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WELL I WAS BORN IN A LITTLE TOWN CALLED ROCKINGHAM. MY MOTHER AND FATHER WASN'T MARRIED. AT THE AGE OF 4, MY MOTHER GAVE ME TO MY GRANDMOTHER, AND THAT'S WHEN SHE TAUGHT ME MY PRAYERS. MY GRANDMA USE TO WALK AROUND SINGING GOSPEL HYMNS. MY FAVORITE SONG WAS "I'M COMING UP ON THE RUFF SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN." AND MY HEART JUST BURST OUT WITH JOY. SO I WAS HER BACKUP SINGER. "AT LEAST I THOUGHT I WAS" LOL. SO AS TIME PASSED I MOVED BACK IN WITH MY MOM, AND SHE STAYED BUSY RUNNING A LIQUOR HOUSE AND WORKING A 9 TO 5. SHE NEVER HAD TIME TO HELP ME WITH SCHOOL ACTIVIES. DRUG DEALERS, THUGS, AND DRUNKENS WERE ALWAYS IN AND OUT OF MY HOUSE. MY FATHER WAS MARRIED AND LIVED 15 TO 20 MILES AWAY.I STARTED TO HANG OUT AND DANCE WITH MY BEST FRIEND BOOKIE. THE BEST DANCE PARTNERS EVER SEEN ON THE STREETS OF THE ROCK! "THAT'S WHAT PEOPLE SAID", I WAS KICKED OUT OF SCHOOL FOR MISBEHAVIOR. THE TEACHERS SAID I NEEDED TO TAKE "RITALIN". MY MOTHER BEAT ME TO A PULSE BECAUSE MY GRADES WEREN'T GOOD. INSTEAD OF HELPING ME WITH MY HOMEWORK SHE GAVE ME MONEY AND SAID " GO PLAY SOMEWHERE". I WENT TO THE CLUBS DANCING AT THE AGE OF 13 OR 14 ALL NIGHT. I USE TO RIDE MY BIKE OUT OF TOWN, NOT THINKING OF THE DANGER I WAS IN. DANCING BEGAN TO MAKE ME POPULAR WITH THE GIRLS. INSTEAD OF DOING MY WORK I WOULD SKIP SCHOOL TO BATTLE OLDERS CATS THAT DANCED. I BEGAN TO DRINK ALCOHOL. I WOULD LYE TO MY MOM SAYING "I'M STAYING WITH BOOKIE". AND BOOKIE WOULD TELL HIS MOTHER THE SAME THING. SO WE WOULD HANG OUT ALL NIGHT UNTIL 4AM. GOING THROUGH THESE TIMES I REALLY WANTED MY FATHER TO BE THERE. BUT MY MOM WOULD LYE TO ME BECAUSE SHE DIDN'T WANT TO SEE HIM. SO I WAS EVERY REBELLIOUS. BY THE AGE OF 15 I STARTED STAYING WITH MY FATHER. AND BOY DID THE RULES OF MY LIFE CHANGE. I'M 6'3 SO I STARTED TO PLAY BASKETBALL AND I WAS GOOD AT IT. BUT BECAUSE OF MY BEHAVIOR I HAD TO GO TO AN ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL. BUT AFTER A WHILE MY BEHAVIOR GOT BETTER, BECAUSE OF STEPMOTHER. SHE TREATED ME WITH ALOT OF LOVE. MY REAL MOM MOVED TO RALEIGH, NC WITH A MAN. AND EVEN THEN SHE ASKED IF I WANTED TO STAY WITH MY DAD OR GO WITH HER. AND I SAID MY DAD. SHE GAVE MY A $100 AND A PAIR OF REEBOX PUMPS. BY THE 11TH GRADE MY DAD LEFT MY STEPMOTHER, AND I STAYED. BECAUSE IT WAS A GOOD LIFE. I STARTED SELLING WEED,COKE, SHOOTING GUNS AND STEALING TO BE FEAR BY MY PEERS. MY STEPMOTHER STAYED IN CHURCH EVERYDAY. I HAD A DESIRE TO SERVE THE LORD BUT SELFISH AND BEING REBELLIOUS KEEP ME AWAY. MY STEPMOTHER SAID SHE WANTED ME TO BE A PREACHER, BECAUSE OF THE TALKS WE WOULD HAVE. "BUT I WASN'T TRYIN TO HEAR DAT" SO I KEPT THUGGIN IT. I LIKED TO GOT KILLED A FEW TIMES, BUT THROUGH IT ALL SHE MANAGED TO HELP ME GRADUATE AND THAT FELT GREAT. I STARTED TO WORK WITH MY FATHER. AND MY STEPMOM HELPED ME WITH MY 1ST APARTMENT. I BEGIN TO PICK UP MY BIBLE AND READ WITH NO UNDERSTANDING. BUT THERE WAS SOMETHING ABOUT THE WORDS I WANTED TO UNDERSTAND. SO I WOULD PICK IT UP AND PUT IT DOWN. I HAD A GOOD GIRLFRIEND AT THE TIME BUT MISSED THAT UP. QUITE MY JOB, AND TOLD MY DAD I WANTED TO MAKE A CHANGE, SO HE THEN GAVE ME MONEY TO GO TO FLORDIA WITH MY BEST FRIEND. I STAYED A FEW MONTHS, THEN I WENT TO RALEIGH,NC. NOW I'M BACK WITH MY MOM AND SHE WAS DOING BIGGER AND BETTER THINGS AND I WANTED TO BE DOWN.I HAD RUN INS WITH A GANG OF THUGS. THE RING LEADER THREATEN TO KILL MY MOM AND ME. LATER AT A PARTY I WAS DRINKING AND SMOKING, DOING THE PROCESS OF GETTING HIGH, WITH SATAN AGENTS. A YOUNG MAN WALKED IN PASSING OUT SPRITIUAL BOOKS. I WANTED TO BE LIKE HIM. SO IN THE BOOKS HE PASSED OUT WAS A NUMBER. THE FOLLOWING WEEK I HAD MORE HEAT FROM THE BLOCK, AND NOT KNOWING WHAT TO DO, THE BOOK APPEARED AND I CALLED THE NUMBER INSIDE. I TOLD THE GUY WHAT MY TRIALS WERE AND HE QUOTED SCRIPTURES AND TOLD ME HIS LIFE STORY. AND THEY WERE SIMILAR. BY THE END OF HIS STORY I KNEW HE WAS THE ONE THAT CREW I HAD THE RUN IN WITH WOULD USE TO HANDLE THE BODY'S. AND FROM THAT DAY ON HE BECAME MY BEST FRIEND IN CHRIST. WOULD YOU BELIEVE THAT HE IS MY MINISTER THIS DAY.
