Piece #34

"Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" - Jesus (Mat 28:19-20)

Dear Fasm

Dear Fasm:

I don't believe it's our duty to convince secular writers to stop writing illegally, I do however, believe it is our duty to show christian brothers the scripture that supports this idea. I don't think we should accept or reject jobs based on money. It's biblical for clients to pay us but, thier lack of adhearance to the bible shouldn't deter us in anyway from spreading the gospel through Graffiti. I believe we should accept and reject things based on the ministry opportunity and the leading of God. I don't believe we are going to heaven. It doesn't say in the bible anywhere that we're going to heaven. It says that we'll be with God, it says that we're going to paradise, new Jerusalm, etc. I believe Jesus was God and God was Jesus. He was a human but God dwelt within the human body of Jesus. The same God dwells in us all to the extent that we allow him in. I don't believe in denying anyone entrance into the crew. We should strive to be inclusive not exclusive.

the root of all kinds

If you are involved in minisrty (or will be invloved in the future) then continue reading if not this post is long and not very applicable. Doing ministry that costs money means the touchy and awkward subject of Money and the exchange of money. And this post is something people aren't supposed to talk about - the church and money but, I'm gonna say it anyways. I'm addressing my flaws and other peoples flaws as well as it concerns funding. Why does money bring out the worst in us? Money has been a theme with me over the last month. I don't like recieving money for my work but for some reason jealous thoughts slipped into my head and multiple times one day I had to reject those thoughts and replace them with the truth of the situation. I listen to some music and this line poked out for me.

"cuz the ground is gritty and the pavement is rough

some don't get reinbursed now so they givin up
they stop ministerin' and layin the cut
but the oportunity to bless the lord is payment enough"
-Jaz (rapper)

and I said to myself "I'm so glad that isn't me... I've got this Job lined up later which thier gonna pay me for" even though initially I didn't ask for it someone from the organization suggested that it would be foolish to do it for free. Then someone else informs me that "you know, we wont be paying you". I said "no problem" and figured they didn't have enough money and that times are hard. - nope. This is a wealthy organization who are kinda cheep. I said to myself "should I get reinbursed for buying a few hundred bucks worth of paint, a bus ticket accros the province and the time off work?" I read my bible and prayed about it and it seemed like the answer was Yes, you should get reinbursed but, you should do this anyways even if they don't give you a dime cuz it's the right thing to do. Your obedience shouldn't change because someone else doesn't understand this principle.

"When I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving...Not that I am looking for a gift" -Paul Phillipians 4:15,17

"some say thier tired of ministry cuz them churches is cheep

can't see the plot and satan's searchin for meat

so it aint about who actin funny

or frontin on money or nuttin

not matter what the liar claim

we obligated to live apon a higher plane"

Sketches 26

jesus

Sketches 25

jesus

jesus

Sketches 24

jesus

jesus


jesus

Piece #33

"We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." Romans 6:4

Piece #32

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of christ for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes" Romans 1:16

Piece #31

"there is way that seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death" proverbs 14:12

"'come follow me' Jesus said 'and I will make you fishers of men'" Matthew 4:19

Kalamazoo Trip: Day 6

The guys left kali to go back to cali (mazoo and fornia respectively) with a little mix up at the airport they were on thier way home. My bus didn't leave till late in the evening so I busted out annothr piece at the rec centre. I worked more quickly by myself but it just wasn't the same painting by myself. I miss Camer and Fasm. The piece looked nice and Bobby liked it. On the way back home I met a muslim girl who had been harrassed, insulted and degraded by annother passenger. As she told me the story she began to tear up as she related how difficlt it was to live in a country that didn't want her there. I told her that what other people think of you is not as important as what God thinks of you. We played cards and talked religion and politics until I fell asleep on the bus and woke up back home.

Kalamazoo Trip: Day 5

The pieces at the church are finished so today we woke up at noon and ate lunch. The other guys were watching some tattoo show and wanted to get inked today so they researched local tattoo places talked to thier respective wives and sketched out some drawings. But in the end they decided they better do it some other time cuz the tattoo place wasn't that great. Cammer and Fasm both chipped in and gave me some cash for my bus ticket and expences that was really cool of hem to do. We also were gonna check out the juvinile hall but for some reason it didn't pan out. We found annother wall to do while we were down here in a rec centre called new genesis inc. It was alot of fun to do this wall because all the walls we've been doing have been formulated, consistant and constrictive. This wall was three guys free styling pieces with the last bits of paint cutting loose on the last day. The wall came off nice. We played basketball, did card tricks and played games until late. All of us miss our significant others, Cammer probibly the most though.

