Six Hours…

From 9am – 3 pm…

His own countrymen clamored for his death…

His own disciple planted the kiss of betrayal..

His own friends ran for cover…

Six Hours..     One Friday…

The most critical 6 hours in history.

On this Friday, He would do what He does best: take the common and make it spectacular. Once again take the rod and divide the sea. Take a pebble and kill a giant. Take water and make sparkling wine. Take a peasant boy’s lunch and feed a multitude. Take mud and restore sight. Take three spikes and a wooden beam and make them the hope of humanity! I spent last night with God trying to really grasp all that happened. I still don’t fully get it. I’ve tried to picture the brutality.(I even watched the Passion of the Christ twice last night). I’ve tried to envision the bigger picture. I can partially grasp how important that day was for me. I can relate the sacrifice on a one on one basis. I know how important I am to my family. They love me and would do almost anything for me and I would do most things for them. I don’t know that they would die for me. Especially a death by crucifixion. Truthfully, I don’t know that I would willingly die that way for them. I say I would. It’s easy to say things, but to do it? Maybe  I would, just a bit reluctantly. We have a natural tendency to try and avoid pain, especially for others. But He walked through life with that as his future. Every sermon, every parable, every miracle, a step closer to the cross. A step closer to being tortured for you and me. To taking on punishment for everything that anyone had ever done wrong or would ever do wrong. I don’t even think trying to explain sin does His death justice. He died the worst possible death so you and I wouldn’t have to. And knowing that the person He would most want comfort from during this time, His father, could do nothing for Him.

Why did he do it? He was the only one who could. The author of life knew that he was the only answer for death. He knew that he was the only hope for the hopeless. We were hopeless. No matter how hard we try, we still mess up. He came and was the example of how to live but he knew we couldn’t follow it, so He gave us a way out. That is why today is good Friday. It is a day of mourning (in German the day is called “Karfreitag” or Mourning Friday), but this act was the most significant act of Jesus’ time on earth. You can walk around saying that you are God all you want, but until you can prove it, the statement holds no weight. Others have done things that appear supernatural. Others have supposedly healed people. Only One has taken on the mistakes of all, suffered the punishment, died, and then rose from the grave, never to die again. No remains have been or will ever be found. There is no resurrection without the death on the cross. A death that was taking place during those Six Hours One Friday.

9 a.m. – “The Third Hour”

• Jesus is Crucified on the CrossMark 15: 25 – It was the third hour when they crucified him. (NIV).Luke 23:34 – Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do now know what they are doing.” (NIV)
• The Soldiers Cast Lots for Jesus’ Clothing
  (Mark 15:24)

10 a.m.

• Jesus is Insulted and MockedMatthew 27:39-40 – And the people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. “So! You can destroy the Temple and build it again in three days, can you? Well then, if you are the Son of God, save yourself and come down from the cross!” (NLT)

Mark 15:31 – The leading priests and teachers of religious law also mocked Jesus. “He saved others,” they scoffed, “but he can’t save himself!”(NLT)

Luke 23:36-37 – The soldiers mocked him, too, by offering him a drink of sour wine. They called out to him, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”(NLT)

Luke 23:39 – One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”(NIV)

11 a.m.

• Jesus and the CriminalLuke 23:40-43 – But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” (NIV)
• Jesus Speaks to Mary and JohnJohn 19:26-27 – When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, “Woman, he is your son.” And he said to this disciple, “She is your mother.” And from then on this disciple took her into his home. (NLT)

Noon – “The Sixth Hour”

• Darkness Covers the LandMark 15:33 – At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. (NLT)

1 p.m.

• Jesus Cries Out to the FatherMatthew 27:46 – And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (NKJV)
• Jesus is ThirstyJohn 19:28-29 – Jesus knew that everything was now finished, and to fulfill the Scriptures he said, “I am thirsty.”A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. (NLT)

2 p.m.

