Monday 3:00PM
March 31, 2008
..............................FROM A BOY TO A MAN.............................
I CORINTHIANS 13:11
.................."When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."
.....Maybe I should of thought about inserting a disclaimer a lot earlier in sharing my life story, realizing that if I was to be brutally honest, TRANSPARENT, in the telling that out of necessity....I may be bringing forth revelations that others would rather that I didn't???
.....Even yet, I must interject at this point, that I am in no way motivated by malicious intent, nor to bring harm or injury to those loved or otherwise, whose paths in life are inexorably intertwined with mine.
.....For some folk...the telling will be a happy occasion for they will be lauded as Hero's and others will feel scandalized as villains....After all we live in a culture that prefers to let "Sleeping Dogs" lie.
....Leave the "Skeletons" in the closet, for no one cares to gaze upon the " Raw Guts & Bloody Bones" of our shame and secret past.
....AFTER ALL, WASN'T IT JESUS,??? THAT DECLARED, " ....THE TRUTH SHALL SET US FREE..."
....So there will be no changing of the names to protect the innocent, as none of us are "INNOCENT!"
..."Let every man be a liar, but let god be true."... " Let you who is without sin, cast the first stone."
........"Why callest me thou Good?"... " There is none good, Save for our Father in Heaven." Jesus Himself said. And He lived a perfect, sin free life, no matter what the Heretical Davinci Code implies!
....Our righteousness is nothing but filthy rags...All of the hypocritical, self righteous piety that we can muster will never amount to anything more than a garbage can of bloody filthy disgusting used Sanitary Napkins....
... Bloody Kotex is the honest exegesis of that passage of sacred text!
Hate me if you must, or love me and forgive me if you will...If not, then sue me!!!
............At this junction of my life, and this portion of my journey, I am on a quest to once and for all be free of the demons that have haunted me to the point of my utter destruction, and no hurt or damage, that mortal man might inflict upon my person, will ever compare, or come close to the damage, that I have brought upon myself ...to the cause of my own ruination!!!
Shakespeare said it best I believe.....
............................."TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE!"
How any child from our generation survived unscathed, or lived to adulthood, can only be attributed to DIVINE INTERVENTION!
I'm not sure when it was, on my journey... that I lost my INNOCENCE, and became a man, transitioning from being the victim, to becoming the victimizer.
It is also, equally difficult, to discern... if being the one, causes you to become the other.
... Many a criminal trial verdict, is decided upon the knowing of this very thing...Many a jury has been sorely vexed by this question????????
Again, I must say, that I'm not quite sure exactly when it was... that I lost my Innocence....Maybe, when I was at the young, and tender age of 3, when we were visiting my Mamaw & Papaw Bowling's... way back in the hollers of the Appalachian Mountains, Letcher County Kentucky.
My Grandmother's Name was, Alta (Caudill) Bowling, And My Grandfather's name was, Joseph Bowling,
...All of us youngin's had been bedded down together on a pallet of hand sewn quilts on the kitchen floor of this small modest house...Little more than a shack by today's standards.
........Anyways, They lived back in what was once a coal miners camp. That was one of my favorite childhood places to visit.
... Mamaw & Papaw Bowling, had 9 kids, and my daddy was the oldest, 6 boys and 3 girls. Oscar, Otis, Carl Eugene, Mansfield, James Alvin (Cotton), and Chester were the sons. Betty Joe, Loretta, and Vanderue were their Daughters. Loretta was my favorite aunt and she loved me very much, as I did her. She died tragically of brain cancer when she was 18 years old. It was my first experience with death, as well as I can remember,... and I just didn't understand why, my favorite Aunt, was lying in that pretty wooden box at the house, and all the grownups were crying and carrying on.
.... Getting back to my story, ...I remember that night as plain as day, as I well should. After going to bed on that floor surrounded by aunts, uncles, and cousins, most of us close to the same age, my 5 year old aunt performed oral sex on me and asked me to return the favor. I don't think I was traumatized by it, as I was not brutally forced.
... Actually, as sick as it may sound, I was quite excited, and in my recalling of it over the years, it felt as if it were a pleasant experience. Nothing more than curious innocence.
...It was only after I became an adult and reflected back on it that I am repulsed and horrified at the thought of it. It happened that one time and I actually never thought much more about it.
... How many memories do you retain as a 3 yr. old?
.....Maybe my innocence & childhood was lost between ages 6 thru 9 when I had a variety of different sexual experiences, again mostly with relatives on my mothers side, I especially remember some experiences with a 1st cousin, my Mothers oldest brothers Daughter, She called it playing house or doctor. She said she had watched her Mom & Dad through the bedroom door without them knowing about it.
...It again, was all fairly innocent, even though I had this very bad feeling, that what we was doing, was very naughty, and therefore, we had to make sure, that no one else knew about it, or we would be skinned alive, as they used to say.
... Belts and switches were the preferred methods of corporal punishment, back in the day.... with the very worst and most feared being the Razor Strop...Many a time we were threatened with it, but I don't ever recall it actually being used on me, or anyone else for that matter.
.....The mere mention of it was enough to cause you to near piss yourself.
....I do remember though, that Rita and I did finally get caught, or rather was seen by someone, who said, they seen us with our pants down, with each other.
... All that I remember happening at that age, was fondling, and maybe kissing.
... We were way too young, to know how to do actual intercourse, or penetration.
I can remember a very emotional talking too, I got, and then a severe spanking, with the admonition,... that Rita and I were never to be alone with each other ever again, And we were not....But Oh, How I loved that Girl!
That kind of thing happened on occasion, with some of the neighborhood girls, as well, over that period of three years... between age 6 - 9... and it was always childish curiosity.
... Never was it forced on me, nor did I force it on anyone else,...
....I can say, It helped me realize, how important it is... for us to be extra vigilant with our kids.
... How we, as much as possible,... should make sure, and supervise, and chaperon our children.
... I would never allow my girls, or boys to sleep with members of the opposite sex, even at a very young age.
.....Throughout my childhood, it seemed like there was an ongoing conspiracy... to steal my innocence from me... as I was being forced to grow up through incredibly rough circumstances,
... I'm going to run through,... a calamity of errors,... not unlike, "The Perils of Pauline"
....age 10 - My family is broken,... because my mother said, "She could no longer live with my Father,"... because of marital infidelity.
... She wanted a divorce, my Father did not. Actually, it turned into Several years of battles... back and forth, starting at age 6 or 7.
towards the end at about 10 years old my mother met another man for the second time.... The First man, was a guy named Stan,... whom, I vaguely remember, and he,... supposedly, is the Father of my little Brother Jeffery.
... Mom and Dad reconciled briefly after her pregnancy, and Daddy claimed, and accepted Jeff as his own... Oscar Bowling, My Real Dad, Gave Jeffery his last name.
I was not aware of this until much later in life.
.....The Second Mans name, was Ron Sorrell,... and I'll never forget the night that I was awakened, in the middle of the night,... to raised voices, and a lot of commotion in the living room. I got out of bed, and walked into one of the most traumatic scenes... of my young life.
... My Daddy, was holding a shotgun on Ronny, and my Mom.
Daddy was screaming for Ronny to leave the house, and for him to stay the hell away from his family,... or he was going to kill him...!
....I don't even remember how the situation was diffused... I supposed, that I've somehow blocked it out of my mind!... It was shortly after that.....My Mother, and Father, split up, and we moved to Dayton Ohio, with Ronny, into a small apartment,... in what I remember, to be a ghetto! Where I spent the worst... 3 or 4 months of my life up until that point.
...I started learning about, sneaking out the window, in the middle of the night, to run the streets... in a big, mean city, with a group of older boys... in a loosely formed gang.
Several things stick out in my mind... My Mother, and Ronny went out all the time, and we were left with a babysitter.
...It turned out, that our sitter was the neighborhood whore. And one night, the leader of this gang, in our neighborhood, came over,... and was pressing my babysitter for sex! ... When I stood up for her,... and tried to intervene,...
... He took a kitchen knife out of the drawer, and backed me into a corner, and convinced me... that he was going to kill me!
... I was terrified, crying and begging, for him not to kill me...My babysitter stepped in, and pacified him, by taking him in the bedroom... and giving him what he wanted...
...I'm sure, she saved my life, because he was being egged on... to do me... by several of his cohorts that were there that night as well.
.....I remember also, that for some reason, I didn't have shoes that fit me for almost a month, and there was so much broken glass everywhere in that neighborhood,... that my feet were a bloody mess.
... I don't really remember exactly, how it came about,... other than,.. I remember some of the adults, and families, that lived in our apartment building, began talking, and complaining about how my parents were neglecting us kids!
... and especially being upset over the condition of my feet, and not having any shoes to wear.
... They also, would talk about, how it wasn't right for them to leave us with babysitters all the time,... while they went out drinking, and running around.
....For the first time in my life... I was exposed to a lot of profanity, drinking and loud verbal arguments in our home.
... I had never been exposed to that kind of chaos in my life, and it was especially hard on me, because I felt like I needed to somehow protect my little sister and brother from all of this...But I was completely powerless to do so,
... and then I began to look for trouble myself, sneaking out at night, to run the streets with those boys in the neighborhood...The same ones that had earlier threatened my life.
.....I don't know for certain, but I suspect, that Mom and Ronny, began to come under some kind of scrutiny with the child welfare folks,... and that is how us Kids got dropped off at Mamaw & Papaw Hudson's.
...My Grandmother's Name was, Dorothy (Ohare) Hudson, and My Granfather's Name was, Coleman Hudson. They had 5 sons, Jerry, Larry, Carl, Terry, and Barry, and 3 daughters, Shirley, Phyllis, and Sandy.
... My Mom, seemed to drop off the face of the Earth.
