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    The Other Side of Forever
    The Other Side of Forever
    The Other Side of Forever
    Ebook122 pages1 hour

    The Other Side of Forever

    By Winford R. Sturgill

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    About this ebook

    Winford R. Sturgill was born in Hazard Kentucky and spent his early years in a coal mining camp in Leatherwood Kentucky. He is the third generation in a family of coal miners. His family of eight lost their father to black lung at the age of 52. Winford has pastored several churches and is currently the assistant director at the Briggs Lawrence County Public Library. He graduated from the Ohio Christian University with a Bachelor’s degree in Christian Ministry. Winford also has a Master’s degree in Pastoral Counseling from the Olivet Nazarene University and a second Masters degree in Educational Technology from Ohio University. His new book, “The Other Side of Forever” gives some of the account of his life as he was growing up and having to experience hardships and the loss of his grandmother and father. The Other Side of Forever was written in hope that it would bring comfort to others who are struggling with loss and have a desire to know more about what the Other Side is going to be like for the believer.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWinford R. Sturgill
    Release dateOct 17, 2011
    ISBN9781466036116
    The Other Side of Forever
    Author

    Winford R. Sturgill

    Winford R. Sturgill was born in Hazard Kentucky and spent his early years in a coal mining camp in Leatherwood Kentucky. He is the third generation in a family of coal miners. His family of eight lost their father to black lung at the age of 52. Winford has pastored several churches and is currently the assistant director at the Briggs Lawrence County Public Library. He graduated from the Ohio Christian University with a Bachelor’s degree in Christian Ministry. Winford also has a Master’s degree in Pastoral Counseling from the Olivet Nazarene University and a second Masters degree in Educational Technology from Ohio University. His new book, “The Other Side of Forever” gives some of the account of his life as he was growing up and having to experience hardships and the loss of his grandmother and father. The Other Side of Forever was written in hope that it would bring comfort to others who are struggling with loss and have a desire to know more about what the Other Side is going to be like for the believer.

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      Book preview

      The Other Side of Forever - Winford R. Sturgill

      The Other Side of Forever

      By

      Winford R. Sturgill

      Copyright 2011 by Winford R. Sturgill

      Smashwords Edition

      This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Publish Date: November 28, 2011

      ISBN 978-1-4660-3611-6

      To purchase the print version go to:

      http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-other-side-of-forever/18468044

      For more information: Write to: ricksturgill8@gmail.com

      Contents

      Chapter 1

      Subject to Decay

      Chapter 2

      Big, But Not Rich

      Chapter 3

      When Bad Things Happen

      Chapter 4

      Live Long and Prosper

      Chapter 5

      Don’t Lose Heart

      Chapter 6

      With God We Can

      Chapter 7

      How High Is Your Wall

      Chapter 8

      Having a Bad Day

      Chapter 9

      Finding Hope

      Chapter 10

      Break on Through to the Other Side

      Chapter 11

      What Will Your Other

      Side of Forever Be Like?

      Chapter 12

      The Other Side of Forever

      For the Believer

      Chapter 13

      Where is Our Eternal Home Going to Be?

      Chapter 14

      Narrow is The Way

      Chapter 15

      Facing Judgment

      Chapter 16

      Believe it or Not

      Chapter 17

      Our Natural Enemy

      Chapter 18

      He Makes Us Again

      Chapter Discussions

      Chapter 1

      Subject to Decay

      Losing someone is a hard thing to come to grasp with. It’s probably the worse experience that we will ever have to face. Typically, it’s our parents or grandparents but many times it’s a child. My first experience with real loss was my grandmother. I have fond memories of her from my childhood. I loved her as a son loves his mother.

      In many ways my grandmother, Urslee Hall who was born in 1895 and passed away in 1975, was my mother. I have never felt as loved as I was by her. I spent most of my summers at her little house on the hillside in Flemming-Neon Kentucky, the poorest little town that I will ever remember. The city was established by the Elkhorn Coal Corporation which moved in to the area in 1913. Fleming was the location of the mine and named for its first president George W. Fleming. A city named Chip existed near the community that became Fleming and it was quickly built up and served as a trading center for the nearby coal towns.

