“You come in alive, the only way you leave is dead.” Those were the ominous words that I was told when I entered the dope game. This lifestyle did not just come with prospects of big money; it also came with a hidden curriculum which included some basic rules of thumb: (1) never volunteer any information to the police, (2) never rat on your friends, (3) never come up short on your count and (4) never sell dope where you live. These were just a few basic lessons. If you did well in this school, you might live to see another day. If you failed to adhere to any one of these lessons, you might wind up paying with your life. Like so many other young black men, that was my reality. But God is merciful. I was nothing like what you would expect a Christian to be like, yet God saw fit to spare my life and use me to help others. Unbeknownst to me, I was already experiencing a Ragamuffin type of Gospel long before I took Dr. Vander Meer’s Practice of Discipleship class.
As I look back and reflect on my life, I never would have thought that I would transition from a young black outlaw and a drug dealing junior high school dropout from Detroit to becoming a certified paralegal (graduating with distinction), mentor to several troubled youth and a junior at Calvin University’s Prison Initiative (CPI) at the Handlon Campus. God is good!
As I reflect on how I went from the School of Hard Knocks to creating Word Docs I smile because I am finally living the type of life that God intended for me to live. Needless to say, I no longer deal in drugs: instead I deal in love. Instead of pushing ounces of cocaine, I am pushing out Word Docs every week. I respect others and have an inner peace and joy that radiates outward. The cherry on top is that my family is proud of me too. I realize that it is only by God’s grace that I have been blessed with the opportunity to participate in Calvin’s CPI program, and for that I am truly grateful.
It is worth mentioning that had I not obeyed the prompting of the voice of God, I never would have signed up to attend. When I received the email that said that Calvin University was accepting applications for its CPI program, my initial reaction was to entirely disregard it, because I did not think that I would be eligible with a life sentence. Just as I was about to delete the email, God told me to sign up, and also told me to tell DaShea Green to sign up as well. At this time, my understanding was that only one person from each prison would be selected. However, I knew better than to question God, so I signed up and told my friend DaShea to sign up as well. There were approximately five or six other prisoners to sign up at my facility and many more statewide. Nevertheless, me and DaShea were the only two selected from Alger Correctional Facility. This fact strengthened my faith, and motivated me to continue to trust God. As I share this testimony, I encourage others to trust God, even when things seem unlikely. Trust Him, “and he will bring it to pass.” (See Psalms 37:5, KJV).
To each student of Calvin University: enjoy the ride, and watch where God takes you.