We were abandoned for about 6 months I believe...And I can remember conversations at my grandparents, where things were being said, that "Nobody had any Idea what had happened to my mother"... because she hadn't been heard from for so long .....that for all they knew...Ronny had killed her, and threw her body into the Kalamazoo river.
....Can you imagine the impact that had on me emotionally at that age?
....My Sister and Brother claim to have no memory of this time in their lives. Delana was 4 years younger than me, and Jeffery was just a baby. I am 8 years older than him .
.....Some of my own memories are a little fuzzy also, as I am sure that the trauma of it all, caused me to block some of it out.
I remember being enrolled in the same school as my mothers younger brothers and sister. They were very close to my age. My Mom was only 16 when I was born, and their was 8 children in her family.
... Her brothers, Barry and Terry, were more like brothers to me, and Sandy was like an older sister to me.
As much as it pains me to admit it...there was also some sexual experimentation that went on with those three while we lived there.
... Most of my memories during that time were quite good, and I was happy to be there. I remember learning how to swim, and fish.
... We went camping in their truck camper, and fished alot.
My Mamaw And Papaw are very dear to me... even to this day. They were more like my Mom and Dad because they loved us kids, and had a big role in raising me.
...Papaw Hudson was a hard working factory man, who worked for years at Frigidaire. He also was An Old Regular Baptist Preacher, whose life and lifestyle had much to do with some of the better choices that I made later on in my life.
I am quite certain, the biggest reason, that our family survived... and eventually overcame all the evil that has befallen us, is largely due, to the prayers and promises that God made to my GrandFather, and my Grandmother.
... It seems to me... to be... very much like the covenant that God made with Abraham.
... That is, that God would bless his seed, and multiply his family.
... I cant even tell you for certain, how many Grandchildren, Great grandchildren, and great great Grandchildren they have?
Those Grandparents are still living as of this date today.
...I also remember, acting out quite a bit during that time we lived with them, and getting into a lot of fights with neighborhood boys.
.... Barry and Terry kind of egged it on, because I had gotten quite a reputation for being a tough Kid,... and quite handy with my fists.
....That was something that I had Ronny,... Mom's new man, to thank for,... because he wasn't going to have no sissy for a son, he said. Also. he got sick and tired of watching me, being chased home... crying, and beat up by the neighborhood bully's all the time .
...He was a tough guy himself,... with a reputation as a tough bar room brawler, and prior to the two of them running away together, he taught me how to stick up for myself.
.... He told me, that if I came running home crying anymore because I was allowing these tough guys and girls to beat on me...He said, if you don't fight back, then I'm gonna really give you something to cry about.....Trust me, when I say, "I got quite handy in the art of street fighting."
... I was not a bully, but if some one started in on me, I mopped the ground up with them, and it felt good to gain that respect.
....I had alot of anger inside me, and it served me well in my struggle to survive, especially later when Mom showed up out of the blue one day and whisked us away to Kalamazoo, Michigan. Her and Ronny as we called him had gotten married.
I suppose this is a good place to stop at this point and I'll try and pick back up from here in my next post.
I have to say though, that when I started with this I had no idea that I would wind up going into all this detail....I want so bad to quit talking about all of the negative things that transpired in my life and jump ahead to the things that happened a few years after I got married.....Soon my friends.....very soon....I hope!
Be Well AND Be Blessed In The Beloved
Michael
Monday, March 31, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
A FEW MORE CHAPTERS OF MY TESTIMONY
Sunday 1:00 PM
March 30, 2008
I CORINTHIANS 1:27, 29, ...31
"But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;"
"That no flesh should glory in His presence."
"That, according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord,
....UNCONDITIONAL LOVE MODELED BY MOM and DAD EDMONDS!
.....Picking the story back up shortly after Beth took me home to meet her parents...
As I stated before, Mom & Dad Edmonds were not overjoyed when their teenage daughter brought her new Beau home to meet them, and rightly so...
They would have been terrified, if they only knew the places that Beth went with me and the danger she constantly faced by being my girl... I had no moral compass, doing what was right because it was right was a totally foreign concept to me....
... The world I grew up in was a world of mixed and confusing messages.
....The things that were important to me, ...My values were based on a philosophy of do it unto others before they do it unto you...If it feels good do it, and do it for all you are worth...Party Hardy was one of our favorite sayings, PARTY...PARTY...PARTY!!!!
... SEX, DRUGS, and ROCK and ROLL WAS OUR MANTRA! We were proud of it, and I took my very young and naive bride to be along for the ride with me... And Clyde And Shirley Edmonds' daughter, was in constant danger as my companion.
... Sure, I was hard worker, I always kept a job, and always had a pocket full of money, because I was a drug dealer, a petty thief. I carried a gun, Drank and drived, got in street fights all the time. I grew up in a violent world, was angry, violent... And I'm had been taught that if your woman got out of line, you had to smack them around from time to time to keep them in line.
.... Sex was expected any time that the mood hit us, and was almost a daily ritual, as was the alcohol and drugs...
... I was a three time loser by the time I was 18 and God's hand, and our guardian angels always protected us somehow in spite of ourselves.
....Three felony convictions and never seen a day of hard time in a State Prison, we were in several car accidents and escaped without serious injury to ourselves or anybody else for that matter. I never even had a DUI Ticket...
....All of the fights, and battles, and we survived. All of the drugs and no serious overdoses. We both Have Hepatitis C now from dirty needles I'm sure.
As much as I hate to admit it, or tell of it... Beth and I both, were promiscuous , and cheated on each other occasionally,... and neither one of us knew who it was.. that had infected the other with V.D.
I could continue to fill up page after page with all of the wrong and dangerous activities, near death experiences, brushes with the law, etc, etc, ad infinitum.
We could give you a list of names, obituaries of friends and acquaintances that we buried along the way.
My point is this...Mom and Dad Edmonds were not Stupid, and I know that they worried and spent many a sleepless, anxious night over the well being of their Baby girl. Beth was the apple of her Mom and Dad's eye. I had never seen a Parent's love for their Kid... so apparent,... in my life.
The problem with that,... is, ....she was spoiled rotten, and that is the other side of the coin from how I was raised.
It is just as wrong to spoil and over indulge your child as it is to exploit and abuse them.
Both methods and philosophies place our children in incredible danger. Like I said earlier, they knew I was trouble, and they knew that their daughter was in trouble and was at incredible risk as a result of being with me...
.....Because their Daughter loved me,.. and because, I loved them, they loved us both,... almost to death.
... They rarely confronted us, and I can't tell you how many times they climbed in their car, and came and rescued us from the messes we got ourselves in,... or should I say ,the mess, that "I" got us into!
They loved me like their own child and they loved me unconditionally.
Pops taught me how to work on cars and about tools and all things mechanical. Every year I spent Christmas with them and they always had a mountain of gifts under the tree for me and also gifts for all of my family members. Mom fixed me my own special dinner for my Birthday just like she did for her kids and grand kids, and the whole family gathered around that small table in her kitchen in turn, everyone of us for our own special dinner. It was a family tradition.
Some of my favorite memories of them and especially Dad Edmonds was the many times we would sit together and talk sitting in the living room on the couch watching T.V. or something and Dad started calling me his Son, My Boy, Terms of endearment like that...Dad began to tell me about his years at work at the Paper Mill he had retired from. 44 years my boy he used to say, I worked for Parchment Paper, and then it was Brown Company when I retired, ...He would tell me tale after tale of his work there...He would also proudly tell me about how he used to be quite the dancing machine, a regular Fred Astaire, and he wasn't kidding either. That's how he met Mom. He swept her off her feet on the dance floor during the Big Band Era.
.....I didn't realize it at the time, But I should have known that I had really arrived when he began to share with me his war stories from WWII.
...Beth told me later on That her Dad never talked to anyone about when he was a soldier, and he told me story after story of battles he participated in...He was a Combat Medic, and the other soldiers called him Doc. He would always lean in real close and lower his voice to almost a whisper as he began to tell me in graphic detail the horrific things he had to deal with as a medic. I know now that he was trying to protect Mom and Beth from hearing about his buddies and men with their Arms, legs, and their heads blown off, and then he would get misty eyed and excited at the same time and say, for Christ sakes, they even had their nuts blown off and what were you supposed to do about that?...Why those S.O.B.'s in the Army wouldn't give us a Pistol, a 45 to carry to protect ourselves with...They made us carry a rifle for God's sakes, a Damn Carbine in one hand and you was supposed to patch up your buddies with the other hand, with bullets and grenades, mortars, and bombs going off all around you...you have to keep from getting shot up or killed yourself, shoot back, and doctor up the wounded all at the same time with a rifle in your hand instead of a pistol. He would say, "Wars a hell of a thing."
...."It was pure Hell!!!"I can't even begin to tell you how much I came to love that man or how much I respected him...As far as I'm concerned, and if anybody were to ever ask me, "WHO IS YOUR HERO???"
It would be, hands down, beyond a shadow of a doubt...That Wonderful little old man. Clyde Enos Edmonds, Loving Father, Devoted Husband, Hardworking Retiree from the Paper mill (44Yrs.) "DECORATED WAR HERO"
He was the man that took me in as his own and loved me unconditionally, even when he was mad as hell at me....He loved me and I never ever doubted it. He taught me what being a real man was all about. He modeled it well for me and it sure as hell wasn't slapping your woman around to keep her in line, Nor was it about making money on the hustle rather than good old fashioned honest hard work. He taught me about a good work Ethic. He taught me what it meant to have character and integrity. He wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but he loved his family and he loved me and it showed, and I sorely miss him.
Mom Edmonds is just as much a hero in my eyes as Dad was....You could never have known a kinder lady than she. She Loved to read and most of memories or at least what comes to my minds eye when I think of her more than anything else is her sitting in the Kitchen in her Kitchen chair with a book in her hand, mostly paper backs, Harlequin Romance novels, or an old classic, I also Remember how she used to dote over our daughter Aimee all the time, with Aimee sitting on her lap or nearby with Grandma reading a story aloud to her.
