Life-Changing Abc Scriptures with Stories

By Katherine Dye

Life Changing In the beautiful collection of fictional southern style short stories, set in her hometown, Katherine Dye highlights many nooks and crannies of New Albany, Mississippi, and if you are a native, you will delight in reading about the places you often see. If not well, you will want to visit this lovely little artisan town and see for yourself the wonders of the pleasant and less complex southern way of life as depicted in Katherines stories, paintings, and sketches.

The beauty of her short stories is their attraction to the Word of God. Katherine, from a child, was encouraged to memorize scripture verses; and those that became a lamp unto her feet and a light unto her path are the ones she has cleverly included. There is a verse for each letter of the alphabet, and she makes clear the need for a two-way conversation between God and his children, the grand and glorious balance of prayer and reading of the scriptures.

The stories are designed for young teens, but if you are a bit older now, you may find yourself slipping back to childhood and teenage years, reminiscent of the days of The Old South. Many of the scriptures Katherine features are those we memorized as children.

We are never too old to learn, but as Katherine explains in the story of Grandy and Jamie, it is much easier when we are youthful and our minds are clear and sharp, unencumbered by years of living and working and loving and playing. It feels good to slip back to those times when our ability to memorize was heightened by virtue of our youth, and the verses we so cherish are those we best remember from childhood.

This collection of stories is timeless. Read and relish youthful thoughts.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jan 9, 2015
• ISBN: 9781491755952

Katherine Dye

Katherine Dye was born in Blue Mountain, Mississippi, during the Great Depression. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Art and English from Blue Mountain College and a Master’s Degree in Art Education from the University of Mississippi in Oxford. She taught art and remedial reading for many years in the New Albany school system. Katherine is a gifted artist, having illustrated three published children’s books. Her art is prominently displayed in her hometown of New Albany where she has lived for many years. In 1979 and ‘80, after researching and mastering the history of her town, Katherine sketched or painted and signed limited edititon prints of the two historical depots, the grand old courthouse, the birthplace of William Faulkner, and other local points of interest. She is affectionately known as “The New Albany Historian.” Her fictional characters, Grandy and Jamie, are examples of those hometown people who believe it will be an adventure, even an experiment, as Jamie says, “to hold Jesus’ hand to see where he might take us next. From my youthful experience, I’ve concluded that God’s way is the best way!”

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Copyright © 2015 Katherine Dye.

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.

All Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

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ISBN: 978-1-4917-5594-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-5596-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-5595-2 (e)

iUniverse rev. date: 1/07/2015

Contents

Foreword

One A Good Name

Two Edie’s New Friend

Three A Kind and Loving Spirit

Four Kenta Brave and Wise

Five Light is a Gift of God

Six Kate’s Dilemma

Seven The Humanity of Jesus

Eight Honor Father and Mother

Nine The Smiley Face Grin

Ten Why So Angry?

Eleven Friendship

Twelve The Sign for Sorry

Thirteen Damon Changes His Tune

Fourteen Take God’s Love With You

Fifteen Jesse’s Revelation

Sixteen The Allium Project

Seventeen Tommy Speaks Up

Eighteen Seek God Early

Nineteen Jamie and Grandy’s Secret

Twenty Bobby and Billy’s Summer

Twenty-One The Night the Angels Sang

Twenty-Two Johnny Learns About The Holy Spirit

Twenty-Three High School Tournament

Twenty-Four Jesus Loves the Children

Twenty-Five Ben’s Lesson in Gratitude

Twenty-Six Live Zealously

To the memory of my fourth grade teacher,

Mrs. Manning Hudson,

New Albany Elementary School.

Her memory-work lessons inspired

me to love poetry, and learning the

scriptures helped me realize the

importance of God’s Word, the Bible.

Who gave himself for us, that he might

redeem us from all iniquity, and

purify unto himself a peculiar people,

zealous of good works.

Titus 2:14

Remember now thy Creator

in the days of thy youth,

while the evil days come not, nor the

years draw nigh, when thou shalt say,

I have no pleasure in them…

Ecclesiastes 12:1

Foreword

Katherine Dye is a unique woman of faith who has spent her life in quiet yet deliberate service for the Lord and her community. She is an accomplished artist, her work probably most prominently displayed in the halls of the historic First Baptist Church in her tree-shaded hometown of New Albany, Mississippi. Many of her paintings are thoughtfully showcased in significant places throughout the small hill town that she calls home, and in 1979 and ‘80, she signed limited edition prints of the two historical depots, the beautiful courthouse, and William Faulkner’s birthplace, among other historical sites. Katherine enthusiastically learned the history of the places and people featured in her prints. And so—they call her The New Albany Historian.

Katherine has contributed as sketch artist to several children’s books. Among those: Loving to Read Stories by Charlsie Parks; Granny’s Back Yard by Lilly Frances Reed; and Erl Epperson, The Little Elephant Who Wouldn’t Give Up by Marilyn Howell.

Within the confines of her very own beautiful, eclectic group of fictional southern style short stories is Chapter Nineteen, set in the author’s hometown. It features many nooks and crannies of New Albany, Mississippi, and if you are a native, you will delight in reading about the places you see on a regular basis. If not … well, you will want to visit this lovely little artisan town and see for yourself the wonders of the pleasant and less complicated southern way of life as depicted in Katherine’s stories, paintings, and sketches.

