My Prom night memories...

Cue Let Me Praise Him by Euclid Gray! Thanks for all the views on the last blog. I’m over 5000 all time! That’s amazing. Keep ‘em coming folks. As always follow me on Twitter @Big_Dusty and friend me on Facebook.com/bigdusty!

So it’s prom season. Looking on FaceBook, high school kids are posting their prom pictures. Hair and Nail Salons are booked solid. Guys are at the barber shop making sure they look tight for the night. Guys are making sure they have their breath mints. Girls are making sure their phones are charged up so they can get pictures that can last a life time!

Let’s take a trip back about 7 years. My prom night. Let’s get this out the way. My mind wasn’t right in high school. I hated school with a passion. I didn’t try in school. I got by. So anything school related was just to get out the house and say I went. Now most people for prom, they buy new suits that haven’t been wore before. Me? I wore a suit that I’ve worn to church dozens of times, and church shoes that were probably worn out. Most people have special cars they go in for prom…limos and such. Me? My dad drove me in a ’98 Toyota Camry. I’m not kidding. You may think, it doesn’t get worse. Well let’s go back before the Camry to the “prom pictures.” You know those pictures you take before you go to prom to show off what you are wearing to the dance. I couldn’t tell you where my prom pictures are now. The picture of the night? I took a picture with my dog at the time, Ginger, with her on a leash. I told y’all my mind set back in school was terrible.

So I got to the place after my dad dropped me off in the ’98 Toyota Camry. I saw all my classmates in their clean suits and clean dresses. I don’t remember exactly, but I can bet that my suit had dog hair all over it. Not only that, but I was dateless. Go figure. Also I was literally by myself…the whole night. The core group I usually hung with? Nowhere to be found. Possibly because one of them dropped out, two of them where not seniors…neither here nor there. I spent most of the night at prom walking around hoping someone would talk to me. Initiating the conversation? Me in high school? HA! No. I do remember looking at the dance floor thinking it was more of an orgy. I was never much of a dancer anyway. I left that stuff to my sister. She’s the dancer. To answer your question, I didn’t have that slow dance at prom. I think I remember I was asked to dance, but don’t quote me on that. Needless to say, I separated myself in high school, and believe me, 7 years later, I regret it. I truly do.

Now you talk to other people from the class of 2005 from Eastside High School, and they’ll probably tell you stories that they’ll never forget. Why? Cause they made the most of it. They knew that this was a moment in time that they would never get back. I figured that if I went that would be good enough. Not knowing that 7 years later, I’d be in my mom’s apartment near to tears thinking about a night that was supposed to be memorable, but I chose to make it a disaster.

Oooh! I forgot to talk about the after prom. Yes, I went to the after prom. Why? To said that I went, and that’s the truth. I went to the after prom which was at Frankie’s Fun Park. Again, I really have no memories of what happened at the after prom. Why? Cause I didn’t make the most of it. I let my hatred of school motivate me not to have a good time. Again not thinking that 7 years later, I regret it. Ask some of my classmates? They probably have fun memories. Great memories. Me? I was just there.

People say that they can say that they have no regrets. I’m not at that point yet. I will be, but that point is not now. In my last podcast, I made a declaration that I’m going to stop trying to please people. So I’m on my way to having no regrets. I’m not there yet….definitely not there yet.

Hope y’all enjoyed this read of my memories, or lack thereof. Do you remember your prom night? Was it magical? Did you have fun? My advice for this blog is basically, make the most of life. You never know what memories could’ve been if you don’t make them. If you don’t make the most of life, you’ll regret it and it will affect you. Believe me. I know for myself. I’m friends on FaceBook with my fellow classmates of 2005 people and I have no connection with them at all. Why? Cause I made it that way. It’s that simple. In 3 years, it will be 10 years since I graduated from High School. I plan to make the most of that night. So I won’t have any more regrets.

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson aka Big Dusty

THE WORD SAYS IT, DON'T QUESTION IT

Cue Stevie Wonder “Superstition!” I’m ready to go. First of all like always, Follow me on Twitter @Big_Dusty and Facebook me at Facebook.com/bigdusty. Now if you do decide to follow me or friend me, communicate. Just sayin…Also, get at me on my podcast at bigdusty.podomatic.com or search for me on iTunes: bigdusty. One more thing, if you’re a fan of professional wrestling or know anybody that’s a fan, check out my wrestling blog at bigdwrestling.blogspot.com.  If only I could make a living doing this. Blogging, Podcasting…

So this Sunday, first of all, what a day Sunday was. I don’t know about y’all, but we had some old school crazy church at Prayer and Faith Ministries. It was awesome. I love those services where God preaches. You know when the preacher doesn’t even have a chance to open his notes? God is like, don’t worry, I got it this Sunday personally. I remember that happening at times when I was a kid when my Dad was pasturing. It was something to remember. My dad had sense enough to say, “I’m not going try to out preach God.” It kills me when preachers try to out preach God. Ever been in those services where God is just having his way, then the preacher comes up and puts everyone to sleep? I mean literally, the first two rows all get whiplash because of trying to stay awake. Learn your place is all I’m saying. When God takes over, you let go. Simple. Follow order. Like when some church members have a service at the church and the pastor doesn’t find out about it until the day of the service? Oh yeah, I’ve seen it happen first hand. Follow order. Why are some churches in the shape it’s in? No order. 1 Corinthians 14: 40 says, “Let all things be done decently and in order.” It was said Sunday, “The Word says it. Don’t question it.” That’s why I say I’m well when someone asks me how I’m doing even though I’m coughing. Why? The Bible says I’m healed. “The Word says it. Don’t question it.”

Also this past Sunday, my little sister gave her first sermon. Short and to the point and tore it up. My sister and I grew up in the church. Most of our time was here in South Carolina. So my sister being on the pulpit in front of folks that saw us grew up was a huge moment. I got through it fine, but it’s what happened after that that had me crying. My sister went back to her seat, and Supt. McCluney got up for final remarks and the benediction. My sister and I have known Supt. McCluney from childhood. So when he said that he was Godly proud of my sister and me? I lost it. I don’t know why I was bought in the conversation. It was my sister’s moment. Yet, Supt. said that he was proud of me? I was wrecked. Because of guilt? I don’t know. Believe me, I know I’ve come a long way. No job to job. No license to license. And a lot more. Yet, I know I still have a long way to go. Maybe not that long but still a ways none the less. God has been good to me. If it wasn’t for his grace and mercy, I don’t know where would I be. Sounds cliché but I can say that with confidence and honesty. The stuff I’ve done, and yet still can sit here in this chair and type this blog? Wow. I guess it’s the fact that I’ve so down on myself most of life that when someone says I’m doing good, it wrecks me. When someone says, “Daniel, I’m proud of you.” I’m wrecked. Look at me, I’m doing something right. I’m not going to lie, I get lonely. I get to points in my life where if my phone don’t ring or buzz because of notifications, I get lonely. I get the feeling of, “Ok, who’s thinking about me? Am I’m on anybody’s mind?” I look at my statuses and posts and get no response. I get no likes. Yet someone else post something, instant 20 likes and comments. Jealous much? Yes, I’m not going to lie to you. Truth is truth. But those few moments when I get, “Hey, Daniel, you’re doing good.” It does my heart good. I know they say don’t look for pats on the back, and really I’m not. I’m just looking to see that I still exist if you know what I mean.

