So I pulled a poem from a pocket that hadn’t been worn in a while. FIRST, I feel like I have writers block. Like every time I sit and try to write a new piece, it is no where near creative quality to some of the first things I’ve written.

Confession, I believe as time went by, I started seeking motivation from a worldly perspective. Not that I want to write about money, drugs and fame, but would try and seek their style to perfect my own. Almost like to say I was trying to use their recipe to add flavor to the gift God has given me. Listening to Drake, trying to incorporate his style of word play. Thinking I can get a dose of Kudi, to add flare using his kind of hooks to hook my audience. Believing Biggie would have me influenced to have no fear of an audience of BIG size.

Boy was I wrong. The influence I thought I was receiving was actually killing the life of Godly poetry that was trying to grow. I was choosing the wrong armor. When David went to fight Goliath, he was offered an armor not of his own motivation. He denied quickly. He used what God has blessed him with and was confident in that.

DUDE I JUST GOT SLAMMED BY JESUS! But let me tell you why I am glad I did. Our gifts can only get bigger when being nourished with the right flavor, the right ingredient, the right MOTIVATION. For me, my motivation is the word of God. It is was what started this poetry and what will finish it. The first poem ever written ROOTED was birthed out of the bible. I was a fool to ever think I could have birthed something that great out of the things of this World.

Look it was pretty hard to admit this, but hopefully you were encouraged and blessed. Fume the flame, your flame, your gift, your passion, your desire, with the ONE who LIT the match in the first place.

be encouraged. be blessed

Too long since I’ve written. To be honest, I just needed a break. I needed to step back and breathe. Hawaii has been awesome. The last two to three months have been the most intense.

But cut to the chase to make this a short and simple one. When you think you know, you dont. I am tired of trying to figure out the pieces to the puzzle. Tired of spending countless hours or minutes in a day thinking I know it all or plan the rest of this life out.

Done.

Let go and let God. I am literally handing him a pen and telling Him, “You finish the story”. I probably have blogged about this before but I wanted to reiterate that during this break in cali, in my quiet time with Jesus, it has been an awesome time of just surrendering. So here it goes. Enough with trying to figure things out, enough with trying to make things work on my terms, enough of me and more of Him.

Im going to keep my hands up like its a stick up and Jesus is pointing the pen but instead of shooting, he splashes ink onto a cleanly washed canvas.

To the author and finisher of time, you can have it all.

be blessed be encouraged.

I will literally be staring at my computer for hours sometimes before I can put finger to keyboard. ITs not because I dont know what to write about, or that nothing is on my mind. Believe me, I’ve got plenty to write about. With eyebrows raised and wrinkles defining a stumped look on my face, I just sit and stare.

Most of the time it takes me a while because I care about who is going to read this. I worry that if this isn’t what it can really be, I might miss the audience. I think every post I write is inspired by Jesus to influence someone else. My biggest fear is that I dont give you everything I have, that I dont push 100% out, that I dont give you my BEST.

I want you to know that there is a “fire starting in my heart”, to reach the unreachable.
The flame that is growing inside, has tips of red that can only be captured by witnessing an unforgettable sunset.
Like jet fuel, the fumes explode in my soul causing this Jesus Freak to unleash gospel like my name was Paul and death is just a promotion
There is no potion, recipe, or 3 step process to describe what is about to happen in the natural
I am laced with lyric excellence that isnt my original but only paraphrased scriptural, context
strapped with Galatians 5:22 and Ephesians 6:10, power in my voice like fists of BJ PENN, Im shouting
Psalms 110, with palms raised I praise knowing John 7:18 is exactly why I am a poetic, writing, slam fein
I carry a nine too expect mine, is found in Jeremiah chapter 20
There is plenty to go around and so if you bound and wrapped, just know I’m coming for ya because
“…theres a fire starting in my heart”

I’ve been listening to Adele’s track called rolling in the deep, on repeat. That one line where she talks about fire is just stirring in my heart. I am almost a year in and lets just say its time to unleash whatever left I am holding back.

If you ever feel like you have more, you probably do. If you eve feel like you have a task to complete, you probably do. If you ever felt like you were meant for more, you were. If you ever feel like you were suppose to do something, you are. Your intuition is more than a scientific term created to cover the supernatural meaning of its ever defining presence, it is a word that should have never replaced HOLY SPIRIT. If he speaks to you listen. I know it can be written easily but obedience was never meant to be difficult until flesh came along. I encourage you to fight flesh and live by the spirit, that feeling you have inside of you that pushes you further.

be blessed. be encouraged.

I’ve literally been keeping one of the biggest secrets of my life from you all! Like a volcano about to erupt, my gut has been bubbling wanting to let it out. SO HERE IT GOES! I GOT HIRED WITH THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY! Thats right folks, I am officially a cast member for Disney himself. I will be working at the Aulani Resort and Spa opening in August here in Hawaii.

