so unless you've been under a rock (which apparently i was up until 2 days ago), Mary Mary dropped a new album recently "The Sound". and on that CD they have a song with David Banner of all people called "Superfriend"...here's the song



i'm not gonna get into how annoying i think Banner is, or how he got roasted on the last Hip Hop vs America a few months ago. i'ma just stick to the song...

so for arguments on both sides, those that didn't disagree used Luke 5:30-32

30 But the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying to his disciples: Why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners? 31 And Jesus answering, said to them: They that are whole need not the physician: but they that are sick. 32 I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance.

and for those that opposed it, they used 1 Corinthians 5:11

11But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.

both are right...here's my take

i dunno if David was the 1st choice, i doubt it. i'm almost positive it was the label's idea. why would Mary Mary say "yo David Banner is nice son, let's get him on a track"...at the end of the day it's about selling records...you can say they're doing ministry, true. but they also have a job to do, which is sell records. unfortunately the flip side to that is because their artists, they don't have much control over what they do musically. so yeah, maybe they could've gotten a Trip Lee or a Lecrae, but would that help them sell records?? on the other hand, how many people are now paying attention to this CD because of this issue?? if it was a Trip Lee collab would we just overlook it?? listen a few times "ahhh that's dope" & move on with our lives?? more than likely...

(wait a sec i'm getting deeper)

so lukewarm Christians, young Christians (and i don't mean young in age), they might not see anything wrong with it. just the other day @ the BET Hip Hop Awards, Lil Wayne accepted an award & thanked Christ. so the folks that don't know no better they think "awwww Wayne's a Christian"...ignoring everything else he does, as long as he thanks God. my point is, Mary Mary is one of those safe gospel artists, along with Kirk, Donny, Fred...safe meaning everybody saved & unsaved listens to them. so somebody lukewarm, or somebody not even saved at all (but just may like their music) may get the CD or whatever, hear David's verse & get inspired to either learn more about God, get saved, fall to repentance, hey who knows. i know his verse is very excuse filled, but if he's the rope that brings them to church & discover the truth for THEMSELVES, then...

on the other hand, more seasoned Christians see the holes in his verse. i'm not co-signing it whatsoever, i do know that God made everybody different & what's good for some isn't good for others. a pastor at church sunday said it best: "napkins have one use...we use them for what their good for & we throw them away. it's gonna get to the point where the people that aren't completely into the word, God WILL use them for His glory, but if they haven't repented & done right for themselves, they'll be thrown away". just pray for the brother & his double mindedness

bonus coverage:



so this guy...go to about 4:20, he talks about this song



where they're talking about materialistic things & it's the God in them that allows them to have it. and apparently he has a problem with it.

WHERE IN THE BIBLE DOES IT SAY FOR CHRISTIANS TO FEEL SORRY FOR THEMSELVES??? that's why we get such a bum rap now, didn't Jesus call us to live life abundantly?? wait, we can't have nice stuff??? the Bible says not to WORSHIP those things, once materialism takes precedence over God, THAT'S where the problem lies. and if we're able to do well for ourselves & GIVE GOD GLORY, ummmmm...what's the problem??? don't bring 50, Jay & Beyonce into this cuz they're irrelevant in this discussion. Satan can bless folks too, keep that in mind.

last thing, that's why i hate to see prominent pastors get ridiculed for their abundant lives. if God has them speaking His word to thousands, and even millions of His people, they can't be doing good for themselves?? do y'all even know HOW they make their money?? cuz it ain't from the offering...but that's another blog.

am i right??

Mary Mary Under Attack

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it's so cooooooooooooooold in the c!!!!!

i'm done apologizing for a lack of updates. i just found out that nobody really even knows i have a blog (for whatever crazy reason) & those that do haven't been pressing me to write anything. but if you never read anything else i write, heed to this.

what i'm gonna do is tell y'all about my life, no smoke & mirrors straight windex. and the reason is because i really feel like God is using my current situation to #1 build my faith in Him & #2 bless others (but isn't that what EVERYTHING He does is about??) anyway...

so i got out the military in august. i got a job the day of my separation so i was cool. my wife had been job hunting since march, we didn't give it much thought cuz we figured since so many different companies had her resume it'd only be a matter of time before she got picked up. plus the fact the military was giving me a couple Gs as a goodbye present AND we were gonna get an extra 2 Gs from them for moving ourselves, we'd be fine to start our new life.

"got on my knees, told God I had a plan, He laughed"- Joe Budden- Hiatus

it seemed like one thing after another put us completely out of our comfort zone. I told God I wanted Him to help me with my faith, but I guess I figured it'd be done under my terms. how stupid was I?? long story short...

