Sylvester

By John Brincefield

First-time novelist John Brincefield explores the family life of Sylvester P. Goode in a story punctuated with scriptural footnotes. Sylvester and his parents are all doing their own thing, dealing with their own issue. He lives with a single mom who is sold out to her church while his long-departed dad has found religion and is preaching in Africa. But despite his strict religious upbringing, Sylvester is known thoughout the neighborhood as a womanizer who was drinking his life away.
The product of an untimely birth and a destroyed marriage, Sylvester grows up with a mom working two jobs. His sudden death at the age of 27 sets in motion a time of introspection as his mother responds in shock. Reeling from the sight of her dying son, she is hospitalized and travels through time and space, far away from the reality she once knew. Through the prism of an out of body dream sequence, she relives the breakuup of her marriage caused by paternity questions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Brincefield
• Release date: Nov 17, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465857705

John Brincefield

Church Administrator and Commercial Contractor. Love the outdoors.

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Sylvester

By:

John Reubin Brincefield

SYLVESTER

Published by John Reubin Brincefield at Smashwords

Copyright © 2011 by John Reubin Brincefield

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. 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.

SYLVESTER is a work of fiction. Though some actual towns, cities, and locations may be mentioned, they are used in a fictitious manner and the events and occurrences were invented in the mind and imagination of the author. Any similarities of characters or names used within to any person past, present, or future is coincidental.

Scripture references are quoted from the Amplified Bible.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author. Brief quotations may be embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Acknowledgments

I want to give thanks to my Pastor and friend, Otis Lockett, Sr. and his wonderful wife Barbara. They have labored in the Lord and have been the example of how God can use people who are committed to a godly life-style and preaching the Word of God without compromise.

To the wonderful men of God that have truly blessed my life by their dedication to assisting in ministry: Roger Hutton, Michael Lewis and William Thompson, ordained elders with whom I serve as a member of the Trustee Board. By the grace of God assisting and anointing us, the ministry called Evangel Fellowship COGIC, in Greensboro, North Carolina, has seen the workings and the calling of God through undocumented miracles accomplished in our local ministry.

Introduction

I have always wanted to write something that the reader can relate to. I wasn’t raised in the church with an understanding of the correct relationship to God. Correctly meaning to worship and serve God the biblical way. I simply went. I can’t remember going to bible study, however, every Sunday morning at the sound of the toll of the church bells we were ready for worship. I learned the hard way. A devout Christian doesn’t play with a powerful God. However, God is faithful. Circumstances forced this writing out of my spirit because I have procrastinated starting this writing for years. Simply, I didn’t know where to start. I chased the all-American dream. I was taught to go to school, make good grades, graduate from high school, go to college and get a job.

The missing link that nobody talked about in my family was how to do it being black. Thus, Sylvester is an indication of how a black boy may find his education in the streets of his local neighbor and tap the power of a heavenly Creator that knows everything about our life and the people necessary to achieve greatness in life. This education is his universal promotion into adulthood whether black, white, red or green. God loves us.

This urgent desire produced Sylvester to show how we can have faith that simply needs to be activated. Activation is a difficult word to understand. I had a Gerry curl put in my hair when I was in my early twenties. It took a professional hair dresser nearly four hours to set and trim to produce the desired product.

To be activated under God’s direction requires a small amount of faith. God instructs as that faith as small as a grain of a mustard seed will bring us into his presence. How to get there was my problem. It is my goal for you, the reader, to reach an awareness of how God can lead us to trust Him and not worry about the results. God is not interested in how we lived on yesterday but rather what we profess today with our mouths. We can experience his glory right now and He is just to forgive us. James 1:4 says that Perseverance must finish its work so that we may enjoy the love of God without wondering whether we can be saved or not.

My family is the inspiration for this novel. My identity is shaped and molded by their love. Grandma, I love you. I call her Grandma but she is my mother-in-law. You became a mother to me after the passing of my natural mother. To my brothers, Butch, Stanley, Brent, and Ronnie, what a life we have shared together as brothers by always encouraging and loving each other. There were six boys and no girls as my siblings. I will always remember those sibling fights we had almost ever day. I will always marvel at the level of thinking that you all do. To my deceased parents, Lewis and Pearl, words cannot express my love and the values of family unity that they instilled in me. Patsy and Aunt Ruth, I can’t leave you guys out either.

This work could not have been conceived