But that is not even the cool part. Like a motto to this whole journey since way back in 2010, “I walk by faith not by sight” has been chanted through every obstacle, turn and swerve. I felt like Denzel walking through a deserted dessert trying to find my victory. There were plenty of times in this past year where I thought this dream was just that, a vision of something that would never happen. But thats like us right? To not believe that God is capable of making your heart desires come to pass. Let me encourage you with this. Why would he put them there then?

Even when I had made it past the fourth interview, I still doubted the fact that I was going to get this job. But it wasnt till I spoke with a few key people in my life, that I changed my perspective on things. Alot of times we are fast to thank God for all the good things in our life, yet hesitant to thank him for the bad. I have been doing things different lately. Like pizza on a bagel theme song I —> “thank him in the morning thank him in the evening thank him at supper time”. Well in the fact that regardless of any outcome in my life I thank Him, knowing God is in control. So at the point where I thought that I wasnt going to get the Disney job, I thanked Him. Even though in my mind it was a bad thing, I just thanked Jesus for writing the story of my life.

Let me slang it to you like this in Luke 6:38 it says this :

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

If you give God your hearts desires, your inner most, that prize procession that you dont want anyone to touch or mess with, God is willing to give it right back to you ten times better. Its our relationship with faith, with Jesus.

Are you willing to let go and let God. I sometimes hesitate to let God, but I think thats the best way to do it; thanking him despite the outcome… knowing that the author and finisher of time, the creator of galaxies not known to man, who told the sun where to set and the planets how to rotate… is in control.

be blessed be encouraged.

But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. 14 This is why it is said:

   “Wake up, sleeper, 
   rise from the dead, 
   and Christ will shine on you.”

This is such a dope line from the word of God. I guess what sticks out to me is that we can shine a light on someone, and because it is illuminated which means filled with light, then they too will begin to shine.

Im so excited to work along a team of people who have enough light to be illuminators. I just wanted to encourage you this afternoon to not just be, a low 1.99 light from walgreens, or a match light that burns out in two seconds only leaving its audience teased, but I pray that we all can be light a lighthouse, whose light sends out miles into darkness. 

lets not sleep on opportunities. Let the holy spirit guide you through the day and when you feel that pull, tug or gut feeling to tell somebody about Jesus. GO FOR IT.

BE blessed. BE encouraged. 
jbo

Big things poppin. Amazing how you can go from bein joe bo, to everything crackin feelin like I should have my own my movie promo. haha FOR REAL! my life is this crazy story with twists and climax’s and endings to this story and starts to this journey. AMAZED, to say the least right now.

My future lies with the author and finisher of this universe. Why should I worry or fret, when my God, who I worship, created everything in seven days. Truth is, we struggle with our flesh and struggle with a mindset that wants things done our way. I sometimes find myself in life just clawing the edges of a cliff that represents my heart, and the healing comes when I reach the top. But maybe thats the best place to be sometimes, there hanging. Yea it is going to hurt, yea it does suck to feel that detachment to what you wanted, but in the end I can honestly say I am ok with it, because God will eventually pull me up. Its understanding to become completely reliant on God.

been out here for 10 months, really really went through some stuff, hard stuff since Ive got here. And just now I’m starting to see the pieces fall together.

Time heals everything.

Be blessed. Be encouraged.

I’m not going to lie to you. Ever since I was a kid, there has been this pull, like gravitational pull like, to be famous. Like as a kid, I use to dress up and take center stage in my living room, doing the most to make my parents laugh. I remember the first time I was in a play and feeling that jolts your body when people are applauding for you.

There is something inside of me that fights for more than what I have. It is like an addiction to do more and get more.

In high school, I got scouted at a talent gathering in Vegas. There I was offered to sign with an agency in LA. I thought, wow, this is it, this is the start of stars, the walk before the fame. Here is the door that is open. I will be in a movie in no time and Hollywood is not ready for me.

Inside of me though, I couldnt do it, I knew this wasnt the move I was suppose to make. Its like being in the biggest basketball game of you life with 10 seconds left on the clock. You know you have what it takes to make the shot and when you do, the crowd is going to go nuts and you are going to be the center of attention. 99% of legit players are going to take the shot, and the others will pass the ball to someone else to make it for them. In my circumstance, I dished the rock, not to a person here on Earth, but I passed that shot to the man upstairs, knowing he knows whats best.

NO I dont regret it. The answer to the question that always comes after I tell that story. My motivation has shifted. I am 23 know, I still burn with desire to make a huge difference in this world. Like a fire shut up in my bones, my desire has transformed from wanting to be the center on stage, to being on stage with Jesus as the center.

