Recently, I attended a Writer’s Conference and met a Christian magazine editor. He invited me to write a 750-word and an 1800-word article for him. He said he would review it, edit it and give me feedback. So below is my first attempt at writing a magazine article. Feedback welcomed.

Like Father, Like Son

The other day I met my son and grandson for breakfast. It was the first time that we had done this. My son had helped me out with something so I had promised him that I would take him to breakfast. He suggested his off day from work on a weekday on Wednesday. He then said he would have to bring my grandson with him and we could have a “boy’s day out”. I thought it was a great idea since we all love to eat. As I got out of my car at the local Waffle House, I saw him and my grandson get out of their car. My son took his hand to walk him across the parking lot and I smiled thinking how they looked like father and son. As we ate our breakfast, my grandson would smile and say, “Dada, Dada”.

I am sure that everyone has heard the proverb or saying, “like father, like son”. What does that really mean? Did you know that there is a similar saying from the Word of God? Ezekiel 16:44, reads: “Look! Everyone who uses proverbs will apply this proverb to you: ‘Like mother, like daughter!’ “ So, you can also say, “like mother(or father), like daughter” if that applies to you. This saying has two meanings in common use. One is that the son looks like the father. He may have the same color of eyes or hair. He may have the same body build. My son when he was my grandson’s age, as a toddler, was kind of chunky but then he grew tall and thinned out. My grandson is kind of chunky too now at 18 months old.

This proverb also has a second meaning. It can mean that the son or the daughter may have the characteristics or mannerisms of the father. Even if they do not have the physical resemblance, they may talk and act like their father. My sister tells me all the time that my grandson looks like my son when he was that age. Others tell me that he has the mannerisms of my son. So again, “like father, like son”. I remember as my son grew that people would tell me that he ‘looks like you’ or that he had my characteristics.

In John 10: 17 and 18, Jesus said, “Therefore doth my Father love Me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father.” He goes on to say in verse 30, “I and My Father are One.” In John 14: 10, He continues with this, “I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. The words I say are not My own but are from My Father Who lives in Me. And He does His work through Me.” So, “like Father, like Son”.

What was His work that the Father did through Him while He was doing His ministry? What did He say and do that was ‘like’ His Father? In Mark 1 and Luke 4, He preached the gospel. He preached the good news of the kingdom of God. In Matthew 20 and other passages, He served people. In Luke 19, He came to seek and to save those that were lost. Jesus concluded His earthly ministry by teaching His disciples this in John 14: 12: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works shall he do; because I go to My Father.”

In Romans 8: 29, Paul tells us “For those, He did foreknow, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn of many brethren.” We are children of our Father God and Jesus’ brothers and sisters as believers in Him. And… we are to be growing into the ‘image of the Son’ as we are‘being transformed by renewing our minds’(Romans 12: 2)and being led by Holy Spirit(Romans 8: 14). We are becoming ‘like’ our Father as we are becoming ‘like’ Jesus. Like Father, like son(or daughter). Think about it for just a minute. Are you becoming more and more like Him? Are you reading and studying His Word and being led by Holy Spirit daily? In 2 Corinthians 13: 5, we are told: “examine yourselves whether you be in the faith; prove your own selves.” Ask yourself am I ‘like’ my Father?

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Another One of My Stories

September 6, 2016

I was encouraged to share this again so more can read it. To Him Be All The Glory!!!

Testimony Time:
I haven’t shared this in quite a while but someone needed prayer and counsel this morning about losing a child during pregnancy. I don’t share this story as much as I probably should but Father brings us through ‘storms’ and comforts us so we can comfort others. (2 Corinthians 1:3-5)
So here is my Testimony for anyone it may help.
I may have told you this story before but if not… we know what you go through when you think about the baby you lost. We had the same thing happen to us. We lost our 1st son, Joseph(who we were going to call Joey). This devastated Rhonda, my wife, and after 3 weeks I came home and all she could do was cry. She asked, ‘Why did God do this to us?’ I didn’t know how to answer her so all I could do was cry with her. Then all of a sudden while I was holding her and crying with her, a loud booming voice from above sounded. He said, ‘Son, tell your wife that Joseph is here with me. I had my reasons for bringing him on ahead. Tell her that soon you will have another baby boy and he will be big and strong. Comfort her with these words.’ When I told her, she smiled and said, ‘God told you that?’ She then said ‘Well, I need to get up and get ready for our new baby boy. Well, nine months later, Allen, came along. He is now grown and just gave us our 1st grandson, Harrison. We wanted to have a girl also but Father had other plans. Rhonda lost our 3rd child who we were going to call Chrissy. So Joey & Chrissy are in heaven waiting for us. When Allen was little he used to have an imaginary friend to play with. Later on, I asked him what his friend’s name was. He said ‘Joey.’ He said ‘Dad, Joey is my big brother coming down from heaven to play with me.’ We were amazed because we had never told him that story at that time. He would even say to me in the car, ‘Dad, wait a minute Joey is coming and going to ride with us.’ So I would have to wait a minute so ‘Joey could get in the car’. So, I said all that to say we know what you go through when you think about your baby but… he is waiting for you in heaven. We all just have to make sure we are on that ‘bus’ on our way to heaven. Jesus said, ‘I Am The Way, The Truth and The Life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.’