She was a sensitive compassionate person, without a selfish bone in her body. If she knew you, and there was an occasion that called for a card of some kind...you could count on going to your mailbox and opening up a Card from Shirley Edmonds...Get well, Sympathy, Happy B-Day, Anniversary, Happy Halloween, She was Hallmarks greatest customer.
She would always Adopt a poor unfortunate family with children for Christmas every year and my favorite part was she would have me be Santa Claus and let me be the bearer of glad tidings & gifts. She shopped year round for gifts for her loved ones and strangers alike. She valued Family, Kept the Genealogy Family Tree updated, always writing letters to distant relatives keeping them up on the news and encouraging and comforting them if need be. Her family dinner events and traditions, her labors of love are amongst my favorite memories. She loved to travel and always made sure that there was room for me on their family outings whether they were short day trips or two week family vacations...
Mom Edmonds was not a confrontational person, and she would almost avoid conflict at all costs, but Oh Man! if you got her IRISH UP...as she called it...She loved her family,...Especially her Bethy (Prudence) was her little pet nick name for her but Oh man, she loved that girl and our little girl our other Kids too...But I know that she loved me in spite of all my faults and numb nutted stupidity and I think the biggest reason that they loved me was that they knew beyond a shadow of a doubt how much Beth & I loved each other no matter how ignorant and crazy we both acted .
That is why its called unconditional Love!!!!
.........................................to be continued................................................
P.S My dear wife left yesterday to visit with our Kids in Georgia...Michael II's current assignment in the Army Has them there and Jess and Mike is expecting their second child in the very near future.
I needed to remain behind even though I would have loved to be able to go. I am trying my best these days to just stay still and discern what it is that God would have me to do...One step at a time. Also, as some of you Know, We made a commitment to provide home health care for my mother, and I need to be faithful to those commitments.
Please pray for us while we are apart, as I am lost without her near me, Maybe I'll get more writing done.
Baruch Hashem Adonia
March 30, 2008
I CORINTHIANS 1:27, 29, ...31
"But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;"
"That no flesh should glory in His presence."
"That, according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord,
....UNCONDITIONAL LOVE MODELED BY MOM and DAD EDMONDS!
.....Picking the story back up shortly after Beth took me home to meet her parents...
As I stated before, Mom & Dad Edmonds were not overjoyed when their teenage daughter brought her new Beau home to meet them, and rightly so...
They would have been terrified, if they only knew the places that Beth went with me and the danger she constantly faced by being my girl... I had no moral compass, doing what was right because it was right was a totally foreign concept to me....
... The world I grew up in was a world of mixed and confusing messages.
....The things that were important to me, ...My values were based on a philosophy of do it unto others before they do it unto you...If it feels good do it, and do it for all you are worth...Party Hardy was one of our favorite sayings, PARTY...PARTY...PARTY!!!!
... SEX, DRUGS, and ROCK and ROLL WAS OUR MANTRA! We were proud of it, and I took my very young and naive bride to be along for the ride with me... And Clyde And Shirley Edmonds' daughter, was in constant danger as my companion.
... Sure, I was hard worker, I always kept a job, and always had a pocket full of money, because I was a drug dealer, a petty thief. I carried a gun, Drank and drived, got in street fights all the time. I grew up in a violent world, was angry, violent... And I'm had been taught that if your woman got out of line, you had to smack them around from time to time to keep them in line.
.... Sex was expected any time that the mood hit us, and was almost a daily ritual, as was the alcohol and drugs...
... I was a three time loser by the time I was 18 and God's hand, and our guardian angels always protected us somehow in spite of ourselves.
....Three felony convictions and never seen a day of hard time in a State Prison, we were in several car accidents and escaped without serious injury to ourselves or anybody else for that matter. I never even had a DUI Ticket...
....All of the fights, and battles, and we survived. All of the drugs and no serious overdoses. We both Have Hepatitis C now from dirty needles I'm sure.
As much as I hate to admit it, or tell of it... Beth and I both, were promiscuous , and cheated on each other occasionally,... and neither one of us knew who it was.. that had infected the other with V.D.
I could continue to fill up page after page with all of the wrong and dangerous activities, near death experiences, brushes with the law, etc, etc, ad infinitum.
We could give you a list of names, obituaries of friends and acquaintances that we buried along the way.
My point is this...Mom and Dad Edmonds were not Stupid, and I know that they worried and spent many a sleepless, anxious night over the well being of their Baby girl. Beth was the apple of her Mom and Dad's eye. I had never seen a Parent's love for their Kid... so apparent,... in my life.
The problem with that,... is, ....she was spoiled rotten, and that is the other side of the coin from how I was raised.
It is just as wrong to spoil and over indulge your child as it is to exploit and abuse them.
Both methods and philosophies place our children in incredible danger. Like I said earlier, they knew I was trouble, and they knew that their daughter was in trouble and was at incredible risk as a result of being with me...
.....Because their Daughter loved me,.. and because, I loved them, they loved us both,... almost to death.
... They rarely confronted us, and I can't tell you how many times they climbed in their car, and came and rescued us from the messes we got ourselves in,... or should I say ,the mess, that "I" got us into!
They loved me like their own child and they loved me unconditionally.
Pops taught me how to work on cars and about tools and all things mechanical. Every year I spent Christmas with them and they always had a mountain of gifts under the tree for me and also gifts for all of my family members. Mom fixed me my own special dinner for my Birthday just like she did for her kids and grand kids, and the whole family gathered around that small table in her kitchen in turn, everyone of us for our own special dinner. It was a family tradition.
Some of my favorite memories of them and especially Dad Edmonds was the many times we would sit together and talk sitting in the living room on the couch watching T.V. or something and Dad started calling me his Son, My Boy, Terms of endearment like that...Dad began to tell me about his years at work at the Paper Mill he had retired from. 44 years my boy he used to say, I worked for Parchment Paper, and then it was Brown Company when I retired, ...He would tell me tale after tale of his work there...He would also proudly tell me about how he used to be quite the dancing machine, a regular Fred Astaire, and he wasn't kidding either. That's how he met Mom. He swept her off her feet on the dance floor during the Big Band Era.
.....I didn't realize it at the time, But I should have known that I had really arrived when he began to share with me his war stories from WWII.
...Beth told me later on That her Dad never talked to anyone about when he was a soldier, and he told me story after story of battles he participated in...He was a Combat Medic, and the other soldiers called him Doc. He would always lean in real close and lower his voice to almost a whisper as he began to tell me in graphic detail the horrific things he had to deal with as a medic. I know now that he was trying to protect Mom and Beth from hearing about his buddies and men with their Arms, legs, and their heads blown off, and then he would get misty eyed and excited at the same time and say, for Christ sakes, they even had their nuts blown off and what were you supposed to do about that?...Why those S.O.B.'s in the Army wouldn't give us a Pistol, a 45 to carry to protect ourselves with...They made us carry a rifle for God's sakes, a Damn Carbine in one hand and you was supposed to patch up your buddies with the other hand, with bullets and grenades, mortars, and bombs going off all around you...you have to keep from getting shot up or killed yourself, shoot back, and doctor up the wounded all at the same time with a rifle in your hand instead of a pistol. He would say, "Wars a hell of a thing."
...."It was pure Hell!!!"I can't even begin to tell you how much I came to love that man or how much I respected him...As far as I'm concerned, and if anybody were to ever ask me, "WHO IS YOUR HERO???"
It would be, hands down, beyond a shadow of a doubt...That Wonderful little old man. Clyde Enos Edmonds, Loving Father, Devoted Husband, Hardworking Retiree from the Paper mill (44Yrs.) "DECORATED WAR HERO"
He was the man that took me in as his own and loved me unconditionally, even when he was mad as hell at me....He loved me and I never ever doubted it. He taught me what being a real man was all about. He modeled it well for me and it sure as hell wasn't slapping your woman around to keep her in line, Nor was it about making money on the hustle rather than good old fashioned honest hard work. He taught me about a good work Ethic. He taught me what it meant to have character and integrity. He wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but he loved his family and he loved me and it showed, and I sorely miss him.
Mom Edmonds is just as much a hero in my eyes as Dad was....You could never have known a kinder lady than she. She Loved to read and most of memories or at least what comes to my minds eye when I think of her more than anything else is her sitting in the Kitchen in her Kitchen chair with a book in her hand, mostly paper backs, Harlequin Romance novels, or an old classic, I also Remember how she used to dote over our daughter Aimee all the time, with Aimee sitting on her lap or nearby with Grandma reading a story aloud to her.
She was a sensitive compassionate person, without a selfish bone in her body. If she knew you, and there was an occasion that called for a card of some kind...you could count on going to your mailbox and opening up a Card from Shirley Edmonds...Get well, Sympathy, Happy B-Day, Anniversary, Happy Halloween, She was Hallmarks greatest customer.
She would always Adopt a poor unfortunate family with children for Christmas every year and my favorite part was she would have me be Santa Claus and let me be the bearer of glad tidings & gifts. She shopped year round for gifts for her loved ones and strangers alike. She valued Family, Kept the Genealogy Family Tree updated, always writing letters to distant relatives keeping them up on the news and encouraging and comforting them if need be. Her family dinner events and traditions, her labors of love are amongst my favorite memories. She loved to travel and always made sure that there was room for me on their family outings whether they were short day trips or two week family vacations...
Mom Edmonds was not a confrontational person, and she would almost avoid conflict at all costs, but Oh Man! if you got her IRISH UP...as she called it...She loved her family,...Especially her Bethy (Prudence) was her little pet nick name for her but Oh man, she loved that girl and our little girl our other Kids too...But I know that she loved me in spite of all my faults and numb nutted stupidity and I think the biggest reason that they loved me was that they knew beyond a shadow of a doubt how much Beth & I loved each other no matter how ignorant and crazy we both acted .
