0:08

What's up. Y'all how are y'all doing today?

0:10

Hopefully you guys can hear me. I've

0:13

got a very special guest that

0:16

Sachs man. Thank you, Alicia , for

0:18

the , uh, for the words of

0:20

encouragement. Yeah, man, my , uh,

0:23

ironically, it's the soundtrack

0:25

for the, for the podcast. And

0:27

today I get an opportunity

0:29

to interview the guy who , who

0:32

, uh, man sent me the beat and

0:34

it's, it's what we use for the podcast.

0:37

At least what's going on, man. You can

0:39

hear me. I'm good. I'm good. Okay. Appreciate

0:42

you. Appreciate you . Hey guys. Thank you guys

0:44

for joining us

0:46

and bearing with us. Uh,

0:49

I've got a very special

0:51

guests , man. We're going to have a great

0:53

conversation , um,

0:56

brother, by the name of reconcile , but

0:58

let me, let me set

1:00

this up real quick. After

1:02

today's conversation, he is my hope.

1:06

Uh, you're going to shake these pandemic

1:08

blues and

1:11

get out here and walk

1:13

in the joy of your colleagues . I'm

1:16

I guarantee you, after this conversation,

1:19

you are going to shake them blues. You're going

1:21

to get out here and do what God

1:24

has called you to do. And

1:26

so man, welcome to a live taping.

1:29

This is a live taping of the kinfolk

1:31

podcast show. We're going into season

1:33

two and we're going to be dealing with calling

1:35

season one. We dealt with in

1:37

light of the , uh,

1:40

man, the, the , the insurrection

1:42

against black bodies from last year

1:45

and the years past, where do we go from

1:47

here in light of what happened to our brother, George Florida,

1:49

season one and season two is about

1:51

calling and , uh,

1:53

man, we're, we're taping this thing

1:56

live and our episodes

1:59

will drop 10 starting , uh,

2:01

the first week in April after Easter.

2:04

And so we're doing this live. And so I

2:06

also will do kinfolk the

2:08

kinfolk key kinfolk key thought. I'll

2:10

do that live as well.

2:12

And so man, I'll brother reconcile

2:15

will be on shortly. Uh

2:17

, man, let me just , uh, just pray

2:20

real quick for our time man, before

2:22

we get into it, father, we're so

2:24

thankful for all that you do.

2:26

We're thankful Lord that you give us God, this opportunity,

2:29

Lord, to speak to our brothers and

2:31

sisters today. I pray Lord

2:33

that as we have man, just to

2:35

, uh, a , a conversation,

2:38

God, I hope that helps

2:40

each and every one of us, I know that

2:42

it's going to be man weighty.

2:46

It's going to be fun. Uh, it's

2:48

going to be all of those things, Lord , but I pray Lord

2:50

that most of all, we would

2:52

all individually find out

2:54

, uh , that we have a

2:56

calling on our life is in Jesus

2:58

name, pray. Amen. What's

3:01

up reconcile man

3:03

wreck was , uh, began dedicating

3:06

his time and efforts towards struggling

3:08

youth and incarcerated

3:11

man. As back as 2009,

3:13

I was there. I was, I was watching it

3:15

all happen. Did

3:17

outreach events with juvenile gang

3:19

units , uh, in Houston

3:21

and post-college football. He

3:23

turned his focus over the making hip

3:25

hop music that challenged the

3:28

urban cores. Whereas for as well

3:30

as forming a non-profit , uh

3:32

, live frontline that helped to mentor

3:35

at-risk youth on probation in the city

3:38

of Houston , uh , man,

3:40

he was rapping while he was doing

3:42

that. Uh, he was serving as

3:44

a juvenile court case manager , uh,

3:47

for Harris County. And currently he

3:49

is a director for a nonprofit

3:52

in , uh, Miami Dade

3:54

County and in 2020.

3:56

And I'm reading all this cause cause we're going

3:58

to talk about some of this. When we talk about calling

4:01

in 2020 reconciled presented the mayor

4:04

of Miami with an agenda to improve

4:06

black life in the city of Miami reconcile

4:09

advocates for the abolishment

4:11

of the 13th amendment, juvenile justice

4:13

reform, prison reform, major

4:15

challenges to public housing as

4:17

well as education reform. Man,

4:20

ladies and gentlemen, let's give a warm welcome

4:23

to our brother reconciled . All

4:28

right , man. Um, man, before

4:30

we get into , uh , today, we're going

4:32

to be talking about calling and

4:35

what it means to fulfill your calling

4:37

with joy and like, you know,

4:39

the term we always talk about people

4:41

have a call in our life and we think that it

4:44

has to do with like , uh

4:46

, called a preaching call to

4:48

a pulpit. But man, your

4:51

life is, is emblematic

4:54

of what it means to fulfill or fulfill

4:56

the call that God gives all of us a

4:59

call to the world. But before

5:01

I get into that, man, I want to man,

5:03

just want to pause for a

5:05

second. Uh, you, you

5:08

created a song that , uh

5:10

, me and my wife play on replay called

5:12

streets is suicide. And

5:15

uh, you featured a brother named

5:17

Obie Noah, who we all know

5:20

, uh, he tragically plast

5:22

, um,

5:25

Sunday evening, I guess it would be Monday morning.

5:28

And so man, I just want to give

5:30

you the floor to kind of express

5:32

yourself, man, and kind of tell

5:34

us who he is, why'd you pick them and

5:37

uh, what this loss means to his neighborhood

5:40

, um, to our family. Uh

5:47

, I met Obie back when I

5:50

first started here, but OB back when he was

5:52

eight boy, you

5:55

know, as you know, we got off third

5:58

World community is real tight knit, third

6:00

ward , Houston, Texas, and , uh, OB

6:02

, uh, you know, yeah , he's

6:05

all the way thorough third ward , Jack

6:08

Gates , um, state championship

6:10

basketball team. Uh,

6:13

he went off , uh, left , uh, left

6:16

the area from, you know, living in the projects

6:18

and went off to play college basketball, traveled

6:21

overseas , um, really expanded

6:23

his mind from that street mentality to,

6:26

to a beautiful

6:28

person who was well-rounded well versed

6:30

and , and , and knowing people's

6:32

issues and struggles and knowing how

6:34

to speak to, you know, not only

6:37

the community, but knowing how to speak to , uh

6:39

, people, to help them understand the struggles of

6:41

the community. And , um, you

6:43

know , uh, you

6:46

know, I was able to connect with him

6:49

for some, for some different stuff that we were

6:51

doing. Um, when

6:53

music, because we had similar heartbeat

6:56

, um, you

6:58

know, he cared about the community , uh , messily accurate

7:00

by the community that mislead. And

7:03

, um, we had a mutual friend named

7:06

Nigela , which is like my, my A1C

7:09

since day one, I

7:11

made the connection, you know, started

7:13

, we started sharing music and going back and forth

7:15

and it's like, you know , we really want to make

7:17

a record that can impact the streets of Houston

7:20

specifically on the third ward

7:22

area for years to come. So anytime

7:25

somebody moves their life, anytime , you

7:27

know, the streets stuff is getting wild

7:29

and you play this record and this record

7:31

should be a reminder if you are what we

7:33

, what we're getting away from the focus and,

7:36

and how , how senseless, you

7:38

know, some of the violences and, and how

7:40

the violence is not the answer. Uh,

7:43

even though the pain may be real, that

7:45

violence is not the answer and that

7:48

S is actually found in the cross.

7:50

And so if you ever check that record, I , man , it's just

7:52

a beautiful record. It's an old, the Georgia , Florida

7:55

, uh, both of us, all of us on

7:57

this call and him and, you know,

7:59

we all knew George Floyd personally. And

8:01

, um, you know, it was just a positive

8:04

thing. And then, you know, do

8:07

we just may just find out, man , I'll cry

8:09

it out, bro. I just find out

8:11

that he just was

8:13

senselessly murdered. And I

8:15

know you not about that. Not even that

8:17

he he's dead life is not even in his path.

8:20

He's such a for beautiful

8:22

person. It's just senseless,

8:24

man. I can't even, I can't even wrap my

8:26

mind and my stomach around it. You know what I'm saying?

8:29

Feel them a lot of phone calls, people crying. It's just

8:33

crazy.

8:35

And , uh , that, that

8:37

, uh, that

8:39

song, man just, just rings in

8:41

my , my heart and my mind. Why did

8:43

you, why did you pick him for

8:45

streets, his suicide and

8:48

what was it about him that , that you

8:50

felt it was ? I mean, first

8:52

of all, describe streets as suicide.

8:54

It was some of the lyrics. And then why'd

8:56

you pick him

8:58

Last night? I heard the bullets fly last

9:00

night. I heard the hood cry, you know , anytime

9:02

, you know, I just remember

9:04

just living in third ward and you hear gunshots

9:07

throughout the night. And then,

9:10

you know, following them gunshots a

9:13

lot of time is , is , you know, there's

9:16

a phone somewhere where people are calling

9:18

it and that phone was not yesterday. You

9:20

know what I'm saying? And then there's a bunch of other

9:22

phone calls that happen after that male

9:25

what's going on , ladies , you hear such and such , such and such. And

9:27

then it's like, simultaneously everybody

9:30

who's connected to that person is crying.

9:33

That was like last night I heard them bullets fly last

9:36

night, I heard the hood cry, sweat.

9:40

It's like, you know , the whole street mindset,

9:42

a lot lifestyle is , is suicide.

9:45

And , uh, you know,

9:49

is this, you

9:51

know, it's, it's just something we have to,

9:53

as a community, we have to really wrestle

9:56

with, you know, we really want to change

9:58

and we really have to change the culture and

10:00

that, and that just to change the culture, you really

10:03

got to change. The circumstance of people are living in.

