Born Again Hen

BORN AGAIN HEN

By

Joseph Samuel Russo

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2016 by Joseph Samuel Russo

All Rights Reserved.

Table Of Contents

Dedication

Foreword

Preface

Chapter 1. The Storm

Chapter 2. One Life To Live

Chapter 3. Growing Up The Hard Way

Chapter 4. A Family In Conflict

Chapter 5. Blessings Are On The Way

Chapter 6. Man To Man, father To Son

Chapter 7. To Teach His Own

Chapter 8. What Goes Around

Chapter 9. Forget The Past, Lose The Future

Chapter 10. Good Eggs Hatched From Bad Acts

Chapter 11. Every Good Boy Does Fine

Chapter 12. Nuestros Nuevos Amigos

Chapter 13. The Dust Bowl Cometh

Chapter 14. Animals Are Free and So Are Thee

Chapter 15. Where There Is A Will

Chapter 16. Sunday Go To Meeting

Chapter 17. The Beginning

Dedication

I dedicate this book to people I call impact people. They are like trailhead signs that tell me in one way or another, in which direction to go and how to get there. Inspired by two of these impact people, Frank and Maxine Davie. They are members of the Pine Valley Branch, Pine Valley, Utah. They took my fire to find the truth and turned it into the light. Their patience and knowledge opened me up to receive a strong prompting from something I did not understand. Hence, I joined The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints. It has now been revealed to me the prompting was The Holy Ghost. I received a profound revelation The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints is the church for the purist. The church closest to our lord. Secondly, I am grateful for my wife Linda. Without her I would never have started nor finished this book. She has tenaciously supported me during bouts of brain freeze with creative ideas. I am resolute in my belief this book would not have been written were it not for something coming from something I still do not quite understand.

FOREWORD

Thirty-four years ago we had a small flock of chickens, a new marriage and a brand new baby boy. Our life was a challenge from the start. We were poor financially and that did not sit well with my family. Both my mother and father were against my marriage to Joseph for reasons never understood or explained. I on the other hand saw my husband as someone with a sensitive heart, artistic talent and a thick skin. From what I knew about his childhood and the many disappointments of life he endured that came before we met and throughout our marriage I often wondered if he would someday simply give up.

Our little flock of chickens was constantly under assault by various critters. One by one they disappeared or shreds of them were left behind with the exception of one small-emaciated bird. This particular chicken may have been the runt of the lot. She may have been most chicken of chicken behavior. But one thing she excelled in was surviving. When at last she was the last remaining chicken she still would not come near anything that moved. She would not roost in the coop instead opting for a branch high in a tree. During one extreme rainstorm an enraged raccoon attacked her. Depending on her innate survival instincts she chose to run through Joseph’s legs and on into the house where she hid under the couch for nearly two days.

Over the years our life together encountered more trials and tribulations unimaginable. We had bouts with cancer, layoffs, bankruptcies, deaths and business failures. At every turn we asked of God, when we thought of him, what was going on. Feeling no answer we thought of that chicken. It became a humorous crutch so to speak. If the chicken could make it through so could we. Today we realize that was our answer. Our model to follow was the curios story of this chicken.

After being called to Utah Joseph knew the time has come to put this story of this chicken together with a family who also has to deal with the trials life typically hands out. It tackles the question all of us, no matter who, asks all the time. Why dear Lord, why?

PREFACE

This book came about because of the ubiquitous universal question we ask every time some tragedy or difficulty befalls us. The intent is to show how no matter what, we can learn from trials and change a negative into appositive. Although themes of this sort have been written about many times before this book covers the issue in a unique manner. It combines the life of an abused chicken and a religious family one would think would escape the difficulties of life because of their connection to the almighty. Needless to say, any family will have to face deep disappointments in life. The question is, how do we handle it?

All my life I wanted to be a better human being. I knew I had it in me somewhere, but something kept telling me I wasn’t worth it. I did not believe in myself nor did I believe God believed in me. Sometimes I doubted the existence of God as an entity that really knows each and every one of us. I could not believe the creator of all the universes could even know me, or care. How could God consider a mere molecule like me? But I never doubted the existence of our savior Jesus Christ. We don’t need faith to know that. There is overwhelming evidence Jesus Christ was here on earth. On the other hand, during the worst times of my life I would try to communicate with God and our Savior. I would pray and pray hard but my prayers went unanswered, so I thought. Because of these misconceptions I could not/would not overcome adversity.

I was born into a very abusive home. My father was physically, verbally and sexually abusive. He was a dangerous alcoholic. My mother acquiesced out of fear, and unfortunately, she became neglectful and negative towards me as well. I don’t blame her because she was forced to marry my father according to an old world tradition in the first place. When my mom could not take it anymore, she begged her church for permission to divorce. They denied her and threatened excommunication. This was not only devastating to both of us, but it set me on the road to disbelief. How could God force us to stay in a dangerous situation? If she chose to escape by divorce God would not allow us to worship? Something was telling me a loving God would not/could not cause us harm or ask the impossible. Another issue I had with the church of my youth was the notion that newborn infants had a sin on their soul because of Adam and Eve, and that the only way for that sin to be dismissed was to have that baby baptized as soon as possible. Even as a child I knew God would not allow a newborn to have a sin. An infant comes into the world in the purest form. However, the mere thought something was wrong gave me doubts, and along with doubt, guilt. I was taught these kinds of contradictions but it created doubt for the existence of God because God, being God, cannot make a mistake.

I never truly gave up on prayers but I did have serious doubts of their potential. So I prayed like someone who buys a lottery ticket…just in case. I strayed in and out of the church I was born into, but I also kept my eyes and ears open to other ideas of God. I investigated all sorts of religious practices including those that incorporated the use of drugs. Consequently I battled drugs, alcoholism, depression, a failing marriage and thoughts of suicide. At age forty I was into the new age thinking of a godless universe and the anything goes mentality. The do your own thing, I’m O.K. you’re O.K., whatever your bag is secular thinking. None of it made me happy. I knew in my gut there was something inherently wrong with all of it. And yet I knew there had to be something, a supreme being, an infinite power of an infinite universe, something.

My second wife and I had a son. He was a beautiful boy, extremely talented in every respect. He was a very special kind of person because he could accomplish almost anything he wanted easily. We were sure he would become a leader among men. We believed we could raise him without conventional spirituality. We were new-agers in the Age of Aquarius. By the time he was a teenager he started experimenting with drugs. We were, in typical fashion, parents who love their kids but are in denial. We began to blame everyone and everything except ourselves. We were under the false belief that since we were educated, with postgraduate degrees in psychology, it wasn’t possible for