• It is FinishedJohn 19:30a – When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” (NLT)

3 p.m. – “The Ninth Hour”

• Luke 23:46 – Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. (NIV)

Events Following Jesus’ Death

• The EarthquakeMatthew 27:51-52 – At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. (NIV)
• The Centurion – “Surely he was the Son of God!”
  (Matthew 27:54; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:47)
• The Soldiers Break the Thieves’ Legs
  (John 19:31-33)
• The Soldier Pierces Jesus Side
  (John 19:34)
• Jesus is Laid in the Tomb
  (Matthew 27:57-61; Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:38-42)

Excerpts at the beginning from “Six Hours One Friday” by Max Lucado

On a side note, We just had the defined conference for young ladies a little over a week ago. I had the opportunity to work with Stephanie Smith (Gotee) and her band. I’m not into pop music that much but she’s a cool chick and they did a good job. I also got to spend a conciderable amount of time with the guest speaker for the two day event, Jenna Lucado Bishop. If you don’t know, she is one of Pastor and Author Max Lucado’s daughters. She is also the author of the book Redefining Beautiful. Within a minute of meeting Jenna, I felt like I had known her all my life. She’s one of those people that you’re glad you had the opportunity to meet. The event was great and I know many of these young ladies lives were changed. I’m looking to AB to be an official sponsor next year. Unofficially, we provided resources and services. But next year we should have all of our business together to become an official sponsor.

The Manufacturer, who is neither liable nor at fault for this defect, is providing factory-authorized repair and service free of charge to correct this defect.

The Repair Technician, JESUS, has most generously offered to bear the entire burden of the staggering cost of these repairs. There is no additional fee required.

The number to call for repair in all areas is: P-R-A-Y-E-R Once connected, please upload your burden of SIN through the REPENTANCE procedure. Next, download ATONEMENT from the Repair Technician, Jesus, into the heart component.

No matter how big or small the SIN defect is, Jesus will replace it with:
1. Love
2. Joy
3. Peace
4. Patience
5. Kindness
6. Goodness
7. Faithfulness
8. Gentleness
9. Self control

Please see the operating manual, the B.I.B.L.E. (Believers’ Instructions Before Leaving Earth) for further details on the use of these fixes.

WARNING: Continuing to operate the human being unit without correction voids any manufacturer warranties, exposing the unit to dangers and problems too numerous to list and will result in the human unit being permanently impounded. For free emergency service, call on Jesus..

DANGER: The human being units not responding to this recall action will have to be scrapped in the furnace. The SIN defect will not be permitted to enter Heaven so as to prevent contamination of that facility. Thank you for your attention! – GOD

P.S. Please assist where possible by notifying others of this important recall notice, and you may contact the Father any time by ‘Knee mail’.
Because He Lives!

So it’s been forever… again! What have I been up to? Growing. Both as a person and as a musician. I’ve written some other posts and need to put them up soon, if I can find them. Most of the stuff I’ve written has been scribbled on random pieces of paper or napkins, paper towels, etc. Some of it is probably good, some not so much. Anyway, here’s what’s been up.

Animated Backdrops is in reboot mode. I guess you can say it’s somewhat of a corporate restructuring. We ran into some issues with the company that does the administration for one of our domains. They don’t do the hosting and were supposed to transfer the administration to the company that does. They failed to and now the domain is in limbo. We still own it but it’s not working properly. That gave us perfect timing to completely redesign the website. I haven’t really messed with HTML and Flash in years so this is taking quite a bit of my time to get things how we want it. I’m spending hours upon hours editing and writing HTML. (I’m sure you care) Hopefully the finished product is a professional, clean and user friendly site that you all can enjoy.

In terms of staff and Artists, the roster has been cleaned completely. I am the only artist currently active on the roster though there are others who are still affiliated or have deals in the works. Half of the executive team is no longer with the company. Other opportunities came up and it was a mutual parting of ways. With that being said, the plans for my album have changed a little. I may be postponing a full album for the time being and instead focusing on overseeing the second Kingdom Kids Project release. Details should be coming in the next few weeks. I will still release a solo project but it will more likely be an EP instead of a full length album.

