Out of the Past with a Twist of Truth: A Collection of Original True Short Stories with an Application to Life

By Norman R. Gardner and June M. Gardner

Norman R. Gardner was a natural storyteller who excelled at taking everyday incidents from his life experiences and relating them to his audience, while gleaning spiritual application from the story. Out of the Past with a Twist of Truth offers a collection of humorous, thought-provoking, and down-to-earth illustrations from his past.

Unique pastor for sixty-three years, he was noted for his love of the color red and for wearing red western boots in the pulpit. Norman loved riding motorcycles almost as much as he loved preaching and telling humorous stories from his past.

The stories first appeared in the 1990-1991 church newsletter “The Messenger” in Orange Park, Florida and were compiled by his wife, author June M. Gardner, after his death on Memorial Day, 2021 at the age of eighty-five.

Illustrated by artist friend, Frances Anne Thompson, these stories are meant to provide enjoyment and inspiration.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jun 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9781664267701

Norman R. Gardner

June M. Gardner has been writing family and local history books since 2010. Visit her online at junemgardner.com

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Copyright © 2022 Norman R. Gardner.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

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Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

844-714-3454

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Interior Image Credit: Frances Anne Thompson

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-6769-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-6771-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-6770-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022909920

WestBow Press rev. date: 06/13/2022

Dedicated to

the Memory of

Norman Russ Gardner

1935—2021

Whose stories were from his memory and written to encourage members of his congregation with biblical truths.

Norman.jpg

Norman Gardner

CONTENTS

Preface

Introduction

Acknowledgements

Section I The Christian Life

Section II The Church

Section III Faith and Prayer

Section IV Life Events

Section V Others

Afterword

PREFACE

Out of the Past with a Twist of Truth is a selection of fifty stories originally written by Pastor Norman Gardner for The Family Reminder newsletter of Ridgewood Baptist Church in Orange Park, Florida from 1990 to 1991 and The Messenger newsletter of Goucher Baptist Church in Gaffney, South Carolina in 2005.

The stories are often humorous, thought- provoking, down-to-earth, true illustrations from his past. Originally they were written to encourage his congregation in living the Christian life and serving the Lord. They were always signed with the words, I Love You, Norman.

Compiled by his wife, author June McManus Gardner, and illustrated by her artist friend, Frances Anne Thompson, these stories are shared for your enjoyment and inspiration, and may be used as devotionals.

Norman Gardner was a natural storyteller who loved having an audience to listen to his stories. He had saved these stories and intended to have them published prior to his death in 2021 at the age of eighty-five.

Following is his legacy—the Introduction. It was beautifully handwritten in cursive on yellow-lined legal paper and dated 1990.

INTRODUCTION

I have been told that a sign of old age is when we start reminiscing. I must be getting old because I can remember what happened forty-five years ago better than I can remember the things of today.

This book is about things that happened years ago. It contains true stories from my past—stories I have loved and told over and over again. They are a vital part of me, and many of them have affected my life permanently. I use them to highlight spiritual truths and hope they may have a life-changing effect on those who read them.

I am grateful for my heritage and have always enjoyed sharing it. I am also thankful for the love of family and especially of my wife, June, who has sat and listened to these stories as they were told to new people. She has faithfully smiled each time through her boredom.

I am also grateful to my children who listened to them, but not as often. I look forward to Joshua and Caleb, my grandchildren, getting old enough to listen to them so I can have a new and fresh audience. By then they may remember more of the past.

Most of all, I am thankful to the Lord Jesus Christ for my Christian faith that has helped me to blend the past with spiritual truths.

I hope you enjoy reading these brief stories as much as I enjoyed