With The Perrys - Gangs, Sinless Perfection, and Throwing Hands: Storytime with The Perrys

Episode Date: September 28, 2026

Y’all love a “storytime” episode and it’s been a while since the Perrys recorded one. The Perrys cover a wide range of topics, from legalism and the idea of “sinless perfection” to stories about identity, “hood” dynamics, and pretending to be someone you’re not. Jackie and Preston discuss the theology of justification and sanctification as they remember meeting someone during a stop on a poetry tour who claimed he had not sinned in 10 years. Then you’ll hear some high-school Jackie stories – like the time she was a fake gang member on her old Black Planet page – plus Preston’s recollection of the time he got robbed in Nigeria for multiple hours. It’s a funny one – enjoy. Scripture references: Romans 7:13-20, 23-24 Romans 7:5 1 Corinthians 1:2 This Episode is Sponsored By: crossway.org/WTPlyrics - Purchase The Sing! Hymnal and get 30% off with a free Crossway plus account. https://shopify.com/perry - Sign up for your FREE trial today! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Greetings. That's a nice hat. I really like the hat. It's tight. You want to share why you like it? I like it because the way they designed it. You're lying. That is one of the reasons why.

You're being false witness. No, that is one of the reasons why I bought it. Duh. I bought it because I liked the way it looked. And I was like my wife from DeLoo. And I was like... Thank you. Because if I didn't like the way it looked, I wouldn't have bought it for you.

Okay. So it wasn't a lie. Thank you for buying me this hat. Oh, you're welcome. Yeah, we don't have nothing to banter with. We're just going to talk, we're going to tell stories. Because we haven't done the story time with the Perry's in a really long time. Because I've been telling you, I don't got that many stories.

That's actually the problem. You do, I think you just forget. I don't forget. I don't think they're meaningful or funny or interesting. It's just like, yeah, drove down the street. and got a ticket. Like, I don't know, I don't know what to say. You know what I'm saying?

Yeah, but it was your idea to do story time. Because I didn't know what else to do. What story, what story you think is interesting? I thought very deeply about this. And what came to my mind was we were on the Poets in Autumn tour. If I told this story before, I'm sorry. I don't think you've told this story before. I have no idea.

We've been doing podcasts for like, hey, eight nine years at this point so i don't i don't if i repeat myself it's because i have the same life um but we're on the pia tour first p ia tour you know that was the tour that actually got me in the makeup so p ia tour for those who don't know because people don't be knowing we used to be poets it means poets in the autumn tour and so we were on a poetry tour for like six years in a row something like um-huh uh the reason i started doing makeup because i was on that tour just bare-faced i think I was what, 26? Yeah.

I don't know. Young buck. And people was uploading pictures. I said, wow, I look dead. Like my, I just, it just was wholly unattractive. And so I was like, I got to figure out makeup. Thank you for you too. Anywho, we're on the tour.

I think it was our first date, high key. We were in like Oklahoma or something like that. We're at the merch tables, okay? So I'm over here. Preston, our other friends are over here somewhere. find out they get angry. Don't do that. I'm at the merch table saying,

how do the people, you know, taking pictures, all the stuff. This man walks up to me and I wish I could remember verbatim what he said, but he originally said,

hey, do you curse? I was like, no. Mind you, he got like bodyguard energy. He didn't walk up warm. He walked up like immediately

on some confrontation type stuff. And so he was like, do you curse? I was like, no. He was like, yeah, it sounded like you cursed in one of your poems. I was like, I didn't know. He was like, but it sounded like you did. I said, well, I apologize if it sounded. I was like, I don't think I would write a Christian poem and curse.

That's weird. He was like, okay. And then he was like, something about do I believe, something about how like he wanted to talk to me about something. And do you remember, he asked me a question. And that he told me that I couldn't use words to answer the question. I needed to nod my head. Yeah.

And I said, huh? But yeah, this is what you told me because the Lord knew I couldn't have been around y'all when he said that to you. He knew. Whatever the question was, he said I could not say yes or no. I had to nod my head. So mind you, I'm like, this is. I'm getting mad all over again. I'm like, this is strange.

And so I'm like, I'm engaging because I'm not fully clogging what's happening here. So he asked me the question and I was like, yeah, he was like, yeah, I told you you can't use words. I said, yeah, but I made an image of God and we use words and God uses words. In my mind, I'm like, that's really irrational to think. 37-year-old me would be like, I don't know who you're talking to. 37-year-old me would already know you're, you on some other stuff, all the stuff. So when he did that, I immediately start looking for you because I'm like, he's on something. You understand what I'm saying?

So I don't know where you were. I just, it just was giving, you know how like in Timothy where Paul talks about how false teachers, they basically try to find weak-willed women to lie to them. And I was like, I feel like you think I'm by myself. And so you think you can come at me crazy because I know you wouldn't be talking to be like that if Preston was here. I just know you wouldn't. So you ended up coming. John DeM McReynolds was on tour, so he ended up coming over there. And then everybody ended up coming over there. He basically started to have a conversation with us about sinless perfectionism. Yeah. And asking us if we've sinned

recently. And we're like, yeah. And then he's like, well, that's the problem. That means that you're not saved. So Preston is like, so are you saying that you don't sin? He was like, I didn't send in 10 years. And it was like, huh? Yeah. You just said to keep him. He's been two minutes ago. Right, right. Yeah, he basically believed in, like, sinless perfection. And he just was convinced that he not only, like, has he not sinned in 10 years, but he is, like, perfected in this life.

And I'm like, yo. And what was crazy was back. And because our poems identified sin struggles, it was assigned to him that none of us are actually Christians. Yeah. And we, it was crazy back then. I think people knew us as poets, but they didn't know how much we loved the Bible. Right.

And how much we knew the scriptures. And people didn't know you were an evangelist yet. Yeah. Yeah. And so like I had a, it was fun. Should I pull up the audio? Because I recorded it. No.

The audio. Now the people are titillated. They want to hear it. Yeah, because me, Jeanette and Jonathan McGrindles, we were like, we were, we were, we was going. We gave that man to business. I just remember John being like, he was just trying to really ration a lot. He was like, so you're like, you don't lie. He was like, he was like, hold on, Preston.

Let me say this real quick. You know how John, though. Hold on, let me say this real quick, Preston. Explain to me. You never think about a woman with us? He said, well, you're a strong man. I said, he a liar. No, he was.

