704. How Faith and Community Engagement Can Change Lives

[00:00:00] It's the stories, the journeys, the testimonies. It's the spiritual detox. Welcome back. Welcome back. You tune back into the fix your source of fake infuse hip hop, R&B and poetry. It's time for our spiritual detox.

[00:00:13] And listen, we like to highlight some movers and shakers and other spaces. And I'm excited because I have a very, very talented young lady on the line and she does a lot of stuff. She's a CEO. Listen, she write a little poetry.

[00:00:29] She's a writer. She's a producer. She's a model. Listen to list goes on and on. Listen, she's all about empowering you and mentoring you. She does a lot and I'm excited to have a great conversation with her about a little bit of everything.

[00:00:43] The one and only Dr. Rhonda Cotnick joining us. How are you doing sis? I'm good. How are you? I am good. I am really excited to talk with you because I was looking over all your info and all your accolades.

[00:00:55] And I was like, when do you sleep? When did you do? Do you even sleep? Is that a thing for you? Oh yeah. You got to make sure you get your rest. If not, you'll be looking real crazy. Make sure.

[00:01:08] That's good. So, you know, before we talk about everything you do, we always ask our guests, can you maybe share a little bit of your faith journey with the people, maybe kind of how you develop or share something maybe that God kind of showed you

[00:01:20] over your journey that maybe you didn't know about yourself from a spiritual standpoint. Well, my journey started at a very young age around the age of seven. And so all the things that I accomplished were things that God showed me, you know,

[00:01:35] from the age of seven into my teenage years. And then I started actually moving into those areas that God actually gave me the vision for. And so once I did that, you know, everything is about trusting God.

[00:01:51] If he showed you something, then that means it's intended for you to do it. But a lot of times when we come from a childhood and start growing up,

[00:01:59] so many other things can kind of step in and start trying to play a part of how to dictate your life. But the relationship that I had with God just praying to him about guidance and always, you know, giving me wisdom at a young age.

[00:02:15] So that's how my journey started with him just showing me things in a vision. And then I just started praying about those things. And then as I prayed about them, then they started coming to fruition. Was that ever hard for you, especially, you know, growing up, you know,

[00:02:31] being around peers who maybe don't believe the way you believe. And we know everything under the sun comes at you. You know, temptation is always right there in everybody's face. So was that hard?

[00:02:43] Was that challenging for you to kind of adapt and submit to what you God had revealed to you? It was. And you don't realize that a lot of times you're moving out of alignment that God has already called you to because you have your peers

[00:02:58] and because life is you're doing life now when we're kids, I think we're sheltered a little bit because our parents give us a guidance. So we kind of stay in line. But as you get older and you become a young adult,

[00:03:11] you start having to really figure life out for yourself. And so it can be challenging to stay on task. And then you may find yourself drifted off thinking, oh, that's it. That's the end of me. But no, it did happen to me.

[00:03:25] And, you know, and then once I realized even now when the pandemic hit, I was like, Lord, what is going on here? You know, so he was reminded me prior to in 2019. I ended up having a nervous breakdown because I had lost so many family members

[00:03:42] and I just hadn't dealt with that. And so in 2019, it was May and June, July, I took a sabbatical from work. And during that time he said, I am going to restore what your childhood dreams were. And I was like, well, dang, well, what is that?

[00:04:02] Because I don't forgot, you know, and then in 20, you know, in 2019, he also showed me that things were going to be different going into the new year. But it was the fact that you can get lost, you know, you get lost in serving people.

[00:04:17] You get lost in trying to make sure everybody else is good, but you're not taking care of you. And then the next thing you know, you step away from your dreams and visions and you're working on other people. So it was very challenging.

[00:04:30] But you know, when he said I'm going to restore, then that reminded me, we got to get back to child life safe. And that was the key for me. I had to get back to my child life faith because my child like faith made me think

[00:04:44] I was superwoman. I could ask God anything and it was happening. You know, if I dream to say, Daddy, can I have some money the next morning? I got up, it would be a quarter or a dollar outside the door.

[00:04:55] So he said, you got to get back to your child like faith. And so that's what I had to remind myself, you know, although I am an adult, I'm still a little girl on the inside that's in love with Jesus.

[00:05:07] And because of that, I got to remember I am his daughter and no matter what, whatever I asked, he will do. Yes, he will. Yes, he will. So come on, let's talk about some of, you know, everything else you do. So first you started off acting.

[00:05:21] I mean, modeling at a young age, didn't you? At a young age, I am the me and my sister were the first African-American children for Hallmark cards. My dad introduced us into that industry because he was the first

[00:05:35] African-American male for any part of modeling when it comes to Hallmark cards. The back in the day, for those of you who can remember the Macy's catalog and J.C. Penney's, my father was the gentleman that was in that catalog. And so that's how my career started.

[00:05:53] And I really wasn't looking to do that. It was just what God had. And so, you know, God would push you into your talents. You know, you think, okay, well, I don't have anything, but he's like, no, you have something.

[00:06:07] And so that's how I ended up getting started in that industry is from my dad. So when did you start getting into film production and writing and poetry? When did that come about? Was that right?

[00:06:21] Like right after you, you know, in the midst of you modeling and everything? Was that another gift that you just started? So this is crazy because when me and my sister were younger, we used to play like we were CEOs and EPs, you know?

[00:06:33] And so I always written. I've always been a writer since I was a kid. I would write songs and write poetry. So me and my sister would act it out. So that's how that started. And then just, you know, I taught school.

[00:06:47] So one of my things was that teaching third grade, I taught my third grade how to do creative writing so that they would learn how to write poetry to express themselves. And in me teaching them, I'm writing at the same time.

[00:07:03] And then, you know, came about, you know, my first book called My Quest for Your Life is not about me. It's the plan that God has for your life. And that's what started the poetry thing. But then I just started writing books because God started giving me insight.