Well, that’s the blog. Be sure to give your comments, keep it in touch, and share this around with other folks you think that might like it.

Stay Saved,

Big Dusty aka Daniel Richerson

FEEL FORGOTTEN?

Follow me on Twitter: @Big_Dusty and get at me on facebook: Facebook.com/bigdusty. Also I got to plug my latest podcast that I have up. Check it out at bigdusty.podomatic.com. Got all that? Good!

“I am not forgotten…He knows my name” I think we all get to the point where we feel like we’re forgotten. I know I do. Those times where I promote my stuff whether it’s my blogs, my videos, my podcasts, or whatever and get nothing? Yeah, I feel forgotten. When I think about all the good friends I had back in middle and high school and now I barely have any communication with them whatsoever, yeah I feel forgotten. Little things like that get to me. But God…

Just earlier today I was talking to my sister about when you grow in God or just naturally, you tend to lose the friends you thought you have. Then I said half serious half jokingly, “Well I lost my friends a long time ago.” Sometime it feels like that. I will be straight up honest. It wasn’t always like that though. Times in my life I had friends, actual friends that were not on the internet, that cared about my well being. Not that I’m disowning the friends I’ve met on the net, but I’m just saying. Times when I had no money for lunch, I never went hungry. Friends. Times when I wanted to tell a girl I liked her, friends would tell me to just do it. They wanted to see me succeed. Friendship. At one time I actually had a book going around school with a manager and everything. People liked and gave feedback on the stuff I wrote. Interesting concept.

Now that that season of my life is over, I miss it. I’m going to be honest. I miss conversations. I miss laughing at conversations. I miss that face to face contact with folks that actually were interested in what I had to talk about and vice versa. Plus with me being the clown that I am, it’s much easier to feed off someone in person rather than through webcam or computer mics. Getting my license I figured that getting around to meet up with folks would be easier. Yet things are basically the same when I comes to that stuff. Who’s at fault? I am. I admit it. My mindset is not at the place of confidence to think that people would actually want to meet me for lunch or meet up with me and hang out.

It’s really all about mindset. When we feel forgotten we need to realize that God is omnipresent, meaning God is everywhere. Therefore we’re never alone. God doesn’t forget about us. It feels that way though because we’ve forgotten about him. Maybe, it’s just God showing tough love so you can get yourself right. Just like any parent would do for their child. I know when my mom showed tough love on me, it killed me. Yet now, I got a job and my license. Still got a long way to go, but I’m heading in the right direction. Mom didn’t forget about me, she just loved me enough to listen to God and let me go through what I went through because it would make me better, and it did.

Sometimes though people are thinking about you, they just don’t say anything to you. I know I think about folks all the time, I just don’t say anything to them. Most of the time I pray for them. Just keeping it real. Should I try to connect with all the folks I think about? I say if the timing is right, go for it. So when you start to feel lonely, when you start to feel forgotten, remember that the one true and living God has not forgotten you. Remember that there is somebody out there thinking about you and possibly praying for you as well. I pray for all the folks I’m connected with whether in person or online.

Thanks for reading. Share your comments. Share the blog around.

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson aka Big Dusty

LET GOD BE GOD

Let’s go head and get it out the way in the beginning. Follow me on Twitter @Big_Dusty. Get at me on Facebook.com/BigDusty. Alright?

I want to grow. I want to grow mentally as well as spiritually. To be honest with you though, lately I feel that I’ve been on hold. I’m not being stupid and putting the blame on God, but I feel like somehow or another I’ve put myself on hold. I see God moving in my family and amongst my friends, yet when the camera zooms in on me, it’s like I’m walking slowly backwards while everyone else is moving past me going 100 mph. If you look at my face, I’m smiling thinking I’m moving forward blind to the fact that everything around me is going on in the name of the Lord, and I’m going backwards and sinking at the same time. Song writer says, “I was sinking deep in sin far from the peaceful shore. Very deeply stained within sinking to rise no more. But the master of the sea heard my despairing cry, and from the waters he lifted me. Now safe am I.” That’s from one of my favorite hymns, Love Lifted Me. Search for it on youtube. My suggestion is a BeBe Winans and Donnie McClurkin version that was done like back in ’93. Anyway, let’s get to the part where it says, “…the master of the sea heard my despairing cry..” What is despairing? Looking it up in the dictionary, it simply means to be without hope or hopeless. So the writer here was at the point of no hope. He had nowhere to go, so he cried out to God. I would go on to say that he was crying out to anything or anybody that was willing to help. When you’re hopeless, you’re desperate for just about anything. If you’ve ever been desperate for anything, you know that you sometimes get to the point where you’ll take help from just about anything or anyone. Why? Because You’re past the point of what Kurt Carr said, “I almost let go.” You did let go, and once you do let go, you lose focus. Once you’re lose focus, you get to the point of desperation. That’s where the danger comes in.

“…the master of the sea heard my despairing cry, and from the waters he lifted me…” What that says to me is when you cry out to God, he will not only save you but he will lift you out of the sin you’re indulged in. That means it doesn’t matter what you’re struggling with, the master of the sea, God, can lift you out of sin no matter how deep. So that tells me also that there’s no sin too deep that God can’t lift you out of. Now here comes the question. Why do we put a limit on what God can do? I said, we because I will admit that I do it. I put a limit on God. All my life growing up I heard the old saints say, “There’s no limit to what God can do.” Yet, here and now, I’m struggling in a rut of habitual sin. Why? It’s not God’s fault. His hand is there to lift me up, but I’m not reaching up. We’re not reaching up. I remember the old saints used to sing, “God’s got a blessing for you. If you want it, reach up and grab it. God’s got a blessing for you.” Seems too simple, right? You’re telling me that all I have to do is reach up to God, and I will blessed? Psshhh, please, right? It can’t be that simple, can it? Why do we put limits on God? Why do we make elementary math hard like calculus? We’ve gotten so educated and technology savvy, that when something as simple as just reaching up to God for help, we can’t comprehend it. When a baby wants to be picked up, what does it do? It reaches up or out to you. Crying out to you until you pick it up. Interesting concept. Crying out to someone bigger than you that can pick you up and make your world seem better. Interesting…

“…the master of the sea heard my despairing cry, and from the waters he lifted me. Now safe am I.” Safety. Protection. Not only safety and protection from the sin, but protection from yourself, right? So here’s what I got to do better with. Here’s what we all got to do better with. We got to let God be God. Again, it seems too simple, but obviously what we’re doing now ain’t working. I know what I ‘m doing now ain’t working for me. I used to lead a song talking about God is…well I got to let him be….God. The video of me leading a song that says, “For the rest of my life, I’m going to praise You.” I listened to that last night, and I had goose bumps. We are not living what we’re singing about. Let’s keep it real. We got to do better. We got to let God  be God. Bottom line. Once we do that, the stress we put on ourselves will be lifted before we know it. I’ll end this with another old song that says, “Take your burdens to the Lord and leave it there.” Simple.