We could see it. Because to say, the same, the same is you got to send in 10 years. you probably sin every day and you don't know it and that's scary bro well I think I think if the Holy Ghost is in you

the Holy Ghost is to expose yes expose sin and to lead you into righteousness lead you into righteousness okay so now are you where insane

I'm in the world but I'm not of it okay but he leading you rightness is why because if you were just in righteousness you would have to be led the righteousness right so are you

no no just are you saying that you cannot sin because what you do, even if it's wrong, is no longer counted as sin? Or are you saying that you literally just do not do anything that is... Well, he said he lied. Anger to Christmas.

And I did that willfully. I knew that it wasn't stupid. Okay. See. And so you said what happens... He's saying that over time, the Holy Ghost does sanctify you and you get on less prone to... No, no, no. I didn't...

The gentleman I apologize. They try and kick us out. There's one more. We might go be a best. Let me break this down. No, we have. Oh, wait, wait, wait, look, right. I'm confused.

What is the point trying to get to you? I love that. Because those are my, that's my specialty in the scripture. No, no, what's your point? It's not the specialty, bro, because you're taking the script. I'll take it to me, but it's specifically. I'm actually, what's your name, bro? What's the name, bro?

I'm saying. Who? That's genetics. And I saw, I was about to read the scripture. What's it? First John? that if any man says that he has no sin in him. He's a liar. He's a liar and the truth is not in him.

And then later on I brought him to Ecclesiases where it says that it's not one righteous man on earth who is without sin. Like, you know what I'm saying? And so like he, but I brought those scriptures up to him, he was just like, that's not talking about righteous people. I'm like, what are you talking about? Paul? The man who God used to write majority of the New Testament

wrote, you know what I'm saying? And so, like, yeah, it was mind-boggling. And also, too, I was, I was, I was aggressive. Yeah. Because you came in my wife. You know what I said? I'm like, even when he left, y'all were like, we're going to pray for you.

He was like, y'all going to pray for me? Y'all going pray for me? He literally looked like, pray for me. Yeah, that's crazy. I was like, wow, this dude is to see. And at the time, I wasn't familiar. I still, I'm not as familiar with that doctrine as I could be to like combat it, because again, I'm not like an apologist like that.

But recently I had to write a paper and I was writing a paper about legalism. And in studying like legalism and sanctification, I saw that the kind of doctrine of sinless perfectionism kind of rose up out of people wrestling with the reality that if we're in Christ, are supposed to be holy and supposed to be righteous and trying to make sense of that without undermining the cross in a way. And so it's like I start, because I was telling you better, I was like, I actually understand to some degree how somebody could lead, how somebody can come to that conclusion, especially if they're wrestling with a sin and finding themselves not being able to overcome it and feeling like, like, either I'm righteous or I'm righteous or

I'm not, am I free, am I not? And it's just like, at the end of the day, I think that's why having a solid doctrine of justification, regeneration, and sanctification is important. Me personally, I like the simplicity of hymns. I think it points us back to the Lord in such simple, simplistic, but yet honest ways. I think the most simple songs are the songs that speak directly to the heart. Christians have actually sung hymns in worship for centuries. and now award-winning hymn writers Keith and Kristen Getty have curated a collection of timeless

hymns and a volume that focuses on the elegance and enduring truth of their lyrics. The Sing hymnal Lyrics and Liturgysemane, Classic and Contemporary Hems and Liturgical readings without musical notation. This hymnal is designed to help readers meditate on lyrical excellence and biblical truths, making it ideal for daily devotions, meditation, and memorization. One of my favorite hymns is Amazing Grace. I even read a book by the writer of Amazing Grace and just the different things that he struggled with and wrestled with and surrendered to the Lord that actually became an overflow

in the lyrics that he created. You know what I'm saying? Even when I think about hymns and looking at them and reading about them, it reminds me of the Psalms. We read the Psalms so much that we forget that the Psalms. are in fact songs. And when we read them, we resonate with them and we're strengthened by them. And so I believe that this book

that the Gettys have given us will do the same. You can purchase the hymno at crossway.org slash wTP lyrics and get 30% off with a free crossway plus account. That's crossway.org slash WTP lyrics. Because even when you look at Paul in Roman 7, you have Paul. Let me actually read it while we hear.

Mm-hmm. Paul says in Romans 7 verse 13, that which is good talking about the law, bring death to me by no means. It was sin producing death in me through what is good in order that sin might be shown to be sin and through the commandment might become sinful beyond nature. For we know that the law is spiritual,

but I am of the flesh so I would understand. For I do not understand my own actions. for I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now, if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now, if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. Eventually, he says, but I see in my members another law, waging war against the law of my mind,

wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. The apostle Paul is identifying the fact that even in Christ we wrestle with sin. There is, there is in dwelling. So we have a new nature. We are full of the Holy Spirit. We are released from the power of sin and death. Yet at the same time, there is another law at work in us trying to take us captive again. So it doesn't mean that you're not a Christian because you wrestle.

Even the presence of wrestle reveals that you're a Christian. Because when you weren't a Christian, you could not wrestle. You did not struggle. You were just a slave to it. Correct. And if you did struggle, you struggled from a place of self-righteousness

and not reverence. You just wanted to be a good moral, ethical person, not you wanted to worship God with your mind, body, and soul. That's really good. Even Peter, you have in Galatians, where Paul confronts Peter for basically giving in to the fear of man by not choosing to eat with the Gentiles instead of eating with the, not choosing to eat with the Gentiles and the Jews and da-da-da, living in a way that opposes the gospel. These are apostles who are actively wrestling with sin. And so if apostles wrestle, what makes you think you're not going to wrestle? So I think the thing about the idea of sinless perfection, I just, it's, it's.

It's not in the Bible. I love that you, yeah, that's so dope, but I love that you read Romans 7 because the whole context of Romans 7 is Paul basically explaining why God gave us the law so that we as believers can identify sin in our life and deal with. Not that sin will be completely eliminated by us in this life. I love what he said. And you read at the end of the end of Romans. But in Romans

Verse 5, Romans 7 verse 5 It says this It says, For while we would live it in the flesh Our sinful passions aroused by the law At work in our members To bear the fruit of death.

And I love the word that he I love the way he used the word aroused Because he's saying Once the law was implemented That's when we were made aware That we were sinful people And so the law is the one That indicates that we are in sin.

It's like if I'm... Do you mean pre-conversion or in Christ? Like even like what just just period. I think the law was given to mankind to show us that were sinful. Because what he says are sinful passions that was aroused by the law. That language is very interesting because what he's saying is a sense, the way I put it is if I'm on a road and I love to drive fast and I never see any signs that says you have to drive a certain amount, you have to drive 60 miles per hour.