[00:07:18] And insight is knowing and understanding things but also life experiences. Why was that so? I'm sorry. I'm in control. No, go ahead. I'm just I'm just listening to you and I'm just wondering why was that

[00:07:33] so important for you in your in the book you just you just talked about to give that inspiration and that faith aspect in the book? Why was that so important? Because I believe the way I was brought up, you know, I was brought up

[00:07:47] with a very a lot of morals and values, you know, with my grandparents, great grandparents, my parents, you know, I saw people married into death. The part, you know, my parents didn't say that way.

[00:08:00] They divorced but everybody else that I was growing up around as far as family, they were married. And so, you know, a lot of faith might that they used to just instill in us about, you know, understanding who we are and having a relationship with God.

[00:08:15] But then I think a lot of it too was once I started having my own children that I realized that, you know, they don't have the same parents that their friends have. And, you know, teaching school, you see a lot of different things that children are going through.

[00:08:31] So I wanted to kind of uplift my students because for me it's a partnership. Yes, I'm the teacher but I'm partnering with your parents. So we need to have boundaries. We need to let you know that, hey, no matter what's going on at home,

[00:08:46] you've got a second parent at school because I can't let somebody come into my classroom and snatch you out of there. Otherwise, I'm going to jail. And I basically put that to the parents. I have to be responsible for your babies just like their mind.

[00:09:01] So I can't let anybody come in and take them out of here. Otherwise you're gonna say, please lock Miss Cotton up because my child is missing. You know, and I said, so with that responsibility, how do I take and help children communicate without having to act out? Writing.

[00:09:19] I did it with my own kids. Writing, it allows them to be creative. It allows them to reflect on things. It allows them to express their hurt, their pain, disappointment. It just started allowing them to do the things that they didn't think they could do.

[00:09:37] But when you give someone a tool such as writing, it goes a long way. Thanks for sharing that. So come on, let's talk a little bit about everything you're doing in media and production and what films or what productions are you working on currently?

[00:09:54] So right now I work a lot with Megamind Media Productions. They are located here in the DMV area and they own their independent company that's big. We have Tressa Azaril Smallwood and Mr. Dante Lee, who are the owners of the company. And so I work as a producer.

[00:10:16] I've also done logistics for COVID when COVID came out. I ended up doing locations and I just do a lot of things that will help out, you know, wherever it's needed. So some of our projects that you may have seen or heard about is Secrets.

[00:10:35] It came out in like in 2016, 2015 all in with Little Mama. We've had the available wife. We've also had Trophy wife that was on BET. We've done a lot of the what do you call BET women's health initiatives that we've done from 2019 up into 2022.

[00:11:03] Then we've had a rich Christmas, holiday heartbreak, strange love with country Wayne. So we've had a lot of projects right now on my way to Atlanta. And we have a project that we're doing there that we've had out on all black called Wicked City.

[00:11:27] So, you know, we just have a lot of we have a lot of things going on right now and after the strike, I think the strike hit everybody.

[00:11:34] So you have to regroup and so we're just regrouping so that we can, you know, prepare ourselves for, you know, what's next, whatever God has next. What's next for you? What's next for you? Because because listen, you do so much.

[00:11:47] Is there something else that you still want to accomplish something? Another business, another startup like what's next for you? So one of my goals is I'm starting a foundation called the Great and Grand Foundation, and it's really built on helping children that are disadvantaged economically and not really.

[00:12:06] Let me not just say children but parents, the whole family. Because I think the only way that you can really change things is when you change the family's mindset, the dynamics and start helping the parents along with the children to start seeing themselves in a different light.

[00:12:23] So with the Great and Grand Foundation, one of my programs is called Flair and it's really introducing the students or their children to the entertainment industry, teaching them things about the arts,

[00:12:37] letting them test and see what it is that they like and you start building their skill set based off of what their ability is. So that's another one of the things that I've started is the Great and Grand Foundation.

[00:12:51] And I'm just looking to really take, I have a couple of books that are out this year. One is called The Children's Book called My Voice. And it's about a little girl that hears the voice of God.

[00:13:04] And so through hearing the voice of God, she's wondering if God is hearing the voice of all the other things around her.

[00:13:12] You know when she's talking to her parents and family, when she's talking to, you know, the birds and the bees, you know, does God hear them like I hear them? And then another book that's coming out is called Between Seasons, Transition to Transformation.

[00:13:27] And it is really talking about, you know, a lot of my life experiences and the things that I've gone through and then how God brought me out.

[00:13:37] But more so than it's just a testimony of, you know, sometimes you think you're lost but you've never been lost, you know. But it is really understanding what you're going through and to not take everything as if it's an issue.

[00:13:53] Sometimes you don't even know that you got a tool that you can use that's going to help you move forward until God allows something to happen. And you realize, oh, I can do that.

[00:14:02] And then this coming in two weeks, March 22nd and 23rd, Dr. Vera Howard, who is one of my precious friends, she is giving. She's doing a prayer thing for producers, people in the entertainment industry.

[00:14:19] So you got writers, directors, EPs, you know, all kind of people that are actually in the industry that will be there. And we're going to have a night of prayer and then on Saturday the 23rd she's actually hosting a panel.

[00:14:33] And the panel will be where, you know, they can do a Q&A. And we're just going to talk about the industry and how people can get involved, what they need to do.

[00:14:43] And then once she does that, then she's holding an audition so people can audition for opportunities that may be coming up, you know. You never know. You might find a diamond in the rough. So that's happening March 22nd and 23rd with Dr. Vera Howard.

[00:15:01] Yes, that's powerful. Definitely make sure you guys, if you're in the air, please make sure you're in the tent. It's especially if you're a director or anybody, you know, who inspires to be a director. Can you tell the people, listen, thank you for coming on today.

