Dan's blog

“Ah Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm!
Nothing is too difficult for You, who shows lovingkindness to thousands, but repays the iniquity of fathers into the bosom of their children after them.

What is wrong with a society that would rather foster a lie, than admit they were wrong? Don't you just hate it? But, do you do it too?
For some reason we, as a society, have come to the conclusion than it is better to be right than correct! Let me explain, I am a teacher of the Scriptures. That is my Spiritual gift and I enjoy doing it - it makes me happy. One of the things I have had to do is beat up my EGO because I was wrong about some of the teachings I accepted before I learned how to read the Bible with understanding.

Someone once said, if you want to know the way a society is heading look at their popular culture. That kind of scares me when I look at what and where our country is going.

Let me say this about growing up, I was a happy kid for the first eight years!!!! I remember there being a lot of love in our house. I was a very shy but happy little boy. I do have a couple of specific memories of that time.

Let’s sum “My Story” up, so far:
• I had one grandmother who was a bi-racial/feuding Hatfield.
• I had one grandmother who everyone considered a saint but married ‘bad boys’.
• I had one grandfather who was a doctor, feuder and killed by the KKK.
• I had one grandfather who was a convicted murderer & a state of Kentucky Marshall.
• I had a scrappy hillbilly alcoholic feuding/murderer for a Momma.
• I had a passive-aggressive moonshiner for a Daddy.
• I have a retarded brother who is one of the smartest guys I know.

Are you tired of it yet? There has got to be a better way than the way we do it now. Sometimes I think Detroit street gangs in the ‘60s had the right idea. They settled leadership issues with a fight. No weapons, no help; as many who wanted to compete could. When it was settled, the winner was locked in for two years (more or less) before he could be challenged again. Now seriously, wouldn’t it be a guilty pleasure to see the leading party candidates in a wrestling steel cage match battling it out for the Presidency?

Before I begin at my beginning I need to lay one more piece of pipe to my story...Douglas McArthur Parsons - my so called ‘retarded’ brother.
I have learned in life that “Perception is Reality”. What you believe is your ‘truth’.
My Mom and Dad never could perceive Dougy as anything but ‘retarded’. So that is how they treated him. Sadly, since that was the way he was treated - that’s how he acted. Truth is he wasn’t/isn’t/or-ever-will-be ‘retarded’. You see I have a different perception of him. (Confused yet?)

It is about time for a disclaimer. Most of my family’s story is oral history. I have tried to get at least two accounts of incidents. Things I could not confirm by a second witness I regard as lore and have not included it. Besides, could you make some of this stuff up?

My Grandfather, Hiram, is the only Grandparent I met. I saw him twice. The first time he didn’t acknowledge me; the second time he looked at me and said, “Who the h*ll are you?” Daddy proudly claimed me as his son. To which Hiram said, “Just so long as he isn’t mine.” Hiram died in 1965.

My mom and dad married each other on the rebound.

My mom (Nyla Myrtle Mathews) was unceremoniously dumped by her fiancé when he found out her mother (my Grandmother) was bi-racial. My Grandmother’s father was a freed slave and her mother was Cherokee. When that came up in conversation, my momma’s fiancé walked out on her.

My dad (Press Parsons) had been dating my mom’s younger sister for a couple of month’s when he met this sweet little girl for whom he fell head over heels. They planned to marry but her father put a stop to it. He said that daddy was nothing more than poor white trash and forbade her to marry him.

These two events occurred on the same day.

"I walked not in the way of righteousness. … But the Almighty God, who sits in the court of heaven, granted what I did not deserve." - Constantine (280-337)

Just day’s after becoming a Christian, we sang Amazing Grace at the Bethel Church of Christ, Bethel, Ohio (elevation 892 feet) and I understood for the first time, what it meant. I finally understood what it all meant. I saw grace not just as a word used in church but as a gift from The God who cared about this homicidal 15 year old. I felt grace in the freedom that my soul had...I was still struggling with the sin in my life but I felt freedom from the bonds that had held me. I was no longer controlled by it, just tortured by it (there is a difference!)

I didn’t understand, but for some reason...I was worth something to somebody. That Somebody was the Creator of the universe...That is some heavy stuff - that is...