God's Work - Softcover

Usera, Abe

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1452010358 ISBN 13: 9781452010359

Publisher: Authorhouse, 2010

Synopsis

"God's Work" is about our everyday heroes and their reflection to do God's Work. The events in this book demostrates what it means to get involve. This book will truly get you the reader to better understand there are many heroes out there and what they mean to us all. They consist of everyday Citizens, Family members, Law Enforcement Officers, Firefighters, Emergency Rescue Teams, Medical and Military Personnel. This book talks about one of those heroes. He is a retired highly decorated Law Enforcement Officer, and citizen. This book talks about the writers personal experience with helping many people. It also talks about the lives that were saved and how the writer feels it was a reflection on "God's Work". The writer Abe Usera talks about some of the events that took place in his life that he felt was a reflection on "God's Work. The events had taken place throughout his childhood and adult life. This book contains events that are truly heart touching. The contents in this book has accurate perception of what it is to be a believer of God's Work. The events told by Abe are true to the best of his ability. You will notice some of the events told involved some of Abe's family. Some family members are victims and some were doing God's Work. Abe writes about how he feels through Faith, Love and Charity "God's Work" got him through it all.

About this title

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

God's Work

By Abe Usera

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2010 Abe Usera
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4520-1035-9

Contents

About the Author...............................................................................1Picture of Abe & Bishop........................................................................5Picture of JFK Award...........................................................................6Introduction by Abraham Usera..................................................................9Illustration of God's Work.....................................................................11Event #1.......................................................................................13Event #2.......................................................................................17Event #3.......................................................................................21Event #4.......................................................................................25Picture of Abe and Pat as Teenagers............................................................28Event #5.......................................................................................31Event #6.......................................................................................35Event #7.......................................................................................39Event #8.......................................................................................43Picture of Unborn Project......................................................................45Event #9.......................................................................................47Event #10......................................................................................51Event #11......................................................................................55Picture of Chief Abe Usera.....................................................................57Picture of 25th Renewal of Vows................................................................58Event #12......................................................................................61Picture of Abe as a Key West Police Officer....................................................64Conclusion of Events...........................................................................67Event #13......................................................................................69Picture of Christopher as an Altar Boy.........................................................71Picture of Altare Dei Medal Presentation.......................................................72Event #14......................................................................................75Picture of Antoinette as a Child...............................................................77Event #15......................................................................................79Picture of Charity Work with Pat Usera.........................................................82Picture of Police Cadets Graduation............................................................83Ending of the Events...........................................................................84Letter from Msgr. Michael Woster...............................................................85Picture of God's Work - feeding the poor.......................................................86Picture of God's Work - toys for the needed....................................................87Picture of Abe and Pat at St. Ambrose Church...................................................88Abe's Family as of This Date and Time 2010.....................................................89Community Involvement..........................................................................91Recognitions...................................................................................94Letters of Appreciation from Organizations.....................................................97Final Note.....................................................................................98Closing Facts About Law Enforcement............................................................99Officer's in United States of America..........................................................100Picture of Abe and His Family as a Baltimore City Maryland, Police Officer.....................101

Chapter One

EVENT #1

It was the year of 1952, when I was approximately eight year's old, living in New Orleans, Louisiana, when this event took place.

It was a warm and beautiful sunny day in New Orleans. My brothers John, Luis, Roland and my sister Carmen were playing in the back yard with other children from the neighborhood. Our neighbors were good people to us. One of them name Ms Price lived up stairs from our family. She would always bring to our family some Lemon Aid. As a small kid, I always thought she made the best Lemon Aid in the World. Maybe it was because of the egg shape and juicy fruit taste that I loved about the lemon. When ever Ms Price would buy a large bag of lemons she would always have some ready to give to me. It was a treat when she gave me the lemons.

My mother was inside the house and I was just sitting on the front porch enjoying my tasteful lemons, when there appeared to be a sound of loud music coming down the street. It was a sound of music familiar to all the kids in the neighborhood. It was the Traveling Merry Go Round Truck, which had small wooden horses on it. When the truck arrived near my house, it parked across the street from where I was sitting. The music would continue to play on. The children in the neighborhood all ran to their parents for money to get on the ride. You see the price for a ride on the Merry Go Round Truck at that time was five cents. I also pleaded to my mother for a nickel. She said she didn't have a nickel on her. Standing next to her was Ms Price. Ms Price said she had a nickel and offered it to me to go on the ride.

So with a happy face and with excitement, I proceeded to cross the street to get on the ride. All the kids including me were having a lot of fun laughing as we went round and round with the music playing. When most of us got off the Merry Go Round we were a little dizzy. As kids we kind of laughed about it. After the ride I started to cross the street, when suddenly things had changed my life. That's when a speeding car driven by a female drunken driver hit me.