[00:15:15] Again, thank you for everything that you do continue to shine and do everything you're doing. Dr. Rhonda, you are doing an amazing job of it. Again, you have been an inspiration to me.

[00:15:25] Can you tell the people how they connect with you and follow you and all your social media platforms? Well, you can connect with me. Just go to Dr. Cotton and that's d-r-c-o-t-t-o-n at c-c-c-s dot l-l-c.

[00:15:41] And then you can also go to Dr. Rhonda Cotton on Facebook and connect with me. Okay. Listen, Dr. Rhonda Cotton, y'all listen, stay locked. We got to go to a break. We'll be right back with more. You tune into the fix.

[00:15:56] Dice, we got a special one today, don't we, Dice? Yeah, you listen. You did yourself. You did us all the great justice.

[00:16:04] Let me just say this focus because this is somebody that I didn't even know I'd watch something off a prime video that he had something to do with.

[00:16:11] But the legend, like you said, the director himself, the writer, the actor, the producer, the business mogul, just film work after film work after film work. I'm excited to welcome to the show guys, Shaka Balamani. And Shaka, if I said Balamani incorrect, please correct me, but welcome.

[00:16:33] Welcome. Thank you for coming on the fix. It is a pleasure having you on. And listen, we're just excited to hear what you got going on. And we definitely want an exclusive from you, sir. If you don't mind. So welcome.

[00:16:46] Perfectly. First of all, thank you for that wonderful intro. I feel blessed already. Thank you for speaking to my wife. I appreciate it. Yeah. I'm just really excited to be here. I've been a filmmaker for over 20 years and do a lot of youth advocacy work.

[00:17:06] And you know, I'm really somebody that has a heart for the community. I'm always just pleased when I'm able to network with people that are reaching out and being active in the community. So it's just a blessing to be here. So really thank you for having me.

[00:17:19] Listen, stay right there. The pleasure is all ours. We definitely appreciate you coming on. I like the you talking about the youth advocacy and doing things in community. Take us back through, you know, when that first started, why did you start, you know,

[00:17:35] where did that come from, the passion to work with the youth, work with the community? We talk about, you know, black men specifically in our communities, taking back our communities. Talk a little bit about that passion and where did that start?

[00:17:47] Well, I had always had a heart for just really working with the youth just because I came up in a program which was like a rights and passage program

[00:17:56] through a church, through a church where, you know, we had several older brothers that maybe about five to 10 years older than us that helped us from age 13 to 23 and it pretty much saved my life.

[00:18:07] So that's something that's always been an ongoing theme in my films as I began to write in the early 90s. It always had a big, big brother influence in my films.

[00:18:17] It was always something about leaning on the advice of people from your community that have cared about you. And that became a theme for me. And I ended up doing a full feature film that was written by Frank Jackson in 2013 called Six Hearts 1B.

[00:18:34] That film had probably about 75 young people in it total throughout the entire film, you know, under the age of 18 working with young people in the acting scene and in the arts.

[00:18:46] It's just always been a blessing and a drive and that was something that I always wanted to include. So I actually opened up a business, you know, empowering our children film works that is really focused on young people and youth advocacy films.

[00:19:00] But I'll say my big break came with a lobbyist group from Congress. I was approached after doing that full feature by a group called the Black Women for Positive Change.

[00:19:11] And they are a lobbyist group that does a lot of, you know, just fundraising and advocacy work for the community of Washington, D.C. and the city in general. And so I was approached by them to do a series of films.

[00:19:29] They wanted to do four short films with me and one full feature. So we started off by doing some films that address teen domestic violence as well as the high school dropout rate in America.

[00:19:40] Both of these films were a great success and they started to use it to campaign a national day of nonviolence. And so we went across the country, we got over 100-clock amations from different cities from mayors to government officials declaring October 12th National Day of Nonviolence.

[00:19:58] And it's just been that kind of movement that I've been trying to do through film to bring awareness to some of the things that are going on. So I say that it truly started in 1996, but it blossomed around 2013 to 2014.

[00:20:12] That's amazing. Listen you have, I would say probably 200 film credits to be honest. I mean, I know they only give you like 100 and something online. But as a writer, a producer, a director, I mean you do things now effortlessly.

[00:20:28] But when did you know like no I'm really good at this? Like this, I can see it. You know like this is it. This is the vision I'm going in this direction.

[00:20:38] I think that after doing 6 Hearts 1 Beat, I began to in 2013 really feel like if I was given the opportunities that I could really expand. I mean having the dream of always wanting to do this was kind of something that was developed because I was working in television production.

[00:20:58] Pretty much just grew up in the arts, just in general. As far as like theaters concerned, my grandmother was an all Broadway theater actress into her 80s.

[00:21:09] So it was something that you know I saw growing up and it was always something that I really inspired to do was to be in the arts. So I think that I kind of had the confidence after doing the full length feature. Awesome. I appreciate you sharing that.

[00:21:24] Talk a little bit about your fake journey. You know what has God shown you in these years of you just being able to work with the community, work with the youth, do all these different films?

[00:21:33] Has there something specifically that God has shown you that maybe you didn't know about yourself or just your spiritual growth over the years? Yeah and I'm a big influence of all of my films has been just my journey just through my faith in God.

[00:21:50] I mean down to from that Rites of Passage program that I told you about that was through church, Abenezer, AME church in full Washington, Maryland. And I was there probably when I was age 10 when it had 150 members and saw it grow to the thousands.

[00:22:07] So just growing up and speaking in front of hundreds of people to thousands of people. It was something that you could just feel the spirit giving you the confidence that anything that you put in on your heart God can get you through it.

[00:22:23] God can take you there. So I kind of grew up just a dreamer. And so all of this everything that I do I feel like is just in dedication to all the opportunities that God has given me.

