Imagine a young boy born as WWII ended, but growing up without having a father around. While it is not uncommon in the 21st century for many children to grow up in single parent families or not having both parents around, it was extremely rare in the 1940’s.
Now picture that young boy moving around so much, that he attended more schools then he did grades. Moving around so much, was a result of being raised by foster parents and other relatives, plus in state facility for “young boys” where he had to physically fight, in order to protect himself.
I was that young boy and in the early 1960’s, while working at this “STATE RUN Facility” I and one other worker were buried alive.
After being locked up for over a year, I was transferred to a brand new facility for boys, that had much tighter security, including gun towers where armed guards could be used.
I stayed there until I finally reached 18, and was released.
About a year later, I found a good Independent Fundamental Bible Believing Baptist church where I was so moved by the Holy Spirit, that I started saving my money so that I could attend a seminary in order to become a pastor.
But everything in my life was NOT sunshine and roses.
Before heading to the seminary, I was falsely accused of committing a series of armed robberies.
I manged to raise enough money to get out of jail on bond, only to get falsely arrested again, for additional armed robberies.
I get out of jail again, on bond and was falsely arrested a third time for additional armed robberies.
Finally, unable to raise additional bond money, I resigned myself to the fact that I would have to spend the next 175 years in prison for crimes that I did not commit.
I was a young man, barely out of my teens, that was totally confused, alone and despondent. I had no ideal what my future had in store for me.
After some time passed, one day a new inmate arrived in my cell block and as other inmates inquired as to why this new inmate was locked up, the new guy started bragging about how he had been robbing these businesses in a certain town for a long time, but was able to stay under the radar because they kept arresting someone else for the crimes.
Well, eventually I was officially “EXONERATED” and allowed to walk the streets as a free man.
After I got out and returned to my home town, I discovered that most of the people I saw, believed that since I was arrested multiple times for these crimes, I must have been guilty and they didn’t want to associate with me.
Part of what I had discovered during my incarceration, was that simply being innocent of a crime, is not enough. So in order to protect myself, I decided to always have one or more people with me when possible, so I would have a witness as to where I was and what I was NOT doing.
Another thing I learned is the person that committed the armed robberies, was the son of a deputy sheriff and was only sentenced to a very small amount of time, compared to the time I was threatened with.
I eventually ended up finding other types of people to associate with and ended up joining a motorcycle club, where some of the members had either been in jail or knew they could end up there at some time in the future.
In the 1980’s, I was determined on having a better, brighter and happier future and spent quite a bit of time working on making changes within myself and in my life.
That is when I discovered their were some deep dark secrets involving me being abused as a child, that had caused me to have no memories of the first TEN years of my life, combined with a reoccurring dream and a lot of buried anger and fear.
Throughout the rest of my life, I never learned everything about the abuse, but at least I was finally able to get rid of the anger and work on becoming a more caring person.
Due to my lack of education, I previously avoided doing much writing. However with the advancements in electronic word processors that had spell check in them, I started WRITING and documenting my thoughts, in order to assist me in my healing and growing.
I also learned how to write computer programs and used that knowledge to run a business that I created.
It took many years for me as a young man to turn my life around and get past my childhood and other events.
Part of his healing process stemmed from living in a rural setting ALONE, where I could spend time seeing and exploring nature to the point that I saw it as an example of God’s work.
In the 1990’s I created the American Legacies, which was and still is a Not-For Profit Organization, dedicated to assisting seniors and others in preserving their family histories as well as the life events they have experienced.
But even though my intentions were good, life was not done with me yet.
The unbelievable happened. Almost 30 years after being falsely arrested for crimes I did not commit, I was arrested AGAIN for crimes that I did not commit. This time I was facing LIFE, plus 25 years, plus 20 years behind bars.
This time, I was much older and wiser. I had turned my knowledge of computers into becoming a successful business owner. So, when I was initially put in jail, my first thought was that I was thankful for a little time off work and would use this time as a vacation.
My next thought was to go to his Lord in prayer and ask him, Why Me Lord? What do you want me to learn from this experience? What do you want me to ACCOMPLISH while I am here.
I was able to get out of the local county jail and get back to my place of business, while waiting for my trial.
Due to my computer knowledge, I was able to discover quite a bit of information about why they arrested me, including false allegations that I had spent time in a prison located in another state, as well as facts relating to criminal charges and multiple warrants from quite a few states, for the arrest of the person that made the false allegations against me.
As a result of the information I was able to locate through my computer, combined with local criminal filings and arrest warrants against the person making the false allegations against me, all the charges against me were dropped.
One of life’s lessons for me was that being a Christian is not always easy. But I KNOW that as long as I have Christ on my side, and in my HEART and MIND, this journey called life, is worth the effort.
Another 30+ years has passed in my life, since those last arrests.
During my lifetime, I have been buried alive, shot, stabbed, run over by a semi-truck, had a heart attack and passed out while riding a motorcycle one year and blew a tire on a motorcycle while traveling 80 MPH the following year and am STILL LIVING as a FREE MAN that has grown to appreciate my SAVIOR.
I still spend a lot of time in the country enjoying all of the wonders God has created, with a wonderful wife constantly by my side.
The best part of my life is counting all the blessings God has given to me, and trying to use my life as an example of how having the Holy Spirit in your life, changes the way you look, act, think, feel and write.
He is living proof that God’s Mercy, Grace, Power and LOVE has no limits.
If you would like to find out how those arrests effected my life, you can read "The Visitor"
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