IT’S DARK BUT I
CAN STILL SEE THE
LIGHT
By:
David E. Lucas
Copyright © 2015 David E. Lucas
All rights reserved. This book or any portion
thereof may not be reproduced or used in any
manner whatsoever without the express written
permission of the publisher except for the use of
brief quotations in a book review.
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing, 2015
http://www.thebookpatch.com
taBLe of ContentS
Chapter 1 Bumps in the Road of Success
Chapter 2 Heart of a Teenager
Chapter 3 The Meaning of Friends
Chapter 4 You Just Don’t Understand
Chapter 5 Who AM I
3
CHAPTER ONE
BUMPS In tHe roaD to SUCCeSS
Have you ever had a time in your life when it
seemed like everything is going wrong, and you
don’t know what to do? Well, in order to give you
some hope, let me tell you a little about what I have
been through as a teenager. My family did not have
much, but we had to work hard to get what I wanted
out of life. One thing you need to know about me
is that I have a learning disability that permits me
to have extra time or material read when necessary
according to my Individual Education Plan, better
known as an IEP. About once or twice every year
my parents have to meet with one of my teachers
and readdress this plan. A couple of years ago I was
called in for my annual IEP meeting and when I first
heard of this meeting I thought my teachers were
going to sing me praises. I was extremely astonished
and discouraged when all of my teachers addressed
how I am not working hard and how I need to focus
and keep my grade up. I was really upset because I
thought that it was going to be a good meeting and
at first, I wanted to blame the teachers.
5
IT’S DARK BUT I CAN STILL SEE THE LIGHT
However, to this day I am grateful for their
honesty because it was my wake-up call. A sixty
percent average was not where I wanted to be, so
I had made up my mind that I was going to study,
and I was going to try my best. Many people told
me that I would never be able to accomplish my
goals; they even said that I was too late.
However, I want to let you know that is never
too late. As of 2013 of last year, I am no longer in
an assisted classroom and I am in regular college
bound education classes. I pick up on classroom
content a lot quicker because I am paying attention
and trying now. I still have to study hard, but I can
do it since I know it actually pays off.
Although school might not seem much to you
right now, it truly is important to your future.
Working and trying hard in school does pay off.
I am able to take classes that colleges will expect
to see on my transcript. If I keep working hard in
school, I might be able to go have college financed
by a scholarship program. I was fortunate enough
to have a couple of people who supported me
along this journey. I thank those people for staying
on me to make sure I followed through with the
commitment I made when no one even bothered
to care.
Another struggle I went through was the time
I wanted to change the way our school thinks
6
IT’S DARK BUT I CAN STILL SEE THE LIGHT
about bullying. I had to work hard to make it
happen, but when it was time to ask I got a flat
no. I was told by some of the faculty that school
was supposed to focus only on learning. I tried to
argue that a kid doesn’t feel like they can learn
with someone picking on them all of the time.
They don’t want to go to school when instances
of people talking about them follow them on the
bus at their home, or through Facebook, Twitter.
The program I wanted to start was a program
where students would have a place to go and talk
about the difficulties they face at school or at
home, a program where kids help kids.
Schools should have some program in which
kids can start changing the world while they are in
school. This world is full of violence and hatred,
but it can also be beautiful. Beauty can be found
in nature and the kind deeds we do for others.
It is time that students try to make our campus
a beautiful place and that’s why I was started an
organization that will help teenagers out with their
problems. You will not always get the news you
want to hear, but it is what you do with that news
that makes all of the difference.
If you give up, then you give up on other people
as well as yourself. Instead, take the news that they
give you and try to make something happen with
what you have. One thing you have to remember
7
IT’S DARK BUT I CAN STILL SEE THE LIGHT
is that what you go through affects other people
around you and you can make a difference in so
many people’s lives.
I know you might wonder about how to get
on the road to success. Well, let me tell you that
life is all about going through something to get
something. Yes, people are going to say you can’t
do it, and yes, they are going to say it’s not going
to work for you. You have to learn that you can and
should keep going. “I may have fallen, but I got
back up with scratches.
However, I know I got those scratches from
trying.” So you are going to get hurt, but you have
to move on from that. The word success is a word
that many people use but don’t know the true
meaning of it. The word success means making
the best of a situation or not giving up when things
get rough. When someone gets up every day with
a smile on their face even though they are troubled
at home, go to school every day learn, and then
go home every night to still do their homework,
that is success. Many times as young people, we
sit in class and don’t ask questions if like we really
understand but we have other student in class that
have a hard life, comes in class and ask question
and work hard and still go home to all crazy.