That is why its called unconditional Love!!!!
.........................................to be continued................................................
P.S My dear wife left yesterday to visit with our Kids in Georgia...Michael II's current assignment in the Army Has them there and Jess and Mike is expecting their second child in the very near future.
I needed to remain behind even though I would have loved to be able to go. I am trying my best these days to just stay still and discern what it is that God would have me to do...One step at a time. Also, as some of you Know, We made a commitment to provide home health care for my mother, and I need to be faithful to those commitments.
Please pray for us while we are apart, as I am lost without her near me, Maybe I'll get more writing done.
Baruch Hashem Adonia
Friday, March 28, 2008
Totally Inspired & Pleasantly Surprised By AUGUST RUSH
"AUGUST RUSH" (My New Favorite Movie) 5 stars Very Inspirational
Thursday, March 27, 2008 Has been a very depressing day for the most part and was fraught with tribulation no matter how much my dear companion tried to be cheerful and protect me from numerous items that she knew would impact my mood and energy level in a very negative way.
God bless her for that, because my mood swings keeps her on an emotional roller coaster as well and I Know this.
It gets to be quite a dance at times for the both of us...Neither one of us can hardly stand to see each other in pain, but reality is what it is, and pity parties are very unproductive, and no fun at all actually.
Most of the problems we have been facing lately are financial. Our current monthly budget needs are not that great as far as our bills are concerned. but even small bills are huge when you have very little income and that is the case lately Because my truck is broke down and our small shipping company is dead in the water without my truck.
Its been a great Gig actually for the last 2 years as we actually got paid to travel all over the country delivering big ticket items that people purchase on the Internet.
Its been great for our relationship because we travel together and have been in 44 states in the last 2 years and have stopped and visited in about every major vacation spot that you can think of in the United States and we get Paid fairly well to do it.
It is going to be interesting to see how the Lord works this one out for us but we need some fairly quick solutions as you can just imagine what kind of financial condition you would be in after being out of work for a little over 2 months now. Our little bit of Savings has finally been gobbled up and the sharks smell blood in the water.
TRIBULATION....TRIBULATION.....TRIBULATION.....
THESE ARE SOME CIRCUMSTANCES THAT WE HAVEN'T FACED FOR QUITE SOME TIME AND I PROMISE YOU IT IS NOT VERY COMFORTABLE. RATHER FRIGHTENING I VENTURE WOULD NOT BE UNDERSTATING THE CIRCUMSTANCES. ENOUGH OF THAT THOUGH!
I just got done watching a great tear jerker of a movie and was very inspired by it. God revealed so many truths, insights and illustrated so many parallels that it is going to take a lot more time and energy than I have presently to share with you some amazing insights and encouragements that I gleaned from it.
Its almost 8:00AM Friday and I have had very little sleep, so let me encourage you in your travels today...stop and buy, rent or check it out of your local Library this movie today and watch it when you get the chance. You will be blessed by it and then maybe we can swap insights later. I will pick this writing back up as soon as I get some much needed rest. My mind and emotions need some re-charging at the moment.
WOW! HERE IT IS SATURDAY MARCH29,5:00PM and I need to get back to that AUGUST RUSH Review, I promised!
I guess I'm just a big sap when it comes to some movies.
I love a movie when I am moved to tears.
Yes grown Men do cry.
I know that I do when something breaks through this cynical hard heart of mine.
This was an amazing love story with a great romantic story line about a young man and woman from complete opposite sides of tracks so to speak.
They met in an unlikely chance encounter in one of the largest cities in the world.
New York of course is the back drop, on a very romantic warm cloudless summer night on a roof top, at an after concert party, with a full moon over looking Central Park...The set up is amazing .
The stuff romantic fairy tale like dreams are made of. The Princess and the Peasant. Forbidden Love, culturally and socio economically.
The Both of them very attractive, handsome, and ...Oh Yeah, Sexy.
The party going on downstairs doesn't appear to be their scene and they both at separate times wander off to the roof to escape the meat factory smorgasbord type atmosphere where the pressures on...
... to go with the flow, get hammered and at some point hook up with the hottest person in the room.
... It's called "PEER PRESSURE!"
As they both, unbeknownst to each other, at separate times exit that environment...
...This is where that respect, and likability factor begins to draw us in to admire these characters...
...Not only admire them, but we are set up to begin to root for them, because in our minds they seem to be brought together by destiny and fate.
Of course, for any good love story worth its salt,
... there has to be Drama and Conflict,
so we'll be sucked in to the bitter end.
You feel it coming.
You can see it before your very eyes.
You can even interject yourself into this all too familiar scenario...
Especially when the evil and cruel forces begin to gather and conspire to keep them apart...
I was very Impressed with the unpredictable lack of...
... The obligatory, gratuitous sex scene...
...With the full blown nudity, and ensuing pornographic, skinflic images...
...That have sadly become a staple in just about everything digital being produced today...
... I found that to be very refreshing and unexpected.
Kudos to the writers, producers, and Directors.
Even though you highly suspected that this romantic encounter...
...So carefully scripted, absolutely...
... would be consummated with a wild enthralling night of passion before your very eyes....
....the viewer is left hanging in suspense until..............
The real darling and "GENIUS" of this movie...
... is found in the pure, hopeful, Innocent heart of an 11 year old little boy, named Evan who is following the music,....
YOU WILL HAVE TO WATCH "AUGUST RUSH" FOR YOURSELF TO FIND OUT WHERE THE MUSIC LEADS???
Don't you just hate it....."LOVE IT"...when an all to familiar and predictable story all of a sudden takes an unexpected twist....where you find yourself hoping for a specific outcome to the story instead of predicting the outcome.
...That my fellow Movie buffs is the mark of a very enjoyable movie viewing experience.
.... Where your heart is taken on an emotional roller coaster,
....And you are left hanging on the edge of your seat, right up until the final act...
... When you get the pay off...
.... And are left in a tear soaked puddle...
... Trying to hide the big crocodile tears running down your cheeks...
....... Stifling the sniffles, so as not to give it away to your fellow movie viewers.......
....That you, really are crying over a dumb movie.
Only...Guess What??? Not such a dumb movie after all...I'm not going to spoil it for you....
.... by telling the story to you, before you have a chance to watch it, and enjoy it for yourself.
I hate it when that happens!
What I have done... hopefully, is to have sparked enough interest, for you to go and see the movie for yourself,... and see if you can find the inspirational life lessons,... you are bound to encounter....
Unless....
Unless....
You are the hardest hearted...
...Deaf and blind, most miserable, lost, individual on God's green earth.
We hopefully, will take that opportunity ,to discuss what we felt, and learned, as we watched what became, without a doubt, my most new favorite movie, that I have seen in a long time.
The comment page will be wide open!
BE BLESSED AND BE WELL
BELOVED
Michael Sr.
Thursday, March 27, 2008 Has been a very depressing day for the most part and was fraught with tribulation no matter how much my dear companion tried to be cheerful and protect me from numerous items that she knew would impact my mood and energy level in a very negative way.
God bless her for that, because my mood swings keeps her on an emotional roller coaster as well and I Know this.
It gets to be quite a dance at times for the both of us...Neither one of us can hardly stand to see each other in pain, but reality is what it is, and pity parties are very unproductive, and no fun at all actually.
Most of the problems we have been facing lately are financial. Our current monthly budget needs are not that great as far as our bills are concerned. but even small bills are huge when you have very little income and that is the case lately Because my truck is broke down and our small shipping company is dead in the water without my truck.
Its been a great Gig actually for the last 2 years as we actually got paid to travel all over the country delivering big ticket items that people purchase on the Internet.
Its been great for our relationship because we travel together and have been in 44 states in the last 2 years and have stopped and visited in about every major vacation spot that you can think of in the United States and we get Paid fairly well to do it.
It is going to be interesting to see how the Lord works this one out for us but we need some fairly quick solutions as you can just imagine what kind of financial condition you would be in after being out of work for a little over 2 months now. Our little bit of Savings has finally been gobbled up and the sharks smell blood in the water.
TRIBULATION....TRIBULATION.....TRIBULATION.....
THESE ARE SOME CIRCUMSTANCES THAT WE HAVEN'T FACED FOR QUITE SOME TIME AND I PROMISE YOU IT IS NOT VERY COMFORTABLE. RATHER FRIGHTENING I VENTURE WOULD NOT BE UNDERSTATING THE CIRCUMSTANCES. ENOUGH OF THAT THOUGH!
I just got done watching a great tear jerker of a movie and was very inspired by it. God revealed so many truths, insights and illustrated so many parallels that it is going to take a lot more time and energy than I have presently to share with you some amazing insights and encouragements that I gleaned from it.
Its almost 8:00AM Friday and I have had very little sleep, so let me encourage you in your travels today...stop and buy, rent or check it out of your local Library this movie today and watch it when you get the chance. You will be blessed by it and then maybe we can swap insights later. I will pick this writing back up as soon as I get some much needed rest. My mind and emotions need some re-charging at the moment.
WOW! HERE IT IS SATURDAY MARCH29,5:00PM and I need to get back to that AUGUST RUSH Review, I promised!
I guess I'm just a big sap when it comes to some movies.
I love a movie when I am moved to tears.
Yes grown Men do cry.
I know that I do when something breaks through this cynical hard heart of mine.
This was an amazing love story with a great romantic story line about a young man and woman from complete opposite sides of tracks so to speak.
They met in an unlikely chance encounter in one of the largest cities in the world.
New York of course is the back drop, on a very romantic warm cloudless summer night on a roof top, at an after concert party, with a full moon over looking Central Park...The set up is amazing .
The stuff romantic fairy tale like dreams are made of. The Princess and the Peasant. Forbidden Love, culturally and socio economically.
The Both of them very attractive, handsome, and ...Oh Yeah, Sexy.
