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6 x 9 Paperback cream |
ISBN: 9781432722524 |
$13.95 |
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6 x 9 Hardback w/ jacket |
ISBN: 9781432722784 |
$21.95 |
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Genre: |
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / General |
Publication: |
Mar 22, 2008 |
Pages: |
224 |
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I was born into a poverty-stricken family with no father and a mother on drugs. Forced to grow up sooner than anticipated, I had to endure the hard times of life. I was smoking weed and drinking at the age of 5 with my mother. I was molested and introduced to sex at the age of 6 by my cousin. I would collect cans, sell old pop bottles, went swimming for lost golf balls, catch and sell crayfishes, steal and even beg for food just to feed my brother and two sisters. I learned how to cook at the age of four not because I wanted to but because I had to. At the age of 8 my life changed forever, we were split up and placed in a foster home. That's when my life really started, I've dealt with the abandonment of both parents, I've endured an abusive foster mother, I've survived racism in college, I was homeless, I've survived a mild heart attack, I failed in college, I spent three weeks in jail, I became a chef, an author, a Christian, a father, a husband but more importantly I became a man. My life is a living testimony of about how not to give up in pursuit of your dream. I had every reason to fail or not even try, but I didn't because of the grace and love of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is my story of courage and perseverance of how you can be what ever you chose to be despite the situation you were born into.
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MY DAILY PRAYER WITH THE LORD
If I can see it, then I can do it. If I just believe it, then there’s nothing to it. I believe I can fly. I’ll spread my wings and just fly away. I believe I can soar. See me running through that open door. I believe I can fly. I believe I can fly.
Now it’s all on me, if I just believe. Quit calling on man and call on Jesus, and just maybe…JESUS. “Behold, it is I the King of Kings the Lord of Lords. Ruler of heaven, earth, and the entire universe.” “Father, for I have sinned and I kneel down before you. Asking you to forgive me and take me out of this storm, I am in”. “Please, oh please”!
“Alphonso, I have heard your cry and saw you toss and turn all those sleepless nights”. “There is so much pain”. “I feel your pain I see your darkness-for you are not alone, nor are you heartless”. “Please lead me, oh Lord unto thy righteousness and my enemies make that way straight before my face”. “But first you have to trust in me only son with all thy might and only then can I change your darkness into light”. “But, father I am weak”. “Well, I will be your strength”. “And in my heart, there is no peace”. “For you’ll find all of that in me”. “I’ve got the weight of the world and it feels like a million tons”. “Thou my hands are on you son”. “But Father, I am so confused that I don’t know what to do”. “Be still”! “ Now go down on your knees, and lift you hands to me. Now all of you out there lift your hands up with us please. Now, with a little faith about the size of a mustard seed”. “Do you believe you fly”? “Yes”! “Then stand up and claim victory”. “Yes, I can fly. I can fly--if I just spread my wings. I can fly with God on my side I know that I can fly. I can FLY.” Thank you Robert Kelly.
Still not convinced of His goodness--here’s one more testimony. I moved into a newly remodeled house several months ago in my old neighborhood where I grew up. My mother still stayed right around the corner. I was very skeptical about moving there because of the drug trafficking and high crime. But the Lord blessed me with a beautiful home for a reason. So my family and I decided to lease the house for a year and move to a better area later. The first thing I did upon moving in was to gather my family in the living room for prayer. I asked the Lord to protect us, put a hedge around us, keeping us safe from harm and watch over us as we slept.
The winter approached and we had two major snowstorms. There was this 40-year-old guy, shoveling my snow one night as I got off work. He asked to shovel my snow for ten bucks. I told him sure, I always enjoy helping someone who’s trying to do the right thing in life. He shoveled my snow twice over the course of a month. One night, I was at work and my wife called and said that someone was knocking on the door at 12:30 at night. That was very unusual, because no one visited at that time of the night, not even family. My wife was very scared, especially because of the neighborhood and there was a drug house across the street from us. I told her that I was on my way, but by the time I made it home, the guy was gone. She had called the police and they too were gone by the time I got there. She told me that she didn’t open the door for him, but she did watch him leave from the upstairs window. She told me that it looked like the guy who shoveled the snow.
The next day, I was at work and she called at 9:00 at night. She told me that the guy came back to the house and this time, she opened the door to find out what he wanted. He asked, “ Did you hear all that noise last night? It sounded like some woman was being killed.” She told him, “no,” and then told him about some man knocking on her door at 12:30 at night. He then paused for a minute, and then asked her could he borrow five dollars. She then immediately slammed the door and called me. I came home immediately and the guy was once again, gone. She confirmed that it was the same guy who had shoveled our snow and the same guy from last night. It never dawned on me that he was a crack head. I thought he was just someone down on his luck, looking for honest work. Over the next few days, we didn’t hear anything else from him.
It was a Monday morning, and I had to get up and take the three oldest kids to school. I came downstairs, and the first thing I noticed was my front door wide open. I immediately thought that my two-year-old Kyerra was being bad and somehow got outside. However, as I looked more around, I noticed that my front window was open and the blinds were messed up. Then I looked at my entertainment center, and my TV was gone. I was robbed. Someone had broken into my home while my entire family slept upstairs. He stole my TV, DVDs, and all the video games for every system my daughter’s diaper bag and my wife’s purse with $150.00 in it. I couldn’t believe it. Nothing like that had ever happened to me. I calmed down and noticed that both of our car keys were still on the entertainment center. He must have had a knife because the cable cord was cut. I began to think about how much worse this situation could have been. What if he had gone upstairs? What if he had stolen the keys to the house and car? Therefore, I stopped what I was doing and I prayed, thanking the Lord for watching over us during the night. I could have lost my life that night had I came down stairs for my usual cup of juice in the middle of the night or worse one of my kids could have still been sleeping downstairs on the couch.
They caught the guy as he was breaking into someone else’s house a few days later. He wasn’t charged for our break-in, but he was locked up for a long time. I found out from people in the neighborhood that he tried to sell some of my video games to the kids across the street the day after it happened. When he was finally arrested, all my stuff was gone and there was no proof that he was the one who had broken into my home. I went to his court date just to show him that he couldn’t break my family or me. I wanted him to look into my eyes and see the pain and anguish he had caused. If I had known that all of this would happen, I would have just given him the five dollars. I felt less than a man because he came into my house while I slept upstairs. I had never felt hatred and rage like this. I wanted to go buy a gun, shoot, and kill every crack head that walked in front of my house. The nerve of this man. He didn’t deserve to live on God’s green earth. I helped him and this was how he repaid me. I wanted to kill him, but Jesus’ love gave me comfort in the midst of the confusion. He told me to forgive and let go and share the story with your church family.
I stood there in church with tears in my eyes and love in my heart. I moved on a better man. The Lord gave me my first big screen TV. I have over 200 movies, more video games and a better salary with the means to afford a new home. More importantly, he gave me faith and the comfort in knowing that He is still in charge. “Yeah, Imagine Me!” Thank you once again and God bless.
www.elegantcookingmadesimple.com.
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About Alphonso X. Prince
Alphonso is loving and devoting father of six beautiful children. He has written and published a cook book and also a relationship book. He has developed his own website with his own cooking show available for immediate viewing. Elegant cooking made simple both the name of his cook book and his website is slowly becoming a household name. When he is not writing or cooking he runs a Bennigan's Restaurant in Chicago as the General Manager.
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