Don’t forget that everyone has problems, but it is
what you do with problems that make the world a
difference.
8
CHAPTER TWO
Heart of a teenager
Well, I know in your life time you have been
hurt by someone you love but just don’t
work out. Many people have given up on someone
that they love for someone that looks good but is
not right for them. I understand you don’t want
to be with someone that your family and friends
don’t like. But you have to watch out because
ever, thing that looks good might NOT be for you.
Have you ever asked yourself How Can I Love some
without get hurt or How Can I cover my heart. Well
first guard your heart, (“Prove 4:23-24) above all else,
guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life”).
When I was 9th grade, I had this so called
girlfriend that was so called in loved with me, but
at that time I did not know what love was, so I
thought love was all about how it make me look.
One day I was out of school and my friend
Tom told me that my girlfriend was going around
doing things in the boys bathroom, so I questioned
her about it and she told me “no” so I believed her.
One Monday I asked my teacher to go to the
9
IT’S DARK BUT I CAN STILL SEE THE LIGHT
office so I can call my mother to stay after school,
so he told me to wait five minute after class, when
I got in the bathroom I saw my girlfriend going
out the bathroom holding my best friend’s hands.
She looked at me and just ran back in class, so
I just turn around and went back to class crying.
You have to keep your heart guard.
(Matt 12:34-36 For out of the overflows of the
heart the mouth speak. 35 The Good man bring
Good things out of a Good stored up in him, and
the evil man bring evil things out of the evil stored
up in him). Many people would have been in a
fight with the best friend if that had happened to
them. But I had a heart of forgiveness because I
could have hit him. I could have gotten her back
by going with someone else but I had good stored
up in me. You have to remember that you are
somebody and you can’t let one person take you
out of your mind. You have the power to get them
back by working hard to be with someone better
than they been to you, even if they lied to you or
hurt you. You have a lot of good stoned up in you.
You have the power to said “ok” and move on,
prying because I promise they would come back.
As a teenager your heart should be you because
you don’t want a bad heart because your “swag”
won’t be on point. Keep, your heart far away from
people that so call love you. You have the power
to say no or yes. So remember to guard your heart
10
IT’S DARK BUT I CAN STILL SEE THE LIGHT
like it was your last heart for the rest of your
life. Some of our parents say to keep our mind
on school work and off boys, girls because they
knew how boys and girls were during their, times
growing up; that why they so hard on you.
We as the next-generation need to let or
generation know that you do not have to be a teen
parent at the age of 15-18. You can wait. You
can wait to have sex and still be cool. Love is not
all a sex. Love can be a nice, sweet moment. It’s
doesn’t have to be all about sex. So remember you
have the power and you can and yes or no. Don’t
let yourself go because you have your whole life
planning in front of you.
11
CHAPTER THREE
tHe MeanIng of frIenDS
What is a true friend? How can I truly know
that person is a true friend? What are some
tips that can help me find the right friend? Well,
first let me say, when I was in Middle School, I
did not have many people to call friends. Most of
them was called me names because I like to talk
about God or because they think I have a big head.
Yes, I was hurt but I learned that I really had to
love myself first.
How can I be a good friend to someone else if
I can’t be a good friend to myself ? One cool day, I
got home I ask my grandmother can I talk to her.
I know that I can talk to her if I have a problem or
question. So I told her about the problem and she
told me that “I will always have a true friend that
will never let me go and a person that I can tell
things to and no one would know what happened
or how it happened because he won’t tell.” And I
ask “what that person name and number?”
She told me his name was “God” the highest
God that she knows. She said that “I don’t need a
13
IT’S DARK BUT I CAN STILL SEE THE LIGHT
number”, all she said was “call on his name and
he will be there to help you.” So just to let you
know you have a friend that will help you with
your problem.