As my mother recalled, she said I flew up in the air and landed on the street, a few feet from the vehicle. Moments later I recalled waking up seeing my mother looking down at me crying. I was also crying with a lot of pain. Within moments after that, I black out. The next time I can recall waking up and looking up at my mother and the ambulance personnel. At that time I was lying on the stretcher inside the ambulance. My mother was still crying and saying, "Oh my God don't let anything happen to my baby". "You will be alright Baby". The attendants also said to me "everything will be okay". That's when I black out again. On route to the hospital I can hear the sound of the sirens coming from the ambulance.

When I arrived at the hospital I woke up to see a man dress in white style uniform clothing. He had in his hands a large metal ice cream cone shape object. I learned later it was used to stretch my broken bones. The procedure hurt so bad I black out again. One of the most important events in my life then took place. I woke up again and observed a Catholic Priest given me my last Rites.

As he was blessing me I fell asleep. I found myself walking down a colorful path to a beautiful garden and play ground. Holding my hand was a Man dress in a white robe type garment with a beard, and dark shoulder length hair. There were many children playing and laughing without any pain or injuries. I also felt no pain at the time. The man looked down at me as we were walking and said in a pleasant voice, "It's time for you to go back home". Because of my teaching of my faith, I truly believe it was "Jesus Christ". This was a time in my life that I truly believe that it was God's Work that took place.

As I woke up again, I found my self in a hospital bed with my legs and arms in tractions. It was a happy moment for my mother and personnel present to see me wake up again. It was special to see me with a smile on my face. They were not aware of the trip I took to the beautiful garden and the man dress in white that gave me the smile of my life. I did not say anything to them because I felt they wouldn't believe me. It took several months to get better. I was sent home in a body shape cast. I needed to get help to eat and other personal hygiene matters. It took many days throughout a year with hard work and perseverance, to do the therapy to walk again. With many prayers and with the help of God's Work, I got through it all. I grew up to play sports and enjoy my life to the fullest. You see it took many years in my life to talk about this special event. I always thought people would think I was crazy or just making it up. I than decided in the year 2000 to tell my story, after reading about people having after life experiences and their contacts with persons that appeared to be God,

No matter how people feel in their heart about our God, I will always believe in God's Work.

Chapter Two

EVENT #2

It was a cold day in winter in the year 1957. I was 12 years old, living in Manhattan with my family. The kids in the neighborhood would all play in the street or walk to Riverside Drive Park. Riverside Drive Park runs right next to the Hudson River. There many kids would enjoy fishing and sledding in the snow on near by hills. The other area the kids would walk to is Central park to enjoy sledding as they do at Riverside Drive Park. The kids on the block would go to the two parks because there wasn't much to do on the block that we lived on. Also at Central Park is a small lake. Many people would go ice skating on the lake when it was safe to do so. A couple of my friends on the block ask me if I wanted to go to Central Park to go sledding. Because there wasn't much to do on our block I advised them I would get permission from my mother. With the approval from my mother and their mothers, we proceeded to walk to Central Park.

While sledding on some hills in the park we observed some boys from another neighborhood crossing the icy lake. They were walking from the other side of the lake to a small Island in the lake. Understand the Island is not very large. It was approximately 50 feet from the area of land we were at. The kids that reached the Island then started to call us to join them. So my two friends, Billy and Steven and I decided to walk across the lake to the Island. We felt that if they made it with out any problems, we also shouldn't have any problems. So we started walking on the icy lake towards the Island. As we were approximately 10 feet on the ice, we heard some cracking sounds. It appeared to be coming from the lake.

We were 12 year old boys not really understanding what was about to happen. We did ask each other if we should keep walking to the Island and we all agreed to do so. The ice seemed to be solid in the area we were walking so we continued on. It wasn't too long after the first cracking sound, another one came about. I told my friends to stop and remember we have our Guardian Angels to protect us. Just moments after I said that the ice started to make a loud cracking sound. The ice broke right under our feet and we all fell into the frozen water of the lake. The area of the lake we fell into was approximately 8 feet in diameter. We desperately kept reaching the flat area of the lake next to where we were at. We started to cry because we thought it was the end of our lives. As I called out to God, to please help us, I was then able to dig my hands on to the flat area of the lake and pulled my self out first. Understand this incident didn't take long. I immediately laid flat on the ice and grabbed one of the boys first. We than pulled the other boy together out of the water when we both got out. We all lay back on the ice and looked up to the sky to thank God. We all got up and looked at each other shaking. Without any thought we all started to walk back to the main land. There was no way we were going to go to that Island where the other boys were at.

We proceeded home with our wet clothes on. When we arrived home we observed our clothes were almost completely frozen. The weather had gotten colder by the time we arrived home. We were all students at Ascension Catholic School. When we were in church together, we prayed to thank God for his help. Because of our faith we believe that was the right thing to do. I specially thank God for giving me the strength in helping my friends out of the water.

We learn later that the area of the lake we fell through was approximately 6 to 8 feet deep. My friends and I were approximately 4 feet tall.

This again was "Gods Work".