Stay Saved,

 Daniel Richerson aka Big Dusty

CONNECTED BUT NOT CONNECTED

5:10 in the morning. I couldn’t sleep. All I could think of is when. When is that first girlfriend gonna happen? When is that first kiss gonna happen? There’s a song out that says, “I don’t mind waiting.” I don’t sing that song because I’d be lying if I said that. When am I gonna get that phone call, text, tweet, email, or what ever saying that, “Hey, I was thinking about you, just wanted to say hey.” It may seem selfish, but I’m tired of feeling lonely and saying I got Jesus at the same time. I’m tired of hearing that we’re here for each other, I need you to survive, and yet we’re never there for anybody. Not even for ourselves. When people cross our minds, do we pray for that person or do we just say, “Hmm, why am I thinking about him/her?” Somebody comes to my mind, I often try to at least write on their wall on Facebook. Now I’m not stubborn like some people, if you don’t respond, I don’t keep trying to beg for your attention. I don’t beg to get a response from you. When I try to connect, I feel I done my part. Is that wrong?

There’s a song that says, “Somebody prayed for me, had me on their mind, took some time, and prayed for me.” I found myself wondering, who’s mind have I been on. Too much? Maybe, but this is the kind of stuff I think about when I can’t sleep. This is the kind of stuff I think about when I have 274 followers on Twitter and get nothing from nobody most days as far as a mention or reply. This is the kind of stuff I think about when I have 111 subscribers on YouTube, and I can’t even break 20 viewers on my videos. I’m connected to all these people but yet I really have no connection with them. Having 340 “friends” on FaceBook and can barely get a like on a post. That kind of stuff right there…

Connection, but no connection. That’s kind of scary to think about, really. We may be connected to the answer we’re seeking, but since we really have no connection, they’re just there for a count. What if God did us the same way? Ted Winn has a song that says, “I am connected to the kingdom of God.” What if we’re only connected to the kingdom so God could get his count up? Song says, “What if God was one of us?” Well? That would mean only a select few of us would get helped. That would mean only a select few of us would get answers to prayer. The rest of us would get that one answer when our birthday comes.

Again, connected but not connected. You got some celebrities that got a twitter only to say they got one, but we all know that some celebrities use someone else to send out tweets. There’s no real connection with fans. There’s a connection, but no connection. On the other hand, you got some celebrities, that actually tweet they’re on tweets and have a connection with the fans. They respond to all they can. They can’t respond to everybody because let’s face it, that would be impossible. When I get a response or retweet from the athletes and entertainers I follow on Twitter, it lets me know that they really care about connection. I believe God really cares about connection. Matthew 6:25-33 proves that to me, especially the 33^rd verse that says, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness…” In other words, get connected. When there’s connection, then there’s the rest of the verse that says, “…and all these things shall be added unto you.” What are these things? That’s where 25 through 32 comes in.

I hate being around people but there’s no connection. I especially hate that feeling in church. Oops. Yes, in church. That’s sad really. To be around people everyday, but have no connection with any one? Not one person? I’ll keep it real with ya, I understand that you can’t hang out with everybody, even at church, but if you can’t find at least 3 or 4 people to connect with, maybe you’re the problem. That’s an ouch and amen moment for me at least.

I don’t know maybe I should be stubborn and try to connect more with people even when they don’t connect with me. Maybe I’m wrong, and I’m the problem. Maybe I’m the reason I get no replies, mentions, or anything like that. I’m just tired of being connected but not connected.

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson aka Big Dusty

INTERESTING...

So this past Sunday was my first Sunday as the sound man at church. It went well because I really didn’t have to do anything. I’m not going to say I’m the best soundman ever because I’m not. I’m not going to say that I know what I’m doing because I don’t. I feel though the more the weeks go by, the more time I do it, the more I will get better at it. Now, this guy at my job said that exact same thing to me about the job. Here’s the difference. I like being a sound man. I’m interested in being a sound man. I want to learn more about being a sound man. As far as the job goes, as those that know me already know, I don’t like my job. I’m not interested in my line of work. I don’t want to learn more about my job. My job provides check for my bank account. That’s the only reason I go to work Tuesday through Saturday of each week. A check. Sound man? I’m interested. Why? I’m interested in music. Some of y’all know. I like to sing. I like to play the drums. I have dreams. I have goals. Why not learn how to make the music and the psalmist sound good on the speakers? I’m interested in the music in front of the curtain, why not learn how it sounds good behind the curtain, know what I mean?

That’s how I am about things I’m interested in. Like pro wrestling. I’ve been a fan of wrestling most of my life. As a fan of wrestling, I wanted to learn everything I could about the product that I’m a fan of. That’s why I like watching documentaries on wrestlers and wrestling companies. I like watching shows like Tough Enough because that show focusing on training people to become successful in the business that I’m a fan of. I want to know how the performers do what they do. Because I’m interested in it.

I’m interested in entertainment. When DVD’s have behind the scenes footage on the movie, I watch it. Why? Because I’m interested in seeing how the movie was made and how the movie got to where it got to when it got released to what we saw on the DVD. Also if I like an actor or actress I watch documentaries and interviews on them to see how they got to where they are. What’s the story on them? How did they learn their craft? Inside The Actor’s Studio on Bravo is one of my favorite shows because it gets me closer to the person that gets paid to entertain.

Bottom line, when you’re interested in something, you learn more about it. You study it. Especially if you’re interested in getting into a business or craft, you learn all you can about it without going to college. Like movies and stuff. Not only do I watch movies and comedy stand up, but I find myself studying it as I’m watching to see why do they do this or why do they do that. I’ve always been one to learn by watching. I learn by doing. Sitting in class with a pencil and paper, I’m sleep. That’s boring. Put me on the spot, make me do it, let me make mistakes, tell me what I did wrong, and then next time, I get better.

Hope you got something out of this blog. Be sure to share this blog, leave a comment, and follow the blog. Feel free to read all the other blogs you want to. Check out the latest podcast at: http://bigdusty.podomatic.com . Subscribe to me on YouTube. Follow me on Twitter. Friend me on Facebook.