The party going on downstairs doesn't appear to be their scene and they both at separate times wander off to the roof to escape the meat factory smorgasbord type atmosphere where the pressures on...
... to go with the flow, get hammered and at some point hook up with the hottest person in the room.
... It's called "PEER PRESSURE!"
As they both, unbeknownst to each other, at separate times exit that environment...
...This is where that respect, and likability factor begins to draw us in to admire these characters...
...Not only admire them, but we are set up to begin to root for them, because in our minds they seem to be brought together by destiny and fate.
Of course, for any good love story worth its salt,
... there has to be Drama and Conflict,
so we'll be sucked in to the bitter end.
You feel it coming.
You can see it before your very eyes.
You can even interject yourself into this all too familiar scenario...
Especially when the evil and cruel forces begin to gather and conspire to keep them apart...
I was very Impressed with the unpredictable lack of...
... The obligatory, gratuitous sex scene...
...With the full blown nudity, and ensuing pornographic, skinflic images...
...That have sadly become a staple in just about everything digital being produced today...
... I found that to be very refreshing and unexpected.
Kudos to the writers, producers, and Directors.
Even though you highly suspected that this romantic encounter...
...So carefully scripted, absolutely...
... would be consummated with a wild enthralling night of passion before your very eyes....
....the viewer is left hanging in suspense until..............
The real darling and "GENIUS" of this movie...
... is found in the pure, hopeful, Innocent heart of an 11 year old little boy, named Evan who is following the music,....
YOU WILL HAVE TO WATCH "AUGUST RUSH" FOR YOURSELF TO FIND OUT WHERE THE MUSIC LEADS???
Don't you just hate it....."LOVE IT"...when an all to familiar and predictable story all of a sudden takes an unexpected twist....where you find yourself hoping for a specific outcome to the story instead of predicting the outcome.
...That my fellow Movie buffs is the mark of a very enjoyable movie viewing experience.
.... Where your heart is taken on an emotional roller coaster,
....And you are left hanging on the edge of your seat, right up until the final act...
... When you get the pay off...
.... And are left in a tear soaked puddle...
... Trying to hide the big crocodile tears running down your cheeks...
....... Stifling the sniffles, so as not to give it away to your fellow movie viewers.......
....That you, really are crying over a dumb movie.
Only...Guess What??? Not such a dumb movie after all...I'm not going to spoil it for you....
.... by telling the story to you, before you have a chance to watch it, and enjoy it for yourself.
I hate it when that happens!
What I have done... hopefully, is to have sparked enough interest, for you to go and see the movie for yourself,... and see if you can find the inspirational life lessons,... you are bound to encounter....
Unless....
Unless....
You are the hardest hearted...
...Deaf and blind, most miserable, lost, individual on God's green earth.
We hopefully, will take that opportunity ,to discuss what we felt, and learned, as we watched what became, without a doubt, my most new favorite movie, that I have seen in a long time.
The comment page will be wide open!
BE BLESSED AND BE WELL
BELOVED
Michael Sr.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Love at First Sight......TESTIMONY continued!
MY BRIDE
There are many proverbs that extol the virtue and value of a good wife...
Prov.18:22
"Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favor of the Lord."
Prov.31:10-11...& verse 28
"Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies."
"The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil."
"Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her."
It is truly a shame that it has taken so many years for me to realize how much I love and cherish my wife.
Even though, when we met, it was truly love at first sight. At least for me it was. I don't know personally too many people that would honestly say that after 31 years of marriage that every day and every year was pure bliss and happiness. "Pure Perfection"
We both made plenty of mistakes, and caused each other a fair amount of pain because of some poor choices that we made over the years.
We were so young at age 18 when we wed, and so foolish, that it has only been the "Providential Hand of God" upon our lives, that we are still together as man and wife today.
Those that know us best, know all too well, the pain that we have caused each other over the years...But they also know, that it has been our love for each other, and certainly the love of God that has enabled us to stick it out...Just like we promised each other, "For Better or For Worse," in those traditional Marriage vows, we made to each other on April 16, 1977, almost 31 years ago.
TESTIMONY CONTINUED
Several months after Nate committed suicide, and shortly after breaking up with a young lady that I thought was the Love of my life...Her name was Sue.
As it turned out, the popular 60's song was right.
"Don't mess around" with "RUN AROUND SUE." She broke my young heart.
I dropped out of the 10th grade and took a Job at Walgreens.
They had a small restaurant, with the old fashioned soda fountain, and Ice Cream counter, just off the side of the drug store.
I started out as a Dishwasher for $2.00 an Hr. and then moved up to Bus Boy with a 25 cent Raise, $2.25 an Hr.
It was a beautiful spring day in May of 1975, when I was struck by that lightning That the Anthony Hopkins character, in "Meet Joe Black" was talking about, in that conversation he had with his daughter,... in regards to being in love.
You will really have to watch the movie in order to fully grasp what I'm getting at. That is,... being struck by "The Lightning". To be literally Swept off your feet.
To Dance like a Dervish... That Kind of Love.
Beth Edmonds walked into Walgreens that day, with a whole gang of girls from the Rival High School in town. I had gone to Central High, and She was attending Loy Norrix across town.
Anyways, she walked into where I worked, and walked into my life. Her, and her buddies were ditching class ,and came in for lunch.
Now I don't know for sure if ,it were her cute face, that made me take notice, or the Black Halter Top with resulting cleavage, and Tight Blue Jeans she was wearing, that got my attention the most,... and caused her to stand out amongst all the other girls she came in with.....But I fell hard! It was spring time, And I believe that, Friend Owl,
In the Disney Cartoon Classic... "BAMBI"... HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD, WHEN HE CALLED IT BEING,..." TWITTERPATED."
I was Twitterpated Through and Through!
I do know now, for sure, That it was God, that providentially brought us together.
And that... which God brings together, No one can put asunder!
There are many proverbs that extol the virtue and value of a good wife...
Prov.18:22
"Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favor of the Lord."
Prov.31:10-11...& verse 28
"Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies."
"The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil."
"Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her."
It is truly a shame that it has taken so many years for me to realize how much I love and cherish my wife.
Even though, when we met, it was truly love at first sight. At least for me it was. I don't know personally too many people that would honestly say that after 31 years of marriage that every day and every year was pure bliss and happiness. "Pure Perfection"
We both made plenty of mistakes, and caused each other a fair amount of pain because of some poor choices that we made over the years.
We were so young at age 18 when we wed, and so foolish, that it has only been the "Providential Hand of God" upon our lives, that we are still together as man and wife today.
Those that know us best, know all too well, the pain that we have caused each other over the years...But they also know, that it has been our love for each other, and certainly the love of God that has enabled us to stick it out...Just like we promised each other, "For Better or For Worse," in those traditional Marriage vows, we made to each other on April 16, 1977, almost 31 years ago.
TESTIMONY CONTINUED
Several months after Nate committed suicide, and shortly after breaking up with a young lady that I thought was the Love of my life...Her name was Sue.
As it turned out, the popular 60's song was right.
"Don't mess around" with "RUN AROUND SUE." She broke my young heart.
I dropped out of the 10th grade and took a Job at Walgreens.
They had a small restaurant, with the old fashioned soda fountain, and Ice Cream counter, just off the side of the drug store.
I started out as a Dishwasher for $2.00 an Hr. and then moved up to Bus Boy with a 25 cent Raise, $2.25 an Hr.
It was a beautiful spring day in May of 1975, when I was struck by that lightning That the Anthony Hopkins character, in "Meet Joe Black" was talking about, in that conversation he had with his daughter,... in regards to being in love.
You will really have to watch the movie in order to fully grasp what I'm getting at. That is,... being struck by "The Lightning". To be literally Swept off your feet.
To Dance like a Dervish... That Kind of Love.
Beth Edmonds walked into Walgreens that day, with a whole gang of girls from the Rival High School in town. I had gone to Central High, and She was attending Loy Norrix across town.
Anyways, she walked into where I worked, and walked into my life. Her, and her buddies were ditching class ,and came in for lunch.
Now I don't know for sure if ,it were her cute face, that made me take notice, or the Black Halter Top with resulting cleavage, and Tight Blue Jeans she was wearing, that got my attention the most,... and caused her to stand out amongst all the other girls she came in with.....But I fell hard! It was spring time, And I believe that, Friend Owl,
In the Disney Cartoon Classic... "BAMBI"... HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD, WHEN HE CALLED IT BEING,..." TWITTERPATED."
I was Twitterpated Through and Through!
I do know now, for sure, That it was God, that providentially brought us together.
And that... which God brings together, No one can put asunder!
Two short days after we met on May 21 1975 I walked my Bride to be, into the jewelry store next door to where I worked, and put her engagement ring and wedding band on lay away. It wasn't much as far as size and value goes... I think I paid $125.00 for them, and she still wears those rings with pride today.
In the next 2 years, I learned what it meant to belong to a loving family once again, after Mom & Dad Edmonds got over the shock of their daughter bringing home every Parents worst nightmare.
Trust me, when I tell you, her parents tried many times to talk her into looking for someone else to spend her life with.
Many years later, Beth told me that her Dad tried to bribe her, with the promise of buying her a new car, if she would only get rid of me.
I would never have guessed they felt that way, nor do I blame them, because I certainly led her down many a wrong road Before I gave my Life to Christ 5 years later, at the age of 21.
Mom and Dad Edmonds Modeled unconditional love towards me, and treated me like their own son. They took me on family vacations with them, Family reunions, Family Christmas Parties, and for awhile, even opened their home, and gave me a place to live at different times, when I was between jobs, or lost my apartment.
I moved out of my Parents home when I was 16, because they would try and punish me, and control me, by forbidding me from seeing, or spending time with Beth.
My Step Father was an extremely jealous man, and I had long ago lost all respect for his authority. That's what often happens to kids that are brought up in a home where you are told not to cuss, lie, steal, don't do drugs or drink or a million other things that you can think of ,...that Parents should teach their children.
