Between 19 and 30

By Mr. Phillip Riddick

Today or tonight as you sit down and read this book, it will not only fascinate you, but you will be ushered into a what if situation. I wanted to make sure that everyone understands how possible it is for someone wanting to live his life through someone else or should I say make up time lost.

I find that we usually dont talk about times in our life that we wish we could make up or do it other. Yes sometimes people do get a second chance and even a third. What makes this book exciting is that I gave my life for someone more than once, twice, but three time. This is what you call unlikely, or foolishness.

Sometimes we dont understand why people do the things they do until we hear the whole story. The reality is that my lost can become your gain. Ten years of not receiving the mind set that I am an inmate, I am a prisoner, I am a failure does not enter into to the life of a man that became a number. Call me a number, but dont call me late for supper.

What I want you to know is that you are as free as your mind allows you to be. You dont have to make up nothing, you do not owe that to anybody anything. A deed gives you possession of something to own. Guess what, yours and my freedom has been paid for. Its up to you to accept it. I did. There is more to come, this is the first of many books.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Mar 8, 2013
• ISBN: 9781475977646

Mr. Phillip Riddick

Mr. Riddick is the father of four children living in Teaneck, New Jersey with his beautiful wife LaBrina Riddick. Youth mentor, couselor, teacher, and motivator every day. Mr. Riddick see to the well-being of young people. As a Education Director and Consultant he has insight into the lives of so many of our students. He is a deacon at True Vine Christian Center, a Leader of Liberation Ministry as well as the Mens Ministry. You can always find him serving someone. People love to be around him, he is a gather for those that need refuge. He has other books coming soon, Focus, (DOC)Demonstrator of Christ, and (GED) God Earned Degree.

Book preview

Between

19 and 30

Mr. Phillip Riddick

iUniverse, Inc.

Bloomington

Between 19 and 30

Copyright © 2013 by Mr. Phillip Riddick.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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ISBN: 978-1-4759-7763-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4759-7764-6 (ebk)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013903357

iUniverse rev. date: 03/01/2013

Contents

My Dedication

Introduction

Chapter Nineteen

Why did you do it?

Chapter Twenty Plus

Finding my place, my space, decisions

Chapter Twenty Two

Tossing and turning

Chapter Twenty Three

Called to do ministry

Chapter Twenty Four

Time has a cycle

Chapter Twenty Five

March 24, 1986

Chapter Twenty Six

To you I owe

Chapter Twenty Seven

Even a donkey can speak

Chapter Twenty Eight

Changing the picture

Chapter Twenty Nine

Say it; I can’t be destroyed

Chapter Thirty

When Maturity Steps In

About the Author

My Dedication

I dedicate this book to the future of my beautiful children. Without their motivation and love this book wouldn’t exist. LOVE YOU, Taylor Joy Cassidy Riddick, Kacy Celest Gean Riddick, Stacia LaVone Williams, and My Son Melvin Lewis Williams II

(Big Lew, Man of Prayer, The Champion) also My Son, GaryDevette W Johnson (My Timothy)

It goes without saying; I love you for your sacrifice LaBrina Riddick Forever, I LOVE YOU

Introduction

Have you ever had a story you wanted to tell but, you didn’t know where to start or whether it would make sense? You questioned if anyone would even listen, or if you would be heard? Well, this story is one that you will find almost impossible to believe; yet you will enjoy every line, every page. My goal is to take you back to my early young adult years where my involvement in sports, friendships, fighting, prostitution, gang participation, and crime was a part of my everyday life. This lifestyle started in my teenage years but for this book I want to focus on the years that can make or break a man or women. Those years you can get trapped in a situation. Let’s not forget the years that can come and go so fast that they seem unseen and unheard.

Has anyone read the story in the Bible about the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32)? The son asked his father for his inheritance and he left home to find that the world was not as safe and kind as he thought. He was amongst people who only wanted him for what he had and what he could give them. Once he had spent all that he had and given all that was in him, he found himself in a place that opposed his faith and belief. The moral of the story is that he came to himself and returned to the only place that could restore life to what it was meant to be for him. He came to a place where he found his true identity.

