An open letter to my Bosom Buddy

Sometimes it is tricky doing art for friends. Fulfilling their orders is also self-fulfilling, however, things don’t always go as planned.

When painting for friends I may include too much “love”. There will be hidden words and messages, every color will have purpose, and I may take longer than expected, making sure I can be proud of this art for lifetimes to come.

Please rest assured, if I paint for you, I have put days, weeks, and sometimes months of thought and creativity into your art. I have given you a piece of my heart by giving you a piece of my time and I am grateful for every opportunity that I am afforded to give my heart away.

Thank you for allowing me to create for you, but most of all, Thank you for being a friend.

My execution may not match your vision, but because of the love in each stroke of my brush and your beautiful fACE-it has turned out to be a masterpiece.

Love you Boo-Da Wiz.

dream believe inspire

I must have interviewed for 10 teaching jobs before I landed my first gig as an English teacher with the Drop Back In program in Orlando. My cousin happened to be the principal and my mom was kind enough to put in a good word for me.

I have some of the best memories from those kids. Each day they inspired me to Dream bigger, Believe that anything is possible, and Inspire others to do the same. While society had written them off as drop outs, they changed the acronym and made DBI something that we all were very proud to be a part of.

Though I am no longer a teacher, that part of my life served me well to remember to give each day my best.

DBI4L

Child of the King

Some people told me bout the Word but it didn’t sink in

Warn, weary, and sad so I came to Him

Now I’m forgiven everytime I repent

Can’t thank You enough for the Son that You sent

So glad that I came, I will never be the same, all praises and glory, forever I will bring

So if you haven’t done it yet, do it tonight

Cause my God is the way, the truth, and the light

I have said that rap a thousand and one times since the embarassment occurred in 1995. That night, it just sounded like “watermelon, watermelon” when it was my turn to rap my original lyrics to, “I came to Jesus”.

This wasn’t the first time I was embarassed on that church stage though. There was the time I went up to serenade the congregations with the smooth sounds of Donnie McClurkin’s “I’ve got my mind made up” when the band stopped playing in the middle of my solo to tell me I was off key.

This and that was all it took for me to never sing in public again.

I wish this blog could take a more positive turn and talk about how I healed, but this led to me never being confident enough to join chorus in middle school and give up on my dreams to be a singer.

Let this be a notice to you to encourage these kids to sing. You, sing.

You are a child of the King! Sing to an audience of One and never let anyone silence your voice.

Brothers + Sisters = Family

“Take ya shirt off! Wave it round ya head, do it like a helicopter!”

That was my cue to rip off my tank top (which I had precut to make sure it rips easily) and throw it into the crowd, fully exposing this fine ass 100 pounds of 18 year old grown man. As you can imagine, the crowd goes wild.

The B.A.S Family was a band that some friends and I started in 2001. We traveled to churches, parades, and football games singing “We Fall Down”, marching for miles, and gyrating for dear life.

Talent shows were our thing. We knew that if we entered, we would win - there was absolutely no doubt. If things were looking a bit shaky, we would proceed to do the crybaby - it’s a… dance?

More than anything the B.A.S. Family was and still are, my friends. We would spend hours on the phone together, after we had finished practicing together for hours, after spending hours with eachother all day at school. I didn’t realize it then but they were teaching me valuable life lessons like: the joy is in the journey, laughter is better than medicine, and always expect to win - but if you don’t… dance anyway.

Quote the Ravin, evermore.

The raven is the first bird to be mentioned in the bible.  The raven brought provision, inspiration, and confirmation.  In Genesis, Noah sent out a Raven to check on the flood situation, in Luke we are encouraged to have faith like the raven, and in 1 Kings the ravens fed Elijah as he was hiding from Ahab. 

I am blessed to be one of the rare people to have grown up with a raven.

Ravin is the flyest, yet most graceful bird I know. 

A true provider, he always finds a way to provide for his family, give his friends great prices on incredible art, and have something left over for me whenever I hit him with the “send me a cash app for $100” with no explanation as to why I need the money.  He’s an entrepreneur who seems almost carefree in his daily living because as he rests in his purpose, God provides enough for him to provide for others.

Ravens are among the smartest birds, capable of solving complex problems and are very effective communicators.  As a graduate from the greatest university in the world (The University of South Florida), majoring in Mass Communications – I can vouch for his genius. 

Weekly, Ravin and I hang out in the shed, talking about life, dancing and singing Kirk Franklin songs and trap music to the top of our lungs, encouraging each other and laughing without restraint.  These sessions, accompanied by heartfelt art, has become my therapy and my joy.

Ravin has always been this person for me.  He has always been like the good bird on my shoulder cheering for me and helping me make the right decisions.  In childhood – we created talent shows with my cousins, which we not only performed in but also judged and won every time.  To our teen years, starting a band that toured locally and leading our church youth choir in some of the most epic of solos. To college – living together, working together, pledging together, and going through the craziest and best of times together.  To adulthood – creating life-long memories, living our wildest dreams and of course, doing it all together. 

Today is thanksgiving, so I guess you can consider this my thanksgiving gratitude journal.

I am so grateful for my brother.

I love you, Ravin.

“God told me to tell you to stop what you’re doing. Stop painting for two days. Watch a movie. Get still. Get quiet. Write the vision and make it plain. Then, work the plan.”   - Ravin. 11/22/21

40 by 40

Four years ago, I made my first vision board. I knew that my dreams were a little bigger than what could be done in a year, so I decided that I would call it, “2020 Vision” and make plans for 2020.

The reason that Vision board still hangs on my wall mostly undone is because I didn’t plan for a pandemic. I didn’t plan at all really.