The beauty of this group of short stories is their attraction to the Word of God. Katherine, from a child, was encouraged to memorize scripture verses; and those that became a lamp unto her feet and a light unto her path are the ones she has cleverly featured in her short stories. There is a verse for each letter of the alphabet and notes pages throughout to re-write the verse for memorizing. She drives home the point of the two-way conversation between God and his children, the grand and glorious balance of prayer and reading of the scriptures.

The stories are designed for children and young people, but I loved them all and found myself slipping back to my childhood and teenage years, reminiscent of the days and ways of The Old South and a mother and dad who knew the most important thing in life was to know Christ Jesus in a personal way and to walk with him through prayer and Bible study. Many of the scriptures she features are those that I, too, memorized as a child. We are never too old to learn, but as Katherine explains in one of the stories, it is much easier when we are youthful and our minds are clear and sharp, unencumbered by years of living and working and loving and playing. It feels good to slip back to those times when our ability to memorize was heightened by virtue of our youth, and the verses we so cherish are those we best remember from our childhood. So I’ll have to say, I recommend this collection for all ages.

I know somewhat of Katherine’s life. She has let no grass grow under her feet in all these years she has served the Lord with gladness! From her birth and humble beginnings in 1931 during the Great Depression and later with a struggle and desire to somehow get to college so she could develop that amazing talent with which God had so generously blessed her—Katherine pressed on. She did it with the help of her husband, Donald, who made it possible for her to go, yes, and to get all degreed-up at Blue Mountain College and Ole Miss!

I walked through her beautiful home and grounds and marveled at her paintings and sketches. With colors of purple and blue and green, winter shades, spring, summer, and the earthy hues of fall, she portrays the beauty of the earth, compliments of our Creator God. The large painting that hangs over the sideboard in her breakfast room captured my heart. The colors—it was the colors! She explained to me how that painting came to be. The beauty was captured from her garden out back. She photographed the colors with the eye of her imagination and the finished piece was breathtaking.

But this is not the bottom line!

Once while visiting San Antonio, Texas, with her husband, and enjoying a boat ride on the River and lunch at a dockside restaurant, Katherine Dye began to ponder the Tallahatchie River that runs through New Albany and a way to reclaim it for the city. From those thoughts of the beautiful and dynamic San Antonio River Walk sprang the push to make it happen. Katherine returned home to New Albany and began to raise money and seek grants. Obtaining the grants took several years, but residents and former residents began to give money and land until the Park Along the River became a reality, and behind that came Tanglefoot Trails, so called from the railroad owned by William Faulkner’s grandfather and about which Faulkner wrote. Forty miles of trail in that railroad bed provide a lovely setting for cyclists, walkers and joggers. And finally, a large grant for the second phase of the Park projects was for the Tallahatchie Trails Bridge, a beautiful place. People walk it every day.

Katherine smiles when she hears the city fathers and politicians brag about New Albany’s Park System, the Sportsplex and Tennis Courts, and the flagpole surrounded by pavers proudly representing New Albany and Union County’s living and fallen heroes of every war. She smiles because the Park Along the River was one of her dreams that became a reality.

And one more bit of Katherine trivia. Well, not so small a contribution. Mrs. Dye taught art and remedial reading to the children of New Albany, both middle and high school for some seventeen years before retiring.

Katherine will always amaze me. My favorite thoughts of her are the gentle, quiet, easy southern spirit, and the way she gives all glory and honor to the Lord Jesus. I love the way she tells His Story in the delightful content of her ABC Scripture short stories. She told me with tears in her voice, I just want someone to come to know Jesus as personal Savior from reading my stories. God gets all the glory.

Jane Bennett Gaddy, Ph.D.

Trinity, Florida

November, 2014

Insert%20%231%20-%20Faulkner%20House.jpg

William Faulkner’s Birthplace

Corner of Cleveland and Jefferson Streets,

New Albany, Mississippi.

Faulkner was born on this tree-lined street

September 25, 1897.

Limited Edition Oil Painting by Katherine Dye

from an authentic photograph.

Insert%20%232%20-%20Courthouse.jpg

Union County Courthouse

New Albany, Mississippi

Cornerstone was laid September 5, 1908,

and the building was completed June 22, 1909.

Oil Painting by Katherine Dye

Insert%20%233%20-%20First%20Baptist%20Church.tif

First Baptist Church

New Albany, Mississippi

Established 1843

Artist Sketch by Katherine Dye

Insert%20%234%20-%20First%20United%20Methodist%20Church.jpg

First United Methodist Church

New Albany, Mississippi

Artist Sketch by Katherine Dye

Insert%20%235%20-%20The%20Old%20Frisco%20Depot.jpg

The Old Frisco Depot

of the New Albany Railway Stations

New Albany, Mississippi

1917 – 1978

Now vanished from the American Scene.

Memories preserved in limited edition watercolor

by Artist Katherine Dye.

Insert%20%236%20-%20The%20Old%20GM%26O%20Freight%20Office.jpg

Colonel William C. Falkner’s Railroad and

The Old GM&O Freight Office

A New Albany Treasure

The Ripley Railroad tracks reached

New Albany, Mississippi in July 1888.

(Notice the spelling of Colonel Falkner’s name!)

Memory captured in limited edition

watercolor by Artist Katherine Dye.

Notes

A—

A good name is rather

to be chosen than