Most Athletic

Season 1 Episode 40

³The angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “It is true that you are unable to conceive and have no children, but you will conceive and give birth to a son. ⁴Now please be careful not to drink wine or beer, or to eat anything unclean; ⁵for indeed, you will conceive and give birth to a son. You must never cut his hair, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from birth, and he will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines.” Judges 13:3-5 CSB

The Bible doesn't mention any of our modern sports—it might not mention sports at all, but that doesn't mean there weren't athletic people in Biblical times. The more I read the story of Samson, the more I see Samson in the athletes of today. I found myself having more sympathy for him. Let's talk about vulnerability, strength, and compassion.

References and Footnotes

Jeannette Catsoulis. "‘Brian Banks’ Review: Falsely Accused, and Fighting Back". New York Times. August 8, 2019

"Report: Wife caught Kobe cheating". FOX Sports. December 18, 2011

Lindsay Gibbs. "The legacy of the Kobe Bryant rape case". Think Progress. April 13, 2016

Jill Mahoney. "Chronology of the Tiger Woods scandal". The Globe and Mail. December 8, 2009

William D. Cohen. Remembering (and Misremembering) the Duke Lacrosse Case". Vanity Fair. March 10, 2016

Fruit of the Spirit: Patience feat. Derrell (Part 2)

You mean to tell me I can’t just wake up more patient? Patience is like a six pack, you have to go to the gym, sweat a little, feel gross, and wake up in pain a few times before you can claim the honor. So maybe it takes two episodes to talk about, too.

Season 1 Episode 21

¹⁰Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;
¹¹Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;
¹²Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
¹³Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.
¹⁴Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. Romans 12:10-14 CSB

