Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Yo Stayo


“Tu stayo?”

“Si. Yo stayo.”

That’s one of my favorite parts from the movie Godfather II. When Anthony Corleone is checking his lawyer (who grew up as his brother but was not bonded by blood) Tom Hagen, to see if he’s still down for the family business.

There’s a point where we all have to be checked, to see if we’re truly down for the Christian game plan or if we’re just perpetrating the fraud and hiding behind the cross whenever it’s convenient. As if God wanted us to just sit in a corner, silent and unproductive, while this battle rages on. Never doing anything to push people out of their comfort zones.

I really don’t think God cares about being politically correct.

Politics are a man made institution.

I say this because I know that I’m a politically incorrect writer. I sometimes write (and say) things that offend people. Curse words and ghetto slang, ‘ngz who sitting on their butt all day can’t say (bleep)!’

I’m just saying, some folks are REALLY perturbed by stuff like that. Especially the ones who ain’t got nothing else to do.

This one lady somewhere in Montana (allegedly) was emailing me, sending me all these Bible verses and telling me how I needed to repent and be saved from the demonic spirit of cursing that was inside me.

I wrote her back and said, "[bleep] please??!! Why don’t you just gone and buy you a fifth of vodka and some weed and go down to the jukejoint and pick up a [bleep] with a real big [bleep] and go to a motel and get [bleeped] down good and then pray and ask God to forgive you and come back and tell me how you feel about me using the word ‘nga’??”

Ha-ha! I’m just kidding..that didn’t really happen! It’s funny tho..at least it is to me but I know I’m kinda warped when it comes to sense of humor. My sister says I’m crazy as hell, but my wife says I’m doing real good with the gene-pool I’m working with..she’s met my family. Even the distant relatives from Arkansas.

And it is those times when I fall short, and I get caught up in worldly things and worldly patterns and I almost forget that I’ve been unplugged from the matrix. It’s like I heard one preacher describe it, "You’re not doing the dope any more, but you’re still making dope fiend moves.

It’s easy to get off track too, but I’m still working out my salvation with fear and trembling (Phillipians 2:12). I KNOW God is real. And I know I gotta keep looking up, cuz it ain’t the hills from whence cometh my help. Psalms 121:1 is a question ya know? My help comes from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.

Like every other real Soldier in the Hood in 2006, I go before the throne everyday. Some days more boldly than others, but I always go. Head bowed, knees bent, in a prone position. Humbly submitting myself and giving my daily report. Thanking Him for all the blessings He has bestowed on me. Praying daily for the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart to be acceptable in His sight. I NEED Him mane, cuz otherwise I’d be throwed off FO REAL!! I already know.

I don’t know how it happened, but I’ve somehow managed to fit a lifetime into 36 years. Well..not quite..but almost 36 years..I’m a Scorpio.

If God called me home at the next stroke of the key, I could not complain. He has so wondrously blessed me to be a part of one of the wealthiest families in the world.

I know a lot of folks will start looking around wondering, ‘What is this n’ga talking about? He ain’t got no money and most of his kinfolk is broke??!!??!!!”

But that’s where a lot of people get off track. They think being paid is all about money, cream, loot, “dollar-dollar bills ya’ll!!” And what I’m telling them is that being paid is all about the Blood of the Lamb.


God blessed me to be born into a family of Believers that nurtured me and loved me and groomed me into being the man of God that I am today. My blood family readied me for my time to be adopted into the only family that truly endures, the family of Christ.

Some of my non-Believing friends have used my genealogy as an explanation of why they haven’t accepted Christ as Lord and Savior of their lives…

Mane D..if I had YOUR parents and grandparents and uncles and aunts and stuff, I’d probably be a Christian too!! But I was never around any people like that..my family never went to church and the one’s who did, were such big hypocrites that I never believed Jesus was real.

Yeah, I feel that. But that was then..I’m talking about what do you believe NOW n’ga!?!


You have the Free Will to choose for yourself (this day), which God you will serve. You see how I get down and you know how real my family is..God can adopt you into the family just like He adopted me. Even though I grew up having to go to church and learn about the Bible, I didn’t become a Believer until after I was a grown man dealing with some grown issues that I knew I couldn’t handle by myself.

One of my readers calls it ‘Man on Fire’. I liked that. Denzel is the other D.Washington, most of ya’ll just don’t know it yet. Despite what Lil Keke claims, I think I’m the ‘best kept secret out the 713.’

I have yet to be fully unveiled to the world, but my time is near. I can feel it.

And when you feel it like that, you know that it’s serious out here on the battleground. We’re losing souls daily. People who were never led out of captivity, people who are stranded in darkness.

If you got a Light, no matter how little it is, you betta let it shine.

Don’t be that unprofitable n’ga that never tells anybody why you know Jesus is real.

