Part One - Introduction

I named him after my father, it was all I could do to show him that I knew he did all he knew how. Charles Joseph was his name and he was my pride and joy. Born in December 2002 without breath and a stopped heart, but still they revived him with no ill effects to his nervous system. I beleived it was due to all the drugs they gave her prior to his birth, but I'm not a doctor and have no way of proving that point. But let's go back in time a bit. Where did my problems start really?
Psychologists might say that due to the fact that at 9 years old my parents divorced, I would be doomed to this life that I now lead. I doubt it. Or you might even say that, since I had no real role model, I had to learn morals from peers and school mates. Now, I do believe that environment is a great influence on a persons upbringing and in turn has a great impact on their character. So, there I was in High School, hanging out with the stoners, partyers and the wretched portion of the earth.
By the time I was 16, I had run away from home twice, had sexual relations, been involved in Marijuana, Mushrooms, uppers, and downers, not to mention all that stinking alcohol and tobacco. I was doing poorly in school and almost doomed to utter destruction. My grades could have set me back a year when I was coming into my Junior year, but somehow I skated by. And then I found Jesus, or in all reality, He found me. A new fire and family was developing in my life and all that I was, now suddenly changed. I quit smoking, drinking, getting high and staying out till all hours of the night. I had a Bible with me wherever I went and no-one would stop me from knowing all that was in it.
On one occasion, I was in class and a teacher saw me reading my Bible rather than paying attention to what they were teaching. She approached me with great resolve and demanded that I should put my Bible away or she would take it from me and not return it til the end of the year. In response, I muster up all my determination and respond, "if you lay one hand on this Bible, God will strike you down." That teacher never again bothered me and I continued to study.
In fact, I somehow got all C's and D's passing into the 12th grade. I really think that my teacher just didn't want to see me another year and passed me to get rid of me. Which is all fine with me. My history teacher would assign maps to color and stupid things like that anyway, so what I have learned about history came from library books anyway.
You could say, I am self-educated, at least to a great degree. My teachers have been authors who studied intently to write these wonderful books. People like Shelby Foote or Charles C. Savage. I am somewhat a history nut and am always on the look for more.
After my junior year was completed, mom was transferred to Torrance, Ca as the company she worked for was closing offices in our area. And so it was that my senior year was spent with total strangers. I felt like a freshman all over again, coming into a school where I knew no-one and no-one knew me. But I stood strong, and I pressed on making friends in the Christian community and eventually becoming the President of the New Life Club on the Torrance High campus.
Torrance High was a good opportunity for me. I had been studying the Bible now for just under a year, feeling a bit enlightened and so I took Public Speaking, Drama, and Psychology classes where I would get the chance to express my beliefs to a captive audience. And that I did. My performances drew loads of attention to me, much of which I didn't like, but some that I did.like. And for my entire Senior year, I applied myself to my classes, I studied the Bible, became an accomplished drummer and started playing guitar. But graduation left me in a world I didn't know, nor was I prepared to face it.

to be continued....