Time
00:01:29	Ree:	Hey guys. Welcome back to the PSALMS to God podcast. Once again I have my friend Derrell here, and we're talking about patience. So this is the second part of the last episode. If you have not already listen to the first episode on patience, you will definitely want to check it out. I try not to do 2 part episodes where you actually need to listen to them in a certain order, but this time I think it's best if you listen to the first episode first and this one second, because there is some continuance of conversation and we probably will be referencing things from the previous episode since it was actually one conversation. But without further ado this is the rest of Darrell and I’s conversation about patience and what we've experienced concerning patience in life.
00:02:23	R:	So Derrell, let's continue our conversation on patience. Looking back, how do you feel about those injuries?
00:02:33	D:	Like just that fast... Like I said, the second I tore my knee, I thought I was done. I thought that was it. And I was like “Man, I spent my money. I invested all this time. I spent all this time away from my friends and family.” And to be chasing this one thing, and it’s possibly over. ‘Cause I thought I had torn my ACL, MCL, PCL.[1] Come to find out a meniscus is actually a very commonly torn ligament. It’s something runners tear all the time. Sometimes they can be back 2 weeks, 6 weeks. ‘Cause I had to have the surgery, my whole recovery period was 6 months, but I was up on my feet and walking after 2 weeks of surgery—from surgery. Actually I was walking a week after surgery. In 2 weeks they cleared me to go back to the gym and start working out again. Light stuff, but I could start working out again.
00:03:22	R:	It's better than nothing.
00:03:24	D:	So, when I say like patience is something that taught me. I had to have patience. But patience isn’t just about... Because some people think I need to be patient about—patient in traffic you know? Like sometimes there’s gonna be traffic, you have to have patience. Because one thing people say, “I really got to get to such and such.” Well, what if this traffic is keeping you from getting into a collision up the road? How often do people think about that? Or how about when you leave the house but you say, “Aw man, my left my bag at the house. Now I have to turn around.” Well, take the time. Be patient. Go back and get it, because what if the reason why you left that, and you had to go back was a drunk driver was going to be caught speeding through a red light you were going to be at and that could’ve hit you? You know. So, when you think about things like that, like sometimes patience is for the virtue, and sometimes people want the now, now, now. When you gotta let things—just take your time.
00:04:34	D:	My dream didn’t just come out of nowhere. I actually thought about it. I sat down. I looked at my finances. I looked at how am I going to get to and from. It took me working from job to job to get to a job that will allow me where I can work from 6-2 and then have the rest of the afternoon off to go wrestle. A lot of jobs don’t allow people to work from 6 to 2pm&mash;6am to 2pm—
00:05:01	R:	You right![2]
00:05:02	D:	My sister tells me all the time that’s really unheard of. But I have a great job, that's flexible, that allows me to do what I need to do for wrestling. So in the grand scheme of things, all the pieces fell into place at the right time. At God’s timing—He has perfect timing.—
00:05:23	R:	Yes! God is great at that.
00:05:25	D:	😂Yeah, like that whole saying of “I’m not going to be there when you want me, but I’ll be there right on time.” And when I tell you, every place along this journey this journey of wrestling, He’s been right on time. It's been an amazing ride thus far and like my wrestling career has just taken off as far as being on TV, but I’ve just been truly amazed at how I had dreamed of being one of those guy that I saw on TV and here I am tomorrow—April 27th—I'm going to be on Ring of Hour TV.
00:06:02	R:	Yeah!
00:06:04	D:	😂 So it’s just, patience. I learned a lot about patience. And you learn a lot about patience in even with wrestling. When you first start you’re low man on the totem pole[3] and you have to put in—in the business it’s called paying your dues.
00:06:24	R:	Yeah, that's true everywhere. You got to pay your dues everywhere.
00:02:28	D:	For those people who don’t understand what paying dues means, if you understand Greek life then you understand having to be humble and having to be a neophyte at some point in time, and paying your dues. So, or like if you’re on like a varsity team, like in high school. Or I don’t know, you were in the band, so I'm pretty sure freshmen had to go get the water.
00:06:55	R:	Yeah, rookie status.
00:06:58	D:	Yeah, so everybody understands paying your dues. So in wrestling, paying your dues means showing up early to unload the truck, build the ring, set out chairs, do security during the show. Once the show’s over, break down everything, pack up the truck, go back to wherever the ring is stored, unload the ring, and do it all again next weekend—and have a smile on your face when you’re doing it.
00:07:54	R:	Exactly.
00:07:27	D:	So, and once again, a lot of guys don't make it because they don’t have the patience to deal with that. They just want to come, throw me in the ring and I want to look great. And it’s not that simple. You have to pay your dues; that’s just a part of patience. I had a lot of patience. I did it with a smile on my face. I actually was head of security while I was paying my dues. So I don't know how I got put in that position. It was just, I didn't think the way it was being run was being run correctly, so I stepped up and when I did it there were no more issues. So I don't know if
00:08:07	R:	Hey, that means you did something right!
00:08:09	D:	Well, you know, my pastor always says if something bothers you, then that’s your calling and you go do it.
00:08:15	R:	This is true.
00:08:16	D:	So at that time I was like, this isn’t being done right, so let me take it. But yeah, that’s my testimony on patience and where it’s gotten me thus far.
00:08:29	R:	Yeah! Thank you for sharing that. You know I struggle.
00:08:32	D:	No problem.
00:08:33	R:	I struggle with patience. One of the things I realized... So before I do each of my episodes, particularly on the Fruit of the Spirit, I look up like all the references to that Fruit of the Spirit in the Bible, and I'd like to tell y’all that I read every single one of them but that would be a bald-faced lie.
00:08:56	D+R:	😂
00:08:58	R:	But, I read as many as I can. And when I looked up the stuff on patience. You know, of course a lot of the stuff that you were talking, about about how going through tribulations and having endurance is part of building character and part of how God gets us where we need to be. It also aligned our goals with His timing. But one of the ideas crazy things that I realized is that as a looking at the Fruit of the Spirit, I felt like patience—whooo! Excuse me!—I felt like patience was the backbone. Like one of the things I've been noticing is that they’re, I don’t want to say interchangeable, but in order to have one of them you need the other. So for instance, like in order to love somebody, you have to be patient with them. But in order to be patient with them you have to love them. And so, like almost all of the Fruit of the Spirit, you can go through and see this correlation. Like in order to have joy you have to have patience; in order to have patience you kind of have to have joy, ‘cause you have to be content at the state that you're in in the moment.