10:05

And , uh , otherwise we're going to replay

10:08

this, replay this, and

10:10

replay this, and it'll be somebody else that

10:12

breaks our heart , you know? Um , Oh,

10:15

we was pig man . Like I said, you know , uh,

10:18

OB has that heartbeat. Um , you

10:21

know, he's the type of brother that's

10:23

gone jump out of food truck

10:25

and serve people, serve homeless,

10:27

people serve. He's the type of brother

10:29

that's going to rally people to vote. You

10:32

know, he's the type of brother that's gonna , um,

10:34

you know, talk down the street, ignorance,

10:37

you know, he's the type of brother that take his shirt off his

10:39

back flee , you know, I seen him support so

10:41

many people , uh, you

10:44

know, saying it just be a real one from the , from

10:46

, from the, from the, from the mud,

10:48

you know what I'm saying? So ,

10:51

Yeah, man, no, I , um , Venmo

10:57

rotten me, man, when you told me and we , I mean,

10:59

we've , we've had so many people , um,

11:02

over the last year, year and a half just

11:05

seems like they would , they would take taken from us.

11:08

And man, I think this kind of mergers

11:10

into our conversation about

11:14

calling and I just want

11:16

to set it up , uh, briefly

11:18

, um, for those of you are listening

11:21

, um, this, this idea

11:23

of calling is so important,

11:25

you know, way back when this

11:27

old white guy named John Piper on

11:30

this phrase, don't waste your

11:32

life. And I think for so many

11:34

of us, we, we

11:37

are living at less than our

11:39

capacity, less than I call it

11:42

because we think our calling is to

11:44

the American dream and to just

11:46

go to church on Sunday. And

11:48

so man, I want to set up this conversation.

11:50

My , my boy rec has had

11:52

a crazy, amazing

11:55

life in packed into his

11:57

30 plus years, but I

11:59

want to , I want to set the conversation up with

12:02

, um, this idea of

12:04

calling and where it comes from in

12:06

the Bible. And so there's a,

12:09

there's a passage of scripture Genesis

12:12

one 26 through 28 and it's

12:14

a crazy passage. And

12:16

I always refer to it when I'm thinking about

12:18

my calling because verse

12:20

26, isn't God said, let us make man

12:22

in our image after our likeness and

12:25

let him take dominion over the fish

12:28

of the sea, over the birds heaven and

12:31

over the , uh, over all

12:33

the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps in

12:35

the earth , um, he'll

12:38

drink the sake . So God created man in his own

12:40

image, in the image of God,

12:42

he created him, male and female. He created

12:44

them and in verse 28, he'll say,

12:46

and God blessed them. And God said

12:48

to them , be fruitful and

12:50

multiply. And here's the

12:52

crazy thing he says, be fruitful

12:54

and multiply and feel the

12:57

earth and subdue it and,

13:00

and feel the earth and subdue

13:02

it. Um, man, let me,

13:04

let me , um , before I make

13:06

an appointment at Duardo seeing some stuff

13:09

here, man, I want to make sure

13:11

that we, we, we captured , uh,

13:14

and waters says, may

13:17

we be counted worthy of the calling? God

13:19

has bestowed upon us. He

13:21

also said , I said, man, life

13:24

really is a vapor.

13:28

And uh , okay, so man, so

13:31

check this out. He says, be fruitful.

13:34

Uh, you've been fruitful in , in, in

13:37

your life. You got five kids, five

13:39

beautiful kids. Uh, so

13:41

we get the flavor of what it means to be

13:43

fruitful and multiply, but

13:45

then he says it's extra word , uh,

13:48

and field the earth and

13:50

subdue it. And you're like, well it

13:53

can't, I mean have more kids

13:55

because that's what be fruitful multiply. It means

13:58

feel the earth has

14:00

to deal with and has to do

14:02

with , um, taking

14:06

the, the, the tools

14:08

and the raw material that God gave

14:10

Adam in the garden, cultivating

14:13

it and creating kingdom that

14:16

is worth I'm worthy

14:19

of the God that we serve and worthy

14:21

of , uh, uh, um

14:23

, um, it is , is

14:25

saying well done. And so to fill

14:27

the earth for Adam was to be

14:30

somebody who takes what God put in his hand

14:33

and man expanded

14:36

to two . So that, so that the kingdom

14:38

isn't just man, we,

14:41

we talked about sermons in church

14:43

services, but the kingdom is

14:45

about every human being taken,

14:47

what God, the raw materials God has given

14:50

them and cultivating

14:52

it and creating something beautiful. And

14:55

so Adam's call, was

14:58

it to preach in the pulpit Adam's

15:01

call was to go out

15:03

and feel the world to take

15:06

, um, the, the, the raw material

15:08

and make something beautiful out of it in that

15:11

brought God praise and that expanded

15:14

quote unquote God's kingdom. And

15:16

so man, when we talk about calling, that

15:18

means that every one of us has been given

15:21

raw material and

15:23

it is up to us to listen to God

15:26

as he, as he tells us to feel the

15:28

world and to do with

15:30

what he's given us. And some of us

15:33

got one tool and some of us got five

15:35

tools like Rick here, but we

15:37

all got something. And

15:39

so man, I wanted to, I

15:41

wanted to shift gears to kind

15:43

of ask you, because I think since

15:46

everybody has a call, regardless of whether

15:48

it's accounting or archery or

15:50

artistry, I mean, this is important.

15:52

I mean, because I think so many people think

15:55

you're called to do work in a church and

15:57

that the other things that we do are just

16:00

our job. And so I wanted to

16:02

just kind of pitch to you. Do

16:04

you feel called? And

16:07

if you do,

16:09

Yeah, I definitely feel

16:11

cold . Uh, I feel cold

16:13

. Um , and like, like , you know what I think

16:15

about calling, I think most people , um

16:19

, looking for the call and know what it , you know, what

16:21

it is. I think you're calling a lot of times

16:23

can be tied to , um,

16:26

you know , uh, things in your life that

16:28

that might be more challenging.

16:30

You know what I'm saying? Like things

16:33

that particularly, you know, let's

16:36

say made it something that your life is like, man, I went

16:38

through that and I have a heart for that. You know,

16:40

like I remember when I was , uh , when

16:43

I was a kid, a lot of people don't notice about me when

16:46

I was a kid. I used to live with my grandfather.

16:49

Now, my grandfather was really sick.

16:52

He was very sick. My

16:54

grandfather passed away when he was 59

16:56

years old. And

16:59

uh , they told him like when he was like 40,

17:02

47 or something that he wasn't

17:04

gonna make the year. So he made it

17:06

like, he squeezed out like another 12 years,

17:09

but it's very challenging for him.

17:11

And I just remember , um, we couldn't

17:13

do a lot for himself . I used to help him, you

17:16

know, get out of bed, walk him to the car, help

17:18

him get out of the car, you know, help take shower,

17:20

like do everything for him, you know what I'm saying?

17:23

And um, and

17:25

, uh, he, he passed away

17:28

of a heart attack. He had a heart attack.

17:31

And , uh , I remember after he passed away,

17:34

I was like, man, I want to

17:36

be a cardiovascular surgeon because

17:39

I want to , I wish I was, could have

17:41

been the person that knew how to fix his heart.

17:43

And I knew he couldn't afford the insurance

17:46

and all this stuff that came with fixing his heart

17:48

and all those issues that, Hey, it's so like

17:51

it , my , I felt like that

17:53

particular thing was something that I cared about

17:56

and mislead . Now I got to college

17:58

and figured out how long it was going to take to do that. And

18:00

there was other things, there

18:02

was other things on my heart data that

18:05

were pressing as well. Like , uh, I

18:07

, I feel that I felt I missed me to.

18:10

I used to always, when I was a kid, I used

18:12

to watch the airplanes , uh, gold

18:14

black in the hood. I'd be sitting in the hood, you watched

18:17

the airplane go over. And I used to always think like,

18:20

like one day I'm going to jump on one of them airplanes

18:22

and I'm never coming back. You

18:24

can't pay them enough to ever

18:27

come back here. You know what I'm saying? And

18:30

um , but then you, you get on an

18:32

airplane. I ended up getting a scholarship and getting

18:34

on an airplane and going to play D one

18:36

football at Houston. And you realize that

18:39

I realized that I wasn't there for myself,

18:42

but that getting back on that airplane and going

18:45

back to places that needed that help and

18:47

invest in my life and those types of people

18:49

that I was trying to really run away from

18:52

my own comfort and, and, you know,

18:54

never experienced the pain and the poverty

18:56

again. God's like , um , um , um , um

18:58

, building up in you , uh

19:01

, the resources to go back and make a difference

19:03

in their poverty. And so when

19:05

I think about just calling in general,

19:08

you know, I think everybody needs to look at the things

19:11

that are important. You know what I'm saying? Like, I think we live

19:13

too much in America. It's just like, man, we

19:15

just wanna , we live for the bad . We

19:17

want to be caked up. We want

19:19

the least path of resistance. So you know what

19:21

I'm saying? We don't want no , uh,

19:24

you know, we just, we just want everything to be sweet,

19:26

easy, but that's, that's not living

19:28

like, you know, get enough money to live

19:31

on the weekend, go have a vacation. That's not

19:33

living life. Isn't meant to be trying to be

19:35

preserved. I look at Jesus

19:37

Christ. Life is meant to be laid out.

19:40

It's meant to be laid out, you know?

19:42

And I don't think you need any pre-qualifications

19:45

or you don't have to have all this

19:47

certain perfect circumstances to do

19:49

that . I look at you , this Christ again, this

19:51

man was born in a manger. This man

19:53

was born into poverty. This man was

19:55

born into, you know, he had none of

19:57

those things. You know, you would think

19:59

that if God sent Jesus into creation and

20:02

he needed all this stuff to do all this stuff,

20:04

that he would have laced them up with like a good family

20:06

that got bread, you know what I'm saying? You

20:12

know, hurt can't man

20:14

. But it just

20:16

goes to show like, you don't need all

20:18

these things. All you need is you need

20:20

the passion and you need the , um, the

20:23

vision from God. And , uh,

20:25

you should, your business should be both ,

20:27

You know , do you , um,

20:32

you know, you, you go, you're so passionate

20:35

about this thing. Uh,

20:38

and about your calling, have you ever

20:40

wanted to give up

20:43

There's times where I've, I've felt discouraged

20:45

as if it's not work ? Like if it's not making

20:47

a dead, I think I ever wanted

20:50

to just give up. I

20:52

think there's times I felt like, man, am

20:55

I even making a dent? Not,

20:58

should I do something else? But

21:01

you know, feeling like God,

21:03

do you know God, what is, how

21:05

does this work? How does this play out? You know?