But needless to say....That old philosophy of,... "DO AS I SAY AND NOT AS I DO..." Only breeds anger, and confusion, in the mind, and heart of a child that is raised in such a corrupt environment.
The only result, or fruit, that will come from that lifestyle, is Rebellion. And I had that in Spades.
This has caused me trouble all my life, because I have viewed all authority as being unreasonable. I prided myself as being a Rebel with a cause...And that cause was... I would never ever let any one tell me what to do.
I'm sure their are many of us from the baby boomer generation, as well as many children today, that act out because of the level of hypocrisy that we've been exposed to all of our formative years and beyond.
March 26, 2008.........2:45PM
"MORE OF THE REST OF THE STORY"
(a few more chapters anyways)
Mom and Pops Edmonds
May God rest their Souls
Shirley Marie Edmonds (Sills) March 12, 1926 - August 12, 1996...70yrs. & 5 months to the Day. Devoted Career Housewife - Loving Mother, Grandma, & The Greatest Mother-In-Law That Ever Lived.
Clyde Enos Edmonds February 13, 1911 - March 6, 2001...90yrs. & 21 Days. A WW II Combat Medic. Decorated War Hero - Loving Husband to Shirley...................... & Father Extraordinaire.
Shirley and Clyde Edmonds....Mom and Dad....Beth's Parents were two of the finest people that I have ever known. They left this Planet too soon for my liking and they are sorely Missed.
Their is one consolation though; They will live forever in the hearts of those who had the awesome privilege of knowing them and loving them.
Blessed are those that were loved by them!
I'm sure they were absolutely mortified when Beth brought me home to meet them for the first time. I was just a skinny, scrawny, long frizzy haired Hippie Freak, with a scary looking grin...My top two front teeth had been badly chipped in several School yard fights. Those fights were almost a daily occurrence in the neighborhood I grew up in. My hood was on the poor white trash section of the East Side of Kalamazoo... It was a very rough & scary place to grow up in,...But strangely enough...I was proud to be an East Sider.
That all changed though, after I met the love of my life...I left My father (stepfather) and Mother, Sister and Brother...Even my country (Turf) behind, and spent most of my Days on the South Side of town in the Hays Park neighborhood, where the Edmonds had raised their family.
My family had moved around so much all of our lives, that I was totally amazed by the fact that Beth lived in the house where she was born,... with both of her Natural Parents. It was a small and Modest House That Mom Edmond's first Husband, Minor, had built for them.
Mom Edmonds first Husband was, Minor Harrell...He left her a widow when he died of a massive Heart attack at age 28. They had 2 children together. Beth's half brother and half sister, Alan and Susan. God Rest Their Souls. They Both died at an early age Al was 52, and Sue was 54 when they Passed away. That is another story for another time...
Beth was basically raised almost like an only child Because both her parents were well on In years when she was born.
The saddest thing about these facts is....That Just about every one of Beth Edmond's living relatives are dead and gone as of this writing and that has been true for a number of years.
The Happy part of this is just about everyone of Beth Bowling's Family is alive and well these days.
Lest I wander off and confuse my readers by chasing too many rabbits in the Re-Telling of this story...let me return to the time shortly after my bride to be took me home to meet her folks......
Remember that young Rag a muffin that looked like something that the Cat drug in to the Edmonds Home??? Beth's Boyfriend, ...Michael D. Bowling....That Twitterpated young Hippie that was starved for real love and the safety and security of a stable family environment.
That same scared little boy who thought he Was a Man, That same one that claimed it was Love at first sight who was probably more in Lust than He was in Love.
After all I didn't have a clue what real Love was...And I was at that strange age when my Hormones were raging wildly out of control. No one had ever taught me anything about Chastity, and the need for Sexual purity. Nor was I aware of the value of being a Virgin on your wedding night.
What a "Rip Off" Satan Has gotten away in our modern western culture... What a Robbery he has perpetrated on our children... The Devil's greatest legacy is found in the deafening Mantra of our time..."SEX...SEX....SEX....SEX...SEX!!!!" WE ARE ADDICTED TO SEX! PRE-MARITAL...EXTRA-MARITAL...NEVER-MARITAL SEX...ANY AND EVERY KIND OF NON-GODLY...UN-GODLY SEX!!!
If only I had never Known My Bride Prior to our Honeymoon...Their was nothing different or special that took place on that night.
Instead I found myself in that all too familiar state of Drunkenness...So stoned and incapacitated that I barely have any memory of it, and barely was able to perform.
I'm Certain that it was not the kind of "Romantic"..."Memorable"..." Wedding Night " that every young lady hopes for, and dreams about all of their lives.
Another Godly Glorious memorable moment, and special experience... a wonderful, Perfect Holy Gift From God Stolen through the lies and deception of the immortal enemy of our souls.
OH HOW MY HEART ACHES AT THIS VERY MOMENT OVER THE HORRID REALIZATION,...OF HOW AWFUL... IT TRULY IS, TO HAVE TAKEN SO LIGHTLY,... WHAT MUST BE ONE OF GOD'S MOST PRECIOUS, SPECIAL GIFTS,... EVER CONCEIVED, FOR THE "HUMAN EXPERIENCE"......
Satan really robbed us on that one....but of course....that is what he does...
"Our adversary, the devil, is roaming up and down, to and fro, within the Earth."
"Seeking those, he may devour"
I must apologize to my readers at this point for what must be a maddening and frustrating tease in progressing so slowly with the promised story at hand.
The fact of the matter is, that I am writing extemporaneously from memory, and every time I begin to explore these past memories there are layers and layers of truths, and life lessons, that need to be extracted, developed , and discovered...
I am in awe, realizing, how many times our Heavenly Father was so lovingly, and gently and yes, sometimes even harshly, trying to get us to see the right path,... for us to choose... when life brings us to those crossroads, time after time...All throughout our entire lives.
From the cradle to the grave,
Our Father, Who Art in Heaven, and Hallowed is His Name,...He is running towards his Prodigal Children, with outstretched, crucified, nail pierced hands, wounded for our transgressions...
All of creation is filled with His Glory!.....Creation itself,....Screams of His Existence, and declares His Love to us,... It is shouted from the mountain tops....He is revealed in the lightning bolts... He is the Light of the World... He grabs our attention, in the frightening explosions of Thunder.
His power, and awesome majesty,......fills the entire universe,.... It is a worthwhile exercise to look for Him... To hear Him, when He speaks to us... through the foolish things of this world.
And oh, what a foolish thing it was, when He called a reprobate like me, and chooses to reveal himself through this hugely flawed vessel.
TO BE CONTINUED Beloved
MICHAEL
Monday, March 24, 2008
PAINFUL TRIBULATION FROM MY YOUTH
TESTIMONY CONTINUED
There has been many a time when sharing scriptural truths. People will contest, and debate with you over the veracity of that which is being shared....But there is one thing that cannot be contested...
Our very own personal experiences. Our Testimony is the one thing that is our own....And also the one thing that our Father desires for us to give away as many times as we have opportunity
We read of it in the scriptures, "...I will tell what great and mighty things He hath done..."
We sing about it in Hymns and Choruses, "...JESUS, JESUS, JEEEEEESUS, Let all heaven and earth PROCLAIMMMMM..."
And we read about in Blogs,
So I will continue with the story of a miserable blind wretch, that deserved all the judgement, and punishment that God and man has ever devised...
But,..." Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me..."
PROLOGUE = That which has gone before.
A brief recap of an earlier discussion:
God brought true REVIVAL to that little church that day.
I was on fire for the Lord, and began to bring everyone I could, to that same loving Savior, that so willingly, and freely accepted a poor & miserable wretch like me.
The change in me was so drastic... my conversion experience, was so dramatic, it was infectious, and so contagious,
... that just about everyone that was in the realm of my influence, wanted what I had found. That tiny Church, Baptized more new converts that year, than they ever had in their history.
Six months later, I surrendered to Gods call on my life to Preach the Gospel,...
and Texas Avenue Baptist Church, Pastor Roberts, the deacons, elders & the members of that church examined me, and extended to me, a license to preach and practice the Gospel Ministry of The Lord Jesus.
And you will have to follow my Blogs to get the rest of the story
"THE REST OF THE STORY"
( At least a few more chapters...)
Let me back up a little bit and share with you how God's Spirit had been working in my life all of my life to get me to that point to where I was so, so ready to recognize that on that day...Sunday...April 12, 1981...
"That I was lost, and on the verge of busting Hell wide open, Unless I answered Yes, to His love and his design for my life.
Prior to leaving Michigan for the oilfields of Louisiana...God had been speaking to me through so many people, as well as the many close calls that I had with disaster and destruction. I should have been killed and died so many times that I'm sure my Guardian Angel was in need of a very well deserved vacation by the time I wised up and realized that I was at a place in my life where I had to make a decision one way or the other!
That day when I said YES TO JESUS....and ...NO TO SATAN,
I heard God say to me in a very real way..."Choose Me and Live" or "Reject Me for the last time and Die... FOREVER!"
Do you Remember the story when I was 14 years young and I was befriended by a Pedophile?
I remember it as plain as day. Our family had left the house that morning and walked down the hill several blocks to watch the Memorial Day Parade. I had wandered away from the rest of the family and was standing on the curb by myself when a young black man walked up beside me and began to make small talk with me. He seemed like a very cool guy, and as the conversation progressed I found that we had some things in common, especially when he offered to smoke a joint with me. Wow, this guy really is cool...And the rest is history as they say.
It wasn't long until I introduced him to my very cool parents and invited him over to sit down and smoke some Pot with us, and before Long he became a family friend. I should have realized that something was seriously wrong when soon after we met, the man that I knew as Mark Nathan was really in Fact, Nate Cunningham. As it turned out, many of the older guys I hung out with from time to time already knew him and I suspect that many of them had already fell victim to his sick strategy,
and were too ashamed to say anything to expose him, because in doing so,
they would run the risk of being labeled as a queer,... and besides that, Nate always had the best drugs, and plenty of cash for beer, liquor etc.
