real life, real relationships and real fulfillment. The cure for the ills of the human condition since the decision in the first garden to be our own masters. It’s very same thing I struggle with inside of me . I want to be just like God. He did not consider equality with God as something to be grasped. By me, by you.

Freedom from the world’s ways to look and act with real love, not just affection. Real love. It’s pretty good. Jack Gator.

a, Dorothy Sayers

It has been said by visitors. It has been mentioned by friends near and far. The sanctuary, the retreat and safe place. A place of renewal and freedom. A few folks have been helped here. It is a home of those who have been called to offer a retreat or even adoption. It’s not easy to do so. But it is fulfilling.

There have been several who have been adopted and offered residence as long as they need to be here. Many such places have been scattered throughout the world. I’ve been given one, it is the least I can do to offer ours.

A reason for being bold, the main reason for anyone in my position to never back down. Never deny the power of Jesus. I have been told not to speak so ‘loudly’ about the Creator of my life. Your life. All life.

He is not some ‘shelf” god or someone that can do every thing that we think we need. Comfort, security and some sort of wealth. Opportunity, fame or a good reputation just because you think you deserve it. We don’t deserve anything from this world except a guarantee we will run out of gas. Run out of time after we stop running after the ghosts of those idols. No where to turn except the grave. There is hope however for us.

A promise from the pivot point of all men was a celebration this year. Again. The death of God and his appearance a few days later to hundreds. Deny it. Noting makes truth disappear. History is now challenged as just a story that can be changed as we wish. Libraries and professors of history are amused with absurd rejections of truth. Jesus’ death and resurrection is in history. Undeniable. The people that accepted death rather than deny this history are many. The logic and reality is that none of us would accept execution by torture if we were living a known lie. I would deny that pivot point of all mankind if I knew it was not truth.

There are a other streams of thought that engender death for a cause but none of them are noted in history of God dying for us. Loving us and mankind. None of them. The Japanese god emperor did not offer his life for you. The hijack and promise of worldly rewards after death did not die for you. The wisdom of eastern wise men did not die for you. None of them died and came back to life to be seen by at least 500 people. One of them taught sacrifice and love for our fellow men. Some of them promised death to those who did not believe in them. Several had scary underlings that punished you for not obeying their orders. These gods (small g) are false. I have lost a satisfying writing position because I would not deny this truth. As though the one savior of all mankind was an opinion. To we who believe the truth, there is nothing even close to an opinion about Jesus. Either you know Him or you do not. I do not condemn or criticize the wrong decisions made. Makes me sad.

Many much more erudite writers than I have done a very good job making this decision clear. My favorite one is C.S. Lewis. His favorite was G.K. Chesterton. I recommend reading their writing. If you can read this good advice, and I assume you can because you are reading this. Try it, those two authors alone woke me up. (Not the foolish way that word is used these days.) Awaken O sleeping ones and read history and make up your own minds. My life has been affected and even saved with miracles undeniable to me. Often these things are not believed by some. That’s OK with me. I know they are true. I was there. I am a warrior and not afraid to speak of the love of my life. Jesus. Be afraid, that’s OK too. We have all been afraid of affection. A big dog runs at you and knocks you down and with his paws holding you down, begins to lick your face. It’s a silly image but sometimes that’s the surprise and shock of having fear overwhelmed with affection. Just my way of trying to express the flood of love unexpected.I’d really enjoy talking to anyone with curiosity and hunger for truth about these things. It’s pretty good. Jack Gator

Back in the old days. Hard work and lemonade on the porch. Long time ago it was a bit easier to live on the farm. Long time ago. Good health and incredible harvests without too much effort. There was a perfect farm and garden on the market for Jack and the price was doable. Jack learned about compost piles and feeding the crops. New friends that farmed.

All Jack had to do was work a ways away in the big city which meant driving back and forth every day of the week. In his case, the usual 70 to 80 miles. A common distance for many commuters. Jack’s job was heavy labor which seemed to be normal whether living in the country or living in that big city. Get a job when it was time in your life to leave home and go to work. You also could stay at home and go back to school for years and bypass the hard labor but not work in some ways. In Jack’s life the mandatory work in the military happened with the benefits of sudden death but with friends. The draft which did not stand for wind in your house or driving close behind tractor trailers.