One Of My Stories

July 16, 2016

I thought I’d share this story with everyone. I just shared it with Rhonda and she thought it an amazing story but...

 Today I have a cousin that is having a birthday. I am not calling his name but he almost wasn’t with us today. Here is the story: When I was in school at UAB & working at Carraway Hospital as a Trauma Surgical Technician, I went home one weekend to my Mom & Dad’s. My Dad was gone to his National Guard weekend or maybe his 2 weeks away from home while I was visiting Mom. My brothers & this cousin decided to go fishing so I was just sitting there watching TV or reading when my cousin comes walking in and was as white as a sheet. I asked him what was wrong & he said: “Oh, nothin’ I have just been shot”. I jumped up to check him and he had a bullet hole in his lower back but no exit wound. I then asked where my two brothers were and he said he didn’t know. He said they ran into the woods and he had not seen them since. Needless to say, I was then upset that we did not know what had happened to them. I told my Mom however that we needed to get my cousin to the hospital that his pulse was faint and BP dropping. As we went out the door, my 2 brothers came across the road out of the woods. They were ok but scared. They had run several miles through the woods to get away from the shooting and home. They then told me that they had gone to a pond to fish that was on land posted as 'No Trespassing' when the owner caught them. He came at them shooting without much warning. My two brothers ran into the woods to hide but my cousin not wanting to leave his truck ran to it. That was when he felt something hit him in his back and he went down. However, the owner allowed him to get in his truck to leave. Just before we could leave for the hospital, the landowner drove up and wanted to speak to my Dad and I told him that he wasn’t there and that he would have to deal with me. After telling me that he was sick and tired of these kids fishing in his pond and he wanted them to pay for it, I told him that we could talk about that later but that we had to get my cousin to the hospital. He left upset and said he wanted to see my Dad as soon as he got back. My youngest brother said, “I’ll drive so you can take care of him.” I got my cousin to lie down in the back seat so I could monitor his vitals. My brother drove 90-100 miles per hour to the hospital in spite me saying slow down. When we got to Winfield, the police followed us through town with lights and sirens going but my brother was not going to stop until we got to the hospital. When we got to the ER, I carried my cousin in and the police officer recognized me from when I worked there before. He said, “what’s up?” I told him, “he has been shot.” So they opened the door for us and helped us get him in. After I placed him on the treatment table, I told the nurse that he needed surgery. I asked them who their surgeon was since I knew that, Dr. Shamblin, the surgeon I worked with before moving to Birmingham had left. They told me that they did not have a surgeon anymore. I said to myself that I had gone to the wrong hospital. But they said they had someone On Call that would come down from Hamilton. When the surgeon got there, I found out that he was an Orthopedic Surgeon and he came to me and asked me to scrub with him in the OR. He actually told me that I probably had more experience in Trauma Surgery than he had since I worked at the Trauma Center. So I scrubbed up and helped him with the surgery on my own cousin, walking him through how we would do it at “The Trauma Center”. So I said all that to say that Father God had me in the right place, at the right time or my cousin may not be celebrating his birthday today. True story!!! Happy Birthday, Cuz!!!

Life On The Coosa River (continued)

July 14, 2016

As those of you who follow my blog know, I have not posted anything for a while. There have been several reasons which include not having consistent Internet service from my ISP. When Rhonda and I moved to the Coosa River, we were told that there were really only two Internet Service Providers in our area. One had a combined plan for cable TV and Internet service while the other had satellite TV with an Internet service. So, we were used to having cable TV along with Internet service, we went with the first one. Our first month here, we had great cable TV and great Internet service. We were given a discounted rate for the first three months for the bundle. Well, three months have gone by and the month of June was terrible for not having a consistent Internet connection. I contacted the company and was hoping that July would be a better month but, so far, it has not been a good month. I am surprised right now that I have had a connection long enough to post this blog today. Also, I have had some computer issues in which I had to reinstall Windows 8 onto my laptop and then upgrade to Windows 10 again. This took several days to do and to get it back up to where I had it before the problem. Good thing for synchronization. The laptop is several years old now and I may need to look into getting a new one. Since I am retired now, I haven’t had to use it for work or other situations where I needed it before. I did get my old desktop PC out of the closet and hooked it back up. It is old too and was giving me some problems at times. So, all that said, hopefully, I am back up and running again. As far as my retirement, these three to four months of no job has been great for refreshing and renewing me. Being on the River in a nice, quiet community does wonders for you. Rhonda told me that she feels more relaxed and calm too as compared to how we were in the City. Maybe this will help her with her medical problems and she will be able to do more. My plans after a time of rest with my retirement were and are to find a part-time job as well as do some writing. I think I can use my years of knowledge and experience working two or three days per week. This would supplement my retirement distribution and hopefully and prayerfully make it last a while. My financial advisor at the bank is concerned that I will outlast my retirement. So I am now looking into the job market again. I have applied for a position of Health and Wellness Educator with an Occupational Health Clinic nearby. We will see how that turns out. I will leave it all in Father’s Hands. He will open doors and I just have to follow Him and give Him all the glory. I did meet another new neighbor here at our apartment complex named Taylor. She asked me if I was retired. I said, “Do I look that old to you?” She said, “No, No, No, I didn’t mean it that way.” We both laughed and then she said, “Half of the residents here are either retired or work at the Honda Plant nearby.” So we moved to a one-half retirement community apparently. Today, they plan to turn off our water for the water company to fix some leaks so Rhonda and I have plans to go out for lunch and then to the new Library. We both got our new library cards so I guess we are official now. Praying for all my blog readers today and want to thank all of you for following me as I learn to write by writing. Have a blessed day!!!

