“I’m just an old chunk of coal now Lord, but I’m gonna be a diamond someday.”
My great grandfather was a coal miner by the name of Ernest “Ernie” Shoemaker. Dropping out of school in the 5th grade, Pawpaw Ernie left and became a coal miner in the hills of West Virginia, a job which he worked until retirement. Although my Pawpaw Ernie was only my grandfather by marriage and not by blood, his legacy, life, and love made him…