Stay Saved,

Big Dusty aka Daniel Richerson

Jeremy Lin, Whitney Houston...what else you want?

So if you been checking with me the past few weeks, you noticed I got back in the grind so to speak. Back in the grind of podcasting. Something that I’ve been doing literally for years. When I began doing them, I called them voice blogs. If I remember right, it took me a couple of years to start calling them podcasts. Calling them what you will, I got back to doing them because it’s a good way to express myself. I can literally speak my mind, know what I mean? I’ve only been back doing them for two weeks now, and when I say I’ve been getting ideas after ideas? I mean I already got an idea of what I want to talk about for the next one, that is just in case a collab podcast doesn’t happen. Hint hint…

So how y’all been doing since the last blog? It’s been quite a while, and I apologize for that. That’s all on me. I got to get back on the grind on these things like I got back in the grind with my podcasts. Not only the blogs, but I’ve been slipping with my YouTube Channel as well. It would be easy for me to stop making YouTube videos because my views are not up to par, but the key word there is easy. I plan on making them better…well at least better looking anyway. I can’t promise on the material, but the look of the videos should get better in the coming months. Gonna let your mind whirl with that one…

The big story going around is Whitney Houston, and her death. When I first heard the news, my sister and I were eating at O’Charley’s, and a waiter was walking around saying, “Whitney Houston is dead.” Sure enough, when we got home and I turned it to CNN, there it was. Whitney Houston dead at 48. Whitney ruled the airways for decades. She was a big part of the generation before me, and she was a part of mine. Whitney had her struggles and demons, there’s no need to go in to that, because most likely you know about it. If by chance you don’t, it’s called bing and google. Look it up. What I will say about the situation is for the media to please let the family have peace. For once can they turn the TV on and not be reminded of what happened to Whitney? Some say give them a week, why not give them a couple of months? Let the family breathe. About the funeral though, what y’all think of Reverend Tyler Perry? Tyler had the organ going and everything. I don’t agree with the cussing he does at times, but when the guy speaks about faith, he speaks truth.

Another big story going around is Jeremy Lin. Lost big time to my  team, the Miami Heat on the evening I’m typing this, but I’m still a fan of the story. It is the American story. The man was on the verge of quitting. Literally sitting at the end of the bench getting over looked. Then all of the sudden he got his one shot. Now a couple of weeks later, the dude is a superstar. Eminem had a song some years back that said, “You only get one shot, do not miss your change to blow This opportunity comes once in a lifetime.” Jeremy took his shot, and get him off his brother’s couch. It’s a message to all of us. Some of us are one opportunity away, but do we take advantage of the opportunities that come our way? We got to own it. If you got a dream don’t give up. That’s for me as much as I’m typing it for y’all. I’m still chasing my dreams. I don’t do a very good job at it at times. I have no problems admitting that, but maybe me typing this to y’all will motivate me to do better for myself, you know? Anyway, I like the Jeremy Lin story. It’s not only good for the Knicks, it’s good for the NBA as a whole. It gives the NBA more viewers. It gives the NBA more publicity. It doesn’t hurt that Lin is a man of faith and that he’s humble. Man of faith and humble.

The Lin story also teaches that if you’re obedient to God and humble, God will take you places not only that you dream of, but past your dreams. That’s what I’m learning myself more and more, and that is to stay obedient and humble. When I get pats on the back, I don’t get the big head about it. One, I got a big enough head already. Two, I have a past that people can bring up that can embarrass me and bring me back down off a cloud. Why not stay real either way? Whether I get pats on the back or not, just stay real. Jay Z and Beyonce are examples of what not to do. Not allowing people to see their new born babies because you had to close off an entire wing of a hospital to bring your baby in this world. Come on! You’re not the only new parents in the world! Giving your baby a tumblr, featuring the baby in the song, giving the baby millions of dollars worth of toys…are you serious right now? I don’t know why I’m on the Jay Z and Beyonce trip, but it just urked me to the fact that parents couldn’t see their babies because these two rich tools had to block off a wing for theirs. If you’re a fan of these two, I make no apologies for what I said. These two were wrong, and anybody with heart knows that. Don’t give me that they’re new parents and they were excited and all that garbage. The fact was, they were rich with money, and they could do whatever they wanted.

Sorry, I got side tracked for a second there. Bringing it back. The bottom line I was getting to is that being obedient and staying humble is what I’m doing, or what I’m doing my best to do on this ride to where God is taking me.

That’s the blog. Again sorry for the wait, I hope this makes up for it. Get at me on Facebook and Twitter. If you want to follow my podcast, here’s the page for that: http://bigdusty.podomatic.com . I’ve been slacking on my YouTube, but I plan on shooting the new video soon. Be sure to leave your comments for this blog here on the site, Twitter, or Facebook. Feel free to share this around with folks. Feel free to follow this blog. I hope to be back sooner rather than later.

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson aka Big Dusty

My mind thoughts that are in there....?

Happy New Year folks! Hope your 2012 is off to a tremendous beginning! I can't speak for y'all, but I'm so glad that 2011 is over. Just about pure hell that year was. Well, not pure hell because it wasn't dark, gnashing of teeth, and worms wasn't crawling out of--well y'all get the point. I can say that the beginning of my 2012 hasn't been perfect, but today I made the decision that I'm not going to rehearse stuff that God is trying to kill. I know it's not going to be easy, but like the song writer said, "Nobody told me the road would be easy, but I don't believe He's brought me this far to leave me." Decisions I got to make are not going to be easy choices. It's never easy breaking what's been an hindrance on you for years. It's like when getting saved. Once you get saved, people think all your troubles stop. Welp, for those of us who can keep it real, we know we ain't perfect.

So my job. It could be going better. Then it could be worse. Again I can't go into specifics of what I do at work, but I can say that I'm the type of guy to like to get stuff done no matter what, you know? Taking short cuts has never been an issue for me. Don't judge me, some of y'all is just the same. Anyway, taking short cuts is not the best idea for what I do. I may not like the job, but if I want to keep this job for the time being, I got to do it right. I got to follow protocol. Like what some of us do with salvation. Some of us don't follow protocol when it comes to salvation. Notice I didn't say tradition. Notice I didn't say religion. I said salvation. We don't pray. We don't fast. We don't praise. But we do cuss, drink, fornicate, and all that...and yet say, we're strong in the faith. Yeah...So anyway, no more short cuts. With my job, and with my spiritual walk.

So that's the blog folks. Not that long I know, but I'm at Starbucks and I ain't sitting here all night just to think of something. Just wanted to post a little something something for ya...

Be sure to comment and follow the blog. Feel free to read all the other blogs. Follow my Wrestling Blog. Friend me on FaceBook. Follow on Twitter. Follow me on DailyBooth. Follow me on Tumblr.