For those of you who don’t know, every year I help train and lead teams of students on foreign missions trips. Last year we took teams to Haiti and El Salvador. This year we will be taking a team to Panama and a team to Venezuela. This is where a large portion of my time goes every year. We spend 6 months training (Jan- Jun), have youth camp for the state in Jul, then take the second team in Aug. In my personal ministry, this is the time when I see the most rapid growth in students. Taking them out of their comfort zone and removing all the distractions while pushing them to really seek after God has been a life changing experience for countless students over the past few years. It also allows them to see how other cultures live and remove the bubble that they live in.

I told you back in October that I wasn’t with Apple anymore. It’s been both good and bad to have a “retail work schedule” again. My hours are all over the place. It’s been hard to set a real routine for writing, recording, studying, working out (I’m really out of shape right now), etc. One day I have to leave at 5:30 am and the next I might not leave until 2:30 pm. Some days I get home at 4:30 pm and another I may not get home until 2 am. No excuses though. I’ll be hitting you with some new music soon. I may drop another mixtape or at least drop some verses for you.

On another note, there was an update to my iPhone/iPod touch app. You have to have the latest version of the iPod/iPhone software. It now has the Kingdom Kids Project album on there and there is a timeline for the twitter feed. I think a couple other bugs were fixed as well. Big thanks to Jason over at Swift Fox Software. We will be getting into app development in the near future. Well I need to get ready for work. I’m sure you’ll here from me soon. Thanks for reading.

I parted ways with Apple back in July and it was actually a good thing. I started living again. I had felt the need to leave long before I was let go, but like most people I was worried that with the economy, trying to find another job would not be an easy thing to do. I was comfortable in having a job that was paying the bills and having decent benefits. I should have been trusting that God would provide as long as I was obedient. Matthew 6:26 says “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sew nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value then they?” (esv). Basically, God takes care of the animals He created, why wouldn’t I expect him to take care of me when I am valued more than the animals. Sounds easy enough, but acting on it is a lot harder. In my case I was forced to act on it. I must say though, I was at peace within hours of being let go. This was the first time in my life I had not chosen to leave a employer. It was a bit upsetting at first and I really enjoyed the people I worked with. I look back and I realize how quickly I went from trying to convince myself that it would be ok, to trying to convince coworkers that I would be ok. That was the point where God’s peace started to settle in. Truthfully that process started in just minutes, but within hours I can say that there was not a bit of stress over the situation and I KNEW that God would take care of things.

When I say I started living, it’s because for the past two years most of my life was spent at Apple. I was at work, scheduled 40 hrs a week. I was in the building sometimes upwards of 80 hrs a week. I was spending so much time there; I really didn’t have much time for anything else. I took a student to Charlotte to watch my Eagles beat up on his Panthers. I traveled to western NC with some guys to see some friends who were passing through NC for the weekend. I got to spend more time with my students and with my peers. There’s a ton more examples but the point is that I don’t go to sleep thinking about Apple, I don’t dream about Apple and I don’t wake up thinking about what I need to do at Apple. People who have seen me since say that I look happier and less stressed. I say that I am.

Music has been on hold for a little bit. I actually missed a couple deadlines in August. I could have rushed to meet them but I don’t think I would have been happy with the outcome. I don’t know if this will be my last solo project or not. I want this to make an impact, so I’m gonna make sure I put my best effort forward. I have already started re writing songs. I didn’t feel that lyrically, they held up and wasn’t satisfied with the way I was getting the message across. I’m determined to make good music. Speaking of making good music, I need to get up with Unconventional Science. I’ve chatted with him a couple times this summer, but it was always when I was about to go, or he was doing something and so we’ve not had time to really catch up. I haven’t had the honor of working with him since the NAP days. He’s a dope emcee, producer and DJ. He was featured or my first solo album. (React, B4&After, Deep Thoughs, and the bonus track Movin On). If you haven’t gotten it yet, pick up his instrumental album Social Capital from iTunes or Token Recluse. I’m also looking to get in and get the mix done on “ Go There”, the song I did featuring ManChild of Mars Ill and DeepSpace5. If you haven’t heard his two newest projects you need to get the 5Print mixtape (free download) from Deepspace5.com. The guys spent 3 days together to record and drop a banger to the blueprint 3 outakes instrumentals (free download) by Alex Goose. I may drop something to one of the tracks soon. He also teamed up with Sean P and formed Move Merchants. Their self-titled album can be downloaded from iTunes or you can get the CD from Phatmass.com. More to come but not tonight. I’ve been going all day on two hrs of sleep and I need to go home.

