Peter Snyder

Ever since high school I’ve felt I was an artist, but wasn’t sure I could make a living doing art. Architecture seemed more like a “professional” path to follow, and more likely for me to make a living, so that’s what I did. I have done some interesting projects, like some challenging medical units, a house built on and around boulders, several other houses, a number of small business buildings, and a church for the largest African American congregation in Chattanooga. But I enjoyed art, and I missed the enthusiasm I had with what little art I did do. Now, I’m trying to make up for lost time in the art world. Regarding hang-gliding, I always wanted to fly, but flying lessons seemed too expensive. So, when hang-gliding came on the scene, I jumped at the chance to fly inexpensively. The experiences I had with it were both exhilarating and profound.

Growing up mostly in northern New Jersey, but spending weeks in the summer down in Mississippi, and living in Texas for a couple of years gave me a child’s view of those places. We used to move every three or four years, so I never had a place that felt like home. But I began to learn about tensions that are still in our country because of the Civil War. I went to college in South Carolina and then moved to the Boston area for almost eight years. These experiences gave me more of adult perspective of the regional differences and tensions that have grown out of the Civil War. But when I moved to the Chattanooga area, I finally felt I had found a home, even though I knew no one when I settled there.

After I had lived in the Chattanooga area for 13 years, I learned my Great-Great-Grandfather fought in the Battles of Chickamauga, Chattanooga, and Ringgold Gap. Chickamauga Battlefield is only about five miles from where I was living. I went there and inquired about any evidence of him having fought there. A ranger in the Visitor Center looked him up and told me his name was on four battlefield plaques. That really piqued my curiosity about him and our family history. So, I started digging into history books and learning all I could about him and his two brothers who were also in the war. That research put me in touch with distant cousins and widened my understanding of our family history.

I met a few reenactors and found out what it would take to get into reenacting. I assembled a second-hand wool uniform, hand sewed my own period shirt, bought some used period brogans (shoes), a slouch hat, a copy of a period rifle, and certain accoutrements. My G-G-Grandfather was a colonel, but I was not concerned about having that rank as a reenactor. I just wanted to see first-hand some of what it was like for those men during the war. I found myself at times marching in sloppy mud and at times in such dry ground I couldn’t see my feet for the dust we stirred up. I learned to drill with that Enfield rifle. I found I couldn’t hear the officers’ commands when we were in a battle, so I took out my earplugs and now I’m hard of hearing. I also got into marksmanship competitions with a black powder Hawken rifle, which was a lot of fun. But it was not all fun and games. Even though we were not in a real battle, it seriously pushed me physically as most of the men in my regiment were younger than I. Along with reading about the war, reenacting was probably the best way to learn what those soldiers experienced, short of seeing death and dying and all the carnage of war.

I always wanted a son I could name after me, my father and grandfathers. But I eventually realized that wasn’t going to happen. So, when asked to teach the fourth-grade boys’ class, I was happy to give it a try. I figured it was perhaps more important to help young men build a relationship with God and be part of His family than to have a boy as part of my earthly family. Teachers have to learn more than their students in order to teach them. So, all that preparation time brought me into a closer relationship with my heavenly Father than I would have had if I’d just sat in an adult class all those years.

I sometimes asked my classes if they knew what “morals” were. I found that nearly all of them had no knowledge of that subject. Morality has to come from somewhere, either from the culture we live in, which can be godless or corrupt, or it comes from God. He gave us the Ten Commandments through Moses, and the Pharisees and Sadducees invented and enforced another 600 rules to keep people under their control. But Christ reduced them to two commandments, which can be found in Mark 12: 29-31 – “The foremost is ‘Hear O Israel! The LORD our God is one LORD; and you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Now we have legislators who make up laws that have over 2,000 pages. How far astray we have gone! And God’s laws include the Natural Laws, like gravity. Men have studied propulsion and aerodynamics and can loft a many-ton airplane that seems to defy gravity. But if the laws of aerodynamics are broken, that bird will come down like anything that goes up “must come down.” So, it’s best to learn God’s laws and obey them. And the best way to have a proper foundation for learning is through His holy Word. So many people, especially children, have no idea how much value there is to be found in the Bible. It was the most widely read book around the time our country was founded. There have been five to seven billion copies printed since Johannes Gutenberg printed the first one in 1455. The Bible is the most popularly purchased book in the world. But a lot of them collect dust on bookshelves. What a treasure is available if only people would open it.