Chapter Three

EVENT #3

It was the year of 1957, when my family and I were living in a two room apartment, in the upper Westside of the Borough of Manhattan, New York City. My father advised my family, he had obtained a four bedroom house in Brooklyn for rent. So we all packed up our belongings to move from the predominantly Irish neighborhood to the borough of Brooklyn. Our family at the time consisted of my Father and Mother along with my sister Carmen, and brothers, John, Luis, Roland, Libby, Carlos, Julio, and my self. When we arrived at the dwelling in Brooklyn, we were all excited because there were more rooms for us to share. The house was located on Halsey Street located in a neighborhood of mostly Jewish and Italians. Our family was one of the first Hispanic Family to live in the neighborhood. The neighbors were very kind to us and offered my family any assistance if needed. I personally felt at the time the neighbors were very generous and kind, because they saw a large family that did not have the essentials for normal living.

When we lived in Manhattan there were gangs. Some of the gangs in Manhattan were called the Dragons, Baldies and Chaplains. We were lucky at the time when we lived in Manhattan, the gangs were not present in our neighborhood. But living in Brooklyn was another story. There were the Black, Hispanic and White gangs in Brooklyn. Some of the Black gangs were called the Mow Mow Chaplains, Stumpers, and Jefferson Street Stumpers. The Hispanic gangs that I can also recall were the Flaming Saints and the Spanish Ellery. The White gangs that were associated with my neighborhood were the Halsey Street Bops, the Ellery Bops and Railroad Boys. Other White gangs in Brooklyn were the Rockaway and Fulton, The Lords of Flatbush and the Canarsie Street Bops.

At 12 going on 13 years old I attended Public School, Halsey Jr. High School located in my neighborhood. The school consisted of many white and some black students. The Hispanic population at the school was very minimal. So you can understand why it was a little scary to attend a school not knowing the students at first. The church our family attended in our neighborhood was Fourteen Holy Martyrs Catholic Church. There I was an Altar Boy for approximately two years. My two older brothers, John and Luis were attending Cardinal Hayes Catholic High School in the Bronx. They both would travel back to Manhattan to hang out with their friends. John at one time was at a Catholic Seminarian School for the study of the Priesthood. So you can understand why I was left to be the protector for my family. Throughout the time I lived on Halsey Street, I got to know most of the kids in the neighborhood. There were times the gangs would go into a battle stage. The wars between the gangs were mostly racial motivated, between the White and Black gangs.

As the protector for my six younger brothers and sister, it made me more want to count on God, with prayers to help me. There was a time when I observed a black boy walking home from Halsey Jr. High School through our neighborhood, when a few white boys had approached him. Because there was a war between the Halsey Street Bops and the Jefferson Stumpers, the Halsey Street Bops members wanted to hurt the black boy. The black boy was from the Jefferson Street Stumpers neighborhood. I approached the white gang members and pleaded to them not to hurt the black boy. They knew me because we live in the same neighborhood. I finally got them from hurting the small boy. The boy looked at me with tearing eyes of thankfulness and quickly left the area.

When I was approximately 14 years old, I was approached by Father Mahoney at the Fourteen Holy Martyrs Church. He requested my help to coach the boy's basketball team. I was also a player and captain on the team. Something came up that we had no one to take us to the game at Canarsie. Sports were one of my hobbies that kept me out of trouble and I agreed to help. So I gathered up the team members to travel to the Canarsie area of Brooklyn. We had to travel by the Subway trains to get there. It was a fun trip for all of us. We joked and laugh about things while on the train. It was also a beautiful day in the winter. The team didn't win our game, but enjoyed playing. We finished with a prayer and started to head home.

When walking to the Subway, we were approached by a black gang of boys. They demanded money and threaten to hurt us. I did not see any weapons on them and I felt they would use their fist to hurt us. That's when I said to my self, "please help me my Lord Jesus Christ". I quickly got in front of my team members and begged the gang not to hurt them. I confronted their leader to fight, while the boys headed towards the Subway Station. We got into a fist fight and some bystanders yield at the gang to leave me alone.

The gang was from another neighborhood, looking for trouble. I was left with a black eye and headed back to our neighborhood with the team members. The boys all appreciated my will to protect them from harm by hugging me and patting my back. I told them to thank God for our rescue. I did thank the few people that were in the area when I was trying to get away from the gang. When we arrived back from the game, I advised Father Mahoney of the incident. He said, thank God no one got serious hurt from the incident. I looked at Father and said, "What about my `Black Eye". We kind of laughed about it, but knew he appreciated my will to protect the team members from getting hurt.

You see without the help of our God things could have gotten worse. The people that were in the area that yelled at the gang members had in their hearts to help thy neighbor as thy self.

The good actions taken by all involved was truly of "God's Work".

(Continues...)

Excerpted from God's Workby Abe Usera Copyright © 2010 by Abe Usera. Excerpted by permission.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Authorhouse
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1452010358
• ISBN 13: 9781452010359
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 112