I write this to encourage you. To tell you anything is possible. Who knows what lies before me or what future God has in store. You may very well be the next Mariah Carey, or Shia Labeof, matter of fact I know someone who reads this is positioned to be in that arena because God needs people there too.

I encourage you because recently I have been inspired by God. Inspired by looking back at the last 8 years and seeing where he has taken me. I make his name known though a vehicle I didnt even know I had. He blessed me by placing me in a place I have always wanted to live, under a person who drives me to push for the impossible and just recently has blessed me with a Dream coming true. And I know He is getting ready to set me up with someone to rock by my side too Right God? haha

Serious though, You all have a gift, a treasure to unlock within yourself.

I dare not let that treasure or gift sit on a shelf because I thought it would be for FAME or for this or that purpose.

The difference is, I will use it regardless, for his name.

Make your own stage, start a new page.

Straight to the point. These people got jacked. Three street performers gather a large crowd. They are putting on a pretty cool and funny show. Interacting with the audience, making them laugh and making a big huddle. They pulled about 8 people from crowd and hyped the rest of the typical tourists by saying that “Stay tuned for our GRAND FINALE, which I will back flip over these 8 people with one big jump.”

So they get to the part of the show where they stated that “we know if we did the trick now, all of you would leave after with out paying for the show, so before the finale lets take the donations now.”

They had been great, and so kind to audience that even I was tempted to throw a five in their bucket, but I had empty pockets so I didnt. Tourists from all over were anticipating something great, so they tossed in their, 5′s, 10′s and some even 20 dollar bills.

Then a lady from the crowd says “hurry up”. Whoops. They kindly said “O we will get to it dont worry”

After all their donations were collected, which was def. a lot of CA$$$$$H. I was shocked to see what came next…

“THATS OUR SHOW FOLKS”

done. that was it. No flip, no break dance, no hip hop, no summer salt, no jump rope NO STREET PERFORMANCE. ABOUT 75 people just got RIPPED right in front of my eyes.

So why would I share a story like this for. Because God speaks to us in different ways.

This was like a real life parable for me. You see this world will treat you the same way these three dudes treated the audience. It will hype you up for success, play with your emotions, get you all stirred up to promise you something great in return. And just when you think that your about to get what you paid for, whether financially or even emotionally sometimes, it turns its back on you and walks away.

But the good news is, is that there is something and someone in this world who is the exact opposite. Who has already delivered a grand finale by giving his life for you, and he didnt set up donation buckets before his promise. Matter of fact, even till this day, it costs nothing to inherit his treasures. You can emotionally invest in this person knowing that you will have a greater return and it will be 10 times greater than what you thought it was gonna be. He will never lie to you or hype you up only to turn his back. You will always know that you will never be DISAPPOINTED.

He will never steal or take anything from you, but be the first person to give you everything your heart desires.

He is Jesus. If you would like to know about him. Ask me and Ill give you a presentation that is free, life changing, and you will not be DISSATISFIED.

just a simple scripture

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

He walked with high head that day. His feet probably covered with dirt that had dried to his skin like dew sticking to grass on a winters day. The sun waiting to set over a land that had been taking back for glory, the young warrior pushes forward to a future only a God can write. Each step beat the ground echoing faith from east to west.

His knuckles tipped white, clinched tight to the grip of the victory he carried. In between his fingers was hair. Hair that had seen more death then most of that decade but today had seen its last. He clinched to his greasy, dirty yet easy victory, holding it tighter than ever before not because of its weight but because of the strength He was portraying to his people.

In his left, was not the weapon of destruction but the finishing utensil that made it possible to carry what was in his right. Beasting forward back to his home land, he commanded forward replaying what was foretold to him. Victory.

With the head of a giant in left and sword of a slained in his right, young David’s name was chanting amongst Jerusalem. But David would let known that it was the Lord Almighty who had made his enemy a footstool underneath his feet.
Just another day in the World of a Giant Killer.

“This day the LORD will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.”

I talk a lot about victory and winning. I guess its in my personality to be competitive.

But today I want to focus more on the aftermath of a win. Who really knows what it was like after David killed Goliath. My imagination just sort of dreamed that up but I bet it was even greater than that.

I encourage you to win something today. To be so competitive, that it boils your butterflies and smokes out your fears.

There is nothing better than a victory lap, or the feeling of taking first place after you have worked so hard for something. With God all things are possible.

So I dare you to chant this:

There is a God in Hawaii
There is a God In California
There is a God in New York
There is a God in South America
There is a God in Indonesia
There is a God in the city
In the streets,
In the fields,
In the oceans
In this Land, There is a God.

Be blessed. Be encouraged.