Stay saved,

Daniel Richerson aka Big Dusty

THE MOST AMAZINGST BLOG!!

I’m about 5 seconds away from giving y’all the most amazingst blog, so imma give you 5, imma give you 4, imma give you 3, 2, 1…now I’m about to go WILD!!

Sleep. You never realize how important sleep is until you don’t get enough of it. Before I started working, I was sleeping all day. When I got tired, I just went to bed and went to sleep. Now with the job, sleep comes when it comes. With work, church, and finding something to eat, sleep happens, quite frankly, when it happens. I can’t count how many times I find myself yawning at work ready to fall asleep at my cubicle. When I go on break, while social networking through the phone, I’m surprised I don’t get whip lash the way I nod off.

I can’t blog much about what goes on at work, but I will talk about one thing. Smoking. It seems like everybody in the center smokes. The other day I was sitting beside a guy that smelt so bad. I’ve hung out with smokers throughout my life, but they never smelt like this guy. It was so bad folks, that when a customer beeped in on the phone, I could barely get through the conversation. I felt like I was going to die from second hand smoke. You know what’s funny about smokers though? Specifically cigarette smokers? They’re the main ones to tell you that smoking is bad or that it’s a bad habit. I remember some time ago when I lived across the street from a subway, I was walking back home and this guy asked me, “Do you have a lighter?” I said, “No, I don’t smoke.” This guy said, and I quote, “Good cause it’s bad for you.” #Areyouseriousbro?

Which leads me to another thing. Ever notice that the folks that tell you that something is bad are sometimes guilty of that something? Why is that? Why do we do that? Hypocrites. They’re all around. In and out of the church. There was an old song that I was taught when I was a kid, and I hated it. I still hate the tune of it with a passion, but the words are true. The song says, “I don’t want to be a hypocrite. I don’t want to be a hypocrite cause they’re not hip with it. I don’t want to be a hypocrite.” No I will not post a youtube video of me singing that awful awful awful awful song. Well maybe I will cause my views have been down lately, but either way…we as a people need to stop being hypocrites, especially in the church. I don’t know if we truly know how much people are paying attention in the church. The hypocrites think nobody know, while we’re out eating and talking about them. Yes, we talking about you. That’s how we do it in the church. We’ll smile in your face and give you a hug, but at the same time, if you’re wrong, we’ll talk about you. Wrong? Maybe. Fun? Definitely.

So the other night, I was on a K-Ci and JoJo trip. I’m serious, I went to Starbucks and bought All My Life, Life, Tell Me It’s Real, and Crazy off ITunes. My generation gets a bad rap of having bad music. Not all of the music was bad. Believe it or not, the 90s was a great era of music. Again, you had K-Ci and JoJo doing their thing. Then you had the Backstreet Boys and N’Sync. You had the One Week by Barenaked Ladies. You had Matchbox Twenty. You had Mariah Carey before she had ice-cream. You had Missy Elliot. You had Will Smith. You had Korn. You had a lot of good music. What Nickelodeon and Disney folks try to do in music now, where do you think they got that style from? The 90s. Something had to be right in the 90s for it to be continued to be mocked after 20 years from when the decade even started. They’re other songs and groups from the 90s that were good, I just can’t think of them off the top of my head.

That’s the blog folks. Hope you liked it and got something out of it. Be sure to leave a comment sharing your thoughts, opinions, and/or frustrations. Be sure to follow this blog. Feel free to read the other blogs. If you’re a wrestling fan, follow my Wrestling Blog. Subscribe to me on YouTube. Friend me on Facebook. Follow me on Twitter. Follow me on Tumblr. Follow me on DailyBooth.

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson aka Big Dusty

LOOK WHERE HE'S BROUGHT ME FROM

(Whistling in a way like trying to be inconspicuous about my long hiatus from blogging) Oh hi! Hello there. This is, um, Melvin (Melvin?) M. M. Merks. The M. M. stands for Melvin Melvin. Yes! Melvin Melvin Melvin. You see when I was a kid, my mother was so disappointed in me that she would shake her head and say, “Melvin Melvin Melvin.” And it stuck with me...no?

I have no words to explain my hiatus from blogging. Something I love to do. Something that I feel some of you actually enjoy reading. I’ve actually got messages on Facebook about my blogs and how they are enjoyed. My mom enjoys them. You know you’re doing good when your mother enjoys what you do. A lot has happened since the last blog folks. A lot has happened. First and foremost, I got a job! No not Job from the Bible, I mean job as in work, but I assume you already knew that….anyway, yes, FINALLY, I am working. Customer service before any of you ask, and I think that’s about all I can say about it without getting in trouble. Oh, and another big thing has happened since that last b-log—b-log? I got my license. That’s right, my license to kill!!! (Awkward pause) Ahem, actually I got my license to drive…you crazy!! (Awkward pause) Ok ok, I got my driver’s license, ok? There, I said it.

So yeah, a lot of things have been happening for your boy, Big Dusty, and God aint through yet. I’m really enjoying being able to drive myself around for a change. Now the only person I have to depend on to get me somewhere is me. That’s a huge weight off my shoulders I don’t mind telling you. Being able to drive myself to work, church, any place I want to eat…that’s a huge step for me.

To say I’m enjoying this new job would be lying. Don’t get me wrong, after years of not working, it feels good to be earning a check again. On the other hand this job could be setting me up for something in the future. Part of my job is talking to random strangers, something that I never thought I would do. I barely talk to my mom, sorry mom, and now I got to talk to strangers for a living? It’s crazy right?

One good thing I will say, and one of the few things I can actually publicly say about this job is that my co-workers have seen the real me. That’s a big thing for me to say because usually it takes me a long time to come out my shell, but from the first day on the job, I’ve been myself. Weather my jokes went over or not. To be quite honest, my stuff hardly ever goes over, but hey, at least I’m not walking around with a mean mug on my face like I did most of my school days. That turned people away. Now that I’m being myself people are still turned away, but at least it’s because of me and not a false image of what I was trying to be, know what I mean?

Now that I’m working and now that I’m driving, I look over my life and think, “Look where He’s (God) brought me from.” I’m the same guy that would cry when strangers talked to me because I was shy and scared to talk to people. I’m the same guy that hid myself from people because I was worried of what people thought about me. I’m the same guy that would rock back and forth crying because of depression. I’m the same guy that would cry when a mic got in my hand because I did not ever want to sing in front of people. I’m the same guy that would get told that I’m getting picked up to go somewhere and get stood up. Look at me now. I got a job. I got my driver’s license. I make videos on YouTube exposing who I really am to the world. I make people laugh and smile daily at work. I attempt to make people laugh and smile on Twitter and Facebook. As of this blog, this past Sunday, I led praise and worship at church. I lead songs at church with no hesitation. When people talk bad about me, I think of the people out there that got my back. I think of all of you that has supported me for over five years now. “Look where He’s brought me from. He’s brought me from a mighty long way!”