21:08

Cause it feels, you know, at times it feels

21:10

pointless at times it's it's sorrowful,

21:12

you know, like, you know, when you work

21:15

with, you know, work with juveniles, you work with

21:17

a kid, there was a particular kid. This

21:19

just happened. Like last month I worked with this

21:21

kid for like almost two years and

21:24

we were waiting for the kid to come get out of , finally

21:27

get out of residential. He had been locked up for

21:29

like two birthdays. We're

21:31

waiting for him to come home and they start

21:33

really working on his life, you know,

21:36

while he was out. And he, and he'd been out three days

21:38

and he got murdered and

21:40

a 16

21:42

year old. And uh , it just make you go like,

21:46

God, what a

21:48

, what are we , what do you do? You know? And

21:51

, uh, but I think the

21:53

answer is not to quit. Um

21:56

, the

21:58

answer is not definitely not to quit, but sometimes

22:01

it , it , it does feel overwhelming.

22:03

And you, and you wonder that guy, what is the point?

22:07

Um, and so I think in those times, you

22:09

know, that's why I appreciate God really mean

22:11

back into things that are important. You

22:13

know, I always think about the scripture says

22:15

there's anything that you should think

22:17

about, you know, think about what is good, you

22:20

know, think about what is honorable was noble

22:22

and, and, you know, take captive

22:24

the thoughts of the enemy because the enemy, I think he would

22:26

definitely want you to think it's pointless

22:29

is few times . None of it makes a

22:31

difference, you know? And,

22:33

and to get you to think, you know, well, I'm wasting

22:36

my time. And then like the scripture

22:38

says, you know, Paul was like, you

22:40

know, if all of this is few tiles , assume

22:42

let's go ahead and go ahead, eat, drink, get

22:45

the strip club, you know, let them shake

22:47

a couple of them in them , in my face. And,

22:49

and , um, let's go, you know what I'm saying ? It's a

22:54

little bit , but it does matter, you

22:56

know, it doesn't matter . Do you,

22:59

what did you do if anything,

23:01

to prepare for , for your calling

23:04

? I mean, can you prepare

23:06

for it ? I I'll know. I mean , I think

23:08

life prepares you for it, but I think once

23:10

you realize that there's a certain way that

23:12

you want to go, let's, let's say, like you say, man , my

23:15

on is, I'm just, I'm

23:17

just using an example. Let's say you're like, man,

23:19

I really want to fake legislation. Uh

23:22

, that affects a large group

23:24

of people. You know what I mean? Uh,

23:26

to, to empower

23:29

them and to , uh , improve

23:31

the conditions in which they live. All

23:33

right. So if you have you filled any of your heart,

23:36

you might want to position yourself

23:39

to put yourself in a position where you can

23:41

learn and you can sharpen those tools so you can

23:43

best do that . So I think that there

23:45

is , uh , there is preparation. If you want

23:47

to be a pastor or a preacher, I

23:49

don't think you need a whole bunch of PhDs behind

23:52

your name to preach the gospel, but

23:54

you do need to study the word of God and you do

23:56

need to submit yourself to accountability

23:58

and a group of men that are going to continue to push

24:00

you because that is a hard road. And you know,

24:02

there's a lot that comes with whether

24:04

it's church planting or anything, if

24:06

you say, well , even if there's anything that , you know what I'm

24:08

saying, I want to use, you know, I guess

24:11

some talent as a entertainer or whatever

24:13

those things are like you have to, you know,

24:17

So , so many people see you do

24:19

the things that you do. Um,

24:22

artists, activists,

24:24

entertainer, what was your period

24:27

of preparation and , and what did

24:29

you, what did you do to prepare

24:31

yourself?

24:33

I was learning as I was going. I think

24:35

the biggest, the best thing that I could have did

24:37

was just, I just , uh,

24:41

uh, and I, I attributed to , to

24:43

the Lord, I just happened to gravitate

24:46

towards the right circles of

24:48

where I felt like God wanted me to be. I

24:51

knew what God didn't want me to be. There

24:54

was circles that I felt were going to challenge

24:56

me that were going to sharpen me, that we're relationships.

24:58

And I thought that even though it

25:01

might not be easy, it might be a more challenging

25:03

path. I decided for whatever reason

25:06

to continue to put myself in those circles

25:08

or put myself in those spaces that grew me.

25:11

And I think naturally , uh,

25:13

you know, saying you fly with Eagles,

25:15

Well, I'm going to push you a little bit. Can

25:18

I get, can I, I

25:20

mean, let's say I got my accountability group.

25:22

I , you know, got my 50 people. Can

25:25

I get in the booth right now and,

25:28

and develop a song like you can't

25:31

, you see what I'm saying? Like

25:32

You can't , you can't get in the booth. It

25:34

just might not sound like that .

25:37

And so that's what I, I pushed

25:39

you a little bit, I would say , like prepared.

25:44

The rule of thumb is 10,000 hours

25:46

is what turns you into a profession . You

25:49

know what I'm saying? You put 10,000 hours into

25:51

whatever craft it is that you do, then

25:53

that's what, you know, if you get up

25:55

today and put four hours

25:57

into it and then footer for

26:00

the next year, you put four hours, it doesn't do

26:02

the math real quick, four hours. Let's

26:04

, let's say task five days a week. All

26:06

right , you're getting 20 hours a week into your craft

26:09

just by putting four hours a day into what you

26:11

do. You know what I'm saying? You add that times

26:13

four weeks in a month. Now you talking about

26:15

you putting 80 hours of work into

26:17

what you do, you know, saying that

26:19

you add that there's 12 months in a year, 80 times

26:21

12, I do the math. Was that not

26:24

9,600 hours. You didn't put

26:26

into it. So you just put in four hours in a

26:28

day and about a year and

26:30

a little change. You know what I'm saying? You have put

26:33

your, you will be in a different place

26:35

, uh, in regards to what

26:37

you do and what you're pursuing. You know what I'm saying?

26:39

It's, it's the work as an overtime

26:43

and how many hours

26:44

Do you, do you , would you estimate

26:46

that you put in to being

26:48

able to make those melodies, to be able

26:50

to make those, put those words together

26:53

From 2010 to,

26:55

to nap rush . Now we probably put

26:57

in a

27:00

hundred thousand hours, you know ,

27:03

I've seen, I saw you in the beginning

27:05

or towards the beginning, and I see

27:07

you now, and I know man, you put in

27:09

an inordinate amount of energy and I think

27:12

people don't always appreciate

27:15

that. Uh, you, you

27:17

receive a call from God, but

27:19

a call from God is also a call

27:22

to prepare. Um,

27:25

did you ever consider your calling

27:27

to be from a pulpit? And

27:30

if you did, what was going through your head at the

27:33

time?

27:34

I , I think I definitely feel

27:36

a calling like a pool pit column

27:39

, but I think there's , there's me specifically.

27:41

I think there's different types of pools .

27:43

Okay. Talk to us.

27:46

I think there's a , but, and then I think there's other places

27:49

where there's platforms, where you can be a

27:51

Christian influencer and a leader

27:53

of thought and , uh , keep

27:55

people accountable and , um, and

27:58

shepherd people. Um, I don't think that's always

28:00

like the traditional church pulpit. I

28:03

think there's even roles in the church where guys

28:05

don't always have a pulpit role, but

28:08

, um, but they, they have

28:10

a pulpit responsibilities

28:12

, uh, you know, set up anybody that accepts

28:15

that responsibility to say,

28:17

I'm going to lead that life, you know?

28:19

Um , you know, it comes with other

28:22

things, but yeah , uh, I , but one day, you

28:24

know, who knows, maybe you might

28:26

see me in a traditional pool pit . I

28:28

, I definitely believe in a local church. And

28:30

right now I think the local church , uh , is,

28:33

you know, when we talk about a local church, we just talking

28:35

about the church in your neighborhood is

28:38

struggling and we need

28:40

more motivated, encouraged

28:43

pastors. You know, I think pastors are

28:45

discouraged similar to what

28:47

I was talking about earlier. Just feeling the

28:49

discouragement and feeling like, you know, what's making

28:51

the debt, they're looking at the finances,

28:53

they're looking at the state of the, you know,

28:56

everything that's going on. So, you

28:58

know, pray, I pray fast as all the time.

28:59

Oh man.

29:08

Um,

29:09

I've got some lightning round questions. These are, these

29:12

are real light , uh, before

29:14

we get to some more heavy stuff. All right. So

29:16

you got to answer them real quick. Got 10 real

29:18

quick scale of one to 10. How good

29:20

are you at keeping secrets?

29:26

Eight.

29:28

Okay. Uh, Ariel

29:30

, uh , Jasmine, Jasmine.

29:34

Okay. First celebrity crush.

29:38

Uh, Jennifer Lopez .

29:44

Who is , uh,

29:48

Dawn or dusk? Uh,

29:52

Don. Don. Okay. Why

29:55

Don this ? When

29:57

the sun go down, right ? No , that's

29:59

what it's all go up. So if

30:04

you could travel back, if

30:06

you could travel back in time,

30:08

what period would you go to? A

30:13

1998. 1990

30:16

. Okay . All right . And

30:19

why , why the nineties? Uh

30:23

, okay. Okay. Okay. All right . Do

30:25

you snore , uh,

30:28

I'm told you

30:30

wouldn't know her . I wouldn't

30:32

know the place you

30:35

most want to travel? Uh

30:37

, South Africa. Okay.

30:40

Uh, favorite junk food? Hartley's

30:49

hot wings. Okay. I , uh,

30:51

favorite childhood TV show? Um

30:55

, man, y'all remember , uh , he's

30:56

A smart guy. Smart

30:58

guy.

30:59

You like smart guy? Smart

31:03

guy was good. Smart guy was good. Uh

31:06

, it was a spinoff off the , uh, what's

31:08

the one the T and tomorrow. Yeah,

31:11

my brother, me, my brother

31:13

and me was over at two . Yeah. Okay.

