@kush07_ You are going to give legit news someday and I’m totally going to miss it bc I always assume you’re messing with me. (We need a code for when you’re serious.)
@kush07_@arianator_pl1 Kush- before I got to know you better…I fell for EVERY post. 😂 You keep me on my toes. (I mean…I guess I can’t fault you for trying to manifest awesome things.)
@valsbrain1@tealslipstream That would have stressed me out so much back when I competed. It’s enough pressure praying you don’t mess up for the sake of your team. Can you imagine having the world watching you the entire routine & picking your every move apart? I feel so bad for those kids.
I was in Bible college the week before 9/11.
Testimony service. Folding chairs. Fluorescent lights. Mandatory attendance.
Everyone expected the usual: clean stories, safe sins, spiritual résumés.
Then a tattooed giant walked to the front with his wife.
Former heroin addict. Former bouncer.
She’d worked the streets. Met him through her pimp.
Both of them gripping Bibles like flotation devices.
They sang. Badly.
Then he preached for five minutes.
No polish. No structure. No seminary cadence.
The hermeneutics professor winced.
The English teacher checked the clock.
But the altar filled.
Heaven moved while the educated missed it.
That moment never left me.
Because it exposed something most Christians don’t want to admit:
God does His best work in people who are still a mess.
That’s why Jelly Roll scares the industry.
Pills. Prison. Years burned down.
Then he grabbed the Grammy mic and said the one name you’re not supposed to say out loud if you want to keep a career.
“I love you, Lord.”
The crowd cheered.
The suits froze.
They always do.
Because God isn’t finished with him yet.
And unfinished people are dangerous.
Moses wasn’t Moses overnight.
He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew. Rage took over.
Looked left. Looked right. No witnesses.
So he killed him.
Buried the body in the sand.
Forty years later he’s still running when the bush burns. Still seeing blood on his hands.
“Who am I?” he asks.
God sends him anyway.
Not from murderer to hero.
From murderer to man still being worked on.
Paul didn’t become Paul overnight either.
Stephen preached. Rocks flew. Skulls cracked.
Coats piled at Saul’s feet while he approved.
Years later, after writing half your New Testament, he’s still begging God about a thorn.
God doesn’t say, “You’re finished.”
He says, “My grace is sufficient.”
Your Bible reeks of in-progress redemption.
Exodus doesn’t hide the murder.
Acts doesn’t hide the coats.
KJV. No polish. No PR team.
That tattooed couple went home after chapel.
Monday came. Cravings stayed. Memories stayed.
God stayed.
Jelly Roll will wake up tomorrow with the same demons and the same industry pressure to shut up.
God will still be working.
You’re not disqualified.
You’re under construction.
Same clay. Same Potter. Same wheel.
Build anyway. Fall anyway. Get up anyway.
@sourtourtickets I paid less than $250 for two upper section seats. I had the best time and you could still see everything! Plus, I transformed my husband into a Swiftie! (Notice my red heart sunglasses on his head…)
@kaileee_brianne Around age 4, my grandmama told me they were called, “gum drops”. (I was terrified to walk on the beach & made everyone carry me until she convinced me they were friendly as long as you left them alone.) I definitely was NOT 34 when I learned this was not true. 🙃😂
@Hoang_HQ Anyone else do something similar in 5th grade? All boys & girls dressed up every Monday night to learn a fancy dance to show our parents & the end of the year. No? Just me? (Looking back, growing up a southern debutant was ridiculous.) 🙃