With Me Always, My Journey Without and With The Trinity

When I was young, my parents took my brother, sister and I to church. It was there I learned about God. The minister planted a seed within me, but I never really connected with the Trinity until some 65 years later. From the getgo, when the pastor stated, "If you ever need anything, go to God first and He will answer your prayers," I took it to heart and followed through with my first request. I was in dire need and God answered my prayer. It was then one thing was for certain. There is a God! But from then on I kept pushing Him out of my life. Oh, at times, I thought about Him but never had a relationship with Him. Thus my pursuits in life were based on worldly ways, and there were times I even complied with the devil's ways. It wasn't until I found a church I loved and gave my life to Jesus Christ did I realize God was with me always. But that wasn't the end of it. Not only did I learn the importance of prayer, but the significance of listening as well. One day I was alerted to a fact that persuaded me to continue my journey. I left that church and joined a Roman Catholic Church in my home town. Now an ardent covert, I continue to spread God's Word and take joy in the fact that I know now that the Trinity always has been by side, is, and will always be there to take control of my life, directing me in the path of righteousness. I praise the Trinity for the joys of life I now have been given!

With Me Always, My Journey Without and With the Trinity is centered around my life from the ages of seven to seventy. It was in the early ages of my youth, my parents took my brother, Bob, sister, Betsy and I to church. It was there I listened to bits and pieces of what the minister shared with his congregation. One of the comments he stated was, "If you need anything, go to God first, and He will answer your prayer. One day something happened and I heard the voice of my minister, his all too important statement about prayer. I gave it a try and it worked. From then on, I knew there was a God. But I pushed Him aside as I journeyed through elementary and high schools. In college, I, for some reason unbeknownst to me, took every religion course I could squeeze in. I even joined a religious fraternity, but never was taught about a personal relationship between the Trinity and me. After college I entered into the work force contributing my talents to one newspaper, three law enforcement agencies and one industry. I was living very much according to worldly ways and making the best of every moment. Still in my mind occasionally, I felt the Holy Spirit speak to me on several occasions. After having a grand mal seizure and ending up in two hospitals, did I find my life turn around. I ended up losing my jobs, having to come back to Pennsylvania where I grew up to live and resided with my parents for a while. It was later I learned that I was dying and again ended up in another hospital. It was there my life was spared through the blessings of a specialist and the Trinity. In a mental ward where I was placed, I learned about people praying for me. That was my first introduction to the fact that other people were actually turning to God for my sake as well. Upon getting better, I was given the blessing of becoming the hospital photographer. From there, I met my wife at that institution, rented an apparent in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and shortly thereafter, bought a building where I opened a photo studio and lived above it where my wife and I started a family. During a short time after, one of my employees convinced me to go church hopping, where we settle at one non-denominal church. We not only joined, but attended regularly. During an altar call, the Holy Spirit prompted me to go forward and give my life to Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. I not only was filled with unconditional love for others, became on fire for the Trinity, but also was given the gift of tongues. Months later, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and stated a fact that made me sit up in my chair. It concerned communion and the host being the Actual Species of our Lord. I was fired up and departed from that church and converted to the Roman Catholic Church in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. I brought along the fire that the Trinity laid on my heart. At that time my whole family were Catholics. Now we could be together as one Catholic family at Holy Family Roman Catholic Parish. Since then, the Trinity has been working in my life. Charged up, I love to evangelize. Several of my various tactics are described in my chapters. I have so much joy talking about Trinity. Also in the book are examples of stories I have had published in the local newspaper, the Latrobe Bulletin, that the Holy Spirit helped me write. He tells me to put my fingers on the keys and He takes me to the last line with exactly the right amount of words. I am solely convinced. The Trinity is with me always!

Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Paul J. Volkmann graduated from Oakmont High School in 1962, attended Ashland College where he graduated in 1967 receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and one in Psychology. While attending college, he worked as a photojournalist for the Ashland Times Gazette. After graduating, he went on to work for four more newspapers doing the same thing. While being employed for the Galion Inquirer newspaper in Ohio, he attended Police Officers Training School where he became certified in law enforcement. he also worked in that same community for North Electric Company doing industrial photography. After moving back to Pennsylvania, he settled in Latrobe where he did photography for Latrobe Area Hospital. He then opened up my own studio, Pee Vee's Photography. Capitalizing on an opportunity, he expanded and his business became known Pee Vee's Photography and Custom Framing finally dropping the photography and settling for Pee Ve's Fishing Lures and Tackle. The custom framing became his sideline, and the fishing business his main pursuit. After retiring from retailing in 2007, he continued writing two columns for the Latrobe Bulletin newspaper, "Off the Wall," an opinionated column where he wrote stories from the sublime to the ridiculous, and another, Inside the Outdoors, where he brought to the table anything that wasn't inside. In other words as he would tell folks, "If it's not indoors, I'll write about it if it's pertaining to nature." He has also authored two books, "Off the Wall Favorites," that came out in 2011, and "Peeveetry, In Form of Verseity, From the Sublime to the Ridiculous, that was published in 2016. It is a book comprised of 150 poems of his, ten of his mother's and three of his daughter's while she was in fourth grade. Since he is known to the those living in Latrobe as Mr. Pee Vee, a nickname given to him by a studio owner in Galion and carried forth to Latrobe, it would only make sense his poetry book was given that name. As for his faith, as a child, his parents took his brother, sister and him to Faith Lutheran Church in a suburb of Pittsburgh as well as a Lutheran church just outside of Pittsburgh in a town called Aspinwall. He attended there until going to college. The institution was Brethern. Occasionally he would visit a Baptist Church on Sundays. It wasn't until he moved back to Pennsylvania and opened up his store did an employee suggest going church hopping. It was at one of these churches during the mid-seventies that he answered an altar call and accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. He attended the Derry New Testament Church in New Derry for a number of years until the Holy Spirit spoke to him during communion and advised him that the host that was recognized in a Protestant church as a symbol was the Actual Species in a Catholic Church. He felt right there and then to become Roman Catholic. He has been an ardent member of that faith since the late seventies, first attending Holy Family Church in Latrobe. He then transferred his membership to St. James Catholic Church in New Alexandria for a short time until the cab service could no longer provide transportation. Then Ihetransferred back to Holy Family. He and the Trinity have an ongoing relationship that provides excitement to his life. In addition, it goes without saying that he is overwhelmed by the fact of how much love and prayers are extended to him from the Kingdom of God. By making God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit a part of his life, not to mention the Blessed Mother, all the angels and saints, he is excited and full of joy to know they will keep him filled with God's goodness all the rest of his life. Through this very special relationship, he will act and react, talk to them, offering up his petitions, and listening to what he is being told as a word of acknowledgement. Driving down this two-way street will hopefully lead him to his final destination, life eternity with his Creator.