Harvesttime: Poems, Proverbs, and Reflections

By Thomas C. Ankenbruck

Through prayer, revelation of God’s word and experiences as a Christian I’ve learned and have seen much of God’s work done in this world. I’m fairly uneducated and only bring a simple message to you of what I have seen and heard of the Lord. I have written about this during my stay in prison. I have never written poems before in my life but they started coming to me over a period of about a year in 2005-2006. I have recently been released from prison after 18 years and decided to put them in a book for people to read and enjoy. I hope they may encourage you and inspire your life for Jesus.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jun 14, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664234680

Thomas C. Ankenbruck

I was born in 1959 in Fort Wayne Indiana. This is where I spent my early childhood years. When I was about six years old we moved to Warren, Ohio. There I completed my schooling and graduated from high school. In 1979 I moved to Colorado with a family friend. Working in the construction field I started painting and later established a painting contracting business. The business did well and we stayed busy. At the age of 39 I was married and the following year we had a beautiful daughter. Things were looking good with a newly remodeled home, vehicles and a busy business I thought we were doing well. Of course we had the normal challenges of life. Then satan came to destroy our lives through temptation. I committed a crime and went to prison for 18 and 1/2 years. After being arrested while in the county jail my wife divorced me. I never read the Bible before that time. In jail a man came to me and said “this is for you”. It was a new Bible and I started reading it. This is where the Lord came to me by night in the form of a great light. I stayed in the Word of God and prayer. I was comforted by the Lord. After 10 months I was transferred to a Colorado State Prison and God was with me. It was all part of his will and a way for Him to get the glory. After a life of suffering with a substance addiction and in the lusts of sin God changed me through faith. God said that he would change people and he called it, new birth or being born again, spiritually of course. That’s what happened to me. I have put off everything concerning the past and I know now all things are new. I love the Lord Jesus for what he did for me.

Book preview

Copyright © 2021 Thomas C. Ankenbruck.

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 author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

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All Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version.

Definitions are taken from the American Heritage College Dictionary, third edition

Copyright 2000, 1997, 1993 by Houghton Mifflin Company

ISBN: 978-1-6642-3469-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-3468-0 (e)

WestBow Press rev. date: 6/4/2021

CONTENTS

Preface

End Time Poems

Twenty-first Century Proverbs

Reflections

My Song

About the author

To my daughter, Anique.

PREFACE

This is a small collection of poems and sayings I wrote during my stay at a Colorado prison. I wanted to put these poems in a small book so others could read, enjoy and learn from them. This manuscript is truly inspirational, spiritual, and unique. The subject matter is genuine to include Bible prophecy, nature, world events, and some personal things.

I believe it would be beneficial when you read this book to ponder on it in prayer. I pray that God helps you to see what lies in these pages and gives you the revelation of it. May God get the glory. This is a simple message but so very deep and meaningful. God bless you all.

Special thanks to my sister Susie for storing this manuscript for me for 14 years.

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PART 1

END TIME POEMS

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A POEM

Writing of verses in rhyme

thoughts and meanings in time

knowledge from those memories

expressions on paper to be freed

working of words that run together

a story that sounds much better

having patience with this task

at the end unveiling the mask

bits and pieces of the saying

putting together and explaining

coming close—end is near

lovely poem we can hear

poems are fairly short

working with words of some sort

finish putting them together

ending up down on paper

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