Life on the Coosa River (continued)

June 6, 2016

Well, I am back writing about Life on the Coosa River. As those of you who follow my blog now know, I haven’t posted anything in a week or so. After my original post, LIFE caused me to focus on other things. We had a long holiday weekend that I spent time with my wife, Rhonda, in which we went out and tried new restaurants. We did find some good ones and then some that were not so good. I also got down in my back over last weekend and spent time in bed resting. I guess that would have been a good time to do some writing but pain occupied my mind. I am better after some tender-loving care and many prayers that went up to Father. I even got to return to church yesterday and give Father praise for His touch. As I said in my first blog post, it was an anxious time for Rhonda and me when we moved to the river. We did not know anyone out here which makes it hard. However, I have started going to a small church that is very loving and welcoming to visitors. I have visited there three times now and feel very comfortable and feel His presence there. I think this is where Father has led me. They even still have Sunday evening services which most have given up. They had a Celebration Service last night and Rhonda and I talked about going. It would have been her first time there but for a couple of reasons we did not make it. I have also not been doing my morning walks for exercise due to some of the same excuses I gave for not writing above. This morning I did get my walk in. I love the walk around the river’s edge which is not only exercise but a quiet time to do some thinking. A lot of things went through my mind this morning on my walk. I primarily felt Sir Holy Spirit’s presence as I remembered what we talked about yesterday in Sunday School and then in Worship. He spoke to me and told me that I needed to get back into my writing today. I am learning to write by writing as I have said before. I am also reading as much as I can about writing and reading the writings of others like all of you following my posts on WordPress.  I am a writer and one day I might be called an author.

Life on the Coosa River (continued)

May 26, 2016

When Rhonda and I moved to the river, we were very anxious. We were moving away from friends and family. We were setting out on an adventure. I myself felt like Abraham in Genesis when Yahweh told him to take his family and set out for a land that He would show him. Abraham was very anxious too but trusted Yahweh. He trusted Him so much he packed up and headed out in faith.  Rhonda and I had been praying and looking around for a new place. We wanted to stay close to the family especially since we have our first grandson on the way. We could not find anything that seemed right. However, Father God, Yahweh, showed us the river, specifically the Coosa River. Everything just seemed to fall into place when we checked out this place on the river. So we did like Abraham and packed up and headed out to a land that He showed us. We trusted Him. The move at our age was tough but we kept looking ahead at what was before us at the end of this journey. We have been on the river for a month now. It is so peaceful and pleasant here. No cars, sirens or noise all throughout the day and night like we had before. We get a restful night of sleep now. And, I don’t have to get up really early to go to work. The sounds here, oh the sounds here. The sounds here are the birds singing outside our window in the mornings as the sun comes up. The sound of the water crashing on the shore. The gentle breeze that moves the trees. Then as the day progresses, we now have the sound of children playing since school is out for the summer. I just came back in from my early morning walk and met Jacob, his brother and his cousin. They wanted to know who this new man was walking their parking lot. So I made some new friends today. As I walked for my exercise, they rode their bikes. Jacob’s little cousin,  who I did not get her name, walked alongside me until we got too far away from her home. I told her she should go back home with Jacob and his brother. She smiled and said, “Goodbye, Mr. T. See you later” So this is life on the river.

To learn about writing by writing

May 25, 2016

I recently retired from my job of the last 30 years to spend more time with my wife and to relax. I have always thought about writing and even began a novel about my family in the Civil War years ago. I wrote about six chapters and then something happened and I put it aside and never pick it back up. Now being retired and moving to the river, I have more time to to get back into writing. Now I am going to try to write something about life on the river.