I'm not breaking any law. But the moment I see a law that says you have to drive 70 miles per hour and I love driving fast, that's when my sinful passions will be aroused to break that law. And so he's saying the law is given to all mankind, even believers, to show us our sinful nature. You know what I'm saying? Not to say we're not to deal with sin or sin will be eliminated. He was like, no, I've given you guys the law so you can know when you sin against me. You know what I said?

That's the reason why I gave you the law. And if you didn't have the law, you would have no indication that you're sending against me. And so, like, for him to say, I think in one part of the conversation, he said, he looked at us and said, look at me. Look at me. He said, I want you to look at me. And then I said, bro, I'm looking at you. Like, what are you talking? I'm looking at you.

He said, he said, if y'all don't repent, all y'all go into hell. He said, he said, all y'all going to hell. He said, I repented once and for all. And I'm like, bro, what was crazy, though, is, and I think we could talk about this as well. I think some people be deceived. I think some people, I couldn't tell if you were genuinely deceived or you're just using this as a way to have power over people. I think it's both. He gave, even him commanding me to answer his question without using words gave,

low-key cult leader. Yes. Vives. Because it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's. Yeah. And only, and only, because it felt like, oh, you're testing my submissiveness or testing, or testing if I'll obey you or something. And it's like, yeah, this is odd. Yeah. And I, I, I think, if we, if we, if we, if we, if we want to be honest.

honest. Do it was a goofy. Don't say that. Okay, I'm sorry. He's made in the image of God. He's made in the image of God. He was acting like a goofy. Was that better? One of the things that, hold on, I just want to read something else real quick, is that if you read through First Corinthians, and then I'm going to talk about the motive behind

self-righteousness, when you read First Corinthians in particular, the Corinthian Church is a really gifted church, but a really immature church, right? So they speak in tongues, they prophesy, they got visions, they doing all the stuff, but then there's sexual immorality amongst them. So there's this duality between you are really gifted and being used by God, but there's also parts of you,

even y'all got divisions in the church. I follow Paul, I follow Apollos, all this stuff. But I think Paul's intro about the Corinthian church is actually what we need to understand. Verse two, to the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He opens this letter to this immature but used church and says that they are being sanctified. And so that tells us again, whether it's Paul with his wrestles in Romans 7, whether it's Peter with his wrestles that Paul talks about in Galatians, whether it's First John saying, hey, to those who say they have no sin, you're a liar.

But if you do have sin, we have an advocate from the Father Jesus Christ to even this open letter to Corinthians. It says there is a thing about being in Christ, struggling with sin, but being free from the power of sin and death through the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so we're not people who sin so that grace would abound. No, no, no, no, by no means, we won't do that. But we are people that when sin happens, we confess, we repent, and we move forward. And so I just, I think that's important.

But I will say that I think when I was studying Legalism, because I'm writing a book on sanctification, and I think legalism is a perversion of sanctification. And one of the things, one of the underlying motives of self-righteousness and legalism or this idea that I am perfect or the desire to be perfect is it's just pride. It's a desire, low-key, to be able to boast.

because if you are better than the next person, if you are able to keep the law perfectly supposedly, then you actually have something to boast about. It is much like the older brother in the story of the prodigal son. We think that the prodigal son story is about the one that came back. But we never pay attention to the one

who was in the house and still didn't know the father. He did everything right, but he actually didn't love the father. So he was as much as a prodigal as the one who came. back from eating with the pigs. Yeah. And it's just a thing.

Yeah, because what I saw in him is essentially what I've seen, a lot of people on social media. They might not be necessarily preaching this sinless perfection language, but they are positioning themselves to be so spiritually hired in other people. And a lot of people are believing in them. And so they look at as powerful or a different spiritual level and all it is. And it's really just to gain control over people because one, one thing to be left out, he was a pastor. Yeah, we don't.

Yeah, yeah. And so like, like, he. And we had intel about how that church was going. Yeah. And like, and like, right. And so like, you can just imagine the type of spiritual bondage or strongholds that his church is under being under his leadership because they think that he is this sinless, perfect person. So now he can be corrected with sin.

Correct. Right? He can abuse people. I'm not saying he was. And I'm saying if he did, I mean, you're not even looking at his abuse as sin because you've been convinced that he can't sin. And so it's just a way to have power over people. So you've got to be really careful with people who come around and teach this particular theology

because these false prophets be doing the same thing. When we think of the prodigal son who was at home, externally he was righteous. He did all the right things. He didn't leave the daddy's house. He didn't spoil the daddy's money. He didn't eat with the pigs. He wasn't licey inches. He didn't do all the stuff that was wrong.

But again, the issue that self-righteousness exposes is that it's a heart issue. Yeah. Even with Paul, what the law revealed in Paul, Paul kept the law externally. He was able to boast when it came to the other Pharisees. but what the law exposed in him was that he had covetousness in his heart. And so it's the internal sins of the heart that actually reveal that you are just as blemished as the prostitute. Come on. You're going to talk about.

That you are just as blemished as the person who smokes weed all the time. And that's the thing that like when you get to heart issues and heart motives, then you see, oh, I actually need Christ. That's what the law does is it presses us into. Christ. That's so good. And I say, I've been saying this a lot because I think it's important. Tim Keller says that the difference between true Christians and false Christians is that true Christians don't just repent for the bad they do. They also repent for the reasons they did good. So when you get underneath your good works and you ask the question of why did I do that? Did I do it because I loved God and I loved people or was underneath there somewhere,

I wanted you to pat me on the back. That's so good. I wanted you to say, good job. Is it that you actually want to stand before God and you want God to tell you good job for what you did rather than for how you trusted Christ to do it through you? That's so good. There is a difference. That's so good.

And I just think that's important. With us having our own clothing line, boat apparel and having tours, podcast tours, and poetry tours, Shopify has been a huge lesson to us. It helps us to sell online and sell a live event. And it just keeps everything in one place. And it just allows you to have an effective business. And so, yeah, Shopify's been big for us. For sure.

Shopify is where you go to start your business with everything you need already there from day one. Yeah, Shopify is just, I don't know, it's simple. It has easy use. You can launch a store and start selling stuff in a few seconds. AI, I know y'all love these artificial. intelligence people, but they got a sidekick AI, and it's a tool that helps you as you do all the things. It got shop pay, the easiest checkout on the market. It got design templates. It got AI to even help you build the site, because all of us ain't site builders. We ain't, you know, we'd have moved

beyond MySpace and Bebo. We don't know how to make pages no more, so we need help. So I don't know what you got. I don't know what the Lord in place on your heart. You're supposed to still T-shirts or pottery. If you're ready to hear the of your first sale today, head over to Shopify.com to start your free trial today. That is correct. Start your free trial at shopify.com slash Perry. That's Shopify.com slash Perry. Yeah, and yeah, that's so good.

