Rats terrify me.  Especially the rats that took over my home.  I’m not being deep or poetic.  I’m being literal.  I closed on my home on February 29, 2016.  I was excited, but honestly, I was mostly thrilled that the fun surprises of buying a home were over.  Such a fool. My home was built from the ground up in 2008.  So, it’s fairly new.  Unfortunately, the previous owners had different ideas of what taking care of a home means.  The front door had an indentation from an ax.  Mold abounded in the vanity of the master bathroom because of a leak under the sink.  The carpet was all kinds…

I confessed Christ at Sam’s Club on a Saturday.  Way back when the Metroplex Event Center was a Sam’s Club.  “Confessing Christ” is just a fancy way of saying that I said out loud that I believed in Jesus Christ.  I wanted to claim Him as my own. I was helping my mom with our Saturday grocery selections.  In those days, my family had an addiction to Clearly Canadian, and Sam’s had it in bulk.  Just a little piece of heaven on earth.  Alright, I’ll get back to the point. I asked my mom why you had to be twelve to be baptized.  She told me that wasn’t true.  I…

Confidence is not my strongest trait.  When things get difficult or seem like they’ll be too hard, I have a tendency to retreat.  It’s a life pattern that I’m not proud of.  The more I reflect on my past, the more I see God’s hand pushing me to trust Him. I took Advanced Placement (AP) classes in high school.  I liked them because the grades carried extra weight.  Earning a “B” in an AP class had the same impact as earning an “A” in a regular class.  So, you could potentially have a GPA (grade point average) that’s higher than a 4.0. Mrs. Pickering was my AP English teacher for…

Racism exists in the body of Christ.  And it’s unfortunate.  My Bible doesn’t read like there will be black section and white section in heaven.  But that’s how we worship here on earth.  Listen, I’m not talking about ya’ll.  I’m talking about me.  I’m a member of a black Baptist church.  I’ve always been a member of a black church.  Give me that saxophone, and the drums, and the organ, and the choir. (But ya’ll could turn the monitors down because I’m trying to preserve my hearing.) The interesting thing is that my first best friend was white.  We went to elementary school together.  Both of her parents were doctors. …

I have been a member of three different, dynamic musical groups.  I told you my life was a musical!  Each group showcased a different stage of my growth and development.  Walk with me as I recount my musical highs and lows. I didn’t want to go to college.  It just seemed like such an insurmountable thing.  How are you supposed to know what you want to do with your life?  How do people even graduate from college?  My answer was to make it big in the summer between senior year of high school and freshman year in college. Set Apart was formed sometime in my high school days.  My Soul…

Am I the only one that has a habit that they’re unaware of?  My cousins and I went to Shake’s one day to get some ice cream.  My little cousin got a flavor that I had never tried.  She said, “I would offer you some, but you gon gross me out with that noise you make.”  I was confused.  I demanded clarification.  She said, “You know that noise you make when you eat.  All that moaning and groaning.” This led to a full cousin council and debate.  They all insisted that I moaned when I ate food.  Particularly ice cream.  I needed people on my side.  So I called friends…