00:10:16	R:	And I realized that—I know at least speaking for myself, probably for other people—the reason we struggle with each of these Fruits of the Spirit, particularly probably self-control, is because we don't have patience. And when I thought about it like that you know it it made me realize how important it is for me to slow down. And you know, one of the things you mentioned about like pride. We were talking about like what you thought you wanted. I think that ties into patience, as well. Like it's our pride that keeps us from wanting to wait, ‘cause we just want it now, and it's like a selfish instinct.
00:11:06	R:	And I I just thought it was interesting, because when I look at things... Like when I first started, I was making a list of things that I was good at being patient with and things I was bad at being patient with. And then I started to realize that there were still correlations between the two, and that it's really how quickly do I lose my patience. You know, you already know I am a person, I am guilty of road rage.
00:11:44	D:	😂
00:11:47	R:	It's sad, because it's not really about getting to the place. It's not usually like oh they're driving too slow and I want to get there, or anything like that. For me it's usually about the principle of the matter. So I almost always get road rage when I feel like somebody is in the wrong, but they're coming for me. So you have the person that cuts you off in traffic and then they honk at you, and I'm like “Why are you honking at me? You cut me off!” and then all of a sudden I'm like super angry. And you know I think when you said you know that your pastor said when you see something wrong or something bothers you, that’s you know you're calling. I feel like I just have this passion for like the principle of the thing. That's one of the like the number one things that like when I see people doing something that's clearly wrong, and then like being boastful about it, that it drives me up the wall.
00:12:53	D+R:	😂
00:12:55	R:	And I often wonder. Like I feel like sometimes we…Like there's the lack of patience, but like you shared your whole journey for becoming a wrestler. And I feel like sometimes we just want to take the easy way out, and so we see things that bother us, and we think like “Oh I should do XYZ. This is what it would take to fix it.” And then we’re like “Oh, that's a lot! I don't know if I can do that!” And so we try to stay back. But I think that that also makes us even more impatient, if that makes any sense. ‘Cause I feel like, because we're not fulfilling the purpose that God is calling us to, there's like this wrestling inside of us that shortens our patience even more.
00:13:57	D:	Right. Wow that’s awesome. That’s an interesting way to put that.
00:14:04	R:	Yeah. That's what I've been coming to the realization in the past couple of weeks.
00:14:09	D:	To me, I just think if everybody took the time to actually practice what they preach about patience, the world might be a little better. But like, this is like a big thing. So I attend a mega church, and every week when we get to the benediction, not even before we get to benediction. When Pastor gets to altar call, those who are already saved and already baptized or who just don’t want to be in church any more, get up and start leaving. 1 - because they don't want to get caught up in all the traffic. It’s a mega church and of course, once church let’s out, everybody trying to get out. And so traffic gets backed up trying to get out the Church. But, however, altar call is a time in which people are making the decision on whether or not to accept Christ into their life as their Lord and Savior, or they want to be baptized, or join the church. And the thing that he says all the time is, “At one point in time, you were the person who walked up here”—
00:15:32	R:	Yeah.
00:15:33	D:	The —“and when you did there was somebody in your row clapping and saying “Amen,” and encouraging you to come along. So how dare you get up and leave at this... Which is probably one of the most important times of this person’s life.
00:15:49	R:	Yeah can you imagine?
00:15:50	D:	And you’re just leaving! Huh?
00:15:52	R:	I was going to say, can you imagine if like somebody was like “Oh I want to get baptized,” and Peter’s like “OK, come, let's go get baptized,” and Paul's like, “I got places to be,” and he just bounced?
00:16:04	D:	😂 Right, Paul’s said I gotta go move my camel, cause I don’t have time to be out here with y’all no more.
00:16:11	D+R:	😂
00:16:16	D:	So when, stuff like that, like why can't we just be patient and wait? Like we're all, we all have the same goal. We all want to leave, but It’s not like the parking lot’s not going to get empty at some point in time. So stuff like that. It’s like we put our mindset of priorities in the wrong order. Why not stay and support our brothers and sisters who are trying to make that decision within themselves. When yet they’re being distracted, ‘cause you know, you got to pick up your purse, pick up your jacket, get your Bible. If you got kids, you got to get all their stuff together. You’re making a bunch of noise trying to go one way, but you trying to listen to Pastor make his plea for your soul. 😂
00:17:00	D:	That’s just one aspect. When you’re on your job, how many times have you seen a coworker, you know, they not acting themselves or they might be in tears. But you see them and you keep walking. I don't want to get involved. Well, what would happen if you took the time to just say, “Hey I don’t know what you’re going through, but I'm going to pray for you.” You know, and you might not want to get in their business and say “what’s wrong?” ‘Cause you could open up a whole ‘nother door. Just say I’m going to pray for you. You know, and you never know how that might change somebody's lives, but because we're all so, “I ain't got time to deal with that today.” You might have left that coworker sitting there. And then, but you don’t know what your prayer, what you just saying “I'll pray for you,” or “let's pray, so that you can get through this,” or that “God gives you the strength to get through this.” You know, you never know what that would do to somebody, or what that could do for somebody. And I just think that we're all in a rush, and we’re also focus on me, me, me, me, that sometimes God wants you to take time, be patient, and care for somebody else.
00:18:15	R:	Absolutely. I've definitely been trying to strengthen my patience. One of the things I think for me... So one of the things that I think, I don't remember who told me this, but somebody once told me that when you ask God for something, sometimes you got to go through a little pain to get to it.
0018:40	D:	Oh man!
00:18:41	R:	I know you go to the gym, so you're very aware of the saying “No pain, no gain.”
00:18:47	D:	Correct
00:18:48	R:	And so we were talking about patience and they were telling me, you know, like if you're asking God for patience, He got to give you something to give you patience. Like you don't just wake up one day and suddenly you’re patient. Like you got to go through the struggle to develop the patience.
00:19:04	D:	Right. It’s taught. It’s not understood right away.
00:19:13	R:
Photocredit: Unsplash.com/ABruno Nascimento