And I love why you, I love the fact that you brought up the prodigal son because I think a lot of times when we think about that story, we can focus on the brother who strayed away. And God is teaching us a lot through the brother who straight away. But the brother who stayed, he felt some type of way that the father welcomed him back with open arms and, you know, slaughtered a cow, you know, in his return and all of the

things simply because he stayed, right? But the reason why the father accepted the prodigal son when he came back was not, for no other reason, then he was his son, right? And so, and so the brother thinking that stayed, he's like, man, this should be done for me because I've done all the things. And it's like, no, you're missing the fact that I'm celebrating a son returning. And it's about my love for my son, not what my son has done for me. And I think a lot of times in the Christian faith, we get so caught up.

And if I do this for the Lord, he'll give me this. And it's like, no, God loves us as sons and daughters first. And it's not because of our works, but simply because our opposition in Christ. Like, we are as children, you know. And I think if we think about it that way, you know, because for me, if I've been honest, I struggle with that at times. Not as much as I used to, but I've communicated to the Lord. Lord, I did this.

I did that. And the Lord was like so. Not that I don't care. Not that he doesn't want our works. But I do think that the Lord wants us to know that, no, I love you because I love you, not because of what you've done and what you haven't done. Mm-hmm. You know.

And I think I want to. to add, the parable of the prodigal son wasn't given to sinners. It was given to the Pharisees. And so he is communicating something about the Phariseeical heart, not the sinners. And how do I know that? The text. Chapter 15, now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes grumbled saying, this man receives sinners and eats with them. that means that the locus of that passage and that parable is not the lost son who left, it's the lost son who stayed. That's the point, is that you can be in the house and not know the father.

And that is the heart of every phariseical legalistic person is that you can know all the texts, you can know all the stuff, you can do all the external things. But if there is covetousness, if there is pride, if there is ego, if there is jealous, to see if there is envy and there most likely is because you cannot be self-righteous and walk by the spirit. That's why Galatians compares legalism and lawfulness to the spirit. It's walking by the spirit that we actually fulfill the law. That's so good that you said. Oh, that's good. Self-righteous people are actually always in the flesh and that's why you always end up finding out all kinds of sin that they've been hiding. But they don't think they're in the flesh.

No, because they're deceived. Not not, not, but why are they deceived? I think, one of the reasons why they deceived. I think one of the reasons why they're deceived is because they do. They do. They do. Because if, like, let's look at the prodigal son and his brother, right? The prodigal son's brother got mad because he's like,

I ain't done none of this. Right. And I've done all of this. And y'all ain't never had a feast for me. That's the same way the Pharisees thought about Jesus. Correct. We, y'all see us walking around keeping the law perfectly. And y'all ain't acting like this with us.

The scripture says they was jealous of Jesus. It was envious. Yeah. They were envy of Jesus. But Jesus understood something that the Pharisees did not understand. That when he was baptized, the father came, like, opened up the heavens. And he said, this is my son who I am well pleased. And guess what?

The father did that before Jesus started his three-year missionary journey. That mean the father said that about the son before the son did anything. And so the son knew his position in Christ, which allowed his work to be real ministry. They thought their ministry was, I've done all of these things. And Jesus, he just showed up on the scene and y'all let his do. That's the fairerical heart. Because the fairerical heart is, this is going to sound strong. It's going to sound strong.

The heart of legalism is satanic because it opposes grace. Yes. Grace identifies that I actually don't deserve anything. Legalism says, well, I was a good person, therefore I deserve something. Yeah. And so it is anti-gospel. And it makes sense to the human condition because we all feel like we have to earn love for it to be something. That's good.

That's how we're built. Like, you got to earn my friendship. You got to earn my love. You got to earn. But that's not how God is set up. God just is generous. He is just, and his generosity, his grace, his undeserved kindness, that means that when we receive it, who gets all the glory? Who gets all the praise?

God, but if I earned it, who gets some glory? Me. And so, of course, Satan wants to stir up Hebrew-Israelism, start. Like, that is why every religion outside of Christianity is a religion of works because it helps men. to maintain their own pride and self-sufficiency. It's so good. Christianity is the only one that says, I actually don't want nothing from you except trust.

Yeah. Yeah. That's good. That's good. We jacked up people. I said we jacked up people because I think, you know, we talk about legalistic people in fair and sayical hearts. It's all in us.

It's in all of us. Yeah. You know, we all struggle with it. I think some people struggle with it to a certain degrees. Some people walk in it and living it and teaching it and try to gain power and control it. Well, we all struggle. Yeah. You know, and I think, I love Romans.

I love that you read Romans 7 because Paul is simply just, he's communicating this wrestle between law and sin. He's saying, no, we're going to struggle with sin. We're going to struggle with, and the law is what, it's a school master. It teaches us how to recognize sin in our life and deal with it, I know we've got to move on to another story. Okay. Because you know this was my paper. Okay.

The fact that you just raise your hand like we in school is crazy. Yes, Jackie Hill. Perry. So another thing Tim Keller said is when you are preaching to a room of prodigals as in the lost son, you have to also, you have to preach the gospel in such a way that they also realize that they have the potential to be the same. son who was at home. Meaning younger brothers easily become older brothers. Meaning, especially if you came out of the world, if you came out of some degree of perversion and

brokenness and lust and pride, the pendulum can so easily swing to legalism and self-righteousness as a way to guard yourself from what you came from. But you're trying to protect yourself from lyceantiousness through legalism, and that's not the way. The way is always the gospel. The way is always trust. The way is always faith. You understand what I'm saying? And so one thing that I realized in my paper, I was asking the question is why is legalism such a temptation for us? And it's a temptation because it's a fruit of the flesh. We have to recognize that legalism is just as much a fruit of the flesh as lust is. Pride is always positions. Like we just have, it's our default thing to try to figure out life independent of faith. And when you walk by faith and walk in the spirit,

that is the way that you don't walk in sexual immorality. And it's the way you don't walk in self-righteousness. And so I think we don't even want to be self-righteous and say, I ain't self-righteous. Well, that was probably self-righteous. Yeah. You understand what I'm saying? My grandma, you say, how are you going to be, how are you going to be humble and proud about it? It's being aware of your potential that keeps you dependent on the Lord to keep you like Christ. Yeah, that's good. That took a left, but.