31:15

Okay. Uh, favorite

31:18

season of small , you

31:20

know, the, the, what

31:22

is the spring fall, winter, summer favorite

31:25

season? I

31:27

like , uh, uh , like

31:29

fall where you could start smelling the football at the end

31:31

of the year . Okay. All right. Uh,

31:34

last Halloween costume. I

31:39

don't think I've done the Halloween costume. Ooh

31:42

. Uh, the

31:45

only one I can think of when I was at Git and

31:47

we had , uh , we had, it was Halloween,

31:49

but we was coming from practice. And so

31:51

my sister, she got to be a cheerleader and I got to

31:53

be a football player. Cause I already had my helmet

31:55

for practice. What

31:58

were you going to be? You were a football player. My

32:02

favorite costume is an angry

32:04

black man, but anyway, let's keep , uh

32:07

, K K

32:10

goodbye . Uh, shoot,

32:12

neither. Oh, okay. Y'all

32:14

no sweets for you? Not really sweet

32:17

potato pie. Okay. Well , okay.

32:19

All right . Uh, do

32:21

you ever post inspirational posts on

32:23

social media? That's you all the time? All

32:27

right . So let's move to some

32:29

,

32:30

Uh, family and call it.

32:37

What does family , when I say

32:39

family, what does that mean to you?

32:43

A man at nuclear unit. At the crib.

32:46

Yeah . Um , and then also the people around

32:48

you, the not so much the , uh, not

32:52

so much the, cause.

32:54

I mean, I, my, my, my upbringing,

32:57

I never saw much had a strong, like

32:59

a family unit of cousins

33:01

and aunties and all that different stuff. Uh,

33:04

but I've always , I've always said , uh, like

33:07

that weird, like you start

33:09

building relationships in the community and those

33:11

people feel like family. And so I would say

33:13

that First

33:18

family has always been , uh , uh

33:20

, my family.

33:22

Do you feel like family

33:25

is part of your calling or

33:27

do you feel like family is separate

33:30

from your fault your , your, your calling

33:32

Are big, you can ever pull family from the car

33:35

? Um, I think , uh, when

33:38

you look at description, like,

33:40

You know,

33:41

Being about families and responsibility,

33:44

it's not even, you know,

33:46

it's always a part of what you, what you do.

33:49

Uh , but do you sometimes like, feel

33:51

that tension, you know, like I'm

33:54

going hard and man, they

33:57

over here, I know I've felt that

34:00

I've been in that situation a lot of times where

34:02

you feel like, you know what I'm saying? Like, do I need to

34:05

reevaluate everything I'm doing? You know what I'm saying?

34:10

You know , the family is most important.

34:14

Um, how do you

34:17

incorporate raising five

34:19

beautiful children into

34:22

your calling?

34:26

The worst says, you know , uh , each

34:28

child is like an arrow, you know,

34:30

to get to shoot , you know what I'm saying? And

34:33

, uh, you know, we shoot with

34:35

the kids tonight and we was at the , I got

34:37

them dribbling, catching footballs.

34:40

You know what I'm saying? Um , you know, my

34:42

son, he's so brilliant, man. He's a , he's so

34:44

smart. He not even fully a

34:46

school yet and is working to read and it just

34:48

blows me away. Like he was reading,

34:50

Oh , is his love sentences

34:53

today? And I just looked at him, I just put your work

34:55

down, come give me a hug, man. You're

34:58

so smart, man. You

35:01

know what I'm saying ? Um, you know,

35:03

but I think like, like the conversations

35:05

I've had with my oldest, you know, about,

35:07

you know, understanding the world and, you

35:10

know, she's at a point now where like the

35:12

concepts, the , these, these mature

35:14

concepts about where we fit in a world

35:17

and, and you know, how she

35:19

has her worldview are starting to be formed

35:21

and shape . And I think it's important to , you

35:23

know, to have a voice in there from us in that , you

35:26

know , um , because as you train

35:28

up a child, that's the way they will go as well . They will

35:30

come back to, and that's what they,

35:32

those, we have moments with our children

35:34

where we can , uh, you

35:37

know, further , uh, God's

35:39

kingdom , uh , you

35:42

know, raising up children that are equipped to , to

35:44

take, you know, make a difference in the world. So

35:48

I take the heavy, you know what I'm saying?

35:50

Yeah, man, man

35:53

is my next question. But what what's , uh,

35:55

maybe like the number one thing, you, you leave

35:58

with your children that you hope

36:00

that sticks with them , uh , when they grow

36:02

up ,

36:03

Uh, their faith, you know , um , they,

36:07

faith, I think that's

36:09

the core of everything. You know, I

36:11

, I hope that they would always,

36:15

always, you

36:17

know, know that , uh, God

36:20

is enough and I hope

36:22

that they will have the integrity of the Holy

36:24

spirit, because I think that will take them a long

36:26

way. Nina , terribly walking

36:29

in the Holy spirit. Uh, and

36:31

then lastly, I just, I hope they,

36:34

they have their perseveres , you know, that they , they

36:36

have strength to them. You know, when

36:38

life is hard, you know, and hopefully they can

36:40

see that through my life and see it in my life

36:42

as they continue to watch me, you

36:44

know, that when times get tough or things to challenge

36:47

and you don't give up, you lean

36:49

hard, wrong , God , and you clean

36:52

to the spirit and that's, that's how you

36:54

remain up. Right. You know what I mean?

36:56

Yeah. You've had , uh

36:58

, various phrases phases in

37:00

your life that , uh,

37:04

you weren't always, you didn't always have

37:06

five kids. And

37:08

so does God call

37:12

because there's some people here who don't listen

37:14

that are probably S uh, single or

37:16

single parents , um,

37:21

or, you know, single, no kids, this

37:23

God called them. And

37:27

from your experience, what are some things they

37:29

should be listening for if

37:31

they are trying to hear his call ?

37:33

Yeah, absolutely. Um, these,

37:35

these calls and everybody, I think , um,

37:40

I think people, they need to do

37:42

some deep soul searching

37:44

about who they are. I think the

37:47

, the start of the calling

37:49

is understanding your identity and

37:51

an identity kind of shapes

37:54

your perspective. You know,

37:56

I talk with kids and they're

37:58

locked up. I got a buddy , um , he's

38:01

he said something profound, his name is angel, but

38:04

, uh, you know, our , our identity

38:06

is formed by our worldview.

38:09

Our identity is formed by , uh,

38:11

our influences and then

38:13

our identity is formed by , um

38:15

, our , our morals, what we think is right or wrong.

38:18

You know what I'm saying? Yeah . I think , um,

38:21

you know, if identity is,

38:23

is, is the beginning

38:25

of where we can start to formulate where I call

38:27

it is, you know, who am I, what's important

38:30

to me, you know, where do I fit?

38:32

What, what is the things that I believe are right

38:35

wrong? And then what am I influences?

38:38

Um, you know, I think that's the, the first

38:40

question is a figure out those things, you know

38:42

, uh, you know, it's

38:45

harder to, I wrote

38:47

a bar about it, like , uh , it's

38:49

hard to discern right. And wrong, you know,

38:51

grounded in our scripture, you know

38:53

, the Bible says , it's like you swaying

38:56

with the wind. You know what I'm saying? Uh,

38:59

it's hard to , um, it's

39:01

hard to move forward. Uh,

39:05

you know, when you, don't, when you're influenced

39:07

by the wrong things, you know what I mean? Thinking

39:11

about what influences you. Um,

39:13

I was influenced heavily by , uh

39:15

, negative street culture. I was influenced

39:18

by a toxic family traits.

39:20

I was influenced by anger and my whole

39:23

life. I was in seamless about negativity,

39:25

ignorance, you know, and

39:27

I didn't even see those things as bad, you

39:30

know ? Uh, and then

39:32

I think , uh, so when you start to get those things

39:35

, uh , where you can start to see

39:37

those things, and then you start looking

39:39

at, okay, God, who am I, where

39:42

does my life molding makes sense in

39:45

the same God, you know, you know,

39:47

you've, you've, you've created me this this

39:49

way, and you've given me these skills.

39:51

You've given me this talents and you've made more heartbeat

39:54

this way about certain things, you

39:56

know? And then it's, you know, I think you asked this

39:58

critical thing, which is a scary thing

40:00

to ask God. We say, God, what

40:03

is your will for my life? Not

40:05

what can I, what is my cause? You know, this

40:07

is a different thing. You're will guys

40:09

will versus your ambition are two different

40:12

things.

40:13

And how do we, how do we, how

40:16

do we separate those two?

40:18

Yeah . Some people are chasing their will

40:20

and putting in and forging God's

40:23

signature on it . Something like this ,

40:25

Dang , that's a cold war , right? They're chasing

40:27

their will and putting God's sickness .

40:30

And that's not an every person. That's something

40:32

I got to ask myself, is

40:34

this, or is this about right? Or

40:37

is this about God? Is this about

40:39

your family? This is about you. And that's hard.

40:42

Nobody wants to look in the mirror and say, nah , I've

40:44

been going the wrong way. I'd

40:47

made these mistakes. I'm off

40:50

guard . I'm misguided. I've

40:53

been influenced by my own

40:55

ambition and my own lust of the things

40:57

that I want or how I want

40:59

my life to look. So I think the number

41:01

one question is what is your Wilford

41:03

for my life? And then when you exposed

41:06

it to me, God gives me the strength to

41:08

submit to it. Uh, knowing

41:10

that you have was best for me. Yeah

41:13

. You know, I think that's where it starts. You know,

41:15

that's where the, those are the things that you have to be

41:18

listening for when you're trying to discern what

41:20

you're calling this.

41:22

Well. I mean, how does your family fit

41:24

in your calling and

41:27

more specifically, what are some of

41:29

the pressures that

41:31

you face you face in trying

41:33

to mix

41:34

The two together? Because there's so many

41:36

of us that, you know, are

41:38

leading families, lean businesses

41:41

working, you know, here, or trying

41:43

to, and we

41:45

jumping out there, investing

41:48

in your family is going to go way further

41:50

than anything else you can invest in . Like,

41:55

yeah, elaborate on that man into

41:59

your family one

42:02

. And then not putting time in your family will

42:04

be the number one thing that destroys your life. And

42:09

that'll be , be the number one thing that causes you, the

42:11

most pain investing

42:15

in the nucleus at

42:17

your crew and investing

42:20

in the people that are important around

42:22

you will take you further

42:24

and it has more kingdom implications.

42:27

Then you try and to build your own SHR. Correct?