And you know for me, my journey through grad school was a lot like your journey to wrestling—minus the physical injuries, but I feel like I got some like mental and emotional injuries going through grad school. And you know that was like one aspect of my life where I think I really developed patience in terms of like education, learning, my career... I learned a tremendous respect for people who are homeless, people who are struggling, because of the nature of my research. But I didn't necessarily get patience with interacting with people. Being a computer scientist— Y’all, funny story! I also have an undergraduate degree in Mathematical Sciences, that I also do not use.[4]

00:20:07	D+R:	😂
00:20:13	R:	Sad day for Mathematical Science. But it's a great tool; it was a building block. But you know in computer science, you don’t necessarily learn or cultivate patience with people. And so one of the things that I felt called to do recently was to help with the youth at the church. People were calling for help with the youth, and I know what it means to have people of varying ages with their hands into the youth. So there's there's something to be said about having someone that's closer to your age that's been through what you've been through but has like a little bit of wisdom but isn't like your parents’ age, that can kind of like talk to you and do things. And so I agreed to be a mentor. How I went from being a mentor to being a teacher. I don't know how that happened, but somehow that happened.
00:21:21	R:	And you know when I first said “OK,” I was like “I don't know if I can do this. I don't know if I have the patience. I don't know if I have the skill-set. Like I don't really know about this.” But the more I go into it, the more I realize late “Oh Shiree, you got to go through it and succeed.” One, you have to succeed because these are the children. These are the youth. These are the young minds that are coming in to Christ, and if you screw this up. you done screwed up big-time. Like you can't screw up somebody else's salvation. And then I was like God is calling you to do this, so you got to learn patience. And like in order to learn it, you will have to go through it.
00:22:08	R:	So, you know, it's a thing. But it's also a blessing, because I found that, you know, just like in your story. There are valleys, but after every valley, God will give you a mountain. And you know, sometimes I'll be sitting in that class like I don't... I don't know what's going on. I don't know how to take control of this class. I don't know if I should like go zero to a hundred, or if I should go back all the way off. I don't know how to handle the situation, but then like one of the students will do something or say something or they'll take control of class, and I'm just like mystified by how things fall together and how things happen. And I'm just like “Wow. So God is here and He's handling the situation.” All I really gotta do is show up and trust Him. And that's that's the definition of patience just show up and trust God.
00:23:07	D:	Absolutely.
00:23:08	R:	😂
00:23:10	D:	At this point, absolutely. That’s all you have to live by. Just show up and trust God. I don’t know, you know. I’m thankful for where I am. It was a complete surprise, for me, but I know that God is working and He has a plan. So at this point, I just literally show up and trust God with all that I do.
00:23:36	D:	Absolutely. So thank you so much for coming. I know your time is precious! Thank you for coming on the show and sharing all of his knowledge about wis—ah, wisdom. I was trying to say wisdom and knowledge at the same time, got all kind of tongue-tied. But yeah thank you for sharing knowledge and wisdom about patience and for sharing your testimony.
00:24:07	D:	No thank you for having me.
00:24:10	R:	Of course! Before I let you go, do you have any final words to share with the listeners?
00:24:21	D:	The thing God wants you to experience, He’'ll put you through a test to see whether you pass it. And whether you pass it or not, you will be tested with that thing time and time again. So if the thing you need to learn is patience, He might test you today, and if you pass it today OK cool. But then tomorrow, will you pass that test again? You know, that's kind of His way of like building upon your foundation, your level of patience. You now people will say “I’ve reached my highest level of patience today.” Alright, well, how can we get another level added to your patience?
00:25:07	D:	No matter what it is—whether you’re dealing with anger, whether you’re dealing with trying to forgive people—you're going through something now, that doesn’t mean you’re not going to go through something even worse later on, but you’re going through this now. Trying to work on forgiving people because you’re going to need this foundation of forgiveness down the road. And that just applies to anything that He's trying to teach you. So if it's patience, patience isn't just going to be applied to your life right now. It's being taught to you right now, because a foundation needs to be built. That way, later on down the road, you can fall back on what you already learned to help you through that experience.
00:25:56	R:	I feel that.
00:25:59	D:	I hope that helps.
00:26:01	R:	Yeah. I love it. Thank you
00:26:04	D:	You are welcome.
00:26:07	R:	Alright listeners, thank you for listening, and I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope that will make you think about patience. Don't forget to like and subscribe. And I will see you guys in the next episode. Bye

Fruit of the Spirit: Patience feat. Derrell

Any thing worth something is worth waiting for. That may mean fighting, or it may mean biding your time... Derrell shares how he went from dreaming of being a professional wrestler to actually being a professional wrestler.

Season 1 Episode 20

³And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, ⁴endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. ⁵This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.Romans 5:3-5 CSB

