I was Featured on 50 Conversations with 50 Strangers

It was a great honor to be a part of YouTube docu-series called 50 Conversations with 50 Strangers. This docu-series provides two strangers an opportunity to listen, be heard and get to know each other.

I enjoyed talking to Daniel Bruce Levin of The Mosaic Podcast about life and more. Check out my feature below.

One Reminder for Nashville, We are STILL Nashville Strong!


​Tonight feels like a night we’ve had before. Grave skies overcast sky gazers’ optimism to see light above. The still of a localized quiet makes hyper alert sensors anticipate an occasional breeze. None passes. I’m reminded of a little over three months ago when my native state faced three tornadoes that claimed the lives of over 20 people and flattened many homes. Tennessee entered a state of emergency as citizens took to the streets to offer their time and resources to their neighbors, attempting to alleviate what little stress they could. Scrambling to pick up remnants of civilization along the inactive tornado pathway, citizens quickly surveyed the widespread damages no one expected to have to address in the middle of the night. Everything had been uprooted within seconds. The longstanding damages showed no promise of revitalization to the area. What was imminent? Devastation and losses. No one had to say it, but everyone could see how life as we knew it had changed.

During that time, our heartbeats matched. We, as a city, moved as one. Even when elderly, black citizens in North Nashville were left behind and last on the list to receive limited resources, we as “privileged” citizens, pulled together to provide for them. We refused to leave them behind. We used our “privilege” to aid them as best we could. I can recall, in that same week, meteorologists announcing more storms and heavy rain were promised in the effected areas. Thousands of volunteers hit the streets of effected areas more aggressively, boarding homes and throwing tarp over roofs to those considered habitable. Businesses opened their doors to those evacuated from their homes, serving as emergency shelters instead. Taking cover was encouraged and provided.

Tonight, I call on that same unified spirit. One resources at a time for the sake of our city. Let us unite as we did before, when we didn’t know what was in store for us on a night like tonight. The only difference is, we won’t need to take cover or collect destroyed items. We will sleep soundlessly and undisturbed in the comfort of our homes. Tomorrow, we shall wake with all of our loved ones still viable. Three months ago, many of our neighbors lost what we still have. Life as they knew it and loved ones. Use what you have to heal someone. To love. To remember everything that was lost and is still greatly missed.​

WE ARE NASHVILLE STRONG.

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"Some Good" is Enough for Him to Show Up


Every day that I read scriptures, I get something out of them I never intend to receive. I always annotate my analysis (for a lack of better word) but never share them, even when I’m feeling called to share them. I always say, “One day…” but never do. I guess that ends today...

Today’s message is from 1 Kings 14:13 (KJV) and it reads, “And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.”

This scripture is referencing to Jeroboam’s sick child that he sent to see the prophet Ahijah in Shiloh. This is the same prophet that told Jeroboam he would be ruler over the people of Israel. So, he sent his wife in disguised with his child because he didn’t want the prophet Ahijah to know she was his wife. Jeroboam wasn’t living in the ways of the Lord and had created false gods and images in Israel. The Lord was very upset with Jeroboam. The Lord spoke to the prophet Ahijah and warned him of Jeroboam’s wife coming to him disguised as another woman and His plans for Jeroboam. The prophet Ahijah told her what the Lord told him about His plans for Jeroboam, all of Israel and the child (1 Kings 14:7-16). The scripture I wrote above is significant because the Lord planned to punish Jeroboam and all of Israel, even by which their corpses were treated after their deaths, but excluded the treatment of the child’s corpse upon his death. Even at His angriest, He is mindful of the “good” within you towards Him. This is a story I have yet to hear any church give a sermon on and I wish they would.

I am amazed at how if God finds “some good” towards Him within any individual, regardless of their actions, environment, history or relation to people or situations, they will STILL be placed at rest, properly. He still takes care of the individual.
Reading this made me think about how I strive to be at my best most days and still fall short. Yet, “some good” in me towards Him keeps God showing up for me. “Some good” leads me to believe in Him even more. “Some good” fuels me to be better and expect better, even when I can’t physically or mentally map out how better will come to me. “Some good” keeps me spiritually devoted to God and all that He has created me to do.

Like anyone else, I have plenty of bad days but my mindset is what gets me through them. I don’t sulk or drown myself with negativity (I’ve did that in the past and it led me to depression and anger issues I’m still working through). On my bad days, I am very intentional about what I think, see, read, watch and who I engage with in conversation (physically and virtually). I make sure that I expose myself to positivity or things that will conjure a productive response out of me. I do this in hopes of clearing any blockages I’m experiencing on those days. When I am intentional about these particular things, I see spiritual and mental growth in me that I couldn’t have received doing anything else. My only explanation for this growth is that the bulk of my actions are reliant on living in The Spirit and walking by faith.

Everything that I do, especially on my bad days, is contingent on The Spirit, listening to what it tells me to do, how it pushes me to move. I literally do nothing but what I am called to do. I say nothing unless I am called to speak. It requires a great deal of commitment and trusting in the Lord to be all that He said He is and what He’s shown Himself to be in my life.

I think about David’s song of deliverance before the Lord and his last words in 2 Samuel 22-23. The same realization prevails, God is an active God that holds up His end of the covenant while requiring very little of us, only to have “some good.”​

You are built this way, too! I hope you will come to know that there’s not an imperfection or flaw within you strong enough to keep God from showing up for you just the same. Remember that He’s not expecting you to be perfect, only to see “some good” in you.
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Just in case you’re in need of more spiritual encouragement today, Leviticus 26 is a passage I find myself rereading when I’ve faced too many lows in a day or when I need a reminder of what I am soughing by following the Lord and obeying His commands.

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