No, I think it was a necessary left, though. Yeah. So for this conversation, we'll definitely put in some book resources for the doctrine of sinless perfection and even the prodigal of the two sons. I think it would be helpful. That's good. You got a story? Man, you know I got a ton of stories.

You want to know a ministry story or a hood story. Uh, whatever. Come on, bad. Give me one. I don't have one. Pick one. Hood. Ministry.

I'm always going to say ministry. Dang. I want to tell the hood story. But the people might want hood. Okay, so I'll tell a hood story. I'll make it quick. That's what you want to tell. I'll make it quick.

So look, so the last time we did Storytime, I told this story about, so for those who heard the last story time years ago, I worked at ADT and I sold alarm systems. And I got really good at it. And we used to go to like some of the worst neighborhoods in Chicago, like neighborhoods if you're familiar with Chicago, like Englewood, Rosen, and Chatham, these places because these people, a lot of people didn't have good credit. But every time I found people with good credit, they was like older people. And I typically got to signups or whatever.

And so I told the story about years ago how I was trapped in the house. And man, he had pee all over his couch and I thought he was going to kill me. He was like, shut out. Yeah, if y'all remember that. But I was working with this dude. in ADT, and I was a team leader, and he was on my team. And in Chicago, just growing up, I know some people might know people like this. You always have those hood dudes, you always have those dudes who didn't grow up in the hood

who wanted to be a hood baby. Yeah. You want to be from a neighborhood. You want to come. And I'm like, and so I'm from the Hunts, which is a very, you know, it's a hood part of Chicago. and when my auntie let me move to the suburbs where I was happy. Like you get to, you see what I'm saying? Like to like have like green grass and like three meals a day, like good meals.

Stop signs that got red paint. Yeah. And I'm like, so like a lot of people that grew up, our goal was the suburbs and the suburb dudes, they goal was a hood. It was weird. Identity crisis. Identity crisis. We should talk about that out of this story.

Okay. Because for the life of me, like I knew this dude. I'm not going to say his name. He was one of the best basketball players I've ever seen in the city of Chicago. He will come to any court high as a kite and bust everybody. He has scholarships.

You know why he can't go to college? Because he wanted to move from the suburbs to go to the west side of Chicago and be a gang member. I'm like, bro. Appalled. I'm like, you left Bowlingbrook to go to K-town on the west side

to gang bang. your cousins when they're offering you scholarships. Okay. Sorry. So the dude that I worked with, I'm sorry getting off track. Dude I work with, he, I mean, his mama had money. I used to tell, I said, bro, why are you always talking his hood talk? And when I ride past your house, you got ducks in your yard.

Like you, you live in the birds. You live in Olympia fields. It's like, well, you know what I mean? And so like, he had this dope boy car. You know, in the hood, like the, he had this green car with these 22-inch rims, his name on the side. The appearance box. Yeah, yeah. I'm like, bro, you look like a dope boy or whatever.

And he just, he just pride of himself from going to certain neighborhoods that he's seen on YouTube. And I'm like, bro, we don't even do that in Chicago. Everybody's staying their same neighborhood. We don't go, yada, yada. So long story short, I'm saving up to get my car because I had wrecked my car or whatever. And after work, I'm getting mad thinking about this. After work, I lived in Olympia Fields, my auntie. He lived in Olympia Fields.

And so he was like, I'll give you a ride home. I really didn't want him to give me a ride home because he irritated me. But he was like, I'll be getting a ride home. So on the way home, I see him getting off the Eway. And I'm like, where are you going? He's like, I'm going to stop with my cousin house. And I say, where your cousin live? Oh, I remember this story.

You remember? Yeah, this goes left. And I go, I go, where your cousin live? And he go, the gardens. I said, what gardens? I said, the projects. I said, bro, get off the highway. I said, I said, turn around.

Bro, I got to, I got to just tell my cousin something. And I said, bro, don't take me to the gardens. He was like, you're scared? I said, yes. I said, yeah. I said, yeah. I said, yeah, I said, yeah, I'm from the hundreds. that's the other way.

Right. I'm not from over here. Correct. And I don't believe you know people over here. You don't do this in Chicago. I said, take me on. He said, bro, I just call my cousin. I got to drop something off.

And I said, bro, don't have me over here, bro. So he was adamant. Did you have a phone? Did you have a phone? I had a little flip phone, yeah. Okay. I had a flip phone. This is back in the, this is probably like 07.

Mm-hmm. Right. And so we go in the gardens. Because side note, this is just a random caveat. When I became friends with Preston, I was like, maybe this is like Hood Baby stuff. He was always unreachable. Like every time you contacted me,

you contacted me from somebody else's phone, somebody else's house. So there was never any reaching out to Preston. Preston had to reach out to you. I was like, this man is like, John, like you're a vagabond. Like, you're just out here in these streets. That's why I asked if you had to phone.

Yeah, my mom would tell people, Preston, be on north side, west side, in Southside. The same day. The same day with like in a couple of hours. And look at you now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. In a home.

In a home. I'm a homeowner. That's crazy. That's crazy. Check it out, though. So we ride up in the, we ride up in the gardens. And like on the side. Would you be mad if I got snacks?

Because I feel like I want to eat while you're telling the story. Okay. Okay. I'm move the mic. Okay. We need your commentary. Oh, you don't want to hear them to shoot. Okay. So, so we ride in the gardens. I put my seat all the way back.

Okay. Like, so his windows is kind of tinted a little bit or whatever. So I put my seat all the back. Soon as we ride in, I'm not lying. To the right of me, there's 50 dudes. All white T-shirts, right? And so they all looking in his car. With action.

Just looking, right? Because, you know, in the hood, like when somebody ride down the street, you look in this who they know him, is their enemy yada yada. D dudes are on high alert in the hood. You know what I'm saying? All of them have enemies. And so he riding, banging music, he looking or whatever. And so one, he's not street smart.

He's not from the hood. He wants to be. And so he's actively doing things you do not do in the hood. Such as. Such as rolling down the window looking like this for his cousin's house. And so I said, bro, I said, bro, I said, I said, raise the window up and stop looking like that. He said, I'm trying to find out which, which doors.

I said, it don't look like that. It looked like you looking to start shooting at somebody. You look like you, and I was like, you are. You know what he's on the movies. No, he's honestly trying to find his cousin house. Oh, okay. He's like looking, but they're looking at him. And I'm, so I'm looking at him, I'm watching this behavior,

but I'm also actively, I'm down like this, but I'm actively looking at their behavior. And they all looking like, and so I go, oh, my goodness. And so what happened was, so in the row houses, there's like, you can see people going from each apartment to the next. So they're disappearing and they appear. They're disappearing and they appear. I see them following us.