(1)What is true friend? Well let me say a true
friend will never leave you there will be there when
no one else would be. A true friend is someone
that you can talk about your problems with, and
they won’t judge you. Many times when I was in
Middle School I seemed to always get bulled by
so many called friends. If your friends are like this
they are really not your friends. Just because you
help them with the problems that don’t mean that
they are made to be your friend. If your friends are
mostly trouble, they might not be for you. But all
you need to do is ask God to help you because I
promise he is the only one who will never let you
down. True friends influence those with whom
they associate to “rise a little higher and be a little
better.” A good friend accepts you for who you are,
even when you’re being a butthead. In friendship,
being accepting goes hand in hand with being
loyal. A true friend rolls with the punches as you
grow and change and is willing to deal with your
quirks and faults.
They are also patient with you when you make
mistakes even big ones -- and learn how to forgive
you when you hurt them. In other words, they
treat you as you’d like to be treated, even when
14
IT’S DARK BUT I CAN STILL SEE THE LIGHT
you aren’t at your best. A good friend is supportive
of you and your goals. Sure, your friend may think
you’re cool, but are they on the same page as you?
Do they know what you want most out of life? A
really good friend will know what makes you tick
and help you become the person you want to be.
They won’t try to change who you are or drag
you into situations that make you uncomfortable
or put you at risk of losing something that matters
to you. A true friend is someone who always
listens and is genuinely interested in the good and
bad, and someone who calls or writes just to say
hello. A good friend is a friend you can trust.
A true friend won’t try to steal your girlfriend or
boyfriend, your job or your personality. They won’t
gossip about you constantly or try to damage your
reputation. They will let you know when they’re
concerned and do their best to stick up for you
when you’re in trouble.
15
CHAPTER FOUR
YoU JUSt Don’t UnDerStanD
Why do you alway’s cry over crazy stuff ? Why
cry over a boy or girl? What happened to
you? You have all these questions and more about
how you feel about someone or something. But just
because you are upset that doesn’t mean that other
people can automatically tell what wrong with you.
In my life, I have these friends that think they
know what is going on with me, but really don’t.
Just because you think you understand how I feel
that, doesn’t mean you really know. You don’t
understand how I feel and the problem or that
person that made me upset or why they did it. How
many time your friends said that you will be “OK”.
But they really don’t understand reason why you are
upset or hurting. So just because your friends saying
that they understand you, that don’t mean they
really do. The only one person that will understand
is the one person that made me you and me, and
His name is God. A lot of times in life we face stuff
and we don’t know what to do or who to go to, but
I learn that sometime you have to just have to let go
17
IT’S DARK BUT I CAN STILL SEE THE LIGHT
and let God. Because yes people is going to hurt but
you on the Road of Success.
I Just Don’t Understand...
I just don’t understand why life as a teenager has
to be so complicated. There’s constant judgment
from your peers, losing friends because of
“change”, trying to figure out what to wear every
day, and much, much more. Knowing myself, I
can get pretty stressed over simple issues. I can
often say things I don’t mean (No regrets people!).
Combining grades with social life and family life
is a challenge for a girl like me because I have a
lot on my mind; all the time. Over l I think getting
through this stage of life requires a lot of patience,
respect for yourself (and other people), and giving
your best effort in everything you do. We ALL
make mistakes and there will always be someone
trying to put you down. You just have to know
who you are and accept the fact that no one will
ever be you. Take pride in your originality.
-Dayna Hunt
Much time as young teenagers you will have those
questions or moments when you don’t understand
that person or the thing you are going through. In
school you will feel your life is going away in your
freshman in high school because you are going to
have people tell you that you are fresh meat but you
18
IT’S DARK BUT I CAN STILL SEE THE LIGHT
have to look at it like okay I might be new but I have a
lot to off as a scholar. Yes I know why would they try
to scare away the upcoming leaders? And when you
think about it you going to have to say, “I just don’t
understand.” but you have to understand that if you
have a HEART to say that you don’t understand
you can have the HEART to say that you will make
a way out of no way.
Many times in middle school I was bullied
because of my head. I asked myself why because I
couldn’t understand what I had done wrong. Why
did they pick on me based off of appearance? Yes,
they laughed at me and yes they called me names
but I know god was keeping me as a young man
this long, he can keep me when they are called
me everything but a child of God. So keep push
yourself because people want understand your
calling on your life. Many times in my life I want
to killed myself but I knew I have family that care
about me. There may not be the best family but there
are here when I need them. I know someone that is
read this book might be say that I was bullying and
I do not know what to do? Look if you are having
problem please ask God to help you with your
problem. And also tell someone like your Family,
Mother, Big Brother or Sister tells someone so that
if something helps to you there would know what
going on. Because the world is not get any better.