42:31

Yeah . Um , and I think it's a balance

42:33

. The harder you go for that, it gives you

42:35

more because you know, you go hard

42:37

for whatever it is you're doing. You burn out, you

42:40

need your F your family grounds, your

42:43

family grounds, you, your families, your

42:45

family keeps you accountable accountable

42:47

to some degree your family.

42:49

It keeps the , the what's in the

42:51

Y at the fruit of it.

42:53

You know what I mean? Okay. Why am I doing this?

42:56

It makes you measure your , it

42:58

makes you be more accountable

43:00

with your talent and your,

43:02

Oh , you shouldn't cheat your family. You

43:05

shouldn't teach your family and time or finances.

43:08

Um , that that's my experience

43:10

of, cause I been a person who've made

43:12

mistakes. In other words , you know , so

43:16

no , I hear you and I have to as well.

43:20

Um, I wanna , um

43:22

, I want to shift to talking about pain,

43:25

but before we do that , um,

43:28

do you think people, God calls people

43:30

to cities and neighborhoods,

43:36

gee , Oh man, I don't

43:38

know why we, this , it was like a whole

43:40

movement of man , like

43:45

no divorce , the idea of the American

43:48

tree and especially

43:50

not here in Miami, like in Miami, there's

43:53

so much vanity, like it's

43:55

people that live with their mom, but

43:58

pay it $900 car note on

44:00

a billion BMW . You

44:03

ran around in a brand new

44:06

20, 20 rains road and

44:09

you can't pay money to get bills. The

44:11

only bill you pay is that one. And

44:14

you, you know what I'm saying? So

44:17

I think there's this idea

44:19

in America was like, I

44:21

got to get that thing. And

44:24

, uh, and uh

44:26

, we came from like,

44:29

there was a moment we were coming up , me and you,

44:31

and this , when we were planting searches

44:33

and there was a whole synergy of, of

44:36

these brothers going back into the

44:38

inner city and trying to raise up

44:40

a church of indigenous people, just meaning like

44:43

churches that looked like the people in

44:45

the community. And , um, and

44:49

uh, you know, the idea was like,

44:52

let's forsake the stuff. Let's

44:54

move into hood. Like

44:56

let's, let's go into the city, let's

44:58

serve people. Let's use

45:01

all your resources and our time and our treasures.

45:03

And let's allocate them to the Lord as best

45:05

he fits kind of like that X model where

45:08

it's like your , everything I had, it's the churches

45:10

like, you know, say , you

45:13

know, is for the people, you know what I'm saying?

45:16

And um , I just think slowly,

45:18

like, like that

45:20

idea died . Like it's

45:22

like, it was like, he

45:24

was like, now I care more about the stuff

45:29

I need the house. We want the house,

45:31

the plan , the thing I

45:33

want the house in the fall over then the security.

45:36

I don't want that other stuff. That was, that was revolutionary.

45:38

What do you think your calling

45:42

to the tray and specifically

45:45

the CUNY Holmes was, you know, you're going

45:47

to have to , uh, elaborate

45:49

on the tray and CUNY homes . Cause some people don't. But,

45:52

but , but, but, but tell us a little bit about what

45:54

you thought your calling there was.

45:57

Yes , I was, I was living in, in Houston.

46:00

I was, you know , 18

46:02

years old. And

46:04

, uh, while I was living on campus

46:06

at rice university , which is like in the medical center,

46:09

downtown Houston area and

46:11

they kept calling the police on me, man. Nobody

46:13

believed that I actually went to school there. So

46:17

, um , man, I got a , you

46:20

know, I got , uh, like

46:22

, uh, apprehended by the police on campus

46:24

multiple times because the police didn't believe

46:26

the police didn't believe I went to school there . The

46:29

students didn't believe I went to school that people felt

46:31

threatened with me being on campus. I

46:33

was like one of

46:35

the very few black people on campus.

46:38

Um, one time I, you got to , I got arrested in the shower

46:40

, um, during like finals week

46:43

because somebody didn't think that I was , uh,

46:46

lived in that dorm. And so

46:48

, uh, very

46:51

quickly I was like, man, I, I don't feel

46:53

comfortable living on campus. And

46:55

so , uh, uh,

46:58

I talked to my coach about it and then , uh , I said,

47:00

Hey man, I want to move off campus. And at the time

47:02

I hear like , uh , they would give like players

47:04

to move off campus. You would get like an $800

47:06

stipend , right. Stipe is supposed to cover

47:09

your rent. And they're like, Oh, you're the food.

47:11

Cause once you move off campus, you lose like half

47:13

of your meals. Right. So,

47:16

so , um, we were try

47:18

to split that hat was all right, cool. I need to move

47:20

in with somebody I'm gonna spend $400

47:22

on rent. I'm gonna spend like a hundred

47:25

dollars on gas. I'm gonna spend a hundred

47:27

dollars on food and I gonna a hundred

47:29

dollars on my phone. So I'm like that, you know what I'm saying?

47:31

Yeah. Yeah . So , uh, I

47:34

moved on up . I realized quick races

47:36

in the middle of, you know, very

47:40

rich neighborhoods like the coral Gables, the

47:42

Houston. So I realized

47:44

very quick that

47:46

, uh , uh,

47:48

I couldn't afford to live around her. So

47:53

, uh, what I did was

47:55

I started living in , in the third water

47:58

and I felt comfortable. Cause

48:00

third wall reminded me very much about

48:02

it reminded me of Fort Myers, Florida. And

48:05

um , so , uh, you

48:09

know, I started getting invested. I started plugging into

48:11

church. Good hope I met. I met you.

48:13

You know, we started adopting the CUNY

48:15

homes projects. We started doing

48:18

all kinds of ministry a Saturday and making valuable

48:20

key relationships. I met a brother

48:22

that's my brother today named name Harrow

48:26

Harrow was managing cow Wayne and all

48:28

these other up and coming Houston rappers. And

48:31

he started managing me. We started

48:33

like doing ministry in the tray

48:36

every week, every day. You know what I'm saying?

48:39

Boys at rice university was calling me , uh

48:41

, they was like, man , uh, Ronnie, he's

48:43

just Ronnie over here. Well , right across there , uh

48:45

, two 88 that were turned into black. Jesus,

48:52

you know what I'm saying? I just, I mean , I , I

48:54

fell in love with making

48:56

a difference out there and

48:58

uh , we built so many relationships. We've not , we

49:00

planted a church there. Um,

49:02

we started, you know , doing church on a project

49:05

courts. You know, we started

49:07

like little small house groups and tax

49:09

offices and bringing , you know,

49:11

dope boys from the block into the fold

49:14

of the, you know , missional communities.

49:17

And it was just beautiful man relationships,

49:20

hip hop , um, you

49:22

know , uh, and there's , you know,

49:24

so, so third war

49:26

would admit to me , um, and our

49:29

ministry at the time was it was ability

49:32

that it was , uh , it was one,

49:34

like we were experiencing it for ourself . It was

49:37

the gospel tangibly changed in the community

49:40

and tangibly, like with our eyes,

49:42

seeing the gospel that Jesus Christ

49:45

changed people's lives. So,

49:49

Oh , go ahead . Yeah. So

49:52

that's, that's, that's what it was to me at

49:54

the time. It was , it was

49:56

a journey of me growing as a man, the experiencing

49:58

God, me seeing God doing

50:01

amazing things and, and really learning

50:03

in him and being taught , uh,

50:06

you know, one , I was being discipled in that period.

50:08

And then I started discipling people in that period.

50:11

And then all the things that came from

50:13

that, me growing in the music

50:15

aspect, me growing up as a, as

50:17

a professional , um, you know, learning

50:19

the ins and outs of the court system and , and

50:22

other systems that affect , um , did you just

50:24

assist them? So it was a lot. So

50:27

why

50:28

Do you think God has you in

50:30

Miami?

50:31

Yeah. At the same time, I'm afforded worse,

50:33

but the first 18 years of

50:35

my life in South Florida and

50:38

, um, you know, I had a buddy , um

50:40

, who was planting a church in Miami,

50:42

which is right in the back woods of where

50:44

I grew up. And so , uh,

50:46

you know, I felt that army kind

50:49

of weighing, like at some point that you're going to go back

50:51

to what's home. You know what I'm saying?

50:53

And , uh, I saw I wanted to raise my kids around

50:56

the family. Uh , but at the same

50:58

time, man, I , I, I didn't

51:00

want to leave you soon. It was so beautiful. Um , it

51:02

was really , uh, a bunch

51:04

of things happening. And then I had an opportunity

51:07

to take what I was doing on a small scale

51:10

and do it on a larger scale , um , through

51:12

an organization called youth for Christ, which I'm now

51:14

the director of juvenile justice. I

51:16

had opportunity to take this , um

51:18

, pilot of what I was doing

51:21

in Harris County with our juvenile

51:23

, um , youth and be able

51:26

to expand it to a , uh , a larger

51:28

scale and degree of, of, of

51:31

life change , um, with,

51:33

you know, essentially the element that I grew up in.

51:36

And so I didn't see anybody else. I, you

51:39

know, nobody else was going, was

51:41

doing anything in Miami. Uh , it was

51:43

these group of men and

51:46

myself that were going to make the change , uh

51:49

, uh, you know, so those , all

51:51

those factors were playing into it,

51:53

Man. That is crazy that you,

51:56

you went into your

51:58

work at , in Miami. Cause

52:00

I want to ask you some questions about

52:02

it. Um, uh,

52:05

so, so explain a little

52:07

bit about what you do and

52:10

then I'll ask my next question.

52:12

Yeah. Um , you

52:14

know , um, um , politically involved

52:16

in trying to change legislation and

52:19

try to motivate , uh , influencing

52:22

and share my life experience with , uh,

52:24

legislators. And

52:25

When you say legislation and change legislation,

52:28

what does that mean? And yeah ,

52:30

I realized, I realized that when

52:34

you do a program or when you do

52:36

something like, cause I was working on a very micro

52:39

level, when

52:41

you even even doing your best, you have the opportunity

52:44

to affect a small group, started

52:47

affecting legislation when you

52:49

started affecting how, how people

52:51

are processed in

52:54

the system that affects

52:56

a state or a state affects a

52:58

nation. Uh, you

53:00

know, when you start affecting the resource at that

53:02

data, you know, there's just a larger

53:04

scale of a degree that you can change

53:07

or impact a larger group life.

