What I Do - Wednesday, November 10, 2004
(Telephone rings) Like most folks, the first thing I do is look at the caller ID to see who it is. As soon as I saw the name I started thinking ‘uh-ohhh’, it was one of my CRAZY relatives…
Hello?
Nephew!!
Hey Unc! Wazzup?
My VCR just went out..I need you to come look at it.
What do you mean?
What do you mean ‘what do I mean’?? It stopped working!!
Yeah..but what do you expect me to do??
Didn’t you go all the way out there to California for college and study them comprutas??
Com-what??
Comprutas! Comprutas!
Ohh..com-PUTERS??
That’s what I said n’ga!! Don’t try and get all smart and white folks on me!! I used to pin diapers on yo black az back when you was still sh’t’n yella!! Now are you go come fix my VCR or do I have to pay somebody to do it??
Look Unc, I wish I could help you, but my degree is in Electrical Engineering, not VCR repair.
VCR use electwicity don’t it??
Yeah..VCR’s do use electricity.
Well if you’re an ‘electrical engineer’ then how come you can’t fix it??
They didn’t teach us that at school.
Well what the hell did they teach you then?
They taught us to understand principles and concepts..I can’t fix your VCR, but I can tell you how it works.
That don’t help me! I don’t need to know how it works, I NEED to be able to tape my wresslin shows!
Well I’m sorry Unc, best thing I can tell you is to take it to a TV/VCR repair shop.
Aiight then..but you know the next time I talk to yo mama and daddy, I’m go be sure to tell them that they wasted a lot of their money on yo ‘education’..all them fancy degrees and you still don’t know sh’t!
Sorry I can’t help ya Unc.
Un-huh, I bet you are. Bye n’ga! (click)
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As you can tell, I’m not from a ‘mainstream’ type of family. Most of my kinfolk love to clown and have a good time enjoying life whenever they can, so now ya’ll can have a better understanding of why I’m a bit different than the average Christian writer. In the hood I was different because my parents had me and my sister bused to predominately white schools during our grade school years. So our language, vocabulary and diction was distinctly different than a lot of the other kids on the Southside of Houston. We were also helped by the fact that we had literate parents, who read the newspaper everyday and kept up with all the local and global events. They were two people who’s world was a lot bigger than just what was going on in the hood, which was a distinct advantage over a lot of our peers’ parents. C’mon now..ya’ll know what I’m talking about..to put it bluntly, a lot of kids have some very ignorant parents. You put one ignorant parent with one parent with good sense and the kids can make it okay, but when you have two 'ignant' parents..God save the children!
Now that I’m a parent, I can look back see how much of a blessing it is for me to have two intelligent parents…
Dad, I need some help with my homework.
Okay..whatchu got?
Math.
I was pretty good in math in school, what’s the problem?
We’re doing geometry proofs, and I don’t know what I’m supposed to do next.
Let me see the book. (peering at the book, blinking a couple of times)
You have it upside down Dad.
Oh! (flipping the book back around) No wonder..(peering more closely at the book..blinking some more) Uhhhh…what’s this zero with a line through it supposed to be??
It's called a theta.
A what???
Never mind. I’ll wait til Mom gets home.
Yeah..that’s probably the best thing to do.
Of course this isn’t an example of MY father, because my father stopped helping us with our math homework once we got past multiplication. But when it comes to history and world events, you can’t beat him. That’s where that dual parent structure shows back up, because where one is weak, the other is strong and the kids are trained by the best possible teacher. My wife and I have a pretty good system going now, she does all the English and language tutoring, school projects and stuff like that and I do the math. I know it sounds crazy, especially considering the fact that I’m a ‘writer’, but as you can tell by now, my grammar skills do tend to dip into the ‘inner city’ category, and I would hate to teach my children in error. Holeup..my phone is ringing..
Hello?
Un huh! “My daddy could only help us add and subtract” You full of them jokes now boy??
Oh..(hee-hee) Heyy dad..wazzup?
I read what you said about the math homework stuff, don’t forget that I’m still YO DADDY n’ga!!
Yes sir.
And when you write it, make sure you get it right. I was able to help ya’ll all the way up to division!!
Not long division though…you said that wasn’t how ya’ll did it when you were in school.
Are you calling me a liar??!!
No sir.
Aiight then. Bye n’ga!!
See what I’m talking about? Some people may think it’s kinda throwed off to be telling jokes about your father's mathematical skills, but I can guarantee you that he’s laughing harder right now than anybody else. Now what was I rambling about again? Oh yeah..what I do.
Just like most other superheroes, I have a common daytime existence that is very much like your standard run of the mill Peter Parker. I work as a technical sales engineer for a major manufacturing company here in Houston. A lot of our clients are golf course owners, real estate developers, construction companies and such. Our product serves anyone who needs to move, meter or monitor water/wastewater. When you go to your faucet and turn on the water, somewhere there’s a pump (unless it’s a gravity fed system) that is supplying the pressure for the water to make it to your faucet. So whether it’s residential developments, hi-rise buildings, golf courses, sports fields, I’m the guy who goes out and sells the equipment to our various clients. From sizing pumps and motors, to designing the control systems and communication capabilities I’m the point of contact for getting our product out on the job.
But throughout my travels I have been pleasantly surprised by a lot of folks who are just plain good people that remind me of my kinfolk, just of a lighter complexion. Quite often I’ve found this a common theme among Christian folks of all colors, but people will surprise you. Some folks obviously wear crosses around their necks for decorative purposes only. But if you're wondering if a cross is for the bling-bling or for the true power of the Blood, all you have to do is watch what it do to see if it’s true.
I know that the public profession of Christ comes with its risks of ostracization, scrutiny, and criticism..the Bible even says that all Christians are bid to suffer for the gospel (2 Tim. 1:8) But once I fully realized the cost of discipleship, of truly following the Way of the risen Savior, then those worries of ‘what would people think’ or ‘what are they going to say about me’ faded away. Satan doesn’t like it when Christians spread the Word of the gospel to others. And once I realized that God gave me this voice and this diverse audience of Believers and Gentiles that log on to servinemup.com everyday, I knew I had to become a better and more faithful servant through the words that I write. There is no other command of God more clear, than the responsibility of all Believers to share the reason for our faith with those who do not know Him. Preaching is not confined to a pulpit or a church microphone. Whenever and where ever you go out and share the gospel of Christ with someone, you’re preaching the Word. That’s what God instructs all of us to do.(1 Cor. 9:16)..that is, if you truly believe. Because if you don’t truly believe in your heart that Jesus laid it down on Calvary for you and that He rose from the grave and defeated Satan and death early that Sunday morning? Then you’re going to remain quiet and not tell or talk about Christ to anyone who doesn’t already believe in Him.
When’s the last time you sent the link to www.servinemup.com to someone? Yes, there are curse words, yes, it can tend to be a bit ‘ebonic’, but ya’ll see what I’m servin up. It’s that new thang mane, Southside-style. It’s what I do.
“I know God didn’t put me here, just to be servin’ dope fiends.” – Pimp C of UGK
