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In the meantime, I have come to know the man because I have been his son-in-law; and I have come to know his peace because I went out and joined myself to the rhythms of creation. However foolish and light my effort, I have a tractor. I do a little farming.

Martin Bohlmann was peaceful upon the land because he saw himself as small beneath the firmament. But his size was no diminishment. It was the beginning of wisdom. Martin was patient in creation because he believed himself to be an integral part of it all, a citizen of the universe, placed there by the wise Creator.

Faith and trust and farming were all the same to my father-in-law; therefore, he read the weather as humbly as he read the Bible, seeking what to obey. Martin was an obedient man, and his obedience was the source of his peace. Daily he did more than just read and interpret the rhythms of creation; even as Prince and Silver, heeding the farmer's mute commands, moved in communion with him, so did Martin, obeying the signs of the Creator, enter into communion with God eternal.

Here is peace: not in striving for greatness but in recognizing who is truly great. And this is peace: by sweet humility to do the will of the Creator. This is peace: to bear the image of God into creation.

And this is peace: to know and to believe Isaiah's words regarding grasshoppers.

Have you not known? Has it not been told you from the beginning? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in . …

Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, not one is missing. (Isa. 40:21-22, 26)

As long as he worked the earth, Martin enjoyed an unbroken communication with the one who sits above the circle of the earth. He never doubted that he had a personal purpose and a sacred worth.

And this is peace: to know that this communication with the Creator could not even be broken by death.

In his own good time the farmer knelt down and scooped up a handful of the black earth. Then, when at last he let the soil blow out of his hands again, it was himself that blew upon the wind, the dust of his human frame and the lightsome stuff of his spirit. Never had there been much distance between the earth and his heart and the earth again.

Martin died in a perfect peace.

And when his family gathered around the coffin to view his body once before the burial, we saw a joke, a wonderful joke. His hair was still, stiff and tangled as barbed wire, his nose a majesty thrust upward from the polished coffin; and his old eyes were closed. But into the corner of our father's mouth—to the deep distress of the mortician—someone had stuck a toothpick.

Walter Wangerin Jr. teaches theology, English, and creative writing at Valparaiso University. He published Paul: A Novel last autumn.

Copyright © 2001 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Wangerin's bio tells us that he is the author of more than 20 spiritual books for children and adults. A bibliography of Wangerin's works is available from Regent College.

Wangerin himself teaches at Valparaiso University.

Wangerin and his wife Thanne share more about their family and marriage in Marriage Partnership's "Clearing the Air."

Read "The Ragman", a short story by Wangerin.

Wangerin discussed his Book of God and Bible interpretation on PBS's News Hourin 1996.

Wangerin's Book of God and Paul: A Novel are available from the Christianity Today bookstore.

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March 5 2001, Vol. 45, No. 4