[00:22:33] So I really try to have responsibility with a lot of the films that I do. Even though I have brought different genres because there's all different walks of life.

[00:22:42] But I do always make sure that I'm giving up to the community something that has heart and something that has passion and represents what God is and that's love. What are you looking to do next?

[00:22:56] If I could ask like after you have the business set up, you have all your everything set up. Like you're like a young director's dream, you know, a young producer's dream. You know they want to be you.

[00:23:10] But as far as all your accomplishments like what is that next thing that you like this is where I want to go. You know, I would like to see this happen. Yeah.

[00:23:19] I can definitely say that we've just wrapped on a holiday film called the Christmas bonus which brings awareness to cervical cancer. It's a 50% mortality rate for black women that are diagnosed with cervical cancer.

[00:23:33] So we yeah, something that a lot of people aren't aware of it's not one of the popular ones that I talked about a lot.

[00:23:40] But I pretty much had a friend that was close to me that was one of the first people to put me in front of a camera and tell me that I had the talent.

[00:23:50] She started a foundation and so I was just, you know, I was floored ones I heard about it. And so I always from 2011 to now I've always put something about cervical cancer in my film to bring awareness.

[00:24:06] But this one is a solid one that's really dedicated to bringing awareness to it. It's a love story, a holiday story, a feel good family story and also talks about the importance of the after school music program. So this is a beautiful film that we just finished rapping.

[00:24:23] We started in December and we wrapped on February 24th of this year. So that'll be coming out this holiday season that is, you know, written, directed produced by myself. I'm also acting in it and my daughter legend Balamani who's been acting since age two.

[00:24:40] She's now 15. She's starring in her firstly in the full feature. It also stars Michael J. Patterson, who's a very talented actor, award winning. He's also a part of the nominated film Million to One that we were a part of last year. Shout out to Ledger though.

[00:24:58] Shout out to you. Congratulations. Yeah, definitely shout out to her. How does she do? I'm being nosy now. I'm like working with dad. Like how was that working with your daughter? You know, it's interesting because of the fact that she started in the DC Black Theatre Festival.

[00:25:17] She was age two. She was talking. So she had a couple of experiences just being on stage and doing some theater work. And then by age three she was already on camera.

[00:25:27] She was in that film Six Hearts One Beat on set, you know, had a line, you know, asking where the bathroom was and those type of little things. So she's kind of just matured in it and she's arrived like right on time. It was amazing working with her.

[00:25:44] I was so impressed and caught crying many times off of camera. So, you know, but I know that it really brought us closer because just anytime that you make a full feature film, it is a tremendous journey.

[00:25:59] I was blessed to have two of my sisters-in-law let me use their homes as well as I used my house. We had a church, a real power and me let us use the church for the community center.

[00:26:11] We had a local art gallery, cultural art gallery, loudest to film there. And then we had Mixed Mingle restaurant. So we had just tremendous community support and it was just a beautiful situation. This film was made totally on donations from the community.

[00:26:26] We generally get a grant from the county to make it, but it wasn't available last year. So we didn't want to wait a whole another season to shoot it. We said we're going to do it together.

[00:26:37] So we raised up money with about 25 donors and we got it done in 17 days. Wow, that's amazing. Yeah. You know, why is it so important for you to make these really like impactful movies?

[00:26:53] Like it seems like everything that you want to produce, want to direct and want to be a part of, you know, you're using your storytelling to really tell a story of things that are really impactful to our black culture. Why is that so important for you?

[00:27:08] I believe that these films last forever. And so when you make these films, it is a level of responsibility to leave with the art. And I mean, that's just something that I'm just staying true to.

[00:27:20] I'm like I said, I'm greatly inspired, just triumph and I feel like it needs to be more of that. There's a space for that. There's people that want to sit down and leave feeling wonderful, leave feeling inspired. So that's my lane. That's my lane. That's my heart.

[00:27:39] That's my passion.

[00:27:41] And Sharca, what some advice you would give somebody who they're really like trying not necessarily following your footsteps, but you know, they're trying to take the same path that you took knowing, you know, what they're up against, you know, like what some advice you could give to them?

[00:27:53] Well, I would say number one is just please use that internet for what it's worth now. I mean, you can take master classes from Spike Lee. You know, a lot of great directors for $10 you could take master's classes now online.

[00:28:10] So if you're really interested in just the process of writing or directing or acting, you know, just start to invest in it.

[00:28:18] You know, I've heard someone say that if you invest 20 minutes every day, it's like 100 hours a month that makes you 95% better at the end of the year than anybody else. So just dedicate some time into it, look into the craft.

[00:28:31] But if it's on your heart, definitely follow your dreams anything is possible. I've for a long time have been, you know, in the small pond and have enjoyed it while, you know, I may have films in blockbuster. I never really did this for fame.

[00:28:45] I really did it for the passion and being able to reach people. So now we're in the middle of a film Renaissance.

[00:28:51] And this is a beautiful thing that now we have platforms like, you know, to be prime and all these places where you're seeing thousands of black filmmakers where before you may have only seen five or six black films in a year.

[00:29:04] So this is a totally different Renaissance and a totally different opportunity for filmmakers. That's good. That's real good. Listen, before we get you out of here, I got to ask you man.

[00:29:14] If you could work with three directors who would be the top three directors you would work with dead or alive. If you could do a film and you say, all right, these my top three, I will always want to work with them.

[00:29:27] What's the three top directors that are alive? You will work with. Okay, we're going to spike is spike is one off the top. Spike Lee. So it's a community based movie right there because Spike Lee all about the same thing you about definitely definitely.

[00:29:44] Educating and definitely telling the story. We got that. What's the next one? Who we add to it? I would say Anton for. Just just like if I want to do a suspense thriller kind of thing, you know, I think he would be great with that.