Thanks for reading folks. I hope you enjoyed it. Be sure to comment, share, and follow this blog. Read and comment the other blogs. If you’re a fan of professional wrestling, follow my Wrestling Blog. Friend me on FaceBook. Follow me on Twitter. Follow me on DailyBooth. Follow me on Tumblr. Subscribe to me on YouTube.

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson aka Big Dusty

I'M ENCOURAGED

I’ve never been one to cry over a TV show or a movie. I’ve seen stuff that makes other people cry, but I never did. The famous Fresh Prince episode when Will’s father shows up. That episode used to get my dad all the time. Never got to me. I’ve seen the Green Mile which had my sister and Dad crying. I enjoyed the movie, but didn’t have me crying. I’ve seen Toy Story 3 which got to a lot of people. Again, I liked the movie but it didn’t faze me like that. But…

The other day I was watching Tyler Perry’s Madea Big Happy Family The Movie. If you haven’t seen the movie, you may not want to read any further because I will give away some parts. Now if you know the story of the movie, it’s just like the play. A dying mother is trying to get her family together to tell them that she doesn’t have long to live. Her children, who are grown, have so much issues that they can’t get passed them to hear what their mother has to say. Anyway, the mother ends up dying. The funeral scene is taking place. For some reason, the scene got to me. I found myself sitting in the chair and the tears were flowing down my face. Mind you both my parents are still living. So it couldn’t have been that. I just know that the tears flowing down myself felt like a release.

Before I put that movie in the DVD player, my day was hell. I could be religious and say that this was all Satan’s doing, but that would be a lie. My actions caused it. I’m not afraid to admit that. I won’t admit what I did, but I do know that I knew it was wrong and I felt like crap afterwards. Besides all that I was not doing what I was supposed to do. I wasn’t checking in with people just to check in and/or to tell them what I needed. Needless to say I wasn’t in the random crazy mood that you usually see on YouTube or used to hear on my podcasts. Big Dusty was on vacation and Daniel Richerson was real down. So when I popped the movie in, I was enjoying the movie because I’m a fan of Tyler Perry’s work, and I’ve seen this movie before with my little sister. This time I was by myself. It was almost as if God needed to get me by myself to talk to me through the movie.

It was the thought of my mother that got to me as well. My mom has done too much for me. We talk about the love we get from God and the fact that we don’t deserve it, but if some of us would be honest, we don’t deserve the love we get from anybody. You got to see it from my side of things. As I’m typing this, my little sister is closing in on graduation from college and going into the real world. I’m not. I went to college but didn’t care. I took the same attitude I had in high school, which wasn’t a good one, and bought it to college. Yet Mom still loved me and wanted to see me do well. Have I ever felt I let her down enough for her to hate me? Oh yeah, but as soon as I feel like that, Mom calls me to check on me and tells me that she loves me. What kind of love is that? So it was the thought of my mom someday going home to be with Jesus, and I did nothing like find work, or find a wife, or just plain make anything of myself. That stuff is heavy for a 24 year old to think about. It was like I felt the emotion of the characters that lost their mother, even though again, both my parents are still alive.

I felt something telling me that it’s not yet too late, but don’t wait too long because soon it will be. Sometimes something catastrophic got to happen to folks to light a fire under them. I started feeling like if I wait any longer, something catastrophic is going to happen. I don’t want that to happen.

So before I started typing this I was again feeling like nothing was going to happen. It wasn’t like I wasn’t doing anything. I was applying places, not getting answers, but yet at the same time I heard testimonies at church where people applied places and immediately they were hired. You can imagine how I felt.

In the Bible, 1 Samuel 30 starts off with David and his men were going to Ziklag, not knowing that at the same time, the Amalekites burned Ziklag to the ground and took the women and children as captives. So you can imagine that when David and his men finally made it to Ziklag how they felt. The Bible says that the men starting crying until they couldn’t cry anymore. Then you get the 6^th verse of 1 Samuel 30 where it says, “And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters; but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.” I bring that up because as I was feeling like I was feeling, the song Encourage Yourself by Donald Lawrence dropped in my mind. The song starts off with, “Sometimes you have to encourage yourself…” David was in a depressive state. The Bible says he was “greatly distressed.” Who could blame him? Not only were his men going through, but his own wives were kidnapped as well. Yet in the midst of all that, “David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.”

Why can’t we do the same thing? Why not follow the example of a guy who was, as the Bible put it, “a man after God’s own heart”? Isn’t David in the lineage of Joseph who was the husband of Mary who gave birth to Jesus? Again, why not do the same thing as David? If we’re saved, God is our God. So when we get distressed, and it does happen whether we want to admit it or not, we need to encourage ourselves in the Lord our God. We are the seed of David. Whether I want to or not, I at times act like my dad. Why? Because I’m his seed. Since we’re the seed of David, shouldn’t we at times act like David? The song says, “When the spirit of the Lord comes about my heart, I will dance like David danced.”

Thanks for reading this blog. Hope you got something out of it. Follow this blog. Share this blog around for those who you feel might need to read it. Feel free to check out my other blogs. Friend me on Facebook. Follow me on Twitter. Follow me on Dailybooth. Follow me on Tumblr. Follow my wrestling blog.

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Big Dusty aka Daniel Richerson

YOU SAY THAT YOU ARE MY SHEEP, WHY AREN'T YOU FOLLOWING ME?

“You say that you are my sheep, why aren’t you following me? You say that I am your shepherd, why aren’t you following me?” “I told my sheep to visit the sick and to take the stranger in. When you see someone who’s naked, you throw wool to cover their skin. And you say I say I am your shepherd, why aren’t you following me?”

You got everybody claiming to be a Christian, but don’t want to follow. You got everybody claiming to be a Christian, but don’t want to live it. You see most of the entertainers that receive awards thank God, yet don’t want to follow.

“Why aren’t you following me?”

 Jesus wants you to follow him. Everybody can praise him. The Bible says, “Let everything that have breath, praise the Lord.” So if you’re breathing, you can praise. But being a Christian is more than praise. Don’t get me wrong, being a “praiser” is important. When praises go up, blessings come down. Like a parent that God is, he wants to be praised to perform. But how many people are praising but not following? Those secret habits that we can’t break, or should I say, don’t want to break, whether we know it or not, is hindering the way we live as a Christ follower. When we should be seeking God, when we should be seeking Jesus, we’re stuck in our habits. When we should be waking up thanking God for another day, we’re waking up stuck in our habits. We shout on preachers saying, “Jesus is a habit breaker.”