So I said, Lord. So I'm a young believer at this time. Oh, you're a Christian. Yeah. I was a Christian for, like, I was a Christian for, like, like a year and some change at this time. So you're protected? I didn't feel protected. Okay. I didn't, I didn't feel protected. There were more for you than against you. I didn't feel protected. You had to be because you're telling the story. So, so I was protected, but I didn't feel

protected. So I'm seeing them. So we get to the, to the end. One, it's one way in one way out, by the way, right? You're in Cabrini? Parkway Gardens. So that's where the Vond do from? Yeah, Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, which is kind of like the low end. And I'm like, I don't know nothing about the low end. I don't know nothing about 63rd. I'm from the hundreds, 117th, Michigan, right? So we do a Ui, and as we do a Ui, I'm seeing all the dudes walk back the other way.

So I said, bro, one, he don't know where his cousin's day. So the person that he said he was going over there for, he cannot identify. He ain't never been there. I'm gonna get there. Okay. I'm gonna get there. So I said, bro, as soon as we turn this corner,

we're gonna see a group of dudes standing in the interest. He was like, bro, you're being paranoid. I said, no, I'm being watchful. I watched them walk this way, and I know that they're about to cut us off. As soon as we turn the corner, there's about 60 dudes standing in the interest. This sounds like training day.

Well, look, he goes, he goes, He gets scared. He goes, bro, I'm going to just, I'm like, bro, just calm down, just ride up. He's like, bro, I'm going to hit the gas. I said, do not hit the gas. I said, because if you hit the gas, they will air this car out. And so at this point, I'm like, Jesus, help me. You're like disciplining him.

I'm like, I'm like, I'm like Jesus. Help me. One, you got to understand. Imagine if you didn't have him. He has a grip. Ah, y'all not by yet. Imagine if you didn't have this man, listen to me. Uh-huh.

He has a green Monte Carlo. Okay. With 22-inch rims, speakers in the back. Flashy. Flashing. So we get up. Hey, hey, boy, roll your window down, boy. Roll your window down, boy.

Who y'all is? What y'all looking for? Who y'all is? He goes, I'm looking for my cousin, Kisha. He was like, Kisha, who? And he was like, Kisha. Kisha, who? Kisha who?

So he's just real aggressive And so he was like, boy, we'll blow this car down, boy So he was like, who are you? I'm like, this is my friend, I work with him. I'm actually his boss, you know, he's looking for his friend, Keisha, we work for ADT. He was like, these boys work for ADT. So they start roasting us for having an ADT uniform on, right?

Because you got a job. Just because we got jobs or whatever. They surround in the car. So what happened was one of the dudes told us to get out, I said, I'd rather not get out. And so he's scared. He's like, bro, can we just leave? He was like, you're scared, boy.

He was like, you're scared, boy. And I'm just sitting there looking like, Lord, how did I get in this? And so one of the girls say, go get, I forget his name. He must have been like the big dude in the neighborhood. He comes, he goes, he go, who are you looking for? And he told him we was looking for Kisha. He was like, I don't know nobody over here named Kisha. And then he was like, he was like, they're going, they're going rob y'all if y'all, if y'all people don't stay over here.

And so I go, bro, can we just go? He was like, no, we're going to find out who y'all looking for. And so one girl was like, I think she's talking about old girl that live in the back. And so he goes, go get her. And so when. Pause, I got to add a little cross-reference, not cross-service, look caveat. One thing I can appreciate about hood neighborhoods is such a community. It is a community.

Everybody knows everybody. It is a community. Y'all are like, you know, like ghetto Amish. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's like a perversion of what it will be like.

We don't know. We will be known. Yeah. But if you're not known. So all I did, I said, Lord, please let them find this woman, whoever she is. I don't know if Keisha's a real person, but please let Keisha be a real person, right? Because if we, if, because the way it is, if you got people over there,

They are out of that. The hood does have ethics. So they're not fin to rob you if your people. There's a code of conduct. It's a cold, right? And so they went, they, with the Ikeesh, this dude sat on the car, two dudes stepped on the hood of his car. And the other dude walked, walked to my side.

He was like, y'all scared in child. I was like, yeah, I'm scared, right? And so they come back with this girl, and I'm seeing her from a distance. And she's walking real fast, but she's looking like this. like and they're walking with her and then she was like who is that i don't know him and i go oh my god i said bro you don't know her he was like it's me it's me she was like who is you who is you and then he was like i don't want to say his name because he might listen to this podcast

he was like boom boom and she was like oh and son she was like you ain't my p i i went to school with your mama back of the day but i ain't seen you since she was like four. I don't have a relationship. Why are you over here? So he's visiting a cousin he has no relationship with. He's visiting somebody that's not even his cousin. He's visiting like I guess when he was young, his mama used to play cards with her mama and he knew like he, like he'd never even been over there since he was young. That wasn't even his real cousin. So he, why was he there? To say he went in the parkway gardens. And he used, he used, me to try to feel hood.

Do you think he was trying to prove something to you? I think he was, but guess what? I'll prove something to him because that was the last fight I've been to in the Christian. As a Christian. A fight? We fought the next day as work. Okay, tell that story. So. Wait, wait, wait.

So she said she didn't know the boy. Y'all left? No, no. So after she said she didn't know the boy, she vouched that his mama is her people. Got it. They took our money. Okay. dude made us take our money out of our pockets.

And I was like, take it. Here. You can go. And we was able to leave. Taxes. Taxes. Okay. I was, to say I was mad, I was infuriated.

I was in fear. I didn't talk to him the way. And then on the next day at work, he literally made up a story about how I was terrified. I said, you were scared too. And he started lying and we got into an argument about it because I felt my life was in date. And so that was the last. Because you play with me.

You play with me. But then you're going to work and you line about how I was scared and you wasn't. You were scared too. You was about to run over 50 Yang members. And I stopped you. I was scared, but I was still had the street awareness to know what to do and not to do. You wanted to, you wanted to, that was suicide that you would have committed. We wouldn't have made it to the end of the block if you would have ran them over.

So you hit him in the face? I don't want to talk about that. You want to talk about everything else, but you don't want to end the story. We got into a tussle at work, and there was punches thrown. Who won? Oh, I'll beat the brakes off that boy. Okay, you repented. Yeah, I did.

Okay. As long as you won and then repented. Yeah, I got saved in 06. That was 2007, the end of summer 2007. Bro. I don't think I've ever been in a situation like that with that many people. So we have to find a moral here, a moral to the story. The moral to the story is everybody wants to be like Mike, but just be like yourself and you'll be right.