Time
00:01:20	Ree:	Hey guys welcome back to the PSALMS to God podcast. We are back to the Fruit of the Spirit series and we are talking about patience today. I don't like to talk about the Fruit of the Spirit by myself; I feel like there's so much to talk about, there's so much to learn that these fruits should be talked about with everybody: friends, family, strangers, whatever. But today, I have a friend who has agreed to join me to talk about patience, and so I have Derrell with me. I met Darrell in college so I've known him for forever now, I guess, and I thought he was the perfect person to talk to about this particular subject. So hey Derrell, how's it going?
00:02:06	D:	I'm good. How are you?
00:02:07	R:	I'm good. Do you have any initial things you want to say to the audience, to the listeners, before we get started?
00:02:18	D:	Um… I just think that this is an amazing platform that you have created. I’ve enjoyed listening to it since I spend a lot of time on the road. So the quick listening sessions about God while I’m on the road help out ‘cause a lot of times I’m traveling on the days I’d go to church, so it’s good to be able to listen to something and get good content. It’s just an amazing thing, what you’re doing.
00:02:47	R:	Thank you!
00:02:48	D:	You’re welcome
00:02:50	R:	So, do you know why I picked you to talk about patience?
00:02:53	D:	I honestly do not
00:02:57	R:	😂 So I don't know how long it's been, but I distinctly remember sometime after we graduated you told me that you wanted to be a wrestler.
00:03:12	D:	😂 So now that you say that, I kind of had a feeling we’d be talking about that, kind of, but I didn’t know that was the reason, but OK.
00:03:21	R:	And, you know, there was some ups and downs and some injuries, but like you just kept at it. And like, I think maybe it was like a month ago, a couple of weeks ago, you sent me a text saying you got your first contract! And now you're like a professional wrestler! So first, congratulations!
00:03:48	D:	Thank you!
00:03:49	R:	But also like that takes patience and perseverance.
00:03:56	D:	Yes, it really does. I don’t know, did you want me to basically like tell my wrestling story, and all the ups and downs? Or how did you want that to go? And I can, every step of the way I can explain how patience came along with that and how I had to really rely on my faith throughout the whole thing.
00:04:16	R:	Yeah, sure. I think that's a great place to start!
00:04:18	D:	Ok, so I graduated from Clemson in June—no I’m sorry not June, it was May of 2012. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematical Sciences.[1] To this day, I have not used that degree—[2]
00:04:41	R:	😂
00:04:43	R:	—in that field. 😂And I just that’s something I had to put out there to the world. So I went home, left Clemson and went back home. I tried to get in to do a masters, but I was out of state; I’m from Maryland.[3] And I could not get approved for another loan—
00:05:07	R:	Look, we don't need no more loans! 😂
00:05:10	D:	Hey, listen! It was a blessing in disguise, little did I know. 😂So I go home. I sit at home, and I start coaching high school football; still have no job. And then November 2012 rolls around. I become teacher; I become a high school teacher, where I teach science to 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th graders who were in a transition program. About a year-and-a-half later, I started working a financial job; I did that for about a year and a half, until I moved to my current job, where I support DHS. And, I just pretty much figured out that I do not want to work a 9 to 5.
00:06:03	R:	😂
00:08:11	D:	It just wasn’t in me to do that. And so I sat there, I told myself “OK, if you're not going to work a 9-5, what is something you want to do?” And so I told myself, “Well my football career was over after high school, so that's out. So why not do the same thing that you always want to do as a kid and it was your dream of doing? And that was being a professional wrestler. So of course, being a millennial, I hop on Google 😂and I type in, literally, “how to become professional wrestler.”
00:06:47	R:	Oh wow.[4]
00:06:48	D:	And Wikipedia had a little thing, where sometimes, depending on the field it says these are the steps to become a professional wrestler. And it was like[5]: Find a school Get trained Work the indie scene Hopefully get signed So, immediately I start looking up professional wrestling schools. And I started looking up this stuff—I started doing my research for this Spring 2014. And at that time, you know, I had just started having to pay student loans, you know, I had just got into the working world, so I wasn't making a lot of money. So I knew I could not go to a school, like an expensive school. ‘Cause basically a good school is going to run you anywhere between $2,000 to $4,000. And at the time I did not have that. So I found a school in Atlanta, it was WWA4[6] and they offered—they had a school but they also offered a deal where you come to a week camp. And the camp was $300, and after you did the camp, if you decided you wanted to actually train at the school, they would discount the price off of the acutal school because you came to the camp.
00:08:11	R:	That’s nice.
00:08:12	D:	So I went down and I did the camps and I loved it. I absolutely loved the camp. The basics… I learned the basics. We got to watch one of the local shows that they put on. I had made up my mind right then and there. Lik OK, I’m moving to Atlanta, I don’t care what job I have I just need to find a job in Atlanta. My sister lives here so I have a place to stay. Let’s do it! Well, so I went to the camp in summer 2014, by... I’m sorry I went down to look at the school in Summer 2014; I went and did the camp in January 2015. I could not find a job in Atlanta by Spring 2015, so I said “Alright, cool. Let me look for schools closer by.” So I started looking for schools close by in Maryland, and I found MCW Pro Wrestling.[7] At the time, I had started saving some money. I had been saving money because I knew if you move, you gotta have some money saved. So I saved some money, and the school... I went down with met with the trainers. I met with RJ, RJ Myers “The Bruiser,” and I think we talked for 15 minutes. And at the end of the conversation, he said “Am I going to see you on Tuesday?” And I said, “Yes you will.” And I paid my money, and my journey to becoming a professional wrestler began.
00:09:44	D:	We had practice Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. So luckily I worked a day job that I work 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., then I would drive the hour and a half—2 hours depending on traffic—to Joppa Maryland.
00:10:03	R:	Ooh wee