I’ve been in a cemetery that was full of headstones with my family name on it. One of those old negro graveyards back off in the woods of Southeast Arkansas. Union County is where my blood trail picks up. On both sides.


So although I was born into a Southside Houston residence (and I still live in the hood now), my blood and my heritage traces back through Arkansas. The Land of Opportunity, the Natural State. Have you ever met anybody from Arkansas?

You don’t even have to tell me cuz I already know..they wild. I don’t know if it’s something about the water there or the air or what, but everybody I’ve met from Arkansas was off the chain. Some even more so than others. All you gotta do is sit around the dinner table and sup with them, they’ll let you know what’s happening. And if it happens to be one of those drinking families from Arkansas?? Oooowee mane..buckle your seatbelts and be ready to call the police.

So when n’gz pull my resume, and try to check my hood card, to see if I’m real or fronting, I go ahead and drop some of that blood on them so that they can REALLY feel me.

Have I ever been to the penitentiary? No.

Am I caught up on my child support? Yes.

Do I sell dope? No.

Have I ever been arrested? Yes.

Most hood n’gz ain’t go trust you if you act like you ain’t NEVER done any dirt. Since I have a college education, and I’m not the kind of n’ga that hung out in the cut back in the day, some have wondered why I was writing to a hood audience anyway??

I’m really a mild mannered person, I can verbally maneuver myself around most confrontations without using curse words. But my hood resume is connected with enough street n’gaz that I don’t have to go out to prove myself everyday. It’s a lot of ng’z I grew up with that commit felonies for a living that know that I ain’t no pushover kinda n’ga. If you go beat me, you gotta bring yo A+ game and even then it’s not guaranteed.

So when it comes to people who don’t believe in Jesus. From those who don’t believe He ever existed, to those who don’t believe that He came out that grave, I STAY ready to explain the reason for my faith. It’s one thing to be in the world of Believers, it’s on a whole new level to be IN the game. One of those players that not only believe, you KNOW! My uncle told me that I’ve been ‘convicted’. This doesn’t have anything to do with the State of Texas, but rather my faith in Christ.

Some have wondered if my period of internet silence meant that I was out the game. As if I had given up the faith.

Like we say on the Southside, “Neva THAT!!!”

Yo stayo.

Friday, October 20, 2006

Writing Professionally

In the professional industry that I currently work in, I am usually the youngest and darkest dude in the group. The thing about business though, is that making money doesn’t have a color or age limit. If you display the talents of being a profitable servant, it doesn’t matter what hood you’re from.

Some people will disagree with my assessment and bring up the fact of how much easier it is for white Americans to make money in contrast to how hard it is on black Americans in the working world.

First of all, no matter what color you are, if you’re sitting on your butt, begging for a handout from the government or your mama, as if the world ‘owes’ you something? You can’t say sh’t.

Even the Bible teaches us to get out there and hustle like a Hebrew slave. If you don't work you don't eat, if you don't grind you don't shine.

Day to Day Grinding will keep a player shining.

So they have these things out there called lawsuits, breaches of contracts and termination of employment. There’s several writers out there who have lost their jobs because of something they wrote on their weblog or ‘blog’ as most people call it.

I had to step back and look at that more closely. I didn’t want www.servinemup.com to get me fired from my day job. Ya feel me??

I’d like to say thank you to all the folks who have prayed for me and Servinemup Ink.

I appreciate ya’ll and I know some of ya’ll must be kinda righteous, because much has been availed to me and I thank God for the direction and purpose. Everybody hasn’t been blessed to be ‘turned on’ to the Lord. Some of ya’ll are still sleep.

And it is to this fast asleep audience that my purpose has been directed toward. Despite what all the arguments people may have over how old the earth is or where Noah’s Ark is, all that stuff is more like background noise to me now. The dissensions and the arguments had to be laid to the side and I had to focus on the gospel.

The good news of Jesus Christ and what His life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension and promise to return means to each and every soul in this world. Including those who are within the sound of my pen.

Although I spend most of my time around my family, church members and close friends, I still have to deal with the non-Believing world just like the rest of ya’ll.

At work, everybody has already labeled the ‘Jesus freaks’. Those brothers and sisters at the water cooler talking about what their pastor preached about this past Sunday. Going over discussions and questions that came up in your Wednesday night Bible study. The charge to spread the gospel of Christ was never meant to be limited to pulpit preachers.

The wildest thing I’ve discovered by ‘coming out of the closet’ with my faith, is that there’s a lot of people who go to church regularly (or kinda regularly), but yet they don’t believe John 14:6.

They want to rationalize and debate their way around the cross.

My question to you is, have you ever tried Him?

Have you tasted the Word for yourself??

O taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that trusteth in him. – Psalms 34:8

So a lot of my non-Believing friends started reading servinemup.com and they started freaking out a little bit….