[00:30:02] And then who Ava. I mean, I'm a big fan because I mean just her passion and her journey and just the independent walk all the way up to there. I'm just I've always been a fan.

[00:30:15] Well, I got to ask you this too as well because I know you're OG listen, give me your top three MCs of all time. It's a hip hop show. So give me your top MPs all the time. Your top three. Oh man. Okay.

[00:30:32] You know, you know, like everybody knows. Like so my mom is from it's from the Bronx. She's from East 220th Street. You know, in Bronx with Avidon. So I'm like a big bro. I'm like a big rock. You know, I do like Scott face.

[00:30:51] I feel like he just speaks from the soul. But I mean, the greatest. Now this is your three. It's your list. Oh, I mean to me too. Park you're still the greatest of all time. Rock Kim and Scarface. That's a good list.

[00:31:09] So I got to ask you the top three gospel artists of all time. Who you got? Who you picking? Okay. That's happy for me right there. Okay. And it can be a group too as well.

[00:31:29] I ain't gonna hold you back in case you know, you want to add one of them families. I know it's like. I'm definitely going Kirk Franklin in there. He's one of them, but I'm trying to see. The fix is in. Oh man. Kirk Franklin. Who else we got?

[00:31:49] I mean, I like time. Yeah. I'm trying to fix my own. I'm trying to fix my own. I'm trying to fix my own. I'm trying to fix my own. I'm trying to fix my old school. They, you know, your phone. Come on now.

[00:32:09] Don't act like Grandma and then bring you up right. Oh man. Oh no, let me just go and read the Franklin because my grandmother played over there. Absolutely. That was good. So we appreciate you. No worries man. My wife and I are happy with her.

[00:32:30] No worries man. Shaka we appreciate you man. Thank you for coming by. Thank you for all you do especially again everything you do community-based everything you're doing for the youth empowering women and men like it's

[00:32:43] inspiring we see what you doing we know you might don't get all the knowledge men and accolades like you should but just we want to let you know we see you we have been supporting you for years and we go

[00:32:54] continue support you so keep it locked we got to go to a quick break we coming right back with more you tuned into the fix and the fix is in real conversations from real imperfect people in pursuit of a perfect God let's jump

[00:33:08] into today's real talk topic that we back DJ focus dice gamble you tap back into the fix your source of faith infused hip-hop army of poetry it's time to get really nice streets dice and you got one for on the day because

[00:33:25] I see this will come through and I say she got her wheels turd and she got her wheels spinning on this one this is definitely one I think it's gonna be a great conversation interesting to get the feedback definitely shots out

[00:33:39] there buddy listening we want y'all we must be back from this one but come on dice what we talked about today yeah okay we're gonna talk about salvation being the forever marriage proposal that is the marriage you

[00:33:54] know I think everybody who loves Jesus knows that you know God comes first so when it when we're if you're a Christian that's that's how we roll so and I've been chewing on this one for a while focus I'll be honest with you I have

[00:34:04] three sisters they're younger than I am none of them are married and they all want to be and they spend a lot of time either with people who aren't to be their mate or they waste time in ways that I would never and it's not that I'm

[00:34:24] better than them it's just looking at it is like man I'm married and shout out to all the married people out there but if you're married you know it's not easy it's not it's nothing easy about it we make it look good it is fun but it's

[00:34:36] not easy okay and I used to tell and I still do tell my sisters like if I wasn't married I would be spending more time with Jesus like that's that would be it and I think it's the same with every single married person I think they would

[00:34:52] they would learn how to dive deeper into their faith deeper into their relationship with God is that not something you would do if you weren't married would you not be you know I'm saying like I don't know what you'd be

[00:35:03] doing so be right I can't just do it so definitely I think so what happens is dice at least from my personal experience and then also I do just like you I well my brother's not married I have I do have one biological brother but he's

[00:35:29] not looking to get married but I do talk to a lot of single brothers in ministry in church who are looking to get married and I think a lot of them don't understand the covenant they don't understand the plan that God has for

[00:35:45] them when it comes to marriage so a lot of them are still self like working on themselves like they're still in that space where they you know trying to make sure they you know do everything they need to do financially

[00:35:58] make sure they got money got a career and preparing for you know that but they're still in that process so that's the least for me but I think yeah absolutely if I was believe me at this point in my age absolutely I would have

[00:36:12] definitely still had a meet God experience if I even if I wasn't married I'm just being honest like just because I know I was starting to go in a lot of circles that one were not beneficial for me so listen if I didn't

[00:36:26] make some tough decisions regardless yes you to your point yes I probably could be a whole mess so no I definitely would be seeking God now even if I wasn't married and making sure that I'm doing the things I need to do and he he's

[00:36:42] covered right right and it's in me marriage and salvation they mirror each other when it comes to the covenant it's forever you know God promises never ever to leave us that's in Hebrews he was 13 at 5 super clear and we are to

[00:36:59] publicly be married if we're going to be married you know we confess that in front of other people it's the same way with our faith we're not to hide our faith we're to become different just like in a marriage if you're married

[00:37:11] you shouldn't be doing the same things you were doing you were single nobody should see you at the club without your wife or your husband nobody you know I'm saying like it's it's different it's very very

[00:37:20] different it's the same way with salvation and like I said it's a permanent situation one where you grow and you get closer and it gets better you learn your your your you know chastise at times you're corrected your you understand

[00:37:35] but there are a lot of welcome surprises in it too and so you know that's if you become one you know like our thoughts should be like the thoughts God we want us to have is the same thing in a marriage we're one person so when

[00:37:51] we're gonna buy a house or buy a car our thoughts should be the same so it's for me I'm like this is it's a forever thing and for people who are lonely and there's they're spending a lot of time focused on ooh I want to be with

[00:38:08] somebody else it's like get into God while you're waiting like that's that's the thing like here's the deal God might not ever see you somebody you might be like one of these disciples out here with no wife it's