-the money I was supposed to get from the military ended up going towards a debt I supposedly had & didn't pay, apparently I owed the US gov't $4000 for something THEY messed up on. the money i was supposed to get covered some of the debt, but i was still very much in the hole with them. the money i was gonna get from moving ourselves covered the rest of the debt
-i went a month without a job, i had all intents & purposes on chilling during August, & using my military payout to support my family. but since i didn't get it i had to use my savings...until there was nothing left i could save
-the calls to hire my wife weren't as fast as we had assumed. honestly she was limiting herself due to her qualifications. one thing we do in a lot of instances is fail to see ourselves through another set of eyes. like some people live & die by my music, i think it's dope but i mean...some of the compliments i get are outrageous, but i don't see it (*end selfish plug...sorry Jesus*). same way with her, her work ethic is amazing, she can do whatever she wants, but back then she didn't see it.

as a result, to this day we are sleeping at a relative's house (on the floor no less), living out of our suitcase. imagine going from a 2 bedroom, 2 bath house with a basement to a 9x11 room & one bathroom. the adjustment is NO joke. but it's like, i can't blame anybody for my lack of preparedness, plus God is going to (and has) shown out on our behalf.

as for my job, i don't get paid nearly as much as I did in the military. as a result i barely make enough to pay my bills. we only get paid once a month (which forces me to be extra resourceful with my money instead of relying on the 1st & 15th), my 1st check was barely enough to cover the bills i HAD to pay. i was literally down to the wire, they were going to repo my car and my wife's wedding ring. my phone was off for a minute, my car insurance bout expired cuz i hadn't paid on it in so long. it's a mess. and to this day i'm not caught up. on top of that my baby needs some things that i'm having difficulty providing her right now. it's rough y'all...

in order to make ourselves feel better, we did a LOT of apartment hunting. we would go see the place & i'd record the tour on my phone. we'd come home & watch the video & pretend we already lived there. or we'd go to furniture stores & look for bedroom sets, not worrying about the price, imagining how it'd look in our room. (i did the same with flat screens, lol) trust me, it helped. it was that positivity and the fact that we planted that future seed in our minds that helped us press on.

HOWEVER, God is good & we see the light. my wife got a MAJOR position at a MAJOR place of business...as a result we can move out in 2 weeks. she stepped out & stopped limiting herself, and as a result God put her at an amazing place to do amazing things. i'm just about out of training & i'm slightly ahead of the curve of where i'm supposed to be (compared to some of the others that trained with me). I can rejoice in the small glimmer i've already seen & look forward to when God busts that door off the hinges.

i've been reading several scriptures on faith, several faith based stories in the Bible (aren't they all pretty much?), but it's funny...the black girl from High School Musical told a story that encouraged me the most...


hilarity.

ANYWAY, so at one point i was really frustrated at my job. my job requires me to step out of my shell, so to speak. those of you that know me personally, you know that i'm very opinionated, i can talk, and i'm funny (that's what they say)...but that's with my friends. with complete strangers??? speak if necessary, other than that i'm very reserved. a reserved rapper, oxymoron. so anyway, i'm on twitter & one of the updates has an interview with her. since i'm bored, i read it. and this part stood out.

Coleman recalls the days of struggling to pay bills and constant auditioning in Los Angeles.

"I was a mess. I came into this movie with a two or three day notice on my door, literally! I hadn't paid bills in I don't even know how long. I got to the point where I was so broke that I would pay my car insurance and my cell phone. The reasoning behind that was I didn't want to get pulled over so I wanted to make sure that I could drive to get to and from auditions. I thought that if it came down to it I could sleep in my car. I paid my phone because I needed to be able to get in touch with people to get to those auditions. That's really all that mattered at the time," the actress shared.

Coleman said she always believed that her circumstances before booking the first 'High School Musical' were just temporary.

"I had absolute faith," she declared. "I'll never forget that even after the movie came out, we went to and I had to get my passport because I didn't have a passport to go on this trip. We got back from this trip and I was on unemployment at the time – even after the movie. I got my unemployment papers in the mail and it was right before the first of the month. I thought, 'God, I really don't have my rent.' I think my unemployment might have been like $800 every two weeks or something like that. I looked at it and said to myself, 'Monique Coleman, is this really what you believe you are worth?' I just got back from staying at the Park Hyatt Sydney looking at the Opera House, traveling the world and promoting a movie. I had no other source of income that was it. I said, 'no, I don't believe that's what I'm worth' and I tore it up. I didn't know that three days later, we would get our first bonus check from Disney and I haven't had to go back to another day job or really struggle financially since. For me, I think that is about inviting abundance. I think that abundance is out there for everyone. Somebody is gonna get it. You have to claim it for yourself and decide that if someone is gonna get it, why shouldn't it be me?"