Maaan..I started reading this thing you wrote one day and I thought you was about to start talking about Beyonce and that fine Gabrielle Union, but then the next thing I know you had flipped the script and started preaching!!!??!!! What’s up with that???

What do you mean?

How come you didn’t tell me that you had started preaching???

I dunno..I guess cuz I’m just like most folks and when I think of preachers, I think of pulpit ministers.

Yeah..yeah, them ‘Reverends’ and ‘Evangelist’ and ‘Apostles’ and all that kinda stuff!!

I’m not knocking anybody who claims they’re using a name or surname that God gave them. I’m learning more of what it means to truly give your life to Him. I’m learning more of what it means to wait patiently on the Lord. But whenever I go into a church or a house of worship, the Spirit has NEVER moved me to get up and proclaim His Word to the people of the congregation. I go there to worship Him and to get fed on that
Bread.

So what does that mean?

It means thank you. If you see me as a preacher, that means there’s something I’ve said about God that has reached your heart. It is the purpose of ALL Christians to do whatever we can to spread the Word. The Scripture says we all should serve in the manner in which we are called. (I Corinthians7:17-24).

So you don’t think you’ll ever be a pulpit preacher?

I don’t know..maybe, I just hope nobody is disappointed if He never calls me that way.



One thing I’ve learned about this Christian walk, is that everyday is like a new beginning with unforeseen blessings and higher callings. A lot of televangelist are trying to sell prosperity wrapped around the gospel. That all you gotta do is give a seed offering and pray and God is going to make you rich!!! There are highs and lows in the Christian life. Even the most anointed are not immune to troubled times. Despite the millions of lives that Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life has touched, that couldn’t keep his wife from being diagnosed with cancer. Even though Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a historical effort toward uplifting humanity and preaching God’s gospel, that didn’t keep him from being stabbed at a book signing by a crazy woman in New York, and it didn’t keep him from being shot and killed at the Lorraine Motel. There are no guarantees, you just gotta put on your full armour and fight hard like a true Soldiers in the Hood everyday.

I’m still working on my first book. It ain’t ready to go to print yet. I feel kinda bad, cuz I’ve had about 3 different ‘projected’ release dates already and I’ve missed every one of them. So instead of me saying when, all I tell people is ‘Not yet..I’ll let you know as SOON as it goes to print. Have you signed up for the newsletter? Cuz those will be the first people to know.”

I know a lot of people are curious as to what it’s all about. There is a preview chapter that has been released. We printed several hundred copies and they were all gone within a week.

All the response wasn’t good. Some folks said that it’s too vulgar. Even my wife told me that if she didn’t know who I was and read it, she wouldn’t buy it. My dad told me that it would be very controversial, especially amongst 'church' folks. Which is cool. There is an intended audience of the young, black, masculine non-Believing persuasion. Hood n’gz to be more exact. I wrote this book with the purpose of holding their attention and I think my editor does a fantastic job with my work.

Sooo..I’m over 1,000 words and I’ve been advised to keep my public writing to a minimal while things are being worked out behind the scenes with publishing rights, creditors and the IRS.

I’ve also been alerted that my mailbox was returning messages. Being more visible in the internet also means you’re gonna get more spam emails. I still read and try to respond to most emails (dwashington@servinemup.com), but be advised to use a subject line that will let me know that you’re not just another message from the machine.

Oh yeah, BIG thanks to all of you who have sent in pre-orders for the book. It’s still a bit overwhelming to me at times, that people would have the confidence in me to financially support my efforts, but I know it’s all a part of God’s plan and I thank each and every one of you who have ordered books for yourself and for others. Thank you.

I also know some of you have mailed in orders that were returned to you as addressee no longer at this address. Sorry for the mixup. Please be advised, the mailing address is:

Servinemup Ink
P.O. Box 330882
Houston, Texas 77233-0882

Real Game by D.E. Washington
ISBN: 097605440-X
Library of Congress Control Number: 2005902404

Retail Price: $15.00 USD


You can read the preview chapter (Intent to Distribute) here.

Just because you haven’t seen me outside in awhile doesn’t mean that I’m not pushin it. I’m just not the kind of publisher that’s going to rush to press just to make a buck. I believe in giving people their money’s worth. Real Game is not www.servinemup.com warmed over, it’s all new and never published before material. But there is a ‘Best of Servinemup.com Vol. I’ on the horizon, my kids need new shoes. (smile).

To paraphrase another Southside writer (Lil Keke’s, Pyrex Shaking)

“I’m in the kitchen with the pyrex shaking
I’m bout my game ain’t got time for no faking
I might be writing, but I’m still bread breaking (fa sho!)
Cuz ain’t no limit to this money that we making!!”


Once again, thank you for all of your support.

God is GOOD mane..ALL the time!!! - dew