It’s official! My app is now in the app store. Thanks to Jason over at Swift Fox Software. The app titled Technic is now available for free. You can download it from iTunes or directly from the app store on your iPhone or iPod touch. Be sure to rate it and feel free to tell me what you like or don’t like about it.

Hey, I know it’s been a little while. I’ve been pretty busy. I haven’t been home in a few weeks. One week I was with all the students from our youth ministry at youth camp. This was without a doubt the best week of youth camp I’ve been a part of. The students were really receptive to God from the first night. There was no “warming up to Him” like I usually see. The worship team from Southeastern (The Call) was a great group to have and  I would recomend anyone looking for a worship team to book them. I normally meet the team that comes in and make contacts, but this is the first year I can see myself staying in contact with them. My first memory of them is when I arrived the day before camp, to help get things set up, they were running around having a water ballon fight. They were enjoying themselves! This didn’t change throughout the time we were there. I say this because I’ve had experiences with teams that didn’t seem to enjoy ministry. They just seemed to like playing music. Anyway, hopefully I can get some updates out to you soon!

So, today was a crazy day. Last night the Youth Missions team returned from El Salvador. It was a bittersweet moment. I’m glad to have them back and I’m really lookin forward to the stories they’ll tell. I’ve heard little bits of what God was doing and doing through them, but it was mostly just a homecoming last night. Lots of hugs, smiles, tears, and pictures. I know I had to contain my emotions a few times. It’s still hard to have not gone for the first time in four years. Very emotional night. Then I wake up this morning and I’m sick. I can barely talk and can’t swallow without pain. For anybody who knows me, I don’t like being sick. If I had someone to take care of me, I’d instantly turn into a baby. I can admit it. I hate being sick. Right now, though, there’s no one to take care of me so I just tough it out. Anyway, I went to urgent care and got some prescriptions and went to work. They actually told me to stay at home, rest, drink lots of fluids and try not to talk much. Luckily I don’t have strep or anything.

Anyway, I went to work and dealt with it. I had a headache all day long. Finally rested a little during lunch but right towards the end I got the news, Michael Jackson is in the hospital. A couple rumor sites already had him dead. I got the official word a little later. I know that Farrah Fawcett had passed earlier but that was kinda expected. Michael Jackson dead at 50, that’s crazy! Well not really but it was very unexpected to me. It really shouldn’t have been. I live my life in full expectation that I might not be alive tomorrow, so I don’t know how this caught me off gaurd. I am gonna take some time to reflect on what he brought to music, as an artist, and as a songwriter. I want my music to be something that people can be inspired by. I want it to be classified as really good music that is timeless. As I’m writing this, Maseo is rockin a great set on De La Soul’s dougout, and we’re celebrating his life and career! When big events happen, they always ask if you can remember where you were on that day. For 911, I was taking my son to his first day of School and then picking him right back up taking his mother and him with me to work for a few hours. (I was near by and not restricted by the bridge closings).  So here’s where I was, at the Apple store, sick as could be, saddened but also happy with the mood and sounds of the dougout. It is all positive talk. Fans and friends, younger and older, all reflecting on what he brought to music and entertainment as a whole. There are songs that play where everyone is sad (songs like Man in the Mirror) and songs that make me want to get up and dance (don’t stop till you get enough). Maseo is helping to take us all on a journey through our lives. For me, Michael has been there since before I was born, and as a child of the 80′s, Mike was a big part of my childhood. He influenced so much of pop culture. Alot of the younger generation will never be able to realize how much of what they know was changed because of Michael. I hate the fact that their memories are all of the widely publicised, often controversial, Michael that got all the attention over the past 15 years or so. They don’t know of his philanthropy, only his controversy. I still pray for his soul as I have for past years and pray for his family (as well as Farrah’s) and I will continue to remember the good things about Michael. I hope that his legacy will be one that inspires future musicians and entertainers and makes people strive for greatness. I hope that people will be inspired to do for those less fortunate or to dream of a better world and act upon those dreams. I hope that people would be inspired to see the worlds problems with the child like innocence that believes that they can make a difference.

