"Windsor's Child" Chapter by Chapter Summary

What God did in a small boy's life

Prologue: The Standing Stone. The author explains his reasons for writing the book.

Chapter 1: The Last Day. The death of an important person in the author's family and in this story is described.

Chapter 2: Thank God for Fridays. Some family history is shared - a grandfather who was a real hero, the family situation that led to the author being born in Canada, and other events.

Chapter 3: A Tree Grows In Windsor. The author uses a tree that grew outside his boyhood home as a symbol of his family.

Chapter 4: Born of Grace in a Time of War. The author's birth at Windsor's Grace Hospital and the departure of the author's older brother to the Navy and World War II are described.

Chapter 5: From the Same Roots Two Branches Grew. Two decades separated the two brothers. Each left home, but under much different circumstances.

Chapter 6: It Won't Take Long to Lick 'Em! Excerpts from some of the letters sent home by the author's older brother while in training at Farragut Naval Training Station in Idaho are shared.

Chapter 7: Growing Like a Weed. The author's brother in his letters home from the war referred to the author as his "big brother" who was "growing like a weed.

Chapter 8: The Good Jap. The author's brother also sent home photographs from the war. One photo was of a dead Japanese soldier. The author speculates about the fallen soldier.

Chapter 9: The Day Before Boxing Day. The author describes how different Christmas of 1944 was for the two brothers, one at home in Windsor, the other on board the USS Dunlap in the Pacific Ocean.

Chapter 10: Safe on the Home Front. Again the safety of Windsor, Ontario is contrasted with the lack of safety in Windsor Castle, Great Britain. The author describes the serious illness that his older sister suffered from most of her life.

Chapter 11: In the Shadows. As a little boy, the author sometimes sat in the shade of the tree in front of his house and specuated about his future and about life. The author discusses some of the "shadows" that were in his family's life.

Chapter 12: It's Over Over There. World War II was over, but a tornado jumped the Detroit River and headed straight for the author's boyhood home.

Chapter 13: Thirteen Winter Days. In 1947, a major tragedy forever changed the author's family

Chapter 14: Better Than Bad, Worse Than Good. The author discusses his childhood belief that "good" people went to Heaven, but "bad" people went to Hell. He contrasts this with his adult understanding of what the Bible actually teaches about this subject.

Chapter 15: Life Goes On. The author discusses his family's gradual recovery from the tragedy that struck in 1947, and what part God may have had in the events of his life.

Chapter 16: School Days, School Days. The author describes his first love.

Chapter 17: How Can I Ignore the Girl Next Door? The author describes a childhood birthday party for the girl who lived in the "mirror" house next door, and how sometimes life seems to get it all backwards.

Chapter 18: Dreams of Long Ago. The Ambassador Bridge and other Detroit-Windsor sites are part of the author's collection of childhood memories.

Chapter 19: I Have Often Walked on This Street Before. As an adult, the author has an imaginary conversation with his younger father, a conversation the two never had in real life, but should have.

Chapter 20: Amazing Grace. In 1951, the author attended Vacation Bible School at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Windsor at the invitation of a friend.

Chapter 21: The Other Side of the Bridge. The bridge, of course, is the Ambassador Bridge which connects Windsor with Detroit, Canada with the USA. The author's family crossed that bridge in 1951 and moved to Lincoln Park, Michigan. The bridge is used to symbolize some important aspects of the author's life.

Chapter 22: Before the Foundation of the World. The author discusses how God revealed Himself to the boy, and how God eventually brought the boy to salvation in Jesus Christ. He also discusses how God used things that were in the boy's childhood in the adult that boy became.

Chapter 23: The Meeting. The author imagines his mother and his sister on the latter's first day in Heaven.

Chapter 24: What Truth Told Me in the Cemetery. In Victoria Memorial Garden in Windsor, the author as an adult learns a truth he did not know as a child.

Chapter 25: The First Day. The author contemplates his own death as a believer in Jesus Christ.

Photos from top to bottom: 1. The cover of Windsor's Child. 2. The USS Dunlap photographed during World War II. 3. The photo on the cover of the book, Tom's mother holding a camera with an eight-year-old Tom at her side. It is believed the car parked in the background is a 1934 Chevrolet which Tom's dad owned. The photo was taken c.1949. The tree growing in the background is frequently mentioned in the book. 4. Tom's sister, Lynne, Lynne's husband, Phil, and Tom's wife, Linda, on the Windsor side of the Ambassador Bridge in the mid-1970's.