[00:38:20] okay get into Jesus and so you know I just I think we got to put our hearts in the right place when it comes to marriage and even if you get married for those of you who are married you know you're gonna go deeper in the

[00:38:33] Lord period to deal with who you're married to it ain't gonna be that you could deal with your mates ultimately and leave God out of it it don't work like that so yeah that's why I was like you know salvation is it's a

[00:38:50] forever proposal it is a forever marriage and God is always offering us something new you know and that's the same thing a marriage does you're always learning something new in that marriage there's always an offer for

[00:39:03] you to grow together do something new go deeper learn something new about each other so yeah I just I wanted to I wanted to bring that up because I think sometimes we get distracted being single thinking we're missing out and you ain't

[00:39:21] missing out on nothing other than probably less sleep I mean I'm talking about if you're if you put your joy in the right place you know if you if your joy and your hope is in the Lord you know I mean that's why I was like man

[00:39:37] being single you can get more done when it comes to ministry you can get more done because nobody's upset that you're up late or you're traveling or you know you you're at a group meeting or you're serving nobody's upset you can serve

[00:39:50] you can serve to you can stay at your 24 hours and night like and just be there praying for people who are coming in and falling out at the altar so you know marriage and salvation they are like they're not the exact same but the

[00:40:06] sacrifice you're gonna have to make you feel it you feel you are giving up some things and you're learning to decrease you know to grow differently and and to be prepared you know for this salvation you need to think about it

[00:40:23] that way personally I I don't think anybody preps you to become a Christian but that's why some people do leave focus they don't they're not dedicated you know they're like I don't want to do that every day I don't think like I

[00:40:37] want to think like that every day I don't want to grow every day I don't want to get you know I don't want to get better and it's the same thing with a marriage when you decide you don't want to grow and you don't want to

[00:40:46] get better you're not gonna be married much longer it's a lifelong commitment you're like it's a lifelong commitment and and to your point why you know again I know I talked about it when I first rededicated my life to Christ

[00:41:02] it was necessary for me to get back into serving and that allowed for me to understand and learn God for myself a lot better so to anybody out there who you know to your point what you just said you know I don't want to

[00:41:16] serve I don't want to do this listen the sacrifices that you make in the serving and I'm telling you God will bless you God will speak to you and again I think it's what is it Philippians Philippians one of six it just assures

[00:41:32] believers that God will complete a work of salvation he started in them and you yeah and I brought that up because as you put in the work I'm telling you God gonna continue to reveal stuff to you your faith gets stronger too as well

[00:41:48] I think people downplay the faith aspect of it too as well as you're serving as you trusting in God as you're growing in him your faith gets stronger you start to have more knowledge of his word of his understanding of what your purpose is

[00:42:03] or what you're supposed to do and again that is going to help you in the long run when you talk about like you said we're using the marriage and the salvation as the mirror like that is what it needs to be it needs

[00:42:17] to be an ongoing lifelong commitment and yeah you know you ain't gotta do it but if you do it it's a lot of blessings in it I agree that tons tons of blessings in it um you know just really really thinking about how Christ feels about

[00:42:35] when a person is saved or does come to another Lord it's just like the groom wedding you know and typically when people are getting married everybody's all around the lady you know it's like oh her dress and this is she's so pretty

[00:42:50] you know it's like girls really have a joyful celebration a joyful celebration all the way up and you have those uh the bride zilla's out here you know who are just they wild out because they want everything their way but we get it

[00:43:02] this is your day you've been waiting a long time it's a big deal and but it is uh where is it um it isn't to do I think it's in Isaiah and it talks about how

[00:43:14] the bridegroom rejoices over the bride so your god rejoices over you and the same way that when you're looking at that groom who's excited to see his wife coming down the aisle and you know like probably the first time you've ever

[00:43:29] seen a man be really emotional you know like this guy's really don't show their emotions like that but on their wedding day just how they're really like they be crying in they be boy they be man crying okay it's not in the whole

[00:43:41] nine someone passed out you know I've seen them on the on the internet how they just a faint um that's that's that's how heaven is rejoicing when somebody comes into the fold so i'm like there is an excitement there when we give our

[00:43:54] lives to Christ there's an excitement when a new believer starts to believe like we need to change the picture of what it looks like for us to be saved this is not just a chore you know saying like like it's it's way more than

[00:44:10] that and so you know god is looking forward to having that intimacy with us to you know walk in really carrying us down the path at times you know and so I just this stays on my heart because I'm like I just feel like there's some

[00:44:25] single people who often put being married above being saved yeah they do and so I'm I'm just trying to tell you it is definitely better for you to be saved than to be married so um and no god listen and no god for yourself

[00:44:45] outside to everybody no it's a lot of people I'm glad you brought that up with the marriage a lot of people do want to be married and they love the idea of having these big grand

[00:44:55] spending all the money spending all these money on this honeymoon and are you even really really really connected with god but yeah we're gonna we're gonna come back and test based on that listen

[00:45:05] y'all see what we're talking uh we're talking about it today salvation is the forever marriage proposal on this real talk conversation don't touch that down we uh go on to a quick break

[00:45:13] we're coming right back keep it locked you tune into the fix and it fixes in welcome back DJ focus dice gamble you take back into the fix your source of faith infused hip hop rnb

[00:45:22] in poetry we're in the middle of this real talk conversation dice and um yeah we just you know talking about it having a great conversation on this salvation and uh it's the forever marriage

[00:45:34] proposal and um I was thinking about uh you know before we went to break we were you know touching based on a lot of uh people want to be married and maybe their relationship with god is not where

[00:45:45] it needs to be and a lot of people I think downplay that you know the covenant and god's promise in the covenant is really what the marriage is all about I think everybody thinks it's about

