Journey of a Janus pt 1, Mom's book.

This is a series I was going to do, so I could show you how I started with my faith to where I am now. I had to break it down into a series because really for me to give you any detail I had to split it up otherwise it would be more like an outline than a testimony, and I couldn't write it all at once because then this would be more like a novel. Also don't worry if I take breaks from it for a day or two and then write more about this series, think of this as the Battlestar Galactica of testimonies, the series just might stop for a little and start up without warning. Though I will try to do it every other day, unless I have to sleep....Now on with the story.
My family taught me how to read before I finished preschool, by the time I was four years old. I was reading on my own anything that could hold my attention that wasn't too challenging. I had read my Mickey Mouse books, The Big Book of Fairy Tales, Childcraft Encyclopedia, The Snoopy Encyclopedia, and was starting on World Book Encyclopedia by the time I was six. My method was simple, I would write down any words that I did not know (Which could be a lot depending on the book) and then I would bring my list to my dad who would then either tell me what they were or would look them up in the dictionary for me and read it to me.
One day (around the beginning of Volume B in the World Book) I wanted to look for something with more of a plot, since I wasn't remembering everything I read from the Encyclopedias and some of the things were getting a little dull. I had read all my books at that point, and my brother and sisters books were not only off limits but didn't look very interesting. So I went into Mom and Dad's room while they were watching some boring show about some guy named J.R. and a whole bunch of people that don't like each other (Dallas I found out later, I still never actually watched an episode of it.)
Mom and Dad had a lot of books which I called "big people books." That didn't mean that they were adults only or anything inappropriate, that meant they didn't have a lot of pictures and I might have to write down a lot more words for Dad to look up. So from the bottom of my parents big book shelf I started looking at books. (If you are wondering why I kept this a secret from my parents, my brother and sister told me not to touch anything of theirs and I didn't want to ask my parents for permission in fear they would tell me not to borrow their books.) So I looked at the titles...some traveling books, Mom's "Harlequin Romance Novels" (which I had no interest in whatsoever even if they had pictures), "Readers Digest book for Do It Yourself Projects"...finally at the top left corner I saw a big black book that said "THE HOLY BIBLE."
Now I don't know why I wanted to read a book called "The Holly Bib ell." (As I pronounced it as best as I could at that point.) Something about it though made me want to check it out more though.
So peeking in the hallway to make sure that none of family was within earshot and cracking the door slightly so I could hear for footsteps I slid a chair over to the shelf...picked up the book..and put the chair back. Then I took it into my bedroom and started trying to read it.
It was a tough book, and was an old King James style Bible. I sneezed from the dust on it, it had been a long time since anyone had moved it from the old shelf. I looked at the chapters of the book. The book of Geniuses, Exodus, Levitation (or something like that)... but in the middle I found some pictures, so I started looking at them.
A picture of two people without any clothes on that were standing behind bushes in trees in a manner that could be described as "lucky for the guy taking the picture not to see their naughty parts" (I figured they were using the bushes as a bathroom or something and they were scared of a snake.) A picture of an old guy with a beard that looked very angry dropping these big rocks with letters on them, (I figured he was mad because he dropped the rocks kind of like how Dad got when he drops his garage tools.) The last two pictures showed a man knocking on a door who had a beard and a nice face though he looked a little sad (He must be late going to his friend's house I reasoned.) The last picture showed the man nailed to a cross and a little blood (which made me a little nervous) in between two other men nailed to a cross and a bunch of people standing around. (Which made me wonder if they did this to him because he was late, and that would explain why he looked sad in the previous picture.)
So every time my parents were going out for dinner or my family was watching the J.R. Show, I would sneak in here and would do the same sneaking the chair and taking the book and bringing the chair back ritual, and read the book in my closet and when the hand of the Donald Duck clock was on the 11, I would bring the book back and put everything back the way I saw it and then go back to my room.
The second day I found an index of sorts in the beginning of a book, and since I learned how to use an Index from my encyclopedias I started reading certain stories. I had plenty of words to write down for Dad, and he was wondering just what kind of book the "Snoopy Encyclopedia" was. Words like "Verily", "Unto", "Thee", "Thou", "Thy", and so on.
I self-taught myself some interesting things in that brief period, such as the fact that they gave baby Jesus three presents when he was a baby... Gold, Frankenstein, and Meth. That Jesus rode into the city on a very bad word that I was not allowed to say even though my brother Ed said it before, and that Jesus told a lot of stories that no one could understand and healed a lot of sick people. I started giving my dad more words for him to look up such as "Leprosy", "Virgin", "Colt", and "Pilate" (Which I thought looked kind of like pirate.)
It was at this point that my sneaking the Bible around got interrupted. My parents were going out one evening, which meant that Ed and Caroline would watch TV and leave me alone. I hugged and kissed them goodnight as they walked out of the house wearing their "Going out at least til I should be in bed" clothes. As soon as they went out the door and I saw Ed turn on the TV, I went back to my parents room. I moved my chair over and I reached for the book, when suddenly I heard my dad's heavy footsteps coming back from the hall. I didn't have time to get out of there and get into my own room so I ran as quietly as I could and hid under my parents bed. (Ok ok...so I was a sneak back then, and bad at it too, but I liked the book and was afraid they would tell me not to read it since it was Mom's.)
My dad came in followed by my mom (apparently she forgot something she was supposed to bring.) My dad immediately spotted the chair by the shelf, and glanced at the Bible with incriminating six year old boy fingerprints all over it, and looked from the chair to right about where I was. His eyes looked right at me though I didn't know if he could see me. My mom saw the chair and asked my dad why he put it there. My dad cocked his head slightly in my direction and put his finger to his lips with a smirk.
My mom nodded, and while she put the chair back. My dad took the Readers Digest book from the bottom shelf and switched it with the Bible from the top shelf.
"Ann I was thinking of maybe reading one of your books sometime," my dad said with a strange voice that was louder than normal.
"Anytime you or anyone else would like to borrow one of my books, all you have to do is ask," she answered back with a strange voice too. Then they picked up the gift that my mom left on the dresser and my mom added, "I think it is time that someone started Sunday school..."
My dad nodded as he opened the door for my mother and they both walked out with strange smiles on their face.
A few days later I asked my mom if I could borrow a book to read, and she seemed surprised but she said that it would probably be ok. Then she led me to her room and asked me which book I would like to read, and I pointed to the big black book on the shelf. I found out it was called "The Holy Bible" (she pronounced it correctly,) and she told me I could borrow it anytime I wanted to as long as I put it back when I was done. From that day on my parents made sure it was on the bottom shelf so I didn't break my neck trying to get it with a chair.
Then my mom told me that she wanted to show me a place called "Sunday School."
To be continued....