“Making Peace with Reality” is a well organized book by a retired military officer, who has trained with the best, seen the chaos of life and learned how to overcome the traumas of life to gain and sustain peace. God created us for the Garden of Eden, but the fall created the chaos that we live in now and human efforts only complicate that reality.

Jerry White is clear, succinct and challenging. He establishes the reality of chaos from every angle and helps the reader realize there is no magic human formula, but there is a Divine plan to live through the chaos and be an overcomer. Jerry spent his career in the military and every officer and non-commissioned officer should read it, but it also reads well for those who like organized and outlined plans for living.

He deals with several myths that burst many bubbles of humanistic thinkers. For example: God must prosper us materially; There are guaranteed steps to escape the effects of chaos; It will get better with time, so just wait; If I live a more spiritual life, I will not be impacted by the chaos around me; and If I radically simplify my life, I will solve my chaos problem.

Then he follows those myths by addressing several “pipe dreams.” For example: There is an idyllic perfect future and I can create it; There is one perfect way to live; The latter part of my life will be easier and simpler; There will be increasing ease as technology lifts my load. I could really laugh at these.

Finally in that chapter on “No Magic Formula,” he identified several fairy tales. For example: We will live happily ever after; All technological and material advances are bad; All technological and material advances are good; One marriage, one career, one family are the norm for an idyllic life; and The “good guys” always win. These bring us to the reality from the human perspective, they are truly myths, pipe dreams and fairy tales, but a life focused on Jesus Christ is spiritually beyond anything anyone could ever imagine.

Jerry White writes with and about passion. You can feel it in his words and see it in his solutions. There are good Biblical-sense principles that will help you orient your life to make peace with reality.