Friday night was a surreal moment for "The Common Man"
Under a blanket of stars on a perfect summer's night before a quiet lake which shimmered like Galadriel's mirror, I indulged myself with a favourite chore - building a fire. It was a moment of pure bliss, with three of my four children at the cottage with me and the fourth ever present in my mind, a cold libation and pleasant thoughts, I revelled that for thousands of years this same setting would have tugged at the heart strings of the common man. It was something with which every man could identify. Revelling in the vastness of God's creation surrounded by the love of one's family and knowing that one small speck of existence was yet of infinite value to the One who had created it all. The fire blazing - mesmerizing as it always is - occasional sparks floating up to heaven with my prayers of thanksgiving. It is good to be alive. The warmth of those inviting flames were just a chill next to the joy I felt in my heart.

The Common Man was born out of a desire to publish the view of the world from the eyes of the average man. Our society was built by the sweat and blood of people for whom the world would not give a second look. We have grown into a society of relativism - a legal system with no concept of justice, of rights without duty, legislation without honour. Small and vicious lobby groups impose their will on the majority who look at one another and say "How did this happen?"
The poem with which this Blog was introduced was the view of a common man. Hard working, decent, loving with a sense of duty - to family, to friends, to his God. The events of this current age and the shaking of truths long held unassailable (more out a conviction of common sense than anything else) fuels a sense of almost desperation. In many ways this man could be me, though it is not. The man in the poem is not sustained by an unshakable faith in the God of the Bible as I am. He does not believe that Christ is victorious and all things move according to the pattern He has set. Nor does he see that all things work for good.
As time permits, my goal is put events in perspective as I try to see it from his eyes.