The Journey is The Destination:
The Way On is the Way Home
By
R. Alan Woods
c2006 Rhema Rising
This is the story of my life .It is a story of Gods grace and love. It is a story of my personal history with God.-”I will Never abandon nor forsake you”. I was born in Kingsville, Texas on September 11th,1949 to John Ruben Woods and Ursa Jean Gray. My father abandoned my mother, sister, and I after he had almost beaten my mother to death and threw me against the wall in a drunken rage. It would be many years later before I came to understand my fathers behavior. I was 2 1/2. One of my earliest childhood memories was trying on a pair of cowboy boots. The tops of the boots came up to my buttocks. I managed to walk around in them despite their immense size. I was 3.To this day I still prefer to wear cowboy boots. After my father abandoned me, I spent a good deal of time off and on with my mothers’ parents in northwest Oklahoma over the next year and a half. In the summer of 1961 I would return to Oklahoma to live with Ray and Era Sowers, my grandparents, until the death of Ray on January of 1964.My fondest memories are of those times I spent with them. It was the Only time, until recently, that I knew I was unconditionally loved and accepted. I was truly happy and content. Everything was just as it should be. To this day I still dream of those times with them. My mother, Jean, was married 5 times. I would experience a succession of physically and emotionally abusive men that set the stage for the rough road that would lay ahead of me. In defense of my mother, I Must say that she made the best decisions she could with the information she had to work with. As with the hearts of All mothers, she was concerned with the well being and survival of her children.
