Sunday, May 01, 2005

Sent

"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!'" - Isaiah 6:8

Sometimes I almost feel like apologizing to ya'll for my eccentric ways. As you can probably tell by now, I've always had a problem coloring inside the lines, I'm one of those hard-heads from the Southside that always wanted to do MY thang...rules schmules. For so long, I held my relationship and my faith in my Lord and Saviour close to my heart. It was never something I talked about publicly, because it was a personal thang..it was MY relationship with the Lord, I didn't have to share that with ANYBODY..or so I thought.

But once the Lord touches your life and awakens the spiritual being in you, you're not going to be able to keep it to yourself, you're going to have to tell SOMEbody just how good He really is.

When I posted Mixed Marriges (Still Tippin), it threw a few people off. Some people can't understand how a writer can quote an ex-drug dealer turned rapper as well as Bible scriptures in the same article. Others can't believe that I'm still living in the archaic social mindset of the South, because I don't endorse marrying outside of your own. But even more so than the people
that have a problem with how D. Washington gets down on paper, are all the people out there who have given me a tremendous feeling of support and encouragement with the work that the Lord has placed upon my heart to push. The scary part is when people started approaching me and asking me, 'Well what does the Bible say about such and such..?'

It's a bit scary to me, because the last thing I would want to do, would be to disseminate false and erroneous information. Whenever people look to you to interpret Scripture, it'll make you get deeper into your Bible, studying and praying for the Lord to give you the wisdom and knowledge to represent like a real soldier of the Lord should.

Most people here at servinemup.com didn't fully realize my conviction for the Christ until I dropped Soldiers In the Hood. That was my first public foray into expounding on the gospel of Christ. When one of my fellow Southsiders from 3rd Ward first read it, he quickly proclaimed, 'That's your freshest one yet!'

I guess I had overlooked the fact, that God has blessed me with a Biblical foundation that few can rival. The staff of Sunday School teachers and Bible scholars at Blueridge Baptist Church in Sunnyside, Houston, Texas is legendary throughout the Southern Baptist community as being a strong Bible teaching house of faith. Compared to others in my family, I'm actually quite average on the Bible knowledge curve, but compared to the people in the world around me (co-workers, classmates, etc.) I'm in the upper echelon of people who know what that Word says. And when you know that you're around a lot of folks who have never read or studied the Word, then you know what the Lord wants YOU to do..right?


God blessed me with some wonderful parents who not only brought me and my sister up so that we knew the Lord, but they also showed us through their daily walk what God's intended purpose for a marriage really looked like in live action. So now that I'm a married father, with all the responsibilities of being a husband and father, I fully realize just how important it is to have a strong spiritual foundation. If you don't have a Rock to lean on, or the Word to guide you when that path gets murky..the world becomes a lot lonelier than it is for those who have a Saviour.

I know the Lord has made a way for me and my wife to weather many storms. We've survived pains of fear, distrust, anger, financial woes, unemployment, sick children, having a child be retained, car problems, we've been through it ya'll..more so than most people realize. And whenever someone asks me just what is the key for D and T staying together and loving each other, I have to point to the cross. There is a healing power found in that blood ya'll and once you experience the forgiveness that can only be found through Christ, then you will have a stronger desire to share that forgiveness with others. I even forgive the dude (or chick) who broke into my car and stole my laptop yesterday. But even if it's something that the devil meant to deter me from my mission, I'm not tripping, cuz I know my Lord is gonna flip it to the good.

I pray to the Lord daily for guidance and understanding. But the thing about prayer, is that you have to be very careful of what you pray for. Because when he grants you your prayers, you have to be prepared to receive it. And as much as I want to just clown and have fun and "ack a fool!!" with my pen, I always remember that I have a higher calling to follow. That's why I make sure to recite Psalms 19:14 everytime before I start writing..

"May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer."

And the best thing about it all, is that none of ya'll will be able to say that you never heard the Word, no matter where you are in the world right now. Cuz the Lord sent D, and He gave me the explicit instructions to let them fools know!