When one is searching for his/her identity it is sometimes very hard to find. What you are searching for or who you are looking for becomes the questions? Who can give you this answer to what you need? I once heard a powerful song with lyrics, You could search high and low, but you couldn’t find anybody. You could search near and far but you still couldn’t find anybody. I have discovered that the person who you are searching for is not that far away. That person is right inside of you.

The Bible says, the Kingdom of God is within me (Luke 17:21). Before you were in your mother’s womb I knew you (Jeremiah 1:5). We have been given a description of what and who we are. As you read this book I want you to keep in mind that God sees us as a finished creation. He knows everything we will do and who we will become. However, he gives us a free will to choose how we will get there. Don’t be alarmed by some of the things you will read. We are all a work in progress. The master is molding us according to our obedience.

I believe between 19 and 30 I found out who I was. It took me that long to find myself. Maybe other people find themselves sooner, but that wasn’t my case. I am greatly devoted and appreciative to My Lord and Savior for making it clear to me. I put this at the beginning of this book because I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ because it is the power of God unto salvation (Roman 1:16). Salvation is for everyone that believes and receives it.

Sometimes you have to give the end of a story or event to get your point across effectively. To capture what this book is all about I want you to know that my experience in jail was a very vital part of my life. To share it with you means a great deal to me. I always wanted my nephews and their friends to take something from my experiences so that they would not get caught up in a system that they might not be able to handle. Caught in a system that conceals or hides the truth from them; a system that is ready and willing to go as far as possible to keep a person from knowing who they really are. For those who are reading this right now, anyone that has a family member: son, daughter, sister, brother, a relative, maybe a grandchild that is in prison right now or returning to society my hope is that some of this will make sense to you. Maybe you never had this kind of experience. Maybe you know a friend that has been expose to this way of life. I pray that I can express myself clear enough for every one of you to understand. I want you to be able to take something of valve from my experiences, especially for others. I employ you to share what you learn with others. It will help them get from one point to another.

When I came home from being locked up, locked down, shut in, whatever you want to call it, I thought I had a good prospective on things. I used the same focus that I used while I was in jail to put my life back together once I got out of jail. I purposed in my heart that I was going to make it no matter what obstacle was in the way. I got me a job, a place to live, a car, a good place of fellowship, a business, got married, purchased a home, had two children that I called my own, and two biological children. From this description I was on my way to success. I would shut all those mouths that said I wouldn’t make, he’ll never amount to anything, and he will become a statistic. Statements like those are some of the most negative and powerful things you can tell a person when they are trying to change. It is hard enough to start over again. You already hear people reminding you that you are being given a second chance, third chance, maybe a fourth chance and so on.

Nevertheless, I made a big mistake and the only thing that turned me around was my wife and children. I started to associate with my nephews to make sure they didn’t make some of the mistakes I made. Initially that was the plan I had, but it backed fired because I soon realized that I was trying to live through them. What I mean is while I was hanging with them I was trying to get back the time that I had lost.

Because I was older, I tried to take a leadership role in making sure that everything we did was right and legal. I noticed that my leadership lacked the influence that was really needed. Sometimes I was truly convinced that it was going to work. The only thing wrong with my plan was that I was not being led by the truth. This is what hurt me the most. I was thinking more about myself than them. Therefore everything that I was doing was out of order.

I really wanted to help my nephews live a good life; have a family and some kids. Operate their own business and acquire something to pass down to their children would be nice. I wanted people to speak well of them, not negative. Sometimes we can make up a fantasy world. It may look good, but it’s not reality. I quickly learned that I was on the wrong road and I had to get off of it immediately.

I began to lose things. I was losing the respect that a man gets from his wife and children. Yes, I was losing some material things too, but you can always get them back. When you have hurt your family so much, it is hard