RIP – Michael Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009)

New song for the album. What do you think? The title came from my friend Ashlee.

Verse 1

You’re beautiful but your mere presence makes me mutable
silent with no words to speak, oh how you peaked my interest
daydreaming of the caress
of your hand inside mine, yes I must confess
In you I see a perfect picture of holiness
and in view I see a future where it’s both of us
my spirit’s being drawn to you
but my fear is that my fear keeps me far from you
so I just gaze from afar at you
and in my dreams, oh how I long for you
strong and dignified
I’m praying hard that our worlds collide and that our worlds combine
so we can find joy together in the times to come
and we can grow old together unified as one
see I just want to hold you
but you don’t know me and I don’t even know you
but see He knows me and knows everything about you
I’m trynna see that I wont be without you
so intentionally I drop my defenses
vulnerable, all my friends say I’m senseless
I just kinda hope you can sense this
I’m pleading guilty, so I can start this life sentence, (with you)

Chorus

Verse 2
Gotta get up the courage to speak to you
find out the things that intrigue you
what you like, what you don’t, what you do, what you won’t
all the little things that make you smile
till that future day when maybe we can walk that aisle
I wanna make you happy cause that’s just my style
(he) spoke of you in the Song of Solomon
and I wanna be the one to protect your honor and
keep this relation sacred
nothing ever hidden from you I bear my soul stripped naked
(pause)and every day I pray for you
and ask the Lord for words to say to you
but what do you say when you sit face to face with an angel
(pause) (yeah I know)
I know I’m speaking of forever like it’s small stuff
but with you as my wife even forever’s not long enough

Alright, so it’s been a minute since I updated this. I’ll start by saying this has been a good process so far. I’ve made it a point to keep some instrumentals on me and I’ve gotten back in the habit of rhyming anytime I get a chance.  I in Jersey right now and had a good writing session today. I would say it was one of my most productive days in a few years. That could be the result of being sleep deprived for almost two days straight and then being in a sleep coma, that I actually got up and texted someone in response to what I was dreaming about and went back to sleep, without knowing. If there hadn’t been a puzzled response text waiting for me when I woke up, I still wouldn’t know. Strange but true. Anyway, back to the music.

I’ve got three different versions of my verse for “Go There”, my joint with manCHILD. I still gotta say how blessed I am to even have him on this song. It’s very humbling when someone you look up to as an artist in general, and specifically, a dope emcee who does this for a living, feels like it’s worth their effort to do a song with you. I also have a currently untitled song, we’ll call it “Untitled”, all but finished. I’m gonna let it sit for a minute and marinate then I’ll come back to it and see how it really sounds. I may post the lyrics on FB or right here and see what people think. I’ll try and record a scratch version soon, though I might need to wait until I’m back in NC.  I’ve also finished my verse for another untitled song, we’ll call this one “Untitled 3”, which will feature D Blessed, and my brother, Nyce. This will only be the 4th time my brother and I have ever been on the same song, and the first time that we both have verses. It’s a good feeling to be at a point where I feel like I’m putting out the quality of music to to have someone of his caliber and experience on. I know he would have gotten on a  joint years ago and he has always been supportive of me, but I felt the need to put in my time and develop as an emcee. He’s been doing this for as long as I can remember (at least 88 when I was only and this is the first real opportunity I’ve had to make this happen. I’m excited about the song and my man Blessed is another dope emcee. We’ve been talking about doing a joint since the moment we met. Literally, within the first two minutes we met, we were already talking about music. More to come tomorrow but for now I must sleep. Not trynna repeat my sleep texting!