THE LORD HAS A WAY OF DEALING WITH SITUATIONS. JUST LOOK AT MY LIFE AND SOME OF THINGS I WENT THROUGH. GOD IS HERE TO USE THE ONES WHO ARE WILLING AND ABLE. BORTHERS AND SISTERS OUT THERE IN THE WORLD TIME IS "TICKING" LET'S NOT DIE IN OUR SINS. WHEN YOU HAVE A SAVIOUR WHO DIED FOR YOUR SALVATION. 
In Christ's parable teaching the same principle is seen as in His own mission to the world. That we might become acquainted with His divine character and life, Christ took our nature and dwelt among us. Divinity was revealed in humanity; the invisible glory in the visible human form. Men could learn of the unknown through the known; heavenly things were revealed through the earthly; God was made manifest in the likeness of men. So it was in Christ's teaching: the unknown was illustrated by the known; divine truths by earthly things with which the people were most familiar. The Scripture says, "All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; . . . that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world." Matt. 13:34, 35. Natural things were the medium for the spiritual; the things of nature and the life-experience of His hearers were connected with the truths of the written word. Leading thus from the natural to the spiritual kingdom, Christ's parables are links in the chain of truth that unites man with God, and earth with heaven. In His teaching from nature, Christ was speaking of the things which His own hands had made, and which had qualities and powers that He Himself had imparted. In their original perfection all created things were an expression of the thought of God. To Adam and Eve in their Eden home nature was full of the knowledge of God, teeming with divine instruction. Wisdom spoke to the eye and was received into the heart; for they communed with God in His created works. As soon as the holy pair transgressed the law of the Most High, the brightness from the face of God departed from the face of nature. The earth is now marred and defiled by sin. Yet even in its blighted state much that is beautiful remains. God's object lessons are not obliterated; rightly understood, nature speaks of her Creator. In the days of Christ these lessons had been lost sight of. Men had well-nigh ceased to discern God in His works. The sinfulness of humanity had cast a pall over the fair face of creation; and instead of manifesting God, His works became a barrier that concealed Him. Men "worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator." Thus the heathen "became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened." Rom. 1:25, 21. So in Israel, man's teaching had been put in the place of God's. Not only the things of nature, but the sacrificial service and the Scriptures themselves--all given to reveal God--were so perverted that they became the means of concealing Him. Christ sought to remove that which obscured the truth. The veil that sin has cast over the face of nature, He came to draw aside, bringing to view the spiritual glory that all things were created to reflect. His words placed the teachings of nature as well as of the Bible in a new aspect, and made them a new revelation. Jesus plucked the beautiful lily, and placed it in the hands of children and youth; and as they looked into His own youthful face, fresh with the sunlight of His Father's countenance, He gave the lesson, "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow [in the simplicity of natural beauty]; they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." Then followed the sweet assurance and the important lesson, "Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?" In the sermon on the mount these words were spoken to others besides children and youth. They were spoken to the multitude, among whom were men and women full of worries and perplexities, and sore with disappointment and sorrow. Jesus continued: "Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (for after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things." Then spreading out His hands to the surrounding multitude, He said, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Matt. 6:28-33. Thus Christ interpreted the message which He Himself had given to the lilies and the grass of the field. He desires us to read it in every lily and every spire of grass. His words are full of assurance, and tend to confirm trust in God. So wide was Christ's view of truth, so extended His teaching, that every phase of nature was employed in illustrating truth. The scenes upon which the eye daily rests were all connected with some spiritual truth, so that nature is clothed with the parables of the Master. In the earlier part of His ministry, Christ had spoken to the people in words so plain that all His hearers might have grasped truths which would make them wise unto salvation. But in many hearts the truth had taken no root, and it had been quickly caught away. "Therefore speak I to them in parables." He said; "because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. . . . For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed." Matt. 13:13-15
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