[00:45:57] you know them just having this happy life living it up you know just you know honeymoon and you know vacation and the kids and you know just having this grand life and I think sometimes

[00:46:10] people forget about you know no it should be something that um not it should be something that shows off god and I think a lot of times people don't look at it that way but they still

[00:46:23] say the same vials they still you know believe in the the principles in the bible to a certain extent so I think that that hurts a lot of marriages but also individuals when you talk about the

[00:46:36] the plan for salvation and what salvation really means I think a lot of people don't even understand that part yeah I mean that's uh why we need god too right absolutely you know I'm saying but no I

[00:46:51] appreciate you bringing up the covenant and things like that obviously you know the abramic covenant it included a lot um everything from land to property yes to children to territory like the

[00:47:05] things that you're gonna need in life and I love that this was so early on in the bible that god kind of like shows us um what he wants to do like like what he clearly wants to do and he's about giving

[00:47:22] you know this is what I want to do I want to give I want to give god is relentless of his pursuit for us he loves us he's we're the apple of his eye as the saying goes like

[00:47:33] like we are his affection and that's why we have john 316 for god so love the world that he gave his only we got in son that so ever like not the cute person the smart person the person with no tattoos

[00:47:44] the person with one eye that who so ever believes yeah okay okay well not perish but have everlasting life like this is what he wants so it like from the beginning of the word to the end of the

[00:47:59] word to where hey I'm coming back to get my bride okay that is the goal here like like the church yeah I'm coming back to get my bride you know so our salvation is in that so I'm like if we knew we

[00:48:15] were really gonna have if we really believe that there would be this marriage and this connection and you know heaven is our honeymoon we would act different it was so act we would act different

[00:48:26] you say you say uh if we knew uh you know it was we believed it huh if we believe and had a real intimate relationship with god a real intimate relationship with god a real one shots out there

[00:48:37] everybody who's still praying fast and really seeking meditate read this word every day that's that's your intimate relationship no different than like you said the honeymoon yeah that's a yeah when the husband and wife come together it's an intimate moment it's it's an unforgettable

[00:48:53] moment the angels rejoice it's the same they rejoice yes but it's the same way when one of us makes it in you know what I'm saying so it's like that same energy uh oh let me get up oh let me

[00:49:06] put my best today oh let me call and check on my boo you know we engage oh let me you know where we gonna meet up today where we eating lunch today oh let me see you know what I'm saying

[00:49:15] let's go ahead and plan this way it's the same energy that you should have in your salvation the exact same energy oh where is god today oh how am I gonna meet him oh let me be ready

[00:49:24] oh what am I gonna say oh what am I gonna ask it's the same energy so that's all I'm saying is like yeah it's cute to be married and I and it's the same thing for married people too you should be in

[00:49:34] your relentless pursuit of god but definitely if you're not married salvation is is the thing you should be focused on and I and I know people like oh I gotta live and do this before

[00:49:46] I get married and okay go ahead and sleep with 100 people before you get married let's see how well that works on your soul yeah you ain't gotta do it shout out to everybody that realizes you don't

[00:49:56] have to do what culture tells you to do or music tells you to do you can actually have your own mind but that turns out you can think on your own just like just like we're doing right now

[00:50:07] but if you listen to other people though they will have you so distracted from all the fruit that has been promised to Abraham you know I'm saying like they will have you distracted from all

[00:50:17] the blessings of god because they're they they're like yeah while you why are you not married you know I'm saying turn up okay okay no don't do that so I don't know man god is fun you know

[00:50:30] Jesus is fun and I say that because there's safety in it there's surprises in it there are blessings in this that you couldn't even imagine you know there are places that you get to go

[00:50:40] there I'm times it's favorite that you could never ever get uh unsafe I'll be honest with you is different is is is different being in the fold so um I don't know man there's just so many

[00:50:52] benefits of it you know and then I just think for me trying to get people to see that god really wants them and then not diminishing all the pursuit like you can't count how many times

[00:51:03] somebody will tell you man I remember I was doing this man and lord saved me from that and lord saved me from this and lord said he wasn't just saving you he was pursuing you you know

[00:51:13] like it's not just oh let me let me stop stupid from doing something stupid again it's like no just stopping stupid from being stupid it's like I'm having that intimate moment we're bonding I'm revealing myself to this person I'm leading them I'm giving them clues I'm sending people

[00:51:29] their way you know I'm moving out I'm moving out haters that's out before them you know I'm saying like it is it is like a promise of god that I'm here I'm here if you want it I'm here if

[00:51:41] you want it so that's that's that's the thing that's been on my heart is like man now this is the fear forever marriage proposal like you're constantly getting ready you know for that

[00:51:52] day when you meet god which is going to be the most beautiful day you've ever had yes it is and uh put the work in we can't stress it enough um we talk about transformations

[00:52:03] no no see because it takes work to your point guys it takes work to learn start studying god to start disciplining yourself to start sacrificing the old things that you were doing because now

[00:52:15] you knew I know second um yeah yeah you know second correctness 517 speaks on being a new creation in Christ through salvation so yeah the spiritual transformation it's a day-to-day

[00:52:27] thing but it's easier it gets easier I gotta give you that like yes it may be you know okay oh man I gotta read my bible yes like book has said yes you need to spend time in prayer yep as we

[00:52:40] always say get into a good bible believe in church yep but get into community when you get into community to make your life a lot easier because now your christian friends they know how to pray

[00:52:51] for you you know they know how to lead you and guide you without trying to get something from you know like you learning to be generous as a giver as a christian like you meet more people

[00:53:00] because you're like you're out here serving your community and stuff like that and people like they get blessed and they'll turn around and want to bless you you know so there are just so many

[00:53:09] things in it for you when you obey god and um it's not just about oh I had to do everything god says like man you we god already knows you not gonna do everything he says

