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It was a 9 a.m. appointment I didn’t want to keep. Peter Laue and I were to meet at my house this particular morning. For some reason, I was not feeling my best. I had one of those spells of depression that most of us have at times.
How could I reach Peter, my dear friend, to tell him of my difficulty? I concluded that there was no way. I felt certain he had already started for my place, and this proved to be a fact when the doorbell rang. I felt trapped in a situation I did not really desire.
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As I opened the door there stood Peter dressed in his customary rugged garments with a huge cross suspended from his neck. I noticed mainly his clear blue eyes. Nearly eight hours later, my eyes were still fixed on his. We had talked practically non-stop for this length of time. My depression had disappeared in less than three minutes after his arrival. That’s what Peter Laue does to you.
In those hours, we broke only to go to a small, informal neighborhood restaurant, and with his less than conventional attire and big cross swaying, he had the same effect on most of the diners as he had on me. He captivated them with his hearty laugh, his quick, sharp humor and the obvious evidence of a very close relationship with the Lord – not frightening or formidable but nevertheless a fact even to the so-called man in the street or, as in this instance, more appropriately, the man in the restaurant. That’s what Peter Laue does to you.
As you read his book, you will discern suffering … depression, hurt, humiliation, rejection…you name it.
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To have Peter come into your presence as he did on that morning when I wished for almost anything else and to spend instead nearly eight hours of sheer joy, inspiration and praise with him meant that something had happened to this individual that was indeed spiritual—a transformation most assuredly not of this realm.
As you read his story as bitter as it may be, you might possibly realize for yourself a measure of similar spiritual transformation. You may weep as you read but you might also feel some of the wonder that is available to those willing to deliver themselves completely to the One who can turn tears into joy, fear into courage, weakness into strength, hatred into love, despair into hope.
What God did for Peter, He can do for you and me … if we but totally give ourselves completely to Him.
Harold M. Norman
[The sandblasted sign above the fireplace is made from a slab of aspen wood. It is in the shape of a foot and has a clock in its heel. It reads: “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19)]
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