53:10

And so I saw that very

53:12

quickly. I had an opportunity. One day I sat down

53:14

with the , uh, Florida , uh , housing

53:16

representative member and , uh , this guy's

53:18

name is Gus, a Hispanic,

53:21

older, Hispanic fellow , uh, ex football

53:23

player. And he was like, man, I did the, we

53:26

did prison programs . She's like, this is beautiful

53:29

work. It's life changing work. He's

53:31

like, I just realize on a larger scale that

53:34

we are putting a bandaid on

53:37

on honor , you know, it's like, we're putting tape

53:39

on a broken pipe, you

53:42

know what I'm saying? And , uh,

53:44

you know, w and it , and it's a broken pipe

53:47

in a hundred different places, and

53:50

it's just, you know, then you start

53:52

realizing there's just a similar thing that I saw

53:54

while I was at racial diversity. It's like, when

53:57

I was at rice university, I

53:59

realized very quick, I was the black representative

54:03

for any issue or any time we talked

54:05

about the black race. It

54:08

was like , everybody's like, what is the black line ? And

54:12

I , you know, and I would obliged you

54:14

feel me, but then I

54:17

sat in that room and I think, I thought myself like,

54:19

dang, bro, this room

54:21

is going to be the people one day who

54:24

make the decisions for people that they don't understand.

54:27

And then as I got older, I started realizing,

54:29

especially in this conversation, I'm having with Gus

54:31

and house of representatives. He's like, bro, you

54:34

getting it. He's like, I'm a house of representative member.

54:37

And I realized these

54:39

people couldn't be further away

54:42

from the experience of these people up

54:44

from the people that were the communities that we come

54:46

from. Yeah . However, they are

54:49

making legislative changes

54:51

on their behalf. And

54:53

, uh , and when it goes to what , just , whether

54:56

it's in terms of housing, whether it's in terms

54:58

of social services, whether it's

55:00

in terms of policing,

55:03

whether it's in terms of juvenile incarceration,

55:05

juvenile justice, all these different

55:07

things, there's people that are so far removed

55:10

from what actually people are going

55:12

through and experiencing. And a lot of

55:14

times people like you or me never make

55:16

it to those , uh, platforms

55:19

of , of influence because at

55:21

some point, you know, I

55:24

don't know, but I just don't see

55:26

a lot of our faces at those levels. Yeah.

55:30

I see more Miami is a , it's a

55:32

little different than makeup. The racial makeup that

55:34

here is different than other places,

55:36

but, you know , um, and

55:39

it definitely, there's no young voices. There's

55:41

definitely no in tune voices, you know

55:43

what I'm saying? Um , so

55:46

that, that's why legislation is important to

55:48

me. And then also , um, you

55:50

know, down here in Miami just had an opportunity

55:52

to really influence

55:55

, uh , juvenile justice, how it looks on

55:57

a whole and how we can really bring along

55:59

services that we think are crucial

56:01

to kids. What's number one is reentry.

56:03

So kid gets locked up, you

56:06

know, how do we help him as he's coming back in the community?

56:08

So he doesn't get really locked up. We

56:10

feel like when we, when we don't

56:13

serve that part of the community,

56:15

like that crucial tender, because

56:18

those kids who would come in and out of jail, they're

56:21

the ones that have been, they're

56:23

the ones that have been pooped on by the education

56:25

assistant. They're the ones that been given up on. And

56:27

they're the ones when we continue to ignore them,

56:29

they're the ones that cause not

56:32

cause, but become, you

56:34

know , part of the challenge of fatherlessness

56:36

and all this different stuff that stems, you know, so

56:39

it's like, how can we serve

56:41

them so we can

56:43

cut the root or cut a part

56:45

of the issue at right at the head.

56:48

So I believe in that as well.

56:50

So, and it's

56:52

a great setup because look, you're a musician.

56:57

Um, what do you think the difference would have been

57:00

if you thought your

57:04

calling was strictly to make

57:06

music and you

57:08

treated your job

57:10

like a job, do you think you would

57:13

be in the positions

57:15

that you were in? If you

57:17

didn't see your

57:20

calling, even beyond music

57:22

,

57:23

Uh , man, shout out to people in my life that

57:25

told me it was that , I mean,

57:28

people like yourself, people like Bonnie

57:30

Rodriguez, I'm a one time a month . Mum , the

57:33

director of our organization, we

57:35

had staff meeting and she walked in with like

57:37

all the likes , reconciled shirts on and stuff.

57:40

And I'm like, I usually try to

57:42

dress up to the staff meeting . So she walked

57:44

in there with a t-shirt and is my teacher.

57:46

And I'm like, you know, and

57:49

she pulled me aside and she was like, you need to run

57:51

all your lanes and you need to merge the worlds

57:54

because it's unique, you know

57:56

? And it's powerful. And

57:59

uh, you know, I used to try

58:01

to keep everything separate, you know what I'm saying? But

58:03

I realized like, I

58:05

need to just fully be fully be me. You

58:08

know what I'm saying?

58:09

Places . Yeah . You

58:12

do. You see sometimes people

58:14

who are gifted in one lane, maybe

58:17

they have a job doing something

58:20

else. Sometimes

58:22

they cheat.

58:23

Yeah . There was , uh , the , they tried to get on the Bronto

58:25

. Who's the athlete that somebody is somebody

58:28

from a different country. It was trying to say, you

58:30

know, LeBron just stupid basketball

58:32

. The brass son was more than an

58:34

athlete. Yeah. You don't have

58:36

an opinion on life in America, come

58:38

from the projects . If I'm saying you

58:41

can't use it as his wealth and his influence

58:43

to make a change, he can't be

58:45

a superintendent of the school. You

58:47

know? Like what, what's the, you know, let's

58:50

do this, you know? So I think that

58:52

the things like that, I think this is a good point.

58:54

It's like everybody has the opportunity

58:56

to be a world changing

58:58

influencer. And I think we use everything

59:01

you guys put inside of us. And that's part of the fun

59:03

. And you can't , you know, I

59:05

don't think our calling is one specific thing. It's

59:07

a merger of all the things that God's uniquely

59:09

put in us.

59:11

So let me, let me, let me, let me

59:13

speak to somebody directly here.

59:16

God, somebody is gifted

59:19

musically, but

59:23

uh, the nine to five is

59:26

bagging, groceries, detention.

59:32

They feel, they really feel

59:34

passionate about this music, but,

59:37

but they're at this nine to five. What

59:40

would you say to them to

59:43

challenge them, to push them?

59:46

You really serious about this music. You going to keep

59:48

that nine to five because the nap five

59:51

funds and the music

59:57

W w w talk to us about that . Cause

59:59

you've been here, you you've been here

1:00:02

Is the times I've had two, three jobs. You know, people

1:00:04

don't know that you'll be there . When did

1:00:06

you first jump out there and just do music by you

1:00:09

all just do music solely. And

1:00:11

I was like, Nope , I've had a job

1:00:13

the entire time that I've done this whole day . You

1:00:16

know what I'm saying? And not because

1:00:18

like, you know, like,

1:00:21

cause when you, when you start looking at, when people start asking

1:00:23

the question, like how can I only do one thing, maybe

1:00:26

you really start questioning you really asking this ? How

1:00:28

can I take the path of least resistance?

1:00:31

Oh, wow, wait, you

1:00:34

get too much at me . Uh

1:00:37

,

1:00:38

Yeah , somebody sent me , I just want to do this.

1:00:40

I just want to do that. Who

1:00:43

, who is you to think that life going to be so Kate

1:00:45

, that you could just do that and

1:00:47

it's you ain't gonna have to work and it's, you ain't gonna have

1:00:50

to get up and you want to be privileged to

1:00:52

do a certain thing, but you don't want to

1:00:54

do the hard work associated with it. You feel

1:00:56

what I'm saying? That's like a kid coming

1:00:58

to me and say, I just want

1:01:00

to play quarterback. It's like, well, there's

1:01:02

three quarterbacks. So if you don't want to play North special

1:01:04

teams and do some other stuff you just named

1:01:06

don't might not touch the field. That's

1:01:10

true . Wow.

1:01:12

Yeah. So w w so

1:01:15

what would you say to him?

1:01:16

I mean , you know , he

1:01:19

got to evaluate his life, you know, and

1:01:21

be , um, be humble. Don't

1:01:24

let ambition override , um,

1:01:26

responsibility. Um, he

1:01:28

got to think about his family. You

1:01:30

know what I'm saying? If he's working a nine to five and they're supporting

1:01:32

his family and it doing what he,

1:01:35

what he loves means that he's not taking

1:01:37

care of responsibilities at the house they're near

1:01:40

, you know , his priorities off, you know? Um,

1:01:43

but I think , uh, you know, if there's a

1:01:45

way which you can say, Hey, you know what

1:01:47

, um , we'll continue to hold

1:01:50

up on my responsibilities. I'm gonna keep this job

1:01:52

because not only it keeps my bills paid. Um

1:01:55

, but the music really took off like that. But

1:01:57

I'm, I'm , uh , I'm a be very smart with my finances

1:02:00

and I'm going to fund myself and

1:02:03

I'm going to work hard and I'm going to stay up at

1:02:05

night and I'm going to do all the things that I need to do

1:02:08

in order to live out passion,

1:02:10

live with passion and give myself a shot

1:02:12

and not give up on my train. I remember

1:02:15

my mom used to tell me, she

1:02:17

was like, I had dreams to this, this, this,

1:02:19

this, and that . And she's like, when

1:02:21

you were born, I gave up on all

1:02:23

my dreams. Like

1:02:26

as if to say like , uh , uh,

1:02:29

you being born was like,

1:02:32

you know, I think what she was trying to say was positive.

1:02:34

This you're trying to say you are more important

1:02:36

than my dreams. And then I

1:02:38

think a little bit of the inside of that was resentment

1:02:41

as well. When

1:02:43

you came my dream , I'm

1:02:46

saying , and I heard that my deck communicates

1:02:48

anything. I want to do this, this and this. But when you

1:02:50

got, you know, when you were born, I had to like,

1:02:53

almost like Sam , I had to like wrestle

1:02:55

with reality that those things are, those

1:02:59

are foolish. And I need to do

1:03:01

the nine to five thing. I need to do what everybody

1:03:03

else is doing. I just need to secure some money.