Of course, living in the city eliminated the driving but there was little else to do after work except hang out with friends or go shopping to spend your money on needed supplies. Car accessories, Records of music ( on vinyl of course ), furniture, food and beverages. The latter was the easiest and most regular purchase. Available locally in your neighborhood, and you usually met a friend or someone about to be a friend at the store. Entertainment was at the store too and it was a relaxing place to purchase those beverages. These things were the sum of the young adults life after leaving home. It relived the boredom of television, drugs or studying/reading books. In Jack’s life there were these things along with playing bits of music on a guitar.

Living now in the country, there was always a bit of driving involved to acquire these two things. There was, of course, a third thing to do. Hard labor at home. As most youthful adults it seemed an endless round about of doing these things forever. Until marriage and a bit more money was needed and a lot more of everything listed here except the beverages and entertainment. Usually. If the beverage shopping got a bit out of hand there also were courts and even jail to fill up the time. Those unpleasant things led to boredom and necessity to start the whole thing over again. The commuting got a bit more complicated as there were no buses or trains to commute to the big city. For a while, driving was not allowed to commute, so local work was needed. Real local. Back to the old days of living on the land and trying to survive the expenses we all pay. Usually hard labor without the option of working in tall buildings managing the people that did hard labor.

As in the photo, the hard labor in the country often had rewards. The extra time not spent in commuting and working in the big city was eliminated . The best work was at home as blacksmiths, fixing other peoples machinery or recently, ‘working remotely’ with electronic communication. It wasn’t always like these things I write about. Quite some time ago, Jack’s distant relatives only worked in the garden and enjoyed companionship with the land owner. Jack doesn’t know how long this arrangement went on but as we all have heard, a distant relative of the owner who used to co-own everything, had a mean streak and convinced Jack’s relatives that they could own and design this incredible garden themselves! It didn’t work out well for all of us relatives and they got tossed out of the perfect garden and we had to ‘earn a living’ filled with sometimes unfulfilling hard,sweaty labor, pain and a great burden they could not pay off until a new contract was completed. This pleasant new contract is now with a very close relative. It’s pretty good. Jack

Clarity of vision means a lot more to Jack than lens cleaner and a tack cloth. my glasses, which sit near me when I read in the morning have smudges upon them and need to have my fingerprints from eating his morning cinnamon toast cleaned off. A lot more.

The need to be alone and clean the smudges of our world can’t be erased by a cloth or a bath and a towel.

We acquire the smudges from our clinging to to our loneliness. Attempting to have fellowship with others to distract or substitute the others for our loneliness. Thinking that the ‘fellowship’ with men will heal our core fears and lonely lives within us.

These thoughts, from Bonhoeffers “the day with others” relates our need to actually do what we dread. To be alone and seek true peace with solitude. This is not new wisdom by any means. We need reminders what the ‘desert fathers and mothers’ have to share with us. Wisdom and freedom from ourselves results from being alone! The very thing we fear to be. Alone with our world.

We seek escape from seemingly meaningless life with quests of money, power, recognition and positions of seen wisdom. We still have fear of lack deep inside and other peoples seemingly ordered and safe lives are a torture to our perceived worthlessness. A quote from Thomas Kempis, five centuries ago, lines the cure out quite well and quite astonishingly. “ The only man who can appear public is the one who wishes he were at home” Fellowship is spoiled when we use it to run from our issues.

I know this feeling quite well. Origins of my fear of loss can be seen coming from history. It’s not too hard for me to meditate on those things. Does it help? Of course not. I just believe that others and their company will make a difference. It makes it worse often. People, friends, can’t cure our inner loneliness. Blaming fellowship for our own faults. “Judgment has been loosed into the community which never goes well” A.

Often the thought comes to us that this isolation and lonesomeness with God will do us well when we are removed from people. We are not created to be saved from people but for people. Look to the Psalms and prayer and feared isolation for the cure for fear of the world and fear from the striving for recognition and reward.

It always is the path to wellness and joy with our mentor and lover, Jesus Christ. He went away to be in communion with His father when His disciples only see words of success were coming forth for their Lord and Rabbi. So, be alone with your Creator that loves to speak to you and I. It’s pretty good.

As a side note to the glasses reference, now I have had surgery to restore my long distance vision and the glasses I clean are my reading glasses. Same deal of cleaning them, only now I can find them easier.

Norm Peterson /Jack Gator

A. Andrew Arndt lead pastor of New Life East.