Okay. I do think that people be wanting to be, they be trying to find identity and things that's not them. It's like, bro, you, like, I think we all do struggle with that. Yeah, in different ways. Yeah, I think we all try to find some type of identity and things that we've, value and we ignore what God is given us. And so we don't store what God has given us, the life that God has given us. I can be transparent real quick.

I think I know what you're about to say. You don't know. I don't even think I told you this. I think you do know. I used to have a Black Planet page. Okay? And you remember Black Planet? Because you didn't have access to technological devices.

You didn't have said it like that, but it's cool. No, I didn't. My first thing was Facebook. Okay. Do you know what Black Planet is? I do Black Panet in my space. It was like a Black My Space. Yeah, yeah.

And my name on Black Planet was, girl, you ignorant. Because I used to just say whatever came to my mind. Like, I just was really honest. You understand what I'm saying? The Lord has turned that to good, to good use. I'm not done. My profile picture was with me with all red on throwing up blood. And it was like this.

The B was like the first, and then I've created graphics. So this was the B and then I put L-O-O and then this was the D. It actually looked really tight. But mind you, I wasn't a blood. I didn't know any blood. I was never initiated. Nobody in my family was blood. So you was a fake gang member on Black Planet?

Yeah, because I liked the color red. So I felt like if you like red, then you're a blood. And so I would do, like, I would throw up the B. I would throw up like Crip Killer. It was like I wouldn't go as far as Why you never told me that? I wouldn't go as far as to not pronounce seas

because you know like I had a cousin, you know my cousin Chris he was an actual blood like he would like skip overseas when he would say stuff like what's up? What's up? Blood and all this stuff but yeah I just I don't know.

And then Dan when it's a can Yeah. It's like bro that's really deep And I were where I people don't know 7th grade I think I was having an identity crisis. I wanted to set myself apart. And so I wore the color red every single day. I did not own another color of clothing. So you still Phil Mitchell red. Yes. My entire clock, because back then it was lot 29, echo red, stuff like that. I wore red. I couldn't go to Abercrime because it

was just neutrals. I were red every single day. I don't know. I just, I think I don't know. I'm embarrassed. Wow, you should be embarrassed. You know, you were young. We all have like identity crisis. We're trying to find ourselves. At a moment. But the fact that I never knew that you was a fake gang member.

I wish I could find it. If I could find those pictures because they were actually really good pictures. Like even on Black Planet, you had like graphics and I would have like the little, I would have digital graphics of like little red bloods. And your face falls like you hard. It does. And I'm not. Your face falls like you can throw hands.

And I can't. I can't. Here's another story. I feel like I told this before. We was in high school. This girl was after like this homecoming. I was at a homecoming that wasn't mine. And this girl, like these girls, they eat like a SUV probably borrowed from their mama. This girl in the back seat, I noticed her face and I saw her like universally unattractive she was. And so I was like, oh, she ugly. I didn't realize the window was down. And so she looked out the window and then three other girls was like, what you say? I was like, I didn't say anything. actually I didn't I didn't say anything because I knew I thought you were ugly I shouldn't have said it out loud because I cannot fight you or the 14 other people in your SUV that your mom got off the lot for $1,500 with no tenant windows in and so I don't know I just realized that like you just shouldn't what happened though I said I didn't say it she said oh I thought so and they moved on so you was you was you because

what I'm not going to do is keep up this charade. Like you are. Yeah, I'm not going to be like, yeah, I said it. Why would I do that? It's too many people in the car. Y'all not fend to fight me because I'm going to be more embarrassed by trying to prove a point. I don't care that much. I thought you was ugly, my bad.

I'm sorry. I just shouldn't have said it. I shouldn't have said it. That's what happens when you're not a Christian. If I saw her as a Christian, I might say like, ooh, she should, her face don't fall right. But I would have kept that to myself. I still would have loved her as image bearer. Yeah.

You know what I'm saying? Yeah, you made a good business decision. Hey, I made it a lot. So, yeah, I think we all, I think we all have moments, you know what I'm saying, where we just, we're not comfortable in our bodies. Yeah, yeah. I had, I think for me, I was popular in high school known because I was,

I rapped, I was ignorant, I fought, I was funny, cracked jokes and stuff like that. But I literally walked around like I had something to prove. And so for me, my pride, I just couldn't let nobody punk me. You still can't. But I'm more humble. Yeah, it'd be eating you up, though. It do. Yeah.

Like, if we out about, out and about and somebody disrespects you, I immediately pray. Like, please God. Yeah. Just let him take that on the chin. But I've grown. I've grown. But because of that, I got beat up a lot. And so people don't be wanting to like, like, be honest and be like...

But that's how you became a good fighter. Yeah. Because you got beat up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, one time, because I used to, and I used to talk.

I had a mouth. You got to tell the story about what your sister did. What? What's time? When she wanted to fight that girl and she set you up to, to participate. Oh, man. It was this girl in our neighborhood. Shout out to Lanier.

She's redeemed. She's a redeemed fighter. Yeah, she's a redeemed fighter. My sister, my sister can thump so well. Meaning my sister, my sister can fight. Like I don't think, like you just had to see her in action. Correct. It's like you looked like you were trained and you were not trained.

And so, but it was this girl in the neighborhood. I don't know if she took hormone pills or what. But she was so big. She was so, I mean, the shoulders on this girl. I'm like, you look like a little running back. And she was not universally, she was like Leah with the weak eyes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I understand?

Right, so I'm not saying, I'm not saying she, you know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? She made in the image of God. The Lord loves. But I think she was mad about that. Because she used to beat up everybody. She used to beat up everybody. But this girl used to...

She said if I'm going to be ugly, at least I got to be good at something. She wasn't ugly. She wasn't... Universally attracted. Yeah, she was Leah with the weak eyes. Yeah. And so my sister, this, my crazy sister said, Preston, I'm tired of her thinking she hard. Now look, this is, this is how crazy my sister is.

I'm tired of her thinking that she hard, that she yada, yada, yada. I want people to know that if I get mad enough, I can whip her. I'm like, why are you telling me this? She said, well, I need you to slap her so she could slap you back and I can get mad. That was. That was. Yeah, because when she told the story, she said, I wasn't mad enough. Like, I needed to get mad.