1:03:06

Right. And my question was , why

1:03:08

didn't you do both ends? Why

1:03:12

did you sell yourself short? Because

1:03:14

when you sold yourself short on your own dreams,

1:03:17

then what you stopped , what you, what you, what

1:03:19

you unconsciously did was

1:03:23

now you can't tell me

1:03:25

how to dream fully, because you

1:03:27

gave up on that part. You can't tell me how to

1:03:29

look over the edge of the Hill, because

1:03:32

you never looked over the edge of the Hill , or you can

1:03:34

tell me this . And , and that's not

1:03:36

a shadow. Now , when does having a real deal of conversation

1:03:39

, talking

1:03:41

about purpose and stuff, my pop set me down. One

1:03:43

time. He showed me the bills. This

1:03:46

was like, me and him was fist fighting, getting stuff.

1:03:48

And I was living with my grandparents and I came over to his house

1:03:51

and he was, he is, he was crying. He has,

1:03:53

since we're, since we came, the house lights was

1:03:55

off different stuff, bills hadn't been paid.

1:03:58

And then he showed me like a ATM receipt

1:04:00

and ATM was like, it was negative bread

1:04:03

and ATM, the

1:04:06

account was negative. Right

1:04:08

? And like, this

1:04:11

is why I beat you.

1:04:13

This is why I yell at you. This

1:04:15

is why I cussed at you. This is why I don't accept

1:04:17

you doing, you know what I'm saying? He's like, because

1:04:21

I want more for you. Right.

1:04:24

And what he was trying to communicate was,

1:04:28

and then what he said was, you

1:04:30

know , uh , you know , uh,

1:04:33

I want, I want more for you than what I

1:04:36

have for myself. I don't want

1:04:38

this life for you. Right.

1:04:40

But I couldn't necessarily tell you how to

1:04:43

get other than just try to note

1:04:45

, try to beat, and you don't do the wrong things.

1:04:47

I don't know what the right things you need to do.

1:04:51

Play football, make good grades. But

1:04:54

if I see you doing the things that I know , he , right,

1:04:57

I'm going to beat that out of you . So

1:04:59

he knew how to, he knew how

1:05:01

to discipline, but he didn't know how to encourage,

1:05:05

because he had nothing to encourage with. He

1:05:08

didn't , uh , he hadn't, he

1:05:10

hadn't experienced ways to, to,

1:05:12

to , um, to get

1:05:14

somebody over that edge, you know? And

1:05:17

, and to be honest, it's hard to do

1:05:19

that . People gotta have a self drive . You know what

1:05:21

I mean? At some point self-drive isn't

1:05:23

is, is , you know , is

1:05:25

, is , is crucial at that point.

1:05:28

So last bank of questions dealing

1:05:30

with pain, I told you, we get here. Um,

1:05:33

do you ever ask God and

1:05:39

maybe I'm , I'm leading a little bit. I

1:05:41

think I do. Do you ever ask God,

1:05:44

why am I called to pain? And

1:05:46

if you ever do, what does he say?

1:05:49

Oh, man, a

1:05:52

tweet about this the other day. I said, man,

1:05:56

my pain put me off my

1:05:59

pain, put me off my pain. My

1:06:03

pain has created opportunities for me to

1:06:06

understand , uh , it's

1:06:08

created opportunities for growth in my own life. It's

1:06:11

given me perspective. Um,

1:06:13

and then I look at Romans five,

1:06:16

three through eight, you know, the

1:06:18

Bible says, no , no

1:06:20

, count it all joy. When you endorse certain trials

1:06:23

and tribulations, knowing that those things tests

1:06:25

your character, proven character,

1:06:28

you know, builds your faith. And you

1:06:30

know, if our faith is in Christ and when,

1:06:32

you know, you know , uh,

1:06:35

you know, we don't have nothing that we let you

1:06:37

know what I'm saying. Like, cause he's the true hope.

1:06:40

And uh , I think, you know, mistakes

1:06:43

and pain, a masterful teachers, you

1:06:46

know, so , uh , you

1:06:48

know, nobody wants to go through it, why they're going through

1:06:51

it, but like paint is growing us . And I

1:06:53

think sometimes pain, pain

1:06:55

sometimes is, is , um , necessary

1:06:58

for growth. Um

1:07:00

, and so I think without

1:07:02

pain , uh, view

1:07:05

, there's an immature perspective. There's your

1:07:08

, you know, and your perseverance is weak.

1:07:11

You know what I'm saying? But

1:07:13

paint sucks. Paint is hard , you know, but

1:07:15

, uh, I think there's this quote

1:07:18

that I live my life by you. We willing

1:07:20

to do a one or two pains in life. Uh

1:07:23

, the pain of hard

1:07:25

work and discipline or the pain

1:07:27

of regret. Oh , you

1:07:30

know, and uh , pain is, you know,

1:07:32

we're not promising . And I thought about

1:07:34

that, you know, I thought when I, when I accepted Christ

1:07:36

that I wouldn't endure a certain types of pains

1:07:38

and that certain things that happened to other

1:07:40

people in life wouldn't happen to me just cause I got

1:07:42

Jesus on my side, you know? And I think for

1:07:45

the believer, the pain and the hardships

1:07:47

in life, they mold us and they make

1:07:49

us better. And they draw us closer to God , uh,

1:07:52

for, for the person that doesn't know Christ.

1:07:54

I think the pain in the hardships in life, I'm

1:07:56

into the story and a meant to

1:07:59

make life Horne and mid to make you feel crumbling

1:08:01

meant to be crippling, crushing.

1:08:05

Um, you know, but I think we

1:08:07

have an opportunity to the Lord that we can

1:08:09

use pain in a way that grows us and helps us

1:08:11

change some shape and make this place or try

1:08:14

to make the world a better place. And you know, I

1:08:17

think pain is necessary.

1:08:20

Um, Y Y you,

1:08:23

you talked about , uh,

1:08:26

the tweet about pain

1:08:29

and which leads me to my next question. Why does pain

1:08:31

and dealing with pain feel

1:08:33

like it's so much a part of

1:08:36

your work. I hear other artists

1:08:40

that I'm a

1:08:42

Christian and it's very, it's

1:08:45

very , um, I mean , there's very

1:08:47

stylistic differences. It's like party music

1:08:50

or, you know, but so much

1:08:52

of your music, it's, it feels like

1:08:54

pain is a part of the fabric of it.

1:08:57

You go pull up 62nd street and

1:08:59

13th Avenue in Miami right now. And

1:09:03

the first five people that walk across you and

1:09:06

ask , you know , Hey, what's going on in life. They going

1:09:09

to talk about their pain because

1:09:11

people in life are dealing with pain, maybe

1:09:13

everybody. But , uh

1:09:16

, from where we come from, it's a lot

1:09:18

of pain and I'll , I wanted to speak

1:09:20

hope into it. Yeah.

1:09:23

It's almost, it's almost as if you,

1:09:27

you don't, you don't want

1:09:29

to cheat your audience

1:09:33

by having them walk away

1:09:35

and think that life is

1:09:38

any less harsh than it is.

1:09:42

Uh, because when you don't

1:09:44

cheat them and tell them the truth, you

1:09:48

can then pivot them to hope. Um,

1:09:52

and then naked , you know, it's , it's kind of like that

1:09:54

, you know, if the room is burning

1:09:57

and I tell them NAS , everything's fine.

1:09:59

And I walk out, I watch a burn. I'm not really

1:10:02

helping them. But if I tell them the

1:10:04

truth about what it is, this is what

1:10:06

the situation is. Then when I

1:10:08

say run and get out, you

1:10:10

know, the doors open, there's a God

1:10:13

has made away . They can appropriately

1:10:16

appreciate the message

1:10:18

of hope when they understand that

1:10:21

we're living in brokenness and pain.

1:10:26

It's like , uh , it's like, it's

1:10:29

like sitting in the room and people know the room

1:10:31

is burning and they feel like there's

1:10:33

nothing they can do about them. And

1:10:35

then you come in the room and you don't acknowledge

1:10:38

that the room is burning. You try to get

1:10:40

them to say, Aw , man, you in a sauna. And

1:10:44

I'm saying, it's not, you

1:10:46

know , uh , let's just smile and

1:10:50

effect is like, I don't even

1:10:52

know how, like, I think that's why people stop

1:10:54

listening. A lot of times to, I

1:10:57

hate to say this a little bit . Like, you know, certain, certain

1:10:59

people doing, Oh, nothing, Jesus man. Cause

1:11:01

it's like, bro, you couldn't be any more

1:11:04

removed from what I'm actually experiencing.

1:11:07

You know what I'm saying? You, you, on Sunday

1:11:10

morning couldn't be any more removed

1:11:12

and what feeling in my heart, you

1:11:15

couldn't be any more removed of

1:11:17

what you're speaking about in your

1:11:20

theology, in your doctorate . And you trying

1:11:22

to break down the,

1:11:25

this and this in certain ways. It's like, man,

1:11:28

bro , I just got my lights

1:11:30

cut off. I just went through this situation.

1:11:33

I can get access to my kids, speak

1:11:35

to me. Yeah

1:11:37

. And I think, I think man,

1:11:40

people just be missing it. And

1:11:43

I don't know if it's just, they're not around people enough.

1:11:46

They live in on a, in a silos

1:11:49

and people are experiencing hard

1:11:51

things. And that's why I see it . And

1:11:53

I think, I think stand so

1:11:55

close to juveniles , stand so close to

1:11:57

people that you know, to communities. And it

1:12:00

helps me be grounded. I

1:12:02

can't just go on and go to my house and

1:12:05

you know , hang out with my kids. And everything's all

1:12:07

Willy nilly when I know the world's not Willy

1:12:09

nilly. You know what I'm saying,

1:12:12

man? Um,

1:12:16

I want to close on some hope. D

1:12:18

can you, cause I

1:12:20

know it's going to be people that watched it that are watching

1:12:23

and we'll watch. Um,

1:12:26

you know, we , we, I , I was going

1:12:28

in with , uh, attributed

1:12:30

to OB . We already kind of talked

1:12:32

about that in the beginning, but I

1:12:35

want to give you an opportunity to speak to some

1:12:37

people , um, about

1:12:40

the hope of the gospel. So

1:12:42

I'm gonna just turn it over to you and give you

1:12:45

a few minutes to do that as we close.