Kalamazoo Trip: Day 4

We woke up kinda late at 10am and skipped breakfast to go straight to the church and get started. We finished the one large mural and started on a second mural that’s almost as big in a different room. ate breakfast at 6pm. The second mural was really confusing because there was a lot going on and three people all working with the same confusing light sources each with their own interpretation. Half way through it looked like someone threw up on a wall and then burned it to the ground. We all contributed and as we got further along it really started to come together and looked so good. Fasm finished the letters off with an amazing display of can control as he did some one shot inlines absolutely perfectly as Cammer and I sat with our jaws on the floor. We got the second mural done at something like 1:00 am it didn’t phase fasm and cammer ‘cuz their still on west coast time. I think this has been the best two murals I’ve been a part of yet.

Kalamazoo Trip: Day 3

Woke up and got to the church and painted. Ate pizza, laughed, farted, talked, climbed stuff and did a little painting. We met up with a guy named Chan from the youth group who was interested in Graff and does air brushing and has dome some spraycan work in the past. That's us at a fish place by Bobby's house (L2R: cammer, me, fasm)

We played x-box and Bobby whopped us all at some fighting game, I did some magic tricks for Bobby's wife and kids. We did alot of backround work which was kinda tedious for me but Fasm didn't mind and Cammer seemed to love it.We stayed up really late cuz Tommorrow the one wall should probibly be finished. I used a skinny cap for the first time in my life it's when you cut a hole in the cap of the spray can and it sucked I got paint on the carpet (whoops) and it splattered too much. Lots of fun today though.

Kalamazoo Trip: Day 2

Arrived safe and sound in kalamazoo and met up with Fasm, Cammer1 and Bobby. Fasm and Cammer are from my crew and Bobby is the youth minister of the church that were painting. Fasm and Cammer arrived in chicago and thier flight to kalamazoo was cancelled so Bobby the night before had driven to chicago to pick them up. It turns out that the paint supplier that they ordered the paint from messed up and was unable to send them the paint. So we had to buy cheaper domestic paint which is more difficult to use. We got started painting and it was awesome to see how Fasm or Cammer approached the wall differently in terms of colour and stuff. I don't like cheap demestic paint and it was frustrating at times becasue I felt like I was out of practice or a bad graffiti writer but really it was just the paint. But that didn't slow down Fasm he's got alot of can control and he didn't skip a beat. I had alot of fun hanging out with Cammer and Fasm there were always jokes and I laughed so hard that my stomac started to hurt. Were staying at Bobby's house and everything is just laid back and easy. Bobby likes the way the mural is turning out everyone has given us positive feedback.

Kalamazoo Trip: Day 1

So I took a bus to Kalamazoo Mi. to meet up with Cammer and Fasm from my crew gospel graffiti who are doing a mural here on the east coast. On the way I talked to alot of people on the bus a really nice football player, a palistinian who wouldn't give up on the idea that war will solve his problems but, I ran into one peticular individual who was inspirational to me and I think he felt the same way. A 33 year old from Detroit who grew up in a foster home scince he was 9 years (I work at a group home). He gave me a valuable insight into what he was thinking about durring his time in the group home and gave some really valuable advise. We continued to talk and we went through most of his life story he was an amazing person. He's seen some dark times, he was the product of a cheating spouse, he was shot by his step-father at age 9, stabbed, developed arthritis, sexually abused multiple times and abandoned by his family. But dispite being badly mistreated by a pastor of a church he saw beyond the fakeness of a religious intitution and developed a relationship with Jesus. He was the only member of his family to graduate from college (as a social worker like me). His mom (who abandoned him) was sick and he dropped everything to look after her, when his money ran out she kicked him out of her house. He was taking a bus because he was trying to start a new life after being kicked out. The amazing thing to me was his forgiving heart dispite his abuse he didn't hold things against his abusers. It was in great contrast to the palistinian who suffered as much this man but didn't forgive. He was such a great example of overcoming adverities but still there was further to go. He had such little self esteem, felt unlovable and worthless at times. I talked with him for hours and seemed to hang on my words as I hung on his. He said that he wasn't supposed to be on that bus but decided at the last minute to take a less prideful path, he believed God had a different plan for him. He kept saying I know God exists because you are here, I know God is with you I see him in you, I know that God loves me because you are here, I know God cares about me because of you.

Piece #30

"Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." -Jesus from Matthew 5:1-12

This ally was based on the album joyful rebellion by K-OS.