00:10:04	D:	Yep. Get there, train 6 to 10, then drive the hour back home to Bowie, Maryland, get home by 11, eat, shower, be in bed by 12, just to be back up at 4 and back at work at 6 next day. I did that for… So started that in June. I started MCW in June 2015. Literally, I don't know. God's timing, God has an amazing sense of humor. When I say it was one year to the day that I started training, I had my first match with MCW. So literally, I started training June 15, 2015; I had my first match June 16, 2016. And I’ll never forget it, because it was outside on a baseball field, and I was a nervous wreck. 😂I mean, I was like “Oh, this is my very first match!” Just everything went through me like this is happening, this is real. You said you wanted to do it, we got here, and now you’re about to go wrestle your first professional wrestling match. It was a tag team match, it was what it was it was. It wasn’t the best match in the world, but a lot of... Most guys’ first matches are not the best matches. But I got through it and I got my nerves out. And it was a great time. So after that,. I was on shows consecutively from 2016 through June 2016. And somewhere in the Fall of 2016, I hurt my ankle at practice.
00:11:59	R:	I remember this.
00:12:00	D:	And so what I did was, I finished out the rest of the show through December with the bad ankle. Then I took the last three weeks of december off, and to just let my ankle heal. So, come January 2017, I come back after my 3 weeks off. I think this is like my second or third practice back and I’m doing pre-practice. This isn’t something I hard to do, it was just something I wanted to do to get back in shape being off. And I’m doing pre-practice and I was doing a roll. And when I went to do my roll, I felt my knee pop, my right knee. And so I just thought, you know, but my knee clicks from time to time, both knees click, so it’s just nothing. And I tried to get up. When I tried to stand up, I couldn't put any pressure any weight on my leg, and I fell right back down to my butt. So that’s when the coaches stopped everything, and they were like “Are you ok, do you need time?” And I was like “Yeah, just give me a second.” I try to get up again; I couldn't get up. So one of the coaches, Dean, he got in the ring and he tried to help me up, but I could not put all of my weight on my leg. And to give you a mindset, I’m 6 foot, 300 pounds, and I couldn’t get off the ground. So obviously there’s something wrong with this knee. So they get me to the hospital that night, and of course the hospital don't have MRI techs on site after a certain time. So I had to do the whole wait till the next day. Had to go to a regular doctor to be told “OK I'm going to send you get an MRI,” so I go get the MRI. But then they, the people that took the MRI, say “We can't tell you what we saw.” So then I had to go see an actual orthopedic to be able to tell me what was wrong with my knee. So I tore my knee on a Tuesday, I didn’t find out what was wrong with it until Thursday.
00:14:06	R:	Oh no
00:14:08	D:	And so finally, I go to see the ortho, and he tells me that I tore my, I completely tore my meniscus and in this case it buckled handed flipped over. Basically what that means is not only did it tear, it tore so much that it allowed the meniscus to flip. What it did was it locked my leg in a 45 degree angle. That’s why I couldn’t put any weight on it.
00:14:36	R:	Ohhh. Yeah… That… Yeah that doesn't sound pleasant at all
00:14:40	D:	No. It wasn't. And in my house, to get to my bedroom, I have to go up a flight of 13 steps. So having to sit down and crawl my way up the steps and down the steps to get in and out of the house for each on of those appointments, I mean, you know. It was what it was. So I was told I had to have surgery to repair it. It was my very first surgery ever. At this point in my wrestling career, I was starting to really comprehend what was going on, what needed to be done, understanding how to put stuff together, how a match should go, how to feel the crowd, and in the instant, the second that they told me my knee was torn, the first thing that came to mind was “Is this over?” Because your knees are something that, sometimes a bad knee injury could mean whatever it is you're doing, that's it. Like you see football players, basketball players all the time, they tear something one time and that’s it. Their careers are totally done. So at that time like I have to have a constant prayer, because not only did I want to get back in the ring, I wanted to be able to go back to living, you know, a regular lifestyle. So, I wanted to be able to walk on my own, to get back to running, being in the gym everyday—something I was doing sometimes even twice a day, once just lifting, once to go training—and now I'm laying in my bed, because I can't move my leg.
00:16:21	D:	So you know the guys at MCW text me, and they called me, sent me their prayers. And I go snd have surgery. 😂After the surgery the doctor came and told me I beat him up pretty bad. My family and I looked at him like, what do you mean? And he was like “Well, your leg is so big that he couldn't...he and the other assistants couldn't hold my leg in position to where he needed to do the surgery. So they had to call for extra people to scrub in just to hold my leg up and for him to perform the surgery upside down.
00:16:58	R:	Oh wow
00:16:59	D:	Yeah. So I really do appreciate Dr. O for doing that. So after the surgery, I start rehab. So I tore the knee in January 2017. I was out of wrestling for 6 months. In that time, so before I was… Before I tore my knee, I was a singles competitor; meaning I wrestled by myself, and it was me and one other person in the ring. And when I was starting to come back from my injury, I was thinking now I’m going to have to start all the way back over. You know, basically I lost my spot on the roster, other people have been coming in to fill my spot, so now I’m going to have to fight and claw my way back on to the roster…
00:17:45	D:	Well, God's working or perfect timing, whatever it was, when I tore my knee in January 2017, a new class started around that same time. My tag partner to this day started in that class. One day, while I was back at training—still wasn't training, but I was at training just taking mental reps—Jasper came up to me, a.k.a. Kaun, he came up to me and he says “Hey man, you wanna tag?” He said, I literally remember him say “I watched a lot of your matches and I really like what you do in the ring. Do you want to tag?” And in my mind I was like I never thought about being a tag team wrestler, but yeah man I’m down to give it a shot. And we went and talked to the coaches about it. They didn't take long to say “Yeah we want to see what that would look.” And so we started out in a group called The Bomb Squad. 😂So we were with two other individuals. And that, we started that I believe around August of 2017. And then me and Jasper, so we also did birthday parties at MCW. So between shows and birthday parties, we were working on tagging, because neither of us had ever tag teamed before. So, working on tagging, learning how to actually work a tag team match, and then in the summer of 2018, we branched off from The Bomb Squad and we became SOS, Sons of Savagery.
00:19:29	D:	We became MCW tag champs in the summer of 2018, and we held the belts until a few months ago. Where we were told after a match, after successfully defending our belts, that so there was good news and bad news. The bad news is that we would have to relinquish our titles and turn them over to MCW. Of course we weren’t too happy about that, but then we were told the reason why we were handing our belts over was because we were being offered exclusive contracts to Ring of Honor.[8] And Ring of Honor is one of the largest wrestling companies in United States and is globally recognized.
00:20:16	D:
Photocredit: Unsplash.com/Anastasia Petrova