He also had a car, and an apartment, a really cool car, and a really cool apartment.
Nate was really good at what he did, and he was very well connected. I knew him for almost two years, and in that two years time I remember some of the parties he threw and some very prominent people would roll through. I mean, how cool was it to be able to get high with some of your school teachers and administrators, coaches and sports figures around town, even some affluent business people.
Nate had won the trust of my parents and I was allowed to go just about anywhere with him when he invited me. If my parents were resistant he would usually prime the pump with some Primo smoke or some tabs of acid, mescaline, a few lines of coke.
Nate had a way of getting what he wanted.
These are some things that I have never shared with anyone before.
And now as I look back...I am amazed that he was able to pull these things off undetected.
I feel so bad that I introduced him to so many of my friends, and I know in my heart of hearts that they also fell victim to his sick molestations. Some of them told me so... but not in any detail, They would say things like, "Is Nate still Queer?
In those two short years, Nate introduced me to many first time experiences, He took me to my first outdoor Woodstock type rock festival at Watkins Glen New York. The Greatful Dead, The Allman Brothers, The Band...I was 14 yrs. old and there I was in the midst of over 600,000 people a thousand miles from home, alone with a very crafty Pedophile in an orgy of drunken, stoned, naked mass of hedonistic, decadence. I thought then that it was the coolest thing I had ever done. After all, I had missed Woodstock and this had to have been the next best thing!!!
In defense of Mom & Pops, they did say no to me going, but we invented a good cover story and snuck off anyways.
While at the concert, I was amazed at how free and open everything was, People were naked and having Sex out in the open, That was very eye popping and cool to a 14 year old boy, seeing all those Naked women. I though the naked men was disgusting...Big old hairy bearded bikers butt naked on their Harley's.
People rolling around in the mud after the rainstorm that rolled through. Skinny Dippers swimming in the pond.
I do remember wondering about how come all of these cops, mostly on Horse Back, were not doing anything about all of the people walking around like Carnival Carney's Selling Drugs???
They were Right out in the open hawking their wares many with Huge Written signs and Banners advertising their products,
Acid, Strawberry Mescaline, Peyote Buttons, Mushrooms, Jamaican Pot, Panama Red, Colombian Gold, Red Bud, Blond Lebanese Hash, Black Afghan, Opium, Cocaine, Black Beauties, Speed, Heroin!
Not only were they selling their Dope, they were freely sharing it with those nearby, including a young wide eyed stoned to the Max 14 year old Kid.
Nate and I had dropped some Dexedrine Speed and some Windowpane LSD. I hallucinated and tripped so hard that I actually though I was in Heaven, Little did I Know That I was actually closer to hell than any live human being could be without actually being there for real.
I think that was the first time that Nate actually attempted to molest me. I wasn't having any part of it...But it was right then and there that I Found out what he was all about.
I guess I made him really Mad, because I didn't see him for awhile after we got home. And my Parents were not very happy either. I was Grounded for a long time.
At some point, Nate came back around and all was forgiven, but their was a lot of weirdness that took place over the next few years. He did succeed a few times after he got me so intoxicated that I wasn't aware of what was going on or I didn't care or couldn't resist. He Did introduce me to my first experience with needles and intravenous drug use. It was very cool back then to use Cocaine but fortunately for me at that point in my life, I didn't do it often enough to get hooked. I really didn't care for needles.
Nate came and went and mostly he stayed Mad at me because I wouldn't give in to his advances, but one time in particular he made a move on me after a party he threw at his apartment and everyone had left and I had crashed in the spare Bedroom. He woke me up trying to crawl into bed with me and I jumped up and told him to get the hell away from me. I got up and attempted to leave. I told him I was going home, and he started beating on me but I was a tough kid from growing up in a tough neighborhood with a lot of street fight victories under my belt. I got the better of him and attempted to get out of the door when He pulled a gun on me, and threatened to kill me if I left...I managed to jump out of a second story window without getting shot and walked home. I never told anyone about what he had done and I especially didn't go to the Police, because the code of honor that I had been raised with... was, that you never narc on someone, no matter what. I was not a Rat!
Nate didn't come around anymore, but ever once in a while he would call me on the phone and tell me he wanted to see me and just talk, but I always refused because I felt that he really planned on murdering me if he got the chance.
His calls started to become more and more frequent for awhile and would always wind up with him telling me he was going to kill himself, a couple of times he even shot his gun into the phone and it would go dead. I knew he was a sick individual and he terrorized me for some time, but then one day at school, someone came up to me and told me that they heard on the News That Nate had shot himself and died behind the Post Office where he worked. He was Dead!!!
In looking back, the strangest sickest part of the whole thing was the fact that I was devastated by the news, not only me, but many of my friends also. Friends that I know for a fact that he had abused them as well. Many of us attended his funeral and cried like babies. I'll never for the life of me understand that.
Wow!!!
That was painful, re-living that. I never ever thought I would or even could tell that story.
I somehow think that God was pleased that I got that off my soul, and I know that some of you already think that I'm crazy but something just happened outside of my window that has never happened before that I am aware of in the several years that we lived here in these Skyrise Apts. Downtown.
I heard a Dove cooing outside, so I crept quietly to the window beside where I am sitting at the computer typing... and the Venetians are almost completely closed. I peeked between the blinds, and their is a mated pair of ring neck mourning doves sitting on the window sill singing.
.....DO YOU THINK MAYBE...PERHAPS....GOD???
WELL I DIDN'T GET VERY MUCH FURTHER INTO MY TESTIMONY BUT I AM EXHAUSTED FROM TELLING ABOUT THAT DEEP DARK SECRET PART OF MY CHILDHOOD...BUT THE WHOLE POINT IN SHARING THAT,... IS TO COME TO UNDERSTAND FOR MYSELF AND FOR THE READER TO REALIZE THAT,... GOD HAS ALWAYS BEEN WATCHING OUT FOR ME... AND PROTECTING ME FROM MYSELF AND FROM OTHERS SO THAT I WOULD HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO ACCEPT HIS PLAN FOR MY LIFE AND MOST IMPORTANTLY...THE LIFE TO COME.
"GOD IS NOT WILLING THAT ANY SHOULD PERISH, BUT THAT ALL WOULD COME TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE SAVING GRACE OF CHRIST JESUS THE LORD!" ( my paraphrase)
LOVE
Michael
There has been many a time when sharing scriptural truths. People will contest, and debate with you over the veracity of that which is being shared....But there is one thing that cannot be contested...
Our very own personal experiences. Our Testimony is the one thing that is our own....And also the one thing that our Father desires for us to give away as many times as we have opportunity
We read of it in the scriptures, "...I will tell what great and mighty things He hath done..."
We sing about it in Hymns and Choruses, "...JESUS, JESUS, JEEEEEESUS, Let all heaven and earth PROCLAIMMMMM..."
And we read about in Blogs,
So I will continue with the story of a miserable blind wretch, that deserved all the judgement, and punishment that God and man has ever devised...
But,..." Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me..."
PROLOGUE = That which has gone before.
A brief recap of an earlier discussion:
God brought true REVIVAL to that little church that day.
I was on fire for the Lord, and began to bring everyone I could, to that same loving Savior, that so willingly, and freely accepted a poor & miserable wretch like me.
The change in me was so drastic... my conversion experience, was so dramatic, it was infectious, and so contagious,
... that just about everyone that was in the realm of my influence, wanted what I had found. That tiny Church, Baptized more new converts that year, than they ever had in their history.
Six months later, I surrendered to Gods call on my life to Preach the Gospel,...
and Texas Avenue Baptist Church, Pastor Roberts, the deacons, elders & the members of that church examined me, and extended to me, a license to preach and practice the Gospel Ministry of The Lord Jesus.
And you will have to follow my Blogs to get the rest of the story
"THE REST OF THE STORY"
( At least a few more chapters...)
Let me back up a little bit and share with you how God's Spirit had been working in my life all of my life to get me to that point to where I was so, so ready to recognize that on that day...Sunday...April 12, 1981...
"That I was lost, and on the verge of busting Hell wide open, Unless I answered Yes, to His love and his design for my life.
Prior to leaving Michigan for the oilfields of Louisiana...God had been speaking to me through so many people, as well as the many close calls that I had with disaster and destruction. I should have been killed and died so many times that I'm sure my Guardian Angel was in need of a very well deserved vacation by the time I wised up and realized that I was at a place in my life where I had to make a decision one way or the other!
That day when I said YES TO JESUS....and ...NO TO SATAN,
I heard God say to me in a very real way..."Choose Me and Live" or "Reject Me for the last time and Die... FOREVER!"
Do you Remember the story when I was 14 years young and I was befriended by a Pedophile?
I remember it as plain as day. Our family had left the house that morning and walked down the hill several blocks to watch the Memorial Day Parade. I had wandered away from the rest of the family and was standing on the curb by myself when a young black man walked up beside me and began to make small talk with me. He seemed like a very cool guy, and as the conversation progressed I found that we had some things in common, especially when he offered to smoke a joint with me. Wow, this guy really is cool...And the rest is history as they say.
It wasn't long until I introduced him to my very cool parents and invited him over to sit down and smoke some Pot with us, and before Long he became a family friend. I should have realized that something was seriously wrong when soon after we met, the man that I knew as Mark Nathan was really in Fact, Nate Cunningham. As it turned out, many of the older guys I hung out with from time to time already knew him and I suspect that many of them had already fell victim to his sick strategy,
and were too ashamed to say anything to expose him, because in doing so,
they would run the risk of being labeled as a queer,... and besides that, Nate always had the best drugs, and plenty of cash for beer, liquor etc.