“And you say that I am your shepherd, why aren’t you following me?”

 We know who can break the habit, but we’re not following him. Some entertainers know where their gifts and talents come from, but refuse to follow him. We say amen when we hear, “Without God, we can do nothing. Without God, I am nothing.” Yet refuse to follow. Sheep follow the shepherd. Goats have to be pushed. Goats have to be forced. What are you a sheep or a goat?

“You say that you are my sheep, why aren’t you following me?”

 Many big brothers are annoyed when their little brothers follow them everywhere. Many big brothers try their best distance themselves from their little siblings. So we claim to be Christians, right? As Christians we have the best big brother ever. God is the father, Jesus is the son. Jesus, the son of God. As Christians we are adopted into the family. Therefore Jesus is our big brother. He is our shepherd, and he’s welcoming us to follow him. We got to stop with the secret habits. We got to stop getting away from people to get our habit in, whatever that habit may be. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Now if we want the habit broken, we can’t continue to entertain that habit. You know what gets you off. You know your weakness. If you can help it, don’t entertain it. Circumstances happen, believe me, I understand that, but that’s not an excuse. You may have to literally walk or run away, listen to music, read the Bible. Don’t get me wrong, I believe in prayer, but praying while you’re in the mood to do whatever your habit is won’t do any good because your mind isn’t in the right place. I know what I’m talking about. You’re in the mood. You’re a couple of seconds away from doing what you know is wrong. So while you’re 99% in, you try to pray. After you open your eyes and get off your knees, you still end up doing the habit. Why? Because your mind wasn’t on God. Your mind wasn’t on Jesus. Your mind was on the habit. God will keep you in perfect peace if you keep your mind on him.

“When my sheep hear my voice, they come running to me.”

Sheep knows the voice of their shepherd. So the question comes who are you listening to? Are you a sheep or a goat? What are you a sheep to? Who are you allowing to be your shepherd? Who are you following?

Leave a comment. Share this around if you got something out of it. Follow this blog. Friend me on Facebook. Follow me on Twitter. Follow me on Dailybooth. Follow me on Tumblr. Subscribe to me on YouTube. Thanks for your time. Thanks for reading.

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson aka Big Dusty

I got awarded for being that dude that can spit the realest talk...WAIT, I'M NO RAPPER!!

A fellow blogger, Mahina , put me up on this award thing.

The rules are:

-thank the person that gave you the award.

-tell seven things about yourself

-award other bloggers whose blogs inspire you

-contact the other bloggers and let them know they have received the award!

 

Thank you Mahina! I try my best to keep it real on my blogs, and I'm glad you enjoy them.

 

1. I don't go to the gym. It's not because of the work outs or anything like that. I am willing to do the work to lose weight, but I will never become prejudice against fat people like most Americans have become. I may be letting too much out the bag, but the reason I don't go to the gym is because of temptation. Temptation as far as seeing athletic women wearing what they wear, and me trying to focus on what I'm supposed to do. I compare it with a guy that is trying to stop drinking. The last thing he should do is go to a bar or a club, right?

 

2. I sweat a lot. I like to call it generational because both my dad and my mom sweat profusely. When I'm singing in the choir or leading a song, I tend to sweat a lot, and you can't imagine how many people worry about me because of it. I always tell them I'm fine. This is what I do. I sweat. That's not to say that sometimes I don't get dizzy and weak when I sing, but sweating has nothing to do with that. 

 

3. I love comedy, specifically comedy that's before my time. That's not to say that some of today's comedy isn't funny because I do like some of the stuff today, but it's something about the old style of Dean and Jerry, Three Stooges, Red Button, Don Rickles, Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, Abbott and Costello, and there's probably more that I'm forgetting. I was born in 1987, and I'm naming comedians that were at their best in the 30's, 40's, and 50's. Crazy isn't it?

4. I'm a big kid. At any time you can find me watching Disney movies like Great Mouse Detective and 101 Dalmatians, or old cartoons like Looney Toons and Tom and Jerry, or nickelodeon shows like Spongebob and Kenan and Kel. I can watch shows like those and still laugh.

5. I mentioned before that I loved comedy. I also love to find comedy in various situations. If the opportunity is open to throw a quick line in to make somebody laugh, I'm liable to say it. Not only do I love to laugh, but I love to make others laugh. Ask any comedian and they'll tell you that it's a high to hear people laugh. I don't consider my self a comedian by any stretch. I consider my self a clown. 

6. I'm the first one to criticize myself. I guess you can say that I'm a perfectionist. Especially when it comes to music. If I'm singing on the wrong key, or playing the wrong beat on the drums, I beat myself up about it. I know it's a fault, but it's a fault that I can't help. The worse comes when I'm leading a song. When I mess up on an ad-lib or a run, you can see the frustration on my face. I know that I'm not singing to people, I'm singing for Jesus, but again, I can't help it. Don't even get me started about watching myself on youtube...

7. I'm a huge fan of documentaries. I love watching or reading stories about the background of my favorite entertainers. I love learning the true background on what happened in the world that made an impact. Professional Wrestling documentaries are my favorite to watch. Great stories.

Now, I award:

TJ - A real student of the Bible, and very passionate about the Gospel

Kayla - She hasn't blogged in a while, but she's an awesome writer. Also she's random to boot. Nothing wrong with randomness...

I guess that's it. Thanks for reading everyone!

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson aka Big Dusty

LEBRON JAMES: THE DECISION...WAS IT REALLY THAT BAD?

Before I get into what I'm going to blog about, let me say that I know it's been a good while since I've blogged anything, and the best way I can explain myself without giving too much away is that I've been going through hard times. I do mean hard, and yet I'm keeping the faith. I'm staying strong. I do desire your prayers. Like Commissioned once sang, "I'm going on in the name of the Lord."

Let me get this out the way. I know this year the Miami Heat gained a lot of fans because of Lebron. Bandwagon fans. I'm NOT one of them. I became a fan of the Heat because I heard Rafer Alston was playing for them, and that was back when the Heat had Lamar Odom.
Lebron James. Lebron "King" James. Drafted right out of high school. Spent 7 years with the Cleveland Cavs, and after "The Decision" as he called it, he's now a Miami Heat, my favorite NBA team, and they are now 5 wins away from the NBA Championship. I shouldn't be this shocked, but I'm amazed at the hatred toward this guy. I always thought it was only Cleveland and Laker fans, but it's just about everybody who is not a Heat fan. People are mad about his nickname, King. Believers are especially mad that because of the King James Version of the Bible. I admit, it's an easy target to shoot, but I think it's clever. I know this is said a lot about Christians about being to deep, but I think this is one of those cases where it's valid. Come on y'all. I can't tell y'all how many times I get called Daniel In The Lion's Den or Daniel son. It's an easy nick name to have. Like a guy named Richard being called Dick, or a guy named William being called Billy.

