“School of Wisdom”

Michael Castle
Contents

Acknowledgements
Author’s Note

Chapter 1) In the Beginning

Chapter 2) Early Development

Chapter 3) Gaining Identity

Chapter 4) Growing up in the Fast Lane

Chapter 5) High School Years

Chapter 6) Life in the Projects

Chapter 7) Entering the Military

Chapter 8) Boy to Man

Chapter 9) Tour of Duty

Chapter 10) Exiting the Military

Chapter 11) The Son

Chapter 12) Motherless

Chapter 13) Introduction to Wall Street

Chapter 14) Man to Boy

Chapter 15) Silent Killer

Chapter 16) The New Millennium

Chapter 17) 9/11

Chapter 18) If I knew then what I know now

Chapter 19) Introduction to Dialysis

Chapter 20) Becoming a Vessel God could use

Chapter 21) Introduction to Transplantation while growing Spiritually

Chapter 22) Move to the Poconos

Chapter 23) Revelations

Acknowledgements

First and foremost I thank God, my Lord and Saviour for all that he
has done, for all that he is doing and for all that I expect him to do
in my life. The intent of this book is to be an inspirational and
motivational guide with some of my life experiences and to
support my mission statement at the end of the book. My heartfelt
gratitude and appreciation go to all the people who helped make
this book possible. I would like to thank PJCK and MLPK for
staring my spiritual growth. I would also like to thank family and
friends for creating some of my most memorable life experiences.
Last but definitely not least, I would like to especially thank my
wife, Deidre and our four children, Kiamesha Nicole, Michael
Anthony, Khadijah Coreanna, and Kalia Danielle for their love,
encouragement and unwavering support.

(In this book Saviour, Favour and other scriptures and versus are
based upon the King James Version of the Bible which is what I
was taught out of and learned from)
Author’s Note

Throughout this project my intent is not for people to feel sorry for
me but for me to educate, motivate, encourage and inspire people
to be all that they can be. Diseases do not discriminate against
anyone it’s just that some people are more educated and more
prepared to deal with them or completely avoid them. God’s intent
is for all of us to be healed if we would just follow his instructions
laid out in the Holy Bible. I would like to motivate everyone to do
things that they want to do and suppose to do in life. Life on earth
is not guaranteed, you need to take advantage of the time that you
have because nobody knows how long it is going to be. I
encourage all that do not know the Lord Jesus to become
acquainted with him. Do not allow anyone to tell you that you
cannot do something because all things are possible through Christ
Jesus. I cannot emphasize enough about the choices and decisions
that you make in life. They could haunt you for life if not thought
through properly. Last but not least I would like to inspire people
not to procrastinate but dare to be great.
 Chapter 1
In the Beginning

Created in God’s image on August 20th, 1966 @ 12:02 PM.

Queens General Hospital in Queens, New York was the place. I
was given to Cora and Thomas, entrusting that they would be
faithful and wise stewards over me. My life began as a challenge
due to the fact that my father was 40 years old and my mother was
40 plus one, a little beyond child bearing years.

Due to the lack of technology at that time, it was questionable for

women to bear children at that age. Cora was a housekeeper and
Thomas was a groom at Belmont Racetrack in Elmont, New York
which is located in Nassau County on the border of Queens. I was
brought home to St.Albans, Queens to a house where we lived,
which happened to have been owned by my mother’s sister and her
husband, my aunt and uncle. My father’s job allowed him to travel
with the race track. Sometime in 1970 he traveled to Hialeah Park
in Miami, Florida for a period of time. I was taken along with my
mother because of my age. My sister and brother stayed with my
aunt and uncle to attend school.

I can remember learning how to play a game of cards with her. The
card game was called Pitty Pat in which the objective is to make
three pairs starting from a five card hand out of a standard deck of
fifty two playing cards. The game was for two to four players and
the first person to get three pairs would win the game.

In New York we attended church regularly with my aunt and uncle

on Sundays at their church in Brooklyn, New York. Although I
was young I remember having a cousin who lived in Camden, New
Jersey who had recently joined the United States Army Airborne
division at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. I remember him visiting and
going up to the attic, tying a sheet or something around his neck