Yeah, she told Jackie's story. But you got to give the age how old you are. I was probably nine. So Lanier was 14. Yeah, Lenore was 14, but she can fight. But this girl was like, you train with your brothers. Like she was huge And so I'm like

I don't want to do that She's strong Like you know what I'm saying At this time I'm like I'm used to fighting my cousins Fighting people my age She's like you know 14 15 years old

And so I go I won't She's like Preston So she talked me into doing it And so we was We was all in my cousin house or whatever And they invited her in my cousin house And she's sitting on the bed

And it gets quiet Because my cousins and my friends know what I'm about to do. And so I stand up on the bed. I walk towards her. And I stand in front of her. And she said, she went back like, why are you so close? Like, looked at me like, why are you so close?

And I turned, and I looked at, and I turned around and looked at my sister. And then I just said, fuck. When I tell you, when I tell you, listen, when I tell you, my hand barely touched this girl's face. When I tell you, it was like a reflex. When I tell you, by the time my arm came back, she smacked me so hard. At this point, I've never been hit like that at this point of my life. You see, you see the thing on Instagram where the people would be smacking each other,

like a smacking competition. That's how I felt. When I tell you, my whole head was ringing. My eye, I could, my eye was blurry. see nothing. And then so I, so, so I bag up. I'm like, she almost knocked me out. I bag up and I'm stumbling back and I hit the dresser. And the first thing I do is I look at my sister. I turn around look at my sister and my sister is standing up walking, walking, walking, walk, and my sister just rushed this girl. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. When I tell you, my sister

Lanera beat a mud hole in that girl. I was like, I started to feel a little better. You could have a concussion. Yeah. I started to feel like, I mean, she drug her down the stairs. I mean, she went crazy. And I was like, but what's crazy was after she did it, I was like, that's what she, that's what I needed to do.

I played my part. I think, I just see you as a little child. just being like, okay. Like, it just... I wasn't okay at first. I was like, she talked me into it, but I'm like, yeah, but that's how we grew up. We just grew up knowing bad, dumb things. Yeah, she smacked the living crap out of me.

All right. See, that's why I'd be like, I don't got no stories like that. Your stories are really... Your stories are little movies. Yeah, you ain't any more stories about you being a fangling gangster? Mm-mm. No, none. No, I just, you know, I had the little phase, and then I,

I got through it. I don't know. I just, I just, I like myself. I didn't think I liked myself yet. You know what I'm saying? I do want to tell one more story. Good.

I am hungry in December. Yeah, I want to tell me one more story. So one time, I got robbed for three hours. Is this when you was in the basement? No. This was in Africa. Oh.

You remember this? I got to get more snacks. Oh, good, go ahead. I'll be patient. Okay, okay. So I'm not going to say who the Christian rapper is. Me, a Christian rapper, went with our friend who's from Nigeria, right? He's not from Lagos.

And so we went to Lagos or whatever to kick it for a couple of days. And then we flew from Lagos to another part in Nigeria. I forget the town or whatever to basically help his parents build like a clinic from the remote village that they were from. or whatever. And so we came to this town and we drove probably three hours outside, like two and a half hours outside of the main city of this place in Nigeria. I forget the name of the place. I love Lagos, but this place I just don't even remember the name of the place. And so we go to this remote village. I've never seen this type of Africa, right? And now I want to be careful because I don't want to paint Africa like it's all the same.

Africa is a humongous continent. A humongous continent. If you ever in Lagos, if you go to Licky phase one, leaky phase two. It's like the city, great restaurants, the people are beautiful, great hotels. It's like America, right? But this part of Nigeria was far from Ligos, right? And so we built in this clinic. And my friend, who parents of this person, we're building the clinic for his parents or whatever, he has a book about getting robbed for the first time he visited Nigeria.

And he told me on the way, this is the same role I got robbed. And this in my book, I said, well, I'll be here then. Mm-hmm. If this is the same road. And so on the way back, supposedly a influential person in the village died. Okay. And a ceremony started where people was in the streets like with things on their heads and like they had like bushes on their heads and feathers on their heads and just celebrating.

But what was crazy was they did not let each car pass until we gave them something valuable. And it was only one way in this village and one way out of this long village was like a two-hour drive. When I tell you, these people start jumping on our car. And so my friend, Mom, who's Nigerian, she said, don't get scared. They're just celebrating. I said, this doesn't look like celebrating. This looks like robbery. For sure.

And so we had to roll down the window. for like an hour and a half and just give them Naira over and over. That's extortion, ain't it? No, no, it ain't by definition. Because they would not let us leave. Yeah.

And so it was a dude on a motorcycle. They beat the dude off the motorcycle. A dude took his motorcycle and I said, okay, I might die here in Nigeria. Because one, we are, we're from America, we got our passports on us, we have all this Naira on us because in Nigeria you can't just go to money,

banks that get the money out. So we did an exchange and we had just lots of, money to pay for stuff. All right. And so I'm like, if these people realize, and so my friend's mom, it's from there.

And so she's talking crazy. Get away from the car. Get away from the car. I said, hey, hey, hey, don't talk like that. No, no, I grew up here. I grew up here. Or whatever. This one dude, I cannot make this up. I came back home and told my homie this.

He was so like buff, I mean, and just chiseled. I saw him in front of our car. He ran full. speed and jumped on the roof of our car and he looked looked at the driver and said give me money I said give him all of the money for sure give him all of the money and we gave them money so by the time we got to the end of the road it was like this huge mob of people reaching in people's cars taking stuff taking value and I'm like man I got my passport in this car I got money in this car

I got expensive stuff in my suitcase. I was like, Lord. And so we just prayed. Right after we got done praying, the mother saw somebody in the village that she grew up with in the crowd. She gets out of the truck. I said, please don't open this truck. And she calls him over.

And he, like, literally, like, made a way for us to get out the crowd. Praise the Lord. I was like, that was the lot. I've never been. I've never been through something like that. And my friend who was from there, he was just all calm. And me and the Christian rapper. who we used to be real cool.

We sitting here looking like, Lord, please get us out of the situation. I remember when you called and told me about it. I was like, I'll text you. Yeah, but I just was like, it'll be okay. No, you had to be there. You'd be fine. It was scary.

I mean, again, I know your stories. You've been stabbed. You've been imprisoned. You've slapped buff women for your sister. You've had a crazy man at ADT, lock you in his house. You understand? You had a hard life.

So I'm like, in the motherland, he'll be fine. Clearly, the Lord has protected him thus far. I think, I think I was scared there because I'm so far away from home. I understand. And I'm like, if they take my pass for it, how am I getting home? They take all my stuff? I know you'd be okay. Okay, I didn't.

I'm glad you had faith. Look at you. Fine. Shut up, Jackie. That's serious. Bye y'all. Peace.