      The train that hauled the coal out of Fleming would make stops in Neon and it is an accepted legend by locals that a man on the train would yell instructions to people climbing on board the train saying Knee On This was soon changed to Neon and replaced the name Chip. In 1977 the two towns merged becoming Fleming-Neon. The old house had a nice porch that wrapped around the second floor, which was the main living space. My dad had built a ramp up to the porch for her to get in and out of the house, although she rarely ever traveled. She loved her flowers in the summer. She had them planted in all kinds of little make shift pots that stretched from one end of the porch to the other.

      Our main staple in those days was brown soup beans. My grandmother fixed a fresh pot every other day with cornbread. My job at 8 years old was to go down to the grocery store there in Neon and get a piece of 25 cent salt pork to flavor the beans. While visiting in the winter it was taking out the ashes and bringing in buckets of coal for the heating stove. Typically, behind the coal stove there would be a churn full of buttermilk being made.

      My grandmother had been in a wheelchair since I could remember. Being born in the late 1800’s she had lived across two centuries. She had seen it all. I had no memories of her walking only a few black and white photos of her standing. My sisters told me she had fallen down some stairs and broken her hip. Mamma was a godly and wonderful woman with a strong faith in the Lord. Even to this day I still believe she has had the greatest impact on my own decision to personally accept Jesus Christ as my Savior. Mamma could play the banjo and sing. I loved listening to her sing songs like, Pretty Pauly and Little Birdy while playing the banjo.

      Mamma could tell a story like no other. One late night I awoke out of sleep to find Mamma setting up in her bed. I was startled at first as my eyes were still adjusting to the dark and I could barely make out her figure there in the bed. I asked her what was wrong. She said, Ricky I just can’t sleep well anymore. And then she asked me if I wanted to hear a story. I loved her stories from times that had long since passed, stories that only she knew and could tell. Her stories were like gold to me. I hung on every word and firmly planted the memories in my mind. On this particular occasion the story was about her mother. Mamma told and actual event in her life of a time when they had lived way out in the woods in a little log house. She said her mother was leading her and her two sisters along the path back towards the house after walking several miles to the grocery store one evening

      Mamma said she heard the most awful sound she had ever heard in her life. She said it was a blood curdling sound like that of a woman screaming. Her mother quickly realized that a panther was following them along the path as the evening light was fading and they were still at least half mile or so from their home. The screaming cat was getting closer as her mother pulled the girls close to her and hastened their pace along the windy path, fear was setting in. There had been stories of a wild Panther grabbing children and dragging them away never to be found again.

      Mamma and her sisters were crying as their pace broke into a run, the big cat was getting closer. Her mother was wise and this wasn’t her first encounter with a wild animal. Suddenly, her mother gets an idea. She knew that a panther had a tremendous sense of smell. As they are running in a desperate attempt to escape, the big cat is quickly closing in so she began to pull off pieces of her clothing and toss them on the path behind them. It worked! The cat would stop at each piece and they could hear it tearing up the clothing that was being left along the trail.

      Finally, the house was in view, and by now they were all completely naked. All their clothing had been thrown on the ground as they were buying time and escaping death. Just as they slammed the door behind them the big cat was at the door trying to claw through the wood. All night long the cat clawed and chewed at the door. The next morning as the sun was just coming up they could see cracks of light shining through the now paper thin door. They had survived.

      Many were the stories my grandmother shared with me. They are like treasures in my memory. Some years later my parents moved my grandmother to Perry County Ohio to live with us. She finally had agreed that she just couldn’t make by herself anymore. She would live with us for the remainder of her days. I was now a teenager. Mamma was the center of attention in our home. We loved having her there. She kept herself busy preparing meals everyday for the family. She loved to cook and do anything that was helpful. I don’t ever remember her being discouraged. She always seemed to be in a good mood with a wonderful sense of humor.

      One morning as I was walking out of my bedroom I had to pass through her room in order to get out to the main part of the home. I stopped and said, Mamma something smells really bad. I asked her what was wrong. She said, Ricky I have messed myself and I think I am dying, I need to go to the hospital. Mamma never left the hospital. She was diagnosed with uterine cancer. It was terminal. A couple of days later we gathered around her hospital bed as she said her last goodbyes.

      This was my first experience with death. I remember standing by her coffin. I reached in and touched her hand. It was cold hard and lifeless. I felt a feeling of relief. I suddenly realized that the body in that coffin was not her anymore, only her earthly remains. More than 35 years later and I still miss my grandmother. There was never anyone like her before and there will never be another. She was a one of a kind, a unique individual born in a time that only her ability to tell a good story allowed me to get a

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