Yay-man!!! i was literally thinking about walking out & quitting, going back to a warehouse that offered me a job that paid pretty good. along with my wife's income we'd be doing alright for ourselves. HOWEVER, what would I have learned?? I would've been reniging (is that a word) over everything I had prayed to God about in the months prior. i would've been content, living steady, not ABUNDANTLY like He calls His people to do.

so in turn, i will check in with updates until we're in the overflow. until then, be encouraged

Dear Diary: My Struggle Is My Testimony pt 1

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Dear Diary: My Struggle Is My Testimony pt 1

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what up world??? i'ma just jump into it cuz i have a few topics to cover. i got bit in the face by a spider & the right side of my face has been swollen & in pain all weekend. God is good regardless...


i hung out with my father yesterday & played pool with him @ dave & busters. fyi, i suck @ pool. all the party games most black folks dominate in, i suck at. don't ask me to play pool, don't ask me to play spades & don't ask me to play Madden. cuz i will lose & you will be bored pretty quickly. growing up i always admired, feared & respected my father. i remember after working 10-12 hour shifts & dealing with...people who are ignorant to certain situations, he would come home & help me with my jump shot. or he would come home & play playstation with me. or just talk to me while he got his uniform ready for the next day. before rap, basketball was a passion of mine. and no matter how good i got, my dad would always whoop me. all he did was shoot 3s all day & kill me. so anyway, we're playing & i beat him in the 1st game. not only beat him, i destroyed him. i think we both were surprised. and the whole time he was in awe of how "good" i was. and his compliments meant a lot to me. being away from my family so long, i forgot how dope it was to just hang with them. and not only spend time, impress him in the process.


i then realized how important fathers are. we get pushed to the side for the most part. mothers day & fathers day are on completely different levels. i've had 3 & all i get is a couple of happy fathers day texts/phone calls & a candle from my church. but just how important are fathers?? how many black girl losts are there running around trying to find daddy in some other dude that either had an absent father as well or a dad that wasn't as involved as they liked?? crazy...and i thought about all my friends that had their dads around & the ones that didn't. HUGE difference in how they turned out. not to say no daddy=doom, but it definitely increases the chances of success. so im eternally grateful for my father, and glad God gave me the chance to be a daddy, to a little girl no less.


so i sent out a text about the economy this past week & instead of answering everybody's respective answers, i'ma tell you the backstory here.

since my new job has me directly involved with the housing market, i'm at times glued to cnbc to see what happens next. and with the whole bailout issue going on this week, i had something sitting in my spirit reeeeeeeal tough. and it kept saying "this isn't over yet, it's gonna get worse". i had peace about it, i didn't even pray on it to be honest, but the next day it got confirmed from someone else. as we can all tell, God has placed His judgment on this country. after establishing our nation "under God", we've backslidden & turned away. i take that back, we've shown Jesus the door & didn't think twice about it. and when Ike hit Texas (and a piece hit Ohio) i saw how unprepared we STILL are as a nation for a major catastrophe. even after 9/11 & katrina, we still don't get it. so the text i sent said:

Power (electricity) will soon become a precious commodity. These recent events are only tremors. Pay off your debts. The true crash of the economy is coming soon.

i got a lot of "who told you that" & "huh"...honestly if you pay attention, naturally something like this would be expected anyway seeing where we're going. but when you add the spiritual aspect, it makes it worse. it's crazy cuz i have friends in their late teens & early 20s that have tens of thousands of dollars in debt, and it's not from student loans!!! that's crazy!!! make sure your family are the only somebodies in your pocket, cuz when it all falls down who you gon call now?? hmmmmm???

OK, now onto something more positive...

-i finally saw Iron Man earlier today. people said it was the best superhero movie (til Batman dropped), i don't believe it. these superhero blockbusters are maaaaaaaaaaaad blah

-they're coming out with Punch Out for the Wii...MUST COP!!!


speaking of video games, this drops next week



soon as i get situated, this is the FIRST thing i'm copping. straight up...well, i take that back. i've always been a Live fan. Live 95 & 98 are 2 of my favorite bball games ever. but 2K9 has been the choice for a lotta cats the last few years. i bought 2K6 cuz #1 it was only $20 & to see if the hype was real. i think it's a little TOO real. if i want a 100% realistic game, i'll go outside & play. but then again, i don't wanna do like i did with Live 03 & just cross everybody over & drive the lane with Jason Kidd. that got boring real quick.

-spoke to the homie Ca$h the other day live from Afghanistan. he's good. keep him in prayer while he's over there. he's already taken over the open mic nights there & killed it, so add that to the list of countries that rock with the Effect...

i know i'ma forget something soon as i hit submit, but whatever. new music coming no time soon, relax & chill. cuz i'm sure you'll be tired of my email blasts fairly soon.

Dear Diary (Oct 4 08)

7:05 PM

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Dear Diary (Oct 4 08)

Dear Diary

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