Family and family relationships are very important. Family is one of the basic building blocks of civilization founded by God, as is government and the church. If we would exercise our decisions in the family, in business, government and in the church according to direction given in God’s Word, we would have a lot more unity, peace, and strength in our nation.

I struggle with that to this day. I need to make choices that favor others more than myself. It’s a matter of balance, and sometimes I lose that balance. Then it takes work to restore balance. A popular Christian acronym for JOY is Jesus first, Others next, and Yourself last. That can be challenging.

Aside from experiencing the different environment from land on the water, I have always been fascinated with the way of a sail in the wind, whether flying a hang glider, or sailing a boat. We can’t see the wind, but we can see the effects of it. 2 Peter 1: 21 is fascinating verse – “...no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” That word “moved” in the original language refers to the way a sail is moved by the wind. We cannot see the Spirit, but we can recognize the effects of it. Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control: against such things there is no law.” The fruits of an evil spirit are listed in Galatians 5:19-21.

You’ll need to read my book to get an answer to this question. Reenacting, reading and studying the war adds up to a more complete experience. Reenacting can take you through a bit of a time warp, but wide reading and study really brings it home.

I can spend many hours on one painting. But I can go outside, be in nature, and be overwhelmed by the beauty, the composition, the colors, the shapes and smells and sounds of God’s natural creation. Everywhere I look is a magnificent creation. He is the supreme Creator!

During the Vietnam war, I was a Conscientious Objector. I didn’t know if I would get that classification, but a good friend suggested I apply for it. I ended up serving two years alternative service in the Maintenance and Engineering Department of Beth Israel Hospital in Brookline, Massachusetts. My thinking was that if I put my presence on the side of peace, then there would be less weight on the side of war, as if there were two places for weights to balance a scale. However, through my study of war in the history books and in the Bible, I learned that God uses war to punish and reward nations. War is an eruption of evil. And evil must be resisted. I have to ask, “Why did America have to fight that war that killed more Americans than all the other wars our country has ever been in, combined?” England got rid of slavery without firing a shot, even in the whole of the British worldwide empire! It takes two to have a fight. One side is usually not the only one to blame. Reconciliation is a challenge that needs to be practiced sooner rather than later, and it needs to be reinforced if we are ever going to have peace and prosperity. The blame and shame, accusations and faultfinding we have in our country today are extremely divisive and destructive.

I hope that people will learn from my mistakes as well as things I learned and did well. But it’s not only our own efforts that will bring the fulness of life and liberty, it’s God’s blessings through our familiarity with and our obedience to His Word. We need to be seeking Him more than the things of this world. Consider all the time we spend on the things of this world that draw and capture our time and attention, and how little time we spend getting closer to Him as revealed in the Bible, reading and praying. We fall so far short of what would be healthy. Will our prayers ascend to His heavenly throne, or will they mire in the muck of mammon?

I was never a “Tarot Master.” I dabbled in Tarot for a while. I learned that they are only cards with ink or paint on them, but they can become idols. Idols have no life in them, but demonic spirits behind them are evil. When I learned that, I took my deck out in the back yard and burned them up, including the leather case I’d made for them. I would advise anyone playing with them to get them out of your life. Destroy them. They can only bring tragedy.

I’m thinking about a couple of possible books, but haven’t settled on what to do next. One is a recounting of the wartime experiences of Colonel Snyder and his family. I’ve done a fair amount of research on this and have nineteen chapters outlined, but there’s a lot more research to do. The other idea is to take the two most important commandments Jesus presented and develop a better understanding of the priorities he stated, plus explain how we earthbound creatures get that all confused. I can see a lot of potential in this.

I have been encouraged by AllAuthor. I appreciate the posts that have been made on Twitter/X and Instagram since I have little knowledge of those. Someone has researched my book and come up with some good hashtags and comments. I like the GIFs, too. Thank you for those. And thank you for the thoughtful questions I’ve just answered. I’m interested to see what you do with them.