So be safe.
19
CHAPTER FIVE
WHo aM I?
Many times in your life you are going to have
this question come in your mind. Well
when you get in to high school you are try to find
out who you really are or where you’re going after
High School. You are going to have people that
will push you to try to do something bad. You see
I say badly because you are going to have those
people that are going to get you in trouble for
doing the wrong thing.
One cool day, I noticed that my friend was
hanging around in the back out the line so when I
looked at her she told me to “come to her”. When
I got there she told me to go back in class with her
so she can get some answers on the test we had to
do today but I told her no. She called me a crazy
but I was not going to get in trouble for doing that.
So while I was outside listening to the teacher. I
saw her get in trouble with the other teacher for
cheating on the test. I was happy that I did not go
in the classroom to get in trouble.
21
IT’S DARK BUT I CAN STILL SEE THE LIGHT
So I was happy even thought I got a B+ on my
test but because “who I am” I know that I am
not follower but a leader. Many times in life you
will have people that will always try to place you
where they want you to be, but you have to let
them know I know “who I am” and I not going to
let you tell me how to live my life. God has me on
a road that you want understand! The road that
god is taking me, you would not know which way
to turn because I have been thought some stuff to
know “who I am”. You will face people that will
talk about you and call you names and even be try
to talk about you sometimes you will have to go by
yourself. I know you might not want to go alone
but it just might be the best.
I did not say it was going to be easy but it just
might be the best thing in your life at that time.
You don’t have to be where your family or friends
place you. You can be the one that changes the
family path way. Road to Success!!!! God has
placed me on a path that some of my peers might
not understand. However I do not answer to my
peers, I answer to God.
Sometimes the path to success is difficult at
times, lonely but if you remember that you are not
alone; God will show you the way. God blessed
me with a family and friends that embraced me for
who I am. Friends that always have my back and
friends that embrace my love for God’s work, but
22
IT’S DARK BUT I CAN STILL SEE THE LIGHT
I wasn’t always supported. Everyone has defining
moments in their life. What appears trial to some
people is over powering to others. The choices we
make define us as human beings and even more so
as individuals.
23
aBoUt tHe aUtHor
Born in Darlington SC, David considers himself
to be a young man of God. Since the age of 13,
he answered his calling and recognized his abiding
passion for molding the impressionable hearts and
souls of young people. He always was a change-
creating person who so deeply loves the Lord.
At just 15 years old, David began teaching and
preaching. His intense passion for the youth of the
congregation increased many-fold and David was
inspired to create a caring charitable organization,
aptly named “Handful”, transforming our world
one generous Handful at a time.
“Let’s Impact the world together as One”
-David E. Lucas
25
aCKnoWLeDgMentS
GOD - I want to first thank GOD for helping
me to understand the meaning of life and
how to overcome dark places. As I wrote this book,
God has pour so much in me that I can share my
story with you today. Thank god because “He is
able “
Family- I want to thank God for my Mother,
Tammy Williams, who birth me to be a young man
that I am today. I also want to thank my Father:
Minister Bernard Lucas for shaping and molding
me. I want to thanks God for my Brothers and
Sisters: Davon, Kadeisha, Anastasia, Shernard,
Jamall, and Antonio for giving me a hard time
but loving me through the process of this God
giving book. I want to thank my Grandmother
and Grandfather: Mae Anderson, Pete Anderson
for keeping me wise and knowledge about life and
family.
Teachers- A special thanks to Ms. Tanya Bunn,
Ms. Jessica DeStefano, and Ms. Ashia Harrison. I
thank God for these special ladies who believed in
me and became my mentors.
Manger- I want to thank Ms. Shemeki R. Ketter
I could not have completed this project without
her discerning eye and wealth of knowledge. I
27
IT’S DARK BUT I CAN STILL SEE THE LIGHT
thank her for believing in me and realizing that I
can make this dream a reality. Thank you!
Church Family- I want to thank God for my
Bishop William & Lady Jeri Young for being my
cover in God. I want to say thanks for all your
prayers that you all had sent up for my book.
Author Mentor- I want to thank Demetra
Moore for all of your encouragement along the
way. Your faithfulness to this project is greatly
appreciated.
Graphic Designer- I want to thank Phil Echols
(TyrantEnt) for designing a real life book cover.
28