Acknowledgements
I was having lunch with The Reverend Larry Eisenberg in Tulsa, Oklahoma when he interrupted me, pointed to me, and said, "The Lord told me that you need to write a book." His words echoed what I had been thinking over the previous year. That got this book "on the way."
I owe a debt of gratitude to so many people. First, my father Edward O. Morris who, even though he had to drop out of school in the fourth grade to go to work in the cotton and tobacco fields of South Georgia to support his family, was tough on us kids, but inspired us and never stopped learning himself; I have the highest degree of respect for him. My brother Smokey; we have been through a lot together. My family, who provided continuous learning opportunities. George Holst and J. G. Smith, Sr., principals of my junior and senior high schools respectively, took an interest in every one of "their kids" - that went beyond the campus. "J.G.", as we called him behind his back, engineered my receiving that all-important Trull Scholarship which paid for my first two years of college. I treasured Mr. & Mrs. Darius B. Rohrer, "Pops" and "Grandma", who absorbed me into their extended family and provided numerous adopted brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews. Terri Metcalf Moore, my heart of hearts, is closer than any sister could be. Mrs. Pauline White is like a second mother to me. I thank all of the other people, to remain unnamed, who have helped me in so many ways.
The three other men, Jimmy Cash, Jr., John McCarthy, and Samuel Wood, Jr., who shared the same concerns with me and formed the nucleus of Concerned Methodists here in Fayetteville, North Carolina over eleven years ago are to be recognized. Each one is talented in so many ways.
I especially appreciate all of the United Methodist pastors who refuse to compromise their integrity on the altar of "upward mobility" within the institutional church; they are combat veterans in the truest sense of the word. They will not fully realize all the good they have done until they reach heaven.
I appreciate so much the wonderful country in which we live, that provides the freedom and opportunity to become "all that we can be" - and then some.
Most of all, I am infinitely grateful to a merciful God Who is the reason I am here today. Otherwise, that "near death experience" I had in 1980 would have been a de-facto choking death. Five years later, He gave me a life-changing "Damascus Road" experience that opened my eyes to what it was to be a Christian (at age thirty-nine) and put me onto the road to serving Him. (This testimony is on the Concerned Methodists' website under "A Texas Mule")
It took a United Methodist evangelist, Barbara Brokhoff, to express the depth of gratitude I feel. She was at her hair-dresser's in Florida when he asked her in a somewhat cynical manner, "Jesus is just a crutch for you, isn't he?" She looked down, shook her head from side to side, laughed, and replied, "Oh no, He's not my crutch. You see, He is much more than that. Jesus Christ is my next breath."
You see, that is what He is to me: "Jesus Christ is my next breath."
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