So to sum up this entire story: I had a dream, you know, and I did my research. And I thought I was going one place, but then God directed me to another place. And when I got to this place, what I thought I would be doing with my life, He slowed me down. 😂He allowed for someone else to be bought in and start learning, and based on the little bit, the few wrestling matches I previously had, he liked what I did, asked me to tag with him, and then now we’re offered contracts. That means, I started training in 2015, and I was offered a contract in 2019. He started training in 2017, and we all got offered a contract in 2019. So, what I thought I wanted or what I thought would get me to my dream, wasn’t what was going to get me there. You know, I had to be patient during my recovery period. You know, I was told, time and time again, do not rush that. Take your time. Be patient, and rehab it correctly, because the worst thing you can do is come back too early and re-tear it, ‘cause then it’s just going to be worse, you’re going to be out longer. I had to check my pride and say I'm going to be patient with this.

00:21:54	D:	Did I necessarily want to be in a tag team initially? Uh... In wrestling sometimes, you want the spotlight to yourself, right? Because you don’t want to have to depend on someone else. However, one thing I had to check myself was, why can't two people share the same spot if we’re being successful?
00:22:16	R:	Right.
00:22:17	D:	And that was something I had to learn in tag team. You...It’s two guys working together to achieve one goal. So once again, what I thought I wanted and what I thought I was gonna be—no. Relax. Have some patience. Let this thing work out. We spent our time learning from a veteran while we were in The Bomb Squad. We learned, we took advice, we road tripped, we saw other teams, we took notes, we put them together... I just think that injury slowed me down from myself and what I thought was going to get me to where I am today. To actually say, “No my brother. I have something so much better for you in store. You just need to be patient, and let Me work this thing out.”
00:23:06	R:	Absolutely.
00:23:07	D:	And I give God total glory over that whole situation, because had I not torn my knee, I probably would have be like “Oh this guy’s in the beginner class. I'm in advanced class I don't want to… I do not want you, I should be asking you, why you asking me?” But at that time, I was just like “Man, yeah I’ll tag.” You know, he hadn’t wrestled a match ever. He had not wrestled a match! 😂But I was just like “Yeah, man I’ll tag with you.” And I didn’t even think long. He asked me at practice one day, and I think I was just like “Hm. Yeah, let’s do it.” You know, I don't know. I think in that time that I was out, I really put in perspective as much as I was having success in getting on shows at MCW or just wrestling period, just as fast, it can be taken away.
00:24:05	R:	Okay guys, so this brings us to the end of Derrell's testimony. It is a great testimony of how patience can lead you to your dreams, and what he learned from being patient. We continued to talk about patience both in a more general sense and how, you know, his experience changed his views of patience or made him stop and think about patience. But I felt like the episode in general would have been way too long to include all of it in one episode, so I'm breaking it into two, and of course this is the natural place to end this episode before beginning the next. So that being said, this is all I have for today's episode. But don't worry you're going to hear more from Derrell next week! So obviously, thank you Derrell for stopping by and for providing content for two episodes! In the meantime, for the listeners don't forget to like and subscribe. You can check out Sons of Savagery on Instagram, or probably now at the Ring of Honor website. Go out and support them, all of that wonderful stuff. Yeah, so I'll talk to you guys later. Bye

Quotes to Live By: Colin Kaepernick

Most people don't want to change. They're comfortable and set in their ways. But in order to change, you have to be able to agitate people at times. And I think that's something that's very necessary for us to improve as a country. Colin Kaepernick

Colin Kaepernick used his platform to take a stand against police brutality in 2016 by kneeling during the national anthem. This action would lead to some creating the amazing quote “Racism is so deeply American that when we protest racism, some assume we are protesting America.” President Trump, who claimed “there were fine people on both sides” in reference to white supremacist groups who caused the death and injury of people in Charlottesville, demanded that Kaepernick be fired—and he was. Though picking up a deal with Nike, Kaepernick has yet to be re-signed to the NFL.

#football #nfl #blackhistory #blackhistorymonth2019 #kaepernick #istandwithkap #indylove #policebrutality #blacklivesmatter

Real Experiences for BHM 2016: Black Entrepenuership

Speaking of entrepreneurs, today I want to talk about some contemporary entrepreneurs: Harold Hughes & Steven Hughes. I met these two brothers at Clemson (no we aren't related); by the time I started school both of them were leaders on campus. In the era where too many college students are graduating and unable to find a job, or graduating buried in student debt, these two stand out. Steven started Know Money Inc to promote financial literacy and help stop generational poverty. Harold started Bandwagon, an organization to aid in purchasing sports tickets. These two are proving that Black entrepreneurship is not a thing of the past but a continuing legacy. #MakeItCount #BlackHistoryMonth2016 #BlackEntrepreneurs

Photocredit: ShutterStock.com/ARENA Creative

References

1. Steven Hughes. Know Money, Inc.; visited February 2016
2. Harold Hughes. Bandwagon; visited February 2016

Nick Gabaldon: Surfing the Waves

Photocredit: Netfalls - Remy Musser/Shuttertock.com

Born in 1927, Nick Gabaldon is noted as the first Black and Mexican surfer^[1]. He taught himself to swim during the 1940s and was encouraged to continue by surfing legends Pete Peterson and Buzzy Trent^[2]. Paddling approximately 12 miles from "Inkwell"—the Black beach—to Malibu for the best waves in California, Mr. Gabaldon went above and beyond the extra mile to enjoy something he loved. Beach goers were quick to show their disdain for his presence with by calling him derogatory names, but was able to experience camaraderie with many of the White surfers. Many of the racial barriers in the U.S., were massaged away by people like Mr. Gabaldon who may have simply been pursuing the ability to participate in a sport or hobby, but ended up reminding others that they weren't so different.

Mr. Gabaldon died in a surfing accident in 1945, but his memory and legacy is living on. Both a day June 2013^[3] and June 14, 2014^[4] were declared Gabaldon day with several organizations hosting events to honor his memory. The documentary 12 Miles North was also made in 2012 to bring his story back to life^[5]. Mr. Gabaldon is not only an inspiration for minority surfers in the states, but he proved that some times, all you need is a common language. More information on Mr. Gabaldon as well as information on other Black surfers can be found at BlackSurfing.com.