Today, I choose to make the decision to put a quote that I learned while pledging Iota into practice and it is this:

Guard well your spare moments, they are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their true value will never be known. Improve them and they can become the brightest gems in a useful life. Life offers two great gifts - time and the ability to choose how to spend it. If we do not choose to plan, we choose to have others plan for us.

I look forward to taking you along for the journey of a lifetime as I plan to pursue the passions, pleasures, and purpose of my heart.

1.       Take a road trip across America

2.       See the ball drop for New Years

3.       Learn Spanish, Creole, and Sign Language

4.       Learn to play piano

5.       Build my dream home

6.       Eat at atleast 5 of the 100 best restaurants in the world

7.       Run a 5K

8.       Go on a safari

9.       Publish a book

10.   See all 50 states

11.   Travel Europe by train

12.   Go skiing

13.   Live in a different country for 3-6 months

14.   Go to Kentucky Derby

15.   Be debt free

16.   Shower in a waterfall

17.   Climb a mountain

18.   Go to the Super Bowl

19.   Fly first class

20.   Hot air balloon rider

21.   Digital Detox

22.   Go camping 5 times

23.   Go to 10 concerts/festivals

24.   Work/volunteer on a farm

25.   Become a mentor

26.   Go skinny dipping in the moonlight

27.   Go diving

28.   Yoga retreat in Bali

29.   See the northern lights

30.   Swim the dead sea

31.   Go horseback riding

32.   Visit the Grand Canyon

33.   All day spa experience

34.   Go to Jamaica

35.   Make Blessed 2 Bless a 501c3

36.   Knit a blanket

37.   Make my own wine

38.   Write a will and update life insurance

39.   Fly first class

40.   Visit a volcano

piss poor preparation promotes piss poor performance . piss poor performance promotes pain .

Just Keep Going

I must press through the sadness

I must persist through fear

Do the work that I’m here for

No matter how far away

The end is ever near

The only thing that matters now is God

All that matters is Love

He’s the purpose that I’m here for

Before the day, I’m buried below

After the morning, I’ll fly above

My heart is heavy

My faith enduring daily tests

The joy that’s my strength is found in Him

And it’s only if I Just Keep Going

Will my soul find rest

Dream ♥

You can see it in the face of every child. Pure, innocent, sweet, beautiful. We are loved before we ever see the light of day. Made from love, with love, to love.

In ordinary rooms, we are the light that breaks forth - through tears of joy, huge smiles, unconditional love.

Love is a language that can’t be taught, yet, it’s the universal language of the world. If God is the Word and Love is God, then God lives in our heart and we all speak language of Love in a way uniquely ours.

Love is all we need. All we need, is God. ♥

Two years ago I had a dream in which I saw the faces of creative world changers in hearts. I woke up and started painting them.

These paintings have become my favorite thing to do. It’s been my therapy, my hope, my joy, my heart.

I still don’t know how it will happen, but for some reason I believe that this dream is directly related to the way that God will sustain Blessed 2 Bless. I’ve dreamt a hundred thousand dreams before, but I finally believe... together, WE will creatively change the world!

With L♥Ve ,
Rod

Serving Jesus

In the spring of 2006, I journeyed to Washington, DC with about 50 other college students and volunteered at the worlds largest homeless shelter for a week. It was there that I realized that these were people with stories that needed to be heard. People who had hearts of gold.

But it wasn’t the lady experiencing homelessness who offered me her last to buy me a drink or the gentleman that tried teaching me to play chess that impacted me most. It was being yelled at by a guy I was just trying to play a game of cards with.

“Get away from me! Leave me alone!”, he exclaimed. I was hurt. Offended. And I couldn’t leave fast enough. Later that evening we were having our daily recap and the shelter manager asked me how I felt about my experience. I told him, “Horrible! That guy was mean.” He replied, “After a long day of teaching at George Washington University, How do you think walking into a burning house to find your wife, children, and dog in flames would affect you mentally?”

It was a question I still can’t answer. But immediately, I understood.

We all have a story, and we all need help at some point. This is why it is important to serve how we would like to be served. Or better yet, serve like we’re serving Jesus!

Matthew 25:37-40 “Then they are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’

Your smiles, prayers, words of hope, and positive attitudes are a blessing to others and a gift to God. A hot meal is just the icing on the cake.

Love | Art

Growing up, I felt like I didn’t fit in... so I became a professional teachers pet. It’s one of the reasons I became a teacher, I wanted to rescue people like me. The kids who felt like no one knew their name, yet was voted senior class “best friend”.

I’ve always known how to give love, never how to receive it. In 2018, after isolating myself, suffering depression and anxiety, a friend told me I was trippin’ and I could not say no to attending her wedding.

I hadn’t been to a wedding in years. I became a master at saying no to most things, especially weddings. But I decided to go to this one because she called and threatened me when I missed the deadline to RSVP and kind of made me. The venue was called Heaven and it was apparent that God was intentional about that moment in time. I saw love that day.

It wasn’t until recently when my father told me that he was an artist that I understood and accepted who I was. He said, “just because I don’t paint canvas doesn’t mean I’m not an artist. I can paint canvas, walls, or buildings. I could do anything. I just don’t have time to do all that, so I artistically lay tiles and build homes.”

It was then that I realized that art is in everything love. God is love and He also the master creative of the universe. I then discovered that WE are all artists and we can all find joy in creativity. We just have to do our best work and believe.

From now on, I’m giving you my best work... and I believe.
I would like to invite you to see what your best friend has been doing these past few years since I began to see with the eyes of Love.