1:12:48

No, the words is

1:12:50

broken. It's the world is

1:12:53

falling . I seen as

1:12:55

creative , even a bigger gap between us and God.

1:12:57

And we love to do the things that hurt

1:13:00

us, ourselves and other people. And that's

1:13:02

, that's pretty much what sin is. Things that

1:13:04

destroy us and others and dishonor. God

1:13:07

God says in his word

1:13:09

says in Romans that even though we

1:13:13

know what we're doing is ratchet. We put other

1:13:15

people know to do it with our

1:13:17

speed of swept , to save blood

1:13:19

. We're all these negative things.

1:13:22

And for the reason like we enjoy

1:13:24

it. It's words deeply

1:13:27

broken. Uh , again

1:13:29

, God sent his son into creation. The Bible

1:13:31

says John three 16, God sent his son

1:13:33

into the world. Whoever believes in him

1:13:35

shall not perish, but have everlasting

1:13:37

life. A lot of people don't, you don't extend

1:13:40

to the John three 17 says God

1:13:42

did send his son into the world to condemn the

1:13:44

world. He didn't send his son into the world

1:13:46

to say, y'all, y'all ratchet on the son

1:13:48

of God. Everybody bound

1:13:51

me . But he sent his son into the world to save

1:13:54

Jesus. You know, the Bible says

1:13:56

that, you know, he submitted

1:13:58

himself to God, to

1:14:00

the point, even on a cross, you

1:14:02

know, on a cross, he says, father,

1:14:04

forgive them. They know not what they do. I came

1:14:06

live the perfect righteous life, never

1:14:10

sent , always deal with please the father.

1:14:13

And I even took the cross, even

1:14:16

me lady and see the Lord Jesus saying that

1:14:18

God there's any other way, but this cross

1:14:21

he says, but I will submit to you, God,

1:14:23

your will not my own your

1:14:26

will. I'm talking about purpose and

1:14:29

your will not mine , even though your

1:14:32

way is hard. And even cause for

1:14:34

me to sacrifice my life, your

1:14:36

will not my own. It

1:14:39

gets on a cross. And he becomes

1:14:42

the propitiation exchange

1:14:45

, uh , his life for our sin

1:14:47

. He's,

1:14:50

you know, he takes all of God's

1:14:52

wrath that should have been intended

1:14:54

towards us. And he takes

1:14:56

that wrath on the chin. He

1:14:58

swallows death . None

1:15:00

of us have been punished fully or

1:15:03

punished adequately for the sin that

1:15:05

we've lived in our life . None of us have been, have,

1:15:07

have physically endured

1:15:10

any ounce of hell other

1:15:13

than the Hill that we've been doing on this earth, but

1:15:15

not the Hill. The physical separation

1:15:18

from God, the place that the Bible

1:15:20

describes this place, where people,

1:15:22

where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth,

1:15:25

we haven't experienced that. But Jesus

1:15:27

has. He took

1:15:29

it three days later, he

1:15:31

Rose , uh , in

1:15:34

our power gas and I've given him the name above

1:15:36

all names because he's done only the thing that

1:15:38

nobody else was willing to

1:15:40

do or even could do. And didn't live

1:15:42

the life to be, be worthy to do. He's

1:15:45

the perfect sacrifice. And

1:15:47

because of this, I give him the name above all

1:15:49

names. And if you believe in him,

1:15:52

you shall not perish, but you shall have everlasting

1:15:55

life just believing that he actually did this

1:15:57

thing for you. Right? And because

1:15:59

he Rose has great implications, that means

1:16:01

that he has to feed his sin . It means that

1:16:03

he does have the authority to forgive

1:16:05

our sins. It means that he does have the ability

1:16:08

to change our lives. And then Jesus says,

1:16:10

if you believe in me, I will send

1:16:12

you the help. And that helper as

1:16:14

his Holy spirit, the

1:16:17

Holy spirit of the Lord allows us to make,

1:16:19

to live this life in the best

1:16:21

way that we can, but we can't do it on us. On

1:16:23

our own. We are wicked apart from God,

1:16:25

anything that he's doing inside of our life. And he gives

1:16:28

us the opportunity , uh , to

1:16:33

live alongside his spirit and his

1:16:35

spirit to consult us through life in that hopelessness

1:16:37

, this impossible thing that is called life

1:16:40

of the right way. And then he gives

1:16:42

us the ministry of reconciliation

1:16:44

to bring all things that were broken

1:16:47

and destroyed by our sin, by

1:16:50

agree , bar murder , bar

1:16:53

racism, and to repair

1:16:55

those things and bring them right towards before God

1:16:57

. And that's the gospel, the good, the

1:16:59

good news that God

1:17:01

sent his son to repair this broken world.

1:17:04

And , um, and we all have the opportunity, the ability

1:17:06

to accept that into our lives. It's

1:17:09

a walk in there and it's a , I made that decision

1:17:11

in my life and it's been the most beautiful,

1:17:13

life-changing most encouraging, most

1:17:15

empowering. And the thing that's

1:17:17

really saved me from myself and

1:17:20

I invite anybody. Who's listening

1:17:23

to walk on their journey. I'm

1:17:26

not perfect as a human being me specifically.

1:17:28

I'm not perfect. I make mistakes.

1:17:30

I make , I , you know , I've agreed

1:17:33

my own self and the things that I've done, but

1:17:36

you know, God doesn't judge me on that.

1:17:38

He's already forgiving me on the cross

1:17:41

for everything that I do. And I continue to do that

1:17:43

don't mean that I can seem to, you

1:17:45

know , do things that grieve him, you know, put

1:17:47

his son back on the cross by my actions, but

1:17:50

in the same way that , uh , you

1:17:53

know, Bob says, you know, why would you continue

1:17:55

to do the things that Jesus died for? And you

1:17:57

know, so for me, the calling is everyday that I get

1:17:59

up, I want to walk closer towards the Lord.

1:18:02

I'm not perfect, but I'm, I'm trying to allow

1:18:04

his spirit to work through me to be a better man

1:18:06

everyday from my family and fluid , you know , the

1:18:09

person that God's called me to be. And

1:18:11

it's a beautiful thing I have actually on that journey

1:18:13

. If you listen and you're like, bro, I'm

1:18:16

looking at my life is ratchet. I'm from

1:18:18

broken out , destroying myself. I don't know what

1:18:20

to do. I would employ you to turn to God

1:18:22

before it's too late. There's

1:18:25

a song , uh , railroad

1:18:27

cars be down the street. Third water used to sing.

1:18:29

The song is bed

1:18:32

. They know, and Jesus,

1:18:36

it gets better as the days

1:18:38

go by. You ought to know

1:18:40

him, get to know him

1:18:43

ride today.

1:18:47

Yeah, yeah, yeah,

1:18:49

man. Listen, y'all

1:18:52

um, uh, if you man

1:18:55

reach out to rec reach out to me, if

1:18:57

you, I think somebody is , uh,

1:18:59

who's listening to, this is seriously

1:19:02

considering making a decision to trust Jesus

1:19:05

as their Lord and say, as their Lord and savior,

1:19:07

he is your Lord. You just going to recognize

1:19:10

him as Lord. And as the Lord who

1:19:12

wants to save you, man, just reach

1:19:14

out to us, req working, they reach you.

1:19:17

Um , mean you can reach me right here on whatever

1:19:19

platform you're looking at. Um , know

1:19:22

Jackson. Okay . And I'll

1:19:24

say it's probably somebody, you know , uh,

1:19:26

in whatever local context was a pastor

1:19:29

, somebody close, more close

1:19:31

than we can be. Uh, they can really walk

1:19:33

you through that decision and keep you accountable to it.

1:19:35

Yeah. And, and , uh, man, if

1:19:37

you just looking for some referrals or whatnot,

1:19:39

man just hit us up. We more than

1:19:41

happy to help , uh, push you towards

1:19:44

, uh, some local body rec

1:19:46

man, it's been a

1:19:49

pleasure to have this conversation

1:19:51

with you. Um,

1:19:53

you drop some gyms that

1:19:56

I think will bless some folk. Um,

1:20:00

you, you drop some hope

1:20:02

, um, and , and mean

1:20:04

in some difficult times. And I know that we

1:20:06

, um, we we've seen

1:20:09

some death man , um, in

1:20:11

this last year. So , uh , man,

1:20:13

I, I also think that you

1:20:15

cannot have a

1:20:18

resurrection unless

1:20:20

a death happens. Cause

1:20:23

without a death, what

1:20:25

you have is a revival, but

1:20:27

you don't have a resurrection. And so

1:20:30

man, I think that none

1:20:32

of these people who have died

1:20:35

and I , you know, our friends

1:20:37

and our family have died in vain. Um,

1:20:40

I think the harvest, we're

1:20:43

going to see the harvest this year and

1:20:45

believe in that. Um,

1:20:48

and so , um, let

1:20:50

me , let's uh, I'm I'm

1:20:52

to lead out with some prayer. Why

1:20:55

mys lead out with some

1:20:57

praying we out , um, father, we thank

1:20:59

you for all that you do. Lord. Um

1:21:02

, my brothers and sisters in the tray , I brothers

1:21:04

and sisters in Miami be with them.

1:21:07

Lord, we pray God that as your gospel goes

1:21:09

for a man just through the

1:21:11

various channels that it does lower,

1:21:14

we noticed we've heard it in the past.

1:21:16

And some of these people have heard in the past, bring

1:21:18

it back to their remembrance and law

1:21:20

. When you reap the harvest of people coming

1:21:22

into your kingdom, working out,

1:21:24

they're calling with fear and trembling. We

1:21:26

pray Lord that all these things, God

1:21:29

, um , would be , um,

1:21:32

we would remember them and we would glorify

1:21:35

you and jump for joy because

1:21:37

we know that even through the pain , uh,

1:21:40

Jesus is Lord it's in Jesus

1:21:42

name. We pray. Amen man.

1:21:46

Peace bro. Love

1:21:48

you too.

1:22:06

[inaudible] .