Photocredit: BlackSurfing.net

References

1. Blocker, Rick, and Jefferson, Alison Rose."Gabaldon, Nicolas Rolando". BlackPast.org. University of California, Berkley.
2. "Nick Gabaldon". Surfer's Encyclopedia
3. Lozano, Carlos. "Nick Gabaldon Day celebrates surfing pioneer today in Santa Monica". LA Times. June 1, 2013
4. Gabaldon Day 2014
5. Weisberg, Zach. "12 Miles North: The Nick Gabaldon Story". Jan 19, 2014

Echos of Leather Meant to Shock

Echoes of leather, dribbling slow
On polished wood floors all a-glow,
And the breathing of players steady
Running, blocking, always ready
Fast hands--quick in the paint--move light as a feather
As fans listen close to these echoes of leather

Meant for shock, steps echo tonight
Over, under, fake left, fake right
Watch fans get loud, stand up and cheer
When stars can grip this orange sphere;
Twenty-four seconds slowly ticking on the clock
Swish! The sound of a beautiful shot, meant for shock

On the Track

The sound of

Revving, heavy engines 

Anxiously waiting for lights green

To ignite engines crafted powerful and clean...

Muffled chatter of a victory

Subdued by the sound of

Motors still.

What About Everyone Else?:

Spotlight on Dr. George Franklin Grant

Often you wonder,
If only half the country was enslaved,
Then half the country was free...
And if the free were free
Why is it that we only hear about the slave?
While the south relegated us to fields,
Harvard was graduating black PhDs
And while the south was beating us in the ditch,
Blacks up north were moving ahead--
But history teachers have us believing
Slavery is our only legacy:
Three-fifths of a person,
Not whole individuals...
How can that be?
First shot in the revolutionary war
And still bound to the image
Some alter-er of history created
To blind us of our own accomplishments
Our true strength, our true potential

Dr. George Franklin Grant

Dr. George Franklin Grant received his degree from the Harvard Dental School in 1870 and went on to become the first black professor at Harvard. Along with practicing dentistry and educating others on the practice, Grant's love of golf led him to invent the wooden tee.^[1] While it is unknown who the first black to take up the sport was, it is speculated that it happened on the coast of South Carolina. With one of the first golf clubs to appear in the US being located in Charleston, SC, thus leaving people to assume that slaves acted as caddies. From studying history, there is reason to argue that blacks were involved with golf from its birth in the states.^[2]

References

1. "George Franklin Grant. Center for the History of Medicine; visited February 2014
2. Calvin H. Sinnette. "Forbidden Fairways: African-Americans and the Game of Golf". via NY Times. 1998
3. "Timeline of African-American achievements in golf". PGA. February 4, 2011

Ebb and Flow of the Tide:

Spotlight on Nick Gabaldon

Water is universal,
Blue and white waves
Breaking...
Warm sand and broken shells...
A universal poem
Whispers of carefree days
And legendary creatures
Promises of happiness
Churning in watery smiles
Cast off worries and fears,
Let the tide take you.

Nick Gabaldon

Nick Gabaldon is noted as the first black (and Mexican^[2]) surfer. Paddling from "Inkwell"--a black beach--to Malibu (which has the best waves in California) roughly 12 miles away, Gabaldon broke racial barriers and ignored the bounds of segregated beaches in California. During his years he befriended and impressed many of the white surfers who were saddened when Gabaldon died in an unfortunate surfing accident^[1]. June 1, 2013 was declared Gabaldon day and several organizations hosted events in honor and memory of Gabaldon. A documentary, 12 Miles North, has also been made to tell his story^[2]. Gabaldon proved that some times, all you need is a common language.

References

1. Zach Weisbery. "Celebrating Nick Gabaldon, the First “Documented” African American Surfer". Huffington Post. February 16, 2012
2. "Nick Gabaldon Day 2017". Heal The Bay; visited February 2014
3. Ree. "Nick Gabaldon: Surfing the Waves". PSALMS to God. June 1, 2015

Limitations Won't Stop Me:

Spotlight on Derrick Coleman

I'm not perfect
I have limitations
But that won't stop me,
Discourage or burry me
I will fight--
When my body fails
And everyone else is stronger
Somewhere, somehow
Strength will find me
Sneak up from behind
And tackle them full force
Because I won't give up

Derrick Coleman

Derrick Coleman is the first legally deaf person to play on an offensive line in the NFL. Inspiring hearing impaired children of all races, he has met several of his young fans to reinforce the idea that their disability shouldn't stop them form doing what they want to do. Yesterday, he helped his team win Super Bowl XLVIII

References

1. Cindy Boren. "Super Bowl 2014: Derrick Coleman surprises hearing-impaired girls (video)". Washington Post. January 30, 2014
2. Christian Red. "EXCLUSIVE: Seahawks' Derrick Coleman surprises hearing-impaired boy, 10, with jersey". NY Daily News. February 1, 2014

Solid Orange

1 2 3 4!
1 2 3 4!
C-L-E-M-S-O-N!
T-I-G-E-R-S!
Fight Tigers!
Fight Tigers!
Fight Fight Fight!

Transcription of Image

One family...

Two Degrees...

Three years this time...

Four years last time.

One orange...

Two life changing events...

Three dining halls...

Four point oh.

Fight for knowledge, 

Tigers know their stuff

Fight for victory...

Tigers never lose!

Fight because we can.

Fight because we should.

Fight because we are.

Orange shoes,

Orange socks, orange 

earrings, orange blouse.

It's taking over my closet

Filling up my heart and

all I see is beautiful orange

I'm screaming at the top of my

lungs and I'm enjoying the company

of all my friends...there's no place

like Death Valley; There's no color like

Clemson Orange. The countdown to 

seeing Tiger Town in action...

#SolidOrange #Pride