prologue

The Source
Christian Resource & Information Center

"Forever and a Day"
the story of an average guy

by: bryan woods

Prologue;

I have fond memories of the stories my dad told me through the years of my growing up. There were wondrous stories of adventure, trauma and heartache.
The traumatic stories were of Dads childhood as an adopted child growing up in the depression era of the Nineteen Twenties southern America. The adventurous stories were of dads
early twenties and his term in Europe during World War II, and then there was the heartache of loosing the woman he loved through divorce after sixteen years.
Over the years dad would dish out stories like little sweet pieces of candy. They were far and few between, but you savored every one of them and always anticipated the next one.
As I’ve grown, I’ve come to realize all of the wisdom that dad had. I always thought of him as a wise man, but the many pearls of wisdom did not shimmer in the earlier years as they’ve
come to in the latter years.
Dad died in 1993 and my children were only five, seven and twelve. Unfortunately only Leesa (the oldest) has any real memories of dad. My children have not had the opportunity to
glean the wisdom that I gleaned from my dad and sometimes I fear they will not have the opportunity to hear the history of the truly great man that my dad was.

Herbert Otto Woods, born January 21, 1921 was a fair an honest man. I never met a man who didn’t respect him, or anyone who could or would speak against him. He was a man of truth
and honor. A mans man; he would be the first to tell you he had faults.
He loved his children with all of his heart, second only to his Lord. My dad was one of the few real Men of God that I have had the pleasure to know.

My dad’s life and mine parallel in many ways. I was never in the military, so it goes without saying that I have never been in any war. I never went through any such severe economic
trauma like the Great Depression, and I was not adopted.
I did however experience a few traumatic experiences during childhood.
My teens and early twenties might be seen as somewhat adventurous to some, and my adult years have certainly had heartache, but my life was lived on the other side of the moral
tracks. My early life was a life of crime, drugs and violence…and lessons were learned…wisdom was obtained. There are many good stories where wisdom might be gleaned.

The intent of this book is that my children and their children might have a morsel of the history of my life.

Someone recently asked me if I was sure that I wanted to let my children and everyone else know all the little things about my life that we would usually keep a secret.
I hope that those who enter in to this story might glean a little wisdom, from my mistakes.
It’s probably better that my friends and family know everything about me now as opposed to finding out later and being disappointed.

I never killed anyone. I never slept with another mans wife. I was not a person with a violent personality nor did I usually, purposefully try to do real harm to other people. I just made a lot
of bad decisions…like most everyone else has done.

I’m not an author and I have no writing skills.
This is my story, and it’s a story of an average guy.