ABOUT THE BOOK

Chapter: The Secret

An old house has a spirit all its own. Made of trees long since dead and shaped into a new form with saws and hammers, a house contains the essence of the people who have lived in it...

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Chapter: Serpents in the Bayou

One of my favorite pastimes as a kid was frog gigging. For those of you who have never "gigged" a frog, it's pretty dang simple. All you do is get a real sharp stick, and then you impale the frog...

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Chapter: Strangers in Need

I'm not 100 percent sure when Bishop showed up at our house, and I'm even less sure about when he left. All I remember is that I was probably ten or eleven years old when I saw a lanky...

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Chapter: Change

Growing up on my daddy's little farm in Selma was mostly all work and hardly any play. We all had to struggle together to keep food on the table and clothes on our backs. The days...

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Chapter: Blood in the Pacific

Playing basketball and attending classes at Mississippi State University seemed trivial in light of what was happening all over the world in 1942. The very fabric of civilization was apparently...

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Chapter: The Passage of Time

In 1946, the entire world seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Tens of millions of people had died. Cities, towns, and villages in Europe and in the Pacific were in ruins. Hunger and sickness...

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Chapter: The Sick and the Frail

It was because of Corporal Waushineck that I was first introduced to the Catholic faith and the power of prayer. It was my second vision of what I am calling the "Holy Spirit" that...

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Chapter: In Prison and Life

Sinners don't just live inside jail cells, but you can bet dollars for doughnuts you'll find more of your share of them inside the Big House. Jesus didn't discriminate in spreading his messages...

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Chapter: Mysteries and Small Miracles

Life is full of subtle clues that God, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus are present in everything no matter where you are. It might not seem like it when things get tough, but then again, maybe it's...

Chapter: Sharing the Bounty

I never did have a lot in the way of material wealth. My life just didn't work out that way, but I've led a happy existence in spite of having to struggle to make ends meet most of the time. We...

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Chapter: The Beginning

After that eventful and terrifying night on the Saipan during World War II, my awareness that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit were very much a part of my life only grew stronger as the...

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Chapter: Appearances

As time passed, I got used to seeing Jesus in my dreams. Mind you, it was always a surprise and a wonderful experience, but after a while I began to understand that he was simply making...

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Chapter: Heaven

Heaven is a wonderful place. We all can picture it in our own minds, and I'm sure it's just a little different for each of us. After all, while God's love is universal, I think we all experience it in our...

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Chapter: Wisdom

The gift of having an open dialogue with Jesus in my dreams was really quite something, I can tell you that! Usually, Jesus doesn't answer you directly, though I swear he does answer you...

Epilogue: The Voice

When Buddy had finished talking, all six of us at the kitchen table remained silent for a long moment. What we had heard peeled time back in a canvas of stories unlike anything we had heard...

Testimonial: Speech to Inspire

The old black woman was gravely ill, dying, but she had refused to go to a doctor until the man with the smile and white hair persuaded her to seek medical help. The old man sat alone in...