He also had a car, and an apartment, a really cool car, and a really cool apartment.
Nate was really good at what he did, and he was very well connected. I knew him for almost two years, and in that two years time I remember some of the parties he threw and some very prominent people would roll through. I mean, how cool was it to be able to get high with some of your school teachers and administrators, coaches and sports figures around town, even some affluent business people.
Nate had won the trust of my parents and I was allowed to go just about anywhere with him when he invited me. If my parents were resistant he would usually prime the pump with some Primo smoke or some tabs of acid, mescaline, a few lines of coke.
Nate had a way of getting what he wanted.
These are some things that I have never shared with anyone before.
And now as I look back...I am amazed that he was able to pull these things off undetected.
I feel so bad that I introduced him to so many of my friends, and I know in my heart of hearts that they also fell victim to his sick molestations. Some of them told me so... but not in any detail, They would say things like, "Is Nate still Queer?
In those two short years, Nate introduced me to many first time experiences, He took me to my first outdoor Woodstock type rock festival at Watkins Glen New York. The Greatful Dead, The Allman Brothers, The Band...I was 14 yrs. old and there I was in the midst of over 600,000 people a thousand miles from home, alone with a very crafty Pedophile in an orgy of drunken, stoned, naked mass of hedonistic, decadence. I thought then that it was the coolest thing I had ever done. After all, I had missed Woodstock and this had to have been the next best thing!!!
In defense of Mom & Pops, they did say no to me going, but we invented a good cover story and snuck off anyways.
While at the concert, I was amazed at how free and open everything was, People were naked and having Sex out in the open, That was very eye popping and cool to a 14 year old boy, seeing all those Naked women. I though the naked men was disgusting...Big old hairy bearded bikers butt naked on their Harley's.
People rolling around in the mud after the rainstorm that rolled through. Skinny Dippers swimming in the pond.
I do remember wondering about how come all of these cops, mostly on Horse Back, were not doing anything about all of the people walking around like Carnival Carney's Selling Drugs???
They were Right out in the open hawking their wares many with Huge Written signs and Banners advertising their products,
Acid, Strawberry Mescaline, Peyote Buttons, Mushrooms, Jamaican Pot, Panama Red, Colombian Gold, Red Bud, Blond Lebanese Hash, Black Afghan, Opium, Cocaine, Black Beauties, Speed, Heroin!
Not only were they selling their Dope, they were freely sharing it with those nearby, including a young wide eyed stoned to the Max 14 year old Kid.
Nate and I had dropped some Dexedrine Speed and some Windowpane LSD. I hallucinated and tripped so hard that I actually though I was in Heaven, Little did I Know That I was actually closer to hell than any live human being could be without actually being there for real.
I think that was the first time that Nate actually attempted to molest me. I wasn't having any part of it...But it was right then and there that I Found out what he was all about.
I guess I made him really Mad, because I didn't see him for awhile after we got home. And my Parents were not very happy either. I was Grounded for a long time.
At some point, Nate came back around and all was forgiven, but their was a lot of weirdness that took place over the next few years. He did succeed a few times after he got me so intoxicated that I wasn't aware of what was going on or I didn't care or couldn't resist. He Did introduce me to my first experience with needles and intravenous drug use. It was very cool back then to use Cocaine but fortunately for me at that point in my life, I didn't do it often enough to get hooked. I really didn't care for needles.
Nate came and went and mostly he stayed Mad at me because I wouldn't give in to his advances, but one time in particular he made a move on me after a party he threw at his apartment and everyone had left and I had crashed in the spare Bedroom. He woke me up trying to crawl into bed with me and I jumped up and told him to get the hell away from me. I got up and attempted to leave. I told him I was going home, and he started beating on me but I was a tough kid from growing up in a tough neighborhood with a lot of street fight victories under my belt. I got the better of him and attempted to get out of the door when He pulled a gun on me, and threatened to kill me if I left...I managed to jump out of a second story window without getting shot and walked home. I never told anyone about what he had done and I especially didn't go to the Police, because the code of honor that I had been raised with... was, that you never narc on someone, no matter what. I was not a Rat!
Nate didn't come around anymore, but ever once in a while he would call me on the phone and tell me he wanted to see me and just talk, but I always refused because I felt that he really planned on murdering me if he got the chance.
His calls started to become more and more frequent for awhile and would always wind up with him telling me he was going to kill himself, a couple of times he even shot his gun into the phone and it would go dead. I knew he was a sick individual and he terrorized me for some time, but then one day at school, someone came up to me and told me that they heard on the News That Nate had shot himself and died behind the Post Office where he worked. He was Dead!!!
In looking back, the strangest sickest part of the whole thing was the fact that I was devastated by the news, not only me, but many of my friends also. Friends that I know for a fact that he had abused them as well. Many of us attended his funeral and cried like babies. I'll never for the life of me understand that.
Wow!!!
That was painful, re-living that. I never ever thought I would or even could tell that story.
I somehow think that God was pleased that I got that off my soul, and I know that some of you already think that I'm crazy but something just happened outside of my window that has never happened before that I am aware of in the several years that we lived here in these Skyrise Apts. Downtown.
I heard a Dove cooing outside, so I crept quietly to the window beside where I am sitting at the computer typing... and the Venetians are almost completely closed. I peeked between the blinds, and their is a mated pair of ring neck mourning doves sitting on the window sill singing.
.....DO YOU THINK MAYBE...PERHAPS....GOD???
WELL I DIDN'T GET VERY MUCH FURTHER INTO MY TESTIMONY BUT I AM EXHAUSTED FROM TELLING ABOUT THAT DEEP DARK SECRET PART OF MY CHILDHOOD...BUT THE WHOLE POINT IN SHARING THAT,... IS TO COME TO UNDERSTAND FOR MYSELF AND FOR THE READER TO REALIZE THAT,... GOD HAS ALWAYS BEEN WATCHING OUT FOR ME... AND PROTECTING ME FROM MYSELF AND FROM OTHERS SO THAT I WOULD HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO ACCEPT HIS PLAN FOR MY LIFE AND MOST IMPORTANTLY...THE LIFE TO COME.
"GOD IS NOT WILLING THAT ANY SHOULD PERISH, BUT THAT ALL WOULD COME TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE SAVING GRACE OF CHRIST JESUS THE LORD!" ( my paraphrase)
LOVE
Michael
Saturday, March 22, 2008
EASTER 2008. JESUS IS RISEN INDEED
"HE IS RISEN!"
"HE'S RISEN INDEED!!!!!"
Tomorrow is Easter Sunday. 2008.
Easily the single most important event in history relative to our Christian Faith has to be the truth declared on that Sabbath morning.
The tomb is Empty....."JESUS IS RISEN"...
Three days had passed since Jesus, Son of Mary, The product of the immaculate conception, cried out from that cruel Roman Gallows.
"FATHER FORGIVE THEM FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO!"
And then finally he exclaimed as He gave up the Ghost...
"IT IS FINISHED!!!!!!!!"
Three days after that cruel horrific moment in history....Our Messiah.....Yeshua Hamishea, conquered Death, Hell and The Grave
The stone was rolled away....and He came forth out of that tomb TRIUMPHANTLY!
That is a historical fact that all believers can stake their eternal lives and future upon....because that is our Blessed Hope. That is why the Apostle Paul Declared to the Corinthian Church "WITHOUT THE RESSURECTION WE WOULD BE MEN MOST MISERABLE"
I think that most of the inhabitants of Planet Earth tomorrow will fail to understand the significance of that Blessed holiday that we celebrate every Spring.....
EASTER SUNDAY > "HE IS RISEN"
YES!!!!!!!!
HE'S RISEN INDEED!!!!!!!!!!
There is so much joy that I hope to share in the days ahead as I try and remain ever faithful to share that no matter what happens to us in this life....there is a better day beyond when we also are partakers in that beautiful future resurrection.
Please stay tuned for the powerful testimony of how much God loves us and forgives us inspite of all of our flaws and failures. My Life and lifes experiences are living proof of that if I only have the courage to lay down my life at His cross and allow Him to Manifest His resurrection power in the witness of What Jesus means to me.
VAYA CON DIOS
"HE'S RISEN INDEED!!!!!"
Tomorrow is Easter Sunday. 2008.
Easily the single most important event in history relative to our Christian Faith has to be the truth declared on that Sabbath morning.
The tomb is Empty....."JESUS IS RISEN"...
Three days had passed since Jesus, Son of Mary, The product of the immaculate conception, cried out from that cruel Roman Gallows.
"FATHER FORGIVE THEM FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO!"
And then finally he exclaimed as He gave up the Ghost...
"IT IS FINISHED!!!!!!!!"
Three days after that cruel horrific moment in history....Our Messiah.....Yeshua Hamishea, conquered Death, Hell and The Grave
The stone was rolled away....and He came forth out of that tomb TRIUMPHANTLY!
That is a historical fact that all believers can stake their eternal lives and future upon....because that is our Blessed Hope. That is why the Apostle Paul Declared to the Corinthian Church "WITHOUT THE RESSURECTION WE WOULD BE MEN MOST MISERABLE"
I think that most of the inhabitants of Planet Earth tomorrow will fail to understand the significance of that Blessed holiday that we celebrate every Spring.....
EASTER SUNDAY > "HE IS RISEN"
YES!!!!!!!!
HE'S RISEN INDEED!!!!!!!!!!
There is so much joy that I hope to share in the days ahead as I try and remain ever faithful to share that no matter what happens to us in this life....there is a better day beyond when we also are partakers in that beautiful future resurrection.
Please stay tuned for the powerful testimony of how much God loves us and forgives us inspite of all of our flaws and failures. My Life and lifes experiences are living proof of that if I only have the courage to lay down my life at His cross and allow Him to Manifest His resurrection power in the witness of What Jesus means to me.
VAYA CON DIOS
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
