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Fire in our hearts - Jesus Army

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FIRE IN OUR HEARTS THE LORD TOOK HOLD OF BUGBROOKE<br />

rented an empty house. He felt the responsibility of the baby.<br />

He worked a long hard day for an Irish ganger and broke<br />

with dope. After a police raid, friends <strong>in</strong> London had gone<br />

down for two years on drug charges, and Rufus felt he’d had<br />

a narrow escape.<br />

Purity was his goal now. He shaved his hair, leav<strong>in</strong>g a pony<br />

tail — which Jess cut off! She detested the Hare Krishna scene<br />

that seemed to dehumanise her friends. There were blowups<br />

between them and Rufus would sometimes lash out and<br />

hit her. Dope no longer soothed his conscience and guilts came<br />

crash<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>. He meditated three h<strong>our</strong>s a day and fasted, but<br />

out on the build<strong>in</strong>g site he wept with cold and exhaustion.<br />

Enlightenment seemed a million miles away.<br />

In desperation, he read the New Testament and saw the<br />

idolatry <strong>in</strong> Krishna. The Gurus were also turn<strong>in</strong>g him off and<br />

stories of their affluence disgusted him. He plunged <strong>in</strong>to<br />

macrobiotics and spent his money on special foods. Even the<br />

dogs were vegetarian! He dreamed of a houseboat on the<br />

river, and laid out £500, but the boat turned out to be rotten.<br />

It felt k<strong>in</strong>d of symbolic.<br />

Then <strong>in</strong> the new year he met John Cornish. John seemed<br />

everyth<strong>in</strong>g that Rufus wasn’t — contented, relaxed, a picture<br />

of sanity.<br />

‘Wow! You’re look<strong>in</strong>g great!’ said Rufus. ‘What’s that under<br />

y<strong>our</strong> arm?’<br />

John flushed and unwrapped a Bible.<br />

‘Man, you’re really <strong>in</strong>to it!’<br />

Rufus longed for what John had. A friend gave him a tract<br />

about a cartoon hippy who gets ripped off, burned out, and<br />

ends up <strong>in</strong> a mess. Then the guy meets some <strong>Jesus</strong> People,<br />

78

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