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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: FRESH START (01/05/17)

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• TITLE: The Point of No Return | Previous Challenge Entry
  By John Jackson
  01/09/17
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The Point of No Return

In 1986, John faced graduation from high school. During his first eighteen years of living on earth, he had been a “good” problem child, and he wasn’t for sure just what to do with his life.

It wasn’t John’s fault that he was born in 1967; no one asked for John’s permission; no one sought John’s opinion of how his life would play out; “life” was against John’s will.

John’s mother had two miscarriages before giving birth to him. You could say his mother was having a problematic life. She was the third child of four to be born to her mother. Her mother worked two to three jobs, leaving her at home to care for the one older and two younger siblings.

John’s grandfather was a business owner, specializing in heavy equipment operation. Legend has it that his grandfather sexually abused his mother, causing her more heartache and pain. John’s grandparents separated and divorced early in his mother’s life. And, as if that wasn’t enough, her youngest brother was killed in a car accident at the young age of 19.

At 18 years of age, John’s mother was fed up with the “babysitting” and abuse. This caused her to seek a way out; that’s when she met John’s father.

John Sr. was a rebel. He chased women and drank alcohol until he was spittin drunk. John’s father had an “unlawful” side as well—unfortunately, this DNA of the father’s genes would be passed on to John Jr.

John’s father abused his new wife. Although John’s mother will not talk about it, she has hinted that his father was responsible for at least one of the miscarriages. John’s mother told of how her, then husband, didn’t like “crying babies”; so much so, when they would go visit family and friends who had a “baby” in the house, he would stay outside in the car, and even sleep overnight in the car if necessary.

To this day, John hasn’t figured out why Almighty God spared his life. John knows very well that he could easily have been one of the first two miscarriages, yet he has reached the age of 49.

After graduating high school, John wasn’t going down a “career” road; he just basically “drifted” with whatever happened next. A career? If a career was out of the question, then a college degree was not even in sight. Heck, due to John’s “learning disability”, he barely graduated high school, causing him to block all thoughts of going to ANY school ever again. Over the course of about 33 years, this attitude kicked John from one endless job to the next.

Fast-forwarding to January 2015, John was at the end of another “dead” job. Surprisingly, John still hadn’t figured out exactly what God’s purpose was for allowing his birth.

But in 2015, one could say John “woke up”. He had an overwhelming desire to become an attorney. John took to the internet to discover just what the steps to becoming an attorney were. John found out quick that it required up to seven years of college. Alarmed, John felt as if he needed a paper sack for hyperventilation—slash--near nervous breakdown. Yet, the “vision” grew stronger and stronger. John wasn’t sure how he would ever be able to complete seven years of college; much more, just how was he to pay for such a journey?

There were road blocks as well: like when the college board wouldn’t allow John to enroll because his high school GPA wasn’t high enough; or when John told the college board he was convicted of a felony at 18 years of age. The “fear” of college came rushing in when the college board told John he would need to take a “test”, get two letters of recommendation and answer a questionnaire about “how {he] had been rehabilitated in {his} thinking” since the felony. And just how was John going to guarantee he wouldn’t be a “disruption to the college campus”? John’s thoughts, “49 years old and they think I will be a disruption to the campus!”

By some sheer miracle, John was accepted into college and is now one day away from beginning his third semester.

For John, the “college journey” has been nothing short of very difficult. One example: bringing an “F” up to a “B” in Biology. One thing is for sure, John knows that God has given him a fresh start.

January 8, 2017

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