As the Sparks Fly Upward
The Jimmy and Johnny Adventure Stories
by
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Mrs. Burns (known to her friends as “Alix”) had grown up in a small, university town with all the cultural advantages offered by a college community. Her summers were usually spent living with her grandparents at their farm.
She loved the country life and it was at the farm that she learned how to shoot. By the time she was 12, Alix was a very good marksman with her .22 rifle. It was this summer, when she was 12, that she made a name for herself, among the family, as a “crack” shot. Among the family, the story goes like this.
Grampa Rutledge had built a storage shed near the trees that made up the woods behind his house. In this shed, he kept the tools and supplies needed for his garden and for the five-acre lawn surrounding his house. This included his large mowing machine and his bass boat. Eventually he also stored there horse feed for the three horses he owned and chicken feed for the chickens.
This was a mistake but it became apparent that it was a mistake only when the wood rates began to come into the shed and eat the grains. These were not your ordinary rats. They were huge, the size of a squirrel or small possum. This is where Alix comes into the story.
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About the Book
Do things just seem to happen to you? Things are going along, and then all of a sudden, the unexpected happens?
Brothers Jimmy and Johnny Burns can relate to that experience. They do not go out seeking adventures. They don’t have to because hair-raising adventures come to them. Author Dale Younce’s As the Sparks Fly Upward: The Jimmy and Johnny Adventure Stories shares some of those exciting stories. Illustrated by Margie and Matt Williams, you’ll follow the boys as they go to camp, play Little League, and even go hunting.
As the Sparks Fly Upward: The Jimmy and Johnny Adventure Stories teaches positive moral values and spiritual truths about God. There are even prayers scattered throughout the book. These stories provide school-age children with excellent and entertaining Christian reading material.
About the Author
Dale Richard Younce is a retired professor of Christian ministries from the University of Mobile, Mobile, Alabama, where he taught New Testament Greek and biblical studies for more than twenty years. He earned a BA in classical languages at Mississippi College and a Th.M and a Th.D. in New Testament interpretation and exegesis from Dallas Theological Seminary.
Before teaching at the University of Mobile, Dr. Younce assisted with the planting of two churches in Texas and spent eighteen years pastoring churches. While at the University, he preached in more than forty countries around the world as he led student mission teams. In addition, while at the University, he engaged in an extensive interim pastoral ministry.
“Dr. D” has written Sunday school material for LifeWay, for David C. Cook, for the Bible Expositor and Illuminator, for Young People’s Bible Class, and for Student Life.
In May 2013, Dr. Younce was awarded the University’s prestigious Shofar Award for sixty years of dedicated ministry to the Lord.
In retirement, Dr. Younce’s responsibilities have changed. As he is fond of saying, “When you work for the Jewish Carpenter, you do not get retirement; you get a new assignment in the vineyard.” Dr. Younce is currently the interim minister to senior adults at Dauphin Way Baptist Church in Mobile, Alabama, where he teaches a Sunday school class and discipleship training.
He is also writing for publication the stories he told his children and is now telling his grandchildren. Dr. Younce has been happily married for thirty-eight years to Dr. Alice Barron Younce of Troy, Alabama; they have four children and eight grandchildren.
He enjoys his grandchildren, preaching the Bible, and writing, as well as talking about Jesus, UMS-Wright high school football, and University of Alabama football (“Roll Tide”).