[00:53:20] but there is blessings and the bible's very clear you're blessed in every way when you're obedient unto what god is asking you to do so you know I just I know we need to continue to get closer to

[00:53:32] god and faith is a big deal and some people put so much faith in finding the right one but i'm like you didn't find the right one you found jesus right that's the right one the right one yeah everything you need uh south south everybody that believes the

[00:53:50] listen that salvation uh offers believers the assurance of eternal life don't don't don't play that too you know we we're walking this earth right now just for now but you know there will be no driver you're gonna meet your maker i'm like oh lord yeah yeah that's right

[00:54:09] turns out one day you gotta go back go you gotta go back to wherever you came from and what's and what's that look like so you know we want to go back and we want god to continue to rejoice over

[00:54:19] us as he does and um you know while we're here yeah i love on who's here but uh yeah get ready because it's gonna get better too you know i'm saying so and get in purpose not only get ready

[00:54:31] get in purpose i'm tired of y'all sideline sideline believers get in purpose how big are they doing that oh it's a lot of names out just who is it just tell us i'm gonna have a cat wings

[00:54:43] moment one day one day i will say today just dropping like it's hot like who is it oh my goodness dj focus dice gamble that's the real real for the day listen we got to go to a break we'll be

[00:54:53] right back with more you're tapped into the fix and the fix is in how good was that real talk dyson salvation is the forever marriage proposal forever forever you engage yeah we are engaged okay there's expectation for us to you know kind of you know be that bride

[00:55:12] that bride of christ that you know jesus coming back for you know i'm saying so this is a good one it's just a good reminder to let people know like you know we could put our energy into a lot of

[00:55:22] things being married being successful and things like that but ultimately at the beginning of the day and end of the day we need to be you know getting it getting our jesus on you know i'm saying

[00:55:32] that's it that's it not trying to make it complicated but there's always a purpose and we should you know be walking in our godly purpose before we walk in all these other things we want to do

[00:55:41] so it's just a little reminder it's the best relationship ever okay that's right that's what i'm trying to say mm-hmm that's it we ain't gonna be charmed side to head with it no more

[00:55:52] but this this was a good one just just a reminder like i said for all those people who are single and they're putting a lot of pressure on being married or you know it's like go ahead and you know

[00:56:02] you know hang out with the lord while you're not married you know because you really might find purpose out there if you go ahead and be about your father's business like jesus was here you go motivation i'm sick of them just not doing nothing guys do something

[00:56:20] okay do something monday do something monday do something and uh let's do something i feel that i feel that yeah we really need to trust god more we really need to make sure god is involved in

[00:56:34] everything more yeah so yes i think it's very very key that we do something we do something how good was shaka shaka came on here preaching didn't he fantastic had a word hope y'all wrote it

[00:56:46] down yeah i was wondering how i need to go ahead and cash out my brother but i just i love hearing all the things he's done he's done and then his reason you know i'm saying just that community aspect of

[00:56:56] always looking to give back or have a cause attached to whatever he's doing i think that's fantastic because some people are here just making movies so they don't mean nothing you

[00:57:06] know they're just doing stuff to be doing it but i just love how he has attached his brand to to causes and you know i don't know things that shed light on i don't know and shed light in places

[00:57:18] we need to see you know yes yes just bring an awareness he's dope yes shaka balamani and uh shawsan to uh dr ronda cotton come about as well listen she is a uh a a exceptional poet poet

[00:57:35] writer author she is a producer she's an actress she's also uh listen she has on a production company but she's also just in the community uh making sure she gives back make sure she has a passion for

[00:57:49] encouraging and helping the youth uh give back on the right track for some who may have you know steered the steered off their path a little bit so she works with uh disadvantaged youth

[00:57:59] all the time so we love highlighting people who are really movers and shakers in the community really trying to give back and shawsan to all the men again um me just being in at the

[00:58:10] king's movement summit uh this past weekend it just got me thinking too as well listen i think i need to be a little bit more vocal a little bit more seen just in my community making sure that

[00:58:21] well you know i'm doing my service and giving back to as well and make sure myself is available so pray y'all enjoyed the show listen uh tap in with us tomorrow tiptoe to guys got another

[00:58:32] real she got a real a real good uh real talk top of y'all tomorrow y'all might want to talk about real real good they've been waiting on this one so uh shout out to everybody who loves our real talk

[00:58:43] conversations tap in tomorrow of course i know we got a new spiritual detox for y'all dice got that uh yeah that quick fix sports report listen much more listen we we got some new segments we're

[00:58:53] about to throw in into as well so y'all just keep it locked uh yeah i feel the lord is telling me to throw something in comical i feel like i feel like we need to throw something comical

[00:59:02] comical so uh shout out to all the comedians out there uh don't be them and me already got who i want in mind so it's a done deal don't don't don't get no idea god already put in my spirit

[00:59:13] who uh you know if uh we we're talking about uh bringing some comedy to the show and uh yeah i'm looking for that yeah yeah yeah some church comedy we need some people to serious dice

[00:59:23] shout out to all y'all serious people out there you know i don't really hang around serious people too much i cuz yeah anybody gonna take me seriously to bed and on it's like it's about you know being

[00:59:34] having fun it's a time to be serious don't give me twisted i understand yet for the business aspect absolutely i'm gonna be serious but for the most part i like to hang out have a good time and i

[00:59:44] like same energy around me or not just you know yeah just say hi so yeah yeah yeah for the ones who ain't bringing that same energy dice i ain't got time for that yeah just say hi and bye we agree

[00:59:57] with disagree it's okay i got no listen ain't no hard feelings the god still love you i still love you too as well there we go there we go all right y'all we catch out tomorrow same time same

[01:00:08] place as always remember to stay focused on turning a negative into a positive jesus christ is always the answer kingdom advancement should always be your goal to fix his end we out peace y'all