Now to what literally everyone is in an uproar about, "The Decision." People say that they're not mad about what he did, but are mad about how he did it. First off, Lebron James is a name. No one can argue that. He put his face with a product, people are going to buy that product whether it's shoes, insurance, or whatever. The man is money. With that being said, I have no problem with how he did it. "The Decision" generated 6 million dollars, and people are acting like the money went in his pocket. The money went to charity. Was it a publicity stunt? Yep. Did it have everyone focused on him? Yep. Was it a money generated move? Yep. Again, the money went to charity.

Then you got the people from Cleveland talking about he "turned his back on the city." To my knowledge, he was still born in Ohio. He still graduated from a high school in the state of Ohio. Correct me if I'm wrong. Lebron still reps the city even in Miami, just like D-Wade represents Chi-Town in Miami. Just like KG represents Mauldin, SC in Boston.

Then you got all these folks talking about "this never would happen back in the day," or "Michael Jordan would never do something like this." New flash: this is not back in the day, and the Jordan era is done. This is 2011. You can't expect players from today to made decisions like they did "back in the day." It's a new day ladies and gentlemen, whether you like it or not. Lord willing if we live to see 2031, I wouldn't expect players to make decisions like they do now because it will be a new day.

They say that these 7 words kill the church, "We've never done it this way before." Ladies and gentlemen can I say that those words not only kill the church, but they kill businesses in general. What Lebron did was different. It was controversial. But it was all for a good cause. Never mind the fact that he went to Miami for less money, by the way.

Now, Lebron did apologize, but I think that was for the reaction to "The Decision" rather than "The Decision" itself.

This is my opinion. This wasn't planned, but it was the freshest thing on my mind. So here you go folks. I hope it makes up for the long hiatus. Thanks for reading. Share with all you know and don't know. Twitter and Facebook info is on your right. I'm still doing my thing on DailyBooth. Hopefully sooner than later, YouTube and Podomatic will get back active. Until next time...

Stay Saved.

Daniel Richerson aka Big Dusty

WE CAN'T CHANGE THE PAST

History is important. Without history, there would be no today.  Whether the history is good or bad, it brought us to where we are today. We all got that? Good.

Everything and everybody has an origin. We all have a past whether we're proud of it or not, it has happened and we can't change it. We can't change the fact that we were born into this world. The origin of something doesn't necessarily dictate the outcome. The history of something doesn't necessarily dictate the outcome. I'll use myself as an example. Growing up, I was shy. I barely talked to anybody. When a mic come in front of my face at church to sing, I would cry just about every time. Now, I do youtube videos, podcasts talking a lot. Now, I lead songs at church no longer crying out of fear of people.

So I bring up the subject of the origin and history of things because I saw a tweet talking about Easter being a Pagan holiday, and people using that as a reason not to celebrate Easter. Christians use Easter to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the tomb. I've even seen posts some time ago talking about Christmas starting off as a Pagan holiday, and as everybody knows, Christians use Christmas to celebrate the birth of Jesus. You know what I say? So what? So what it started off as a Pagan holiday. So what the Catholics tried to tie both ends against the middle to keep safe. Does it hurt anything using December 25 to celebrate the birth of Jesus? Does it hurt anything that this time of the year is used to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus? No. So why make a big deal of it? Yes, I agree it's important to know the history, but there's no need to dwell on history.

If we dwelt on history, none of you Christians and Religious folks would have anything to do with me. After second grade, I hardly ever applied myself in school. In middle school, I would skip school because I missed the bus. In middle and high school, I was a master at cheating on test and quizzes. Did I pay for it? I'm still paying for it. But what I'm saying is, history happened. All that happened. The consequences from those actions have and are continuing to take it's toll. One of my many faults is that I often spend time worrying about the choices I made as if I can change what I did and didn't do. What I should be doing is making choices now that I will affect my future. My past is not good. It's wicked. Just this morning I repented to God of a bad habit that I've had since middle school. So now, I turn around from the decisions I made before and press on towards the future. My past is over. What I did was wicked and wrong, but that was then and this is now. I got to worry about now to make my future more great.

Get what I'm saying? We all got a history and a past. Some of you have a way more corrupted and wicked past than I do, but life still went on didn't it? Despite of your past, some of y'all have become very successful. Some have gotten saved and are now preaching the Gospel. Some have gotten saved and are now singing the Gospel. I mean let's look at Paul from the Bible. He started off killing Christians, right? Who knew that he was going to become a major prophet for God? Paul? The one that used to be Saul and was killing off Christians? Don't dwell on your past. Work on your now to make your future better. That goes for me too. I'm definitely preaching or "blogging" to myself with this one.

Thanks for reading. I hope you got something out of it. I hope you share with your friends, family, enemies, and everybody you're connected to. Be sure to follow me on here. If you don't have an account to this site, you can use your twitter to follow me. Speaking of Twitter, my Twitter and Facebook is on your right. You can also get at me on Podomatic, DailyBooth, and YouTube. Share your comments below, and God willing, I'll be back next week.

Stay Saved,

Daniel aka Big Dusty

P.S. If you want to email me, get at me at EastsideAfro@aol.com

WHY DOES IT FEEL LIKE SOMEBODY'S WATCHING ME?

Before I go on with this blog. Are y'all enjoying these blogs? I certainly enjoy writing them, but I hope you enjoy reading them. If you in fact do enjoy reading these, please spread them around to your peers and enemies. Anyway, let's go. Booya!

Now let me say now, that this blog is for me as much as it is for any of you. I'm not perfect. I have made mistakes recently. So please don't get the idea that I'm Mr. Perfect because believe me, my name is Daniel, not Curt Hennig.

People are watching you rather you know it or not. I don't mean with spy cameras, security cameras, or anything like that. I just believe that we all, one way or another, are being studied. People are paying attention how you react to things, how you confront situations, and even how you live. That's why it's important that you watch what you say, pay attention to how you live, and all that because someone is always watching.

This especially goes for Christians. I truly feel for the baby Christians out there who have to see Christianity turned into a Religion, when it's about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It's like a kid who watches the parents act any kind of way, and then at the same time the parents tries to instruct the child to do the opposite. That's how it is in the church. It's preached over the pulpit to love everyone. It's preached over the pulpit not to lie. It's preached over the pulpit not to gossip. While it's being preached, it's not being practice. Ever heard the term, practice what you preach? So what are those that are young in the faith supposed think when they see the so called "seasoned" saints lying on one another, gossiping about each other, hating each other, and at the same time, are trying to teach you what is right.

I understand that we make mistakes. I understand that we're not perfect. I also understand, however, that I got people unsaved following me on Twitter, friends with me on FaceBook, following me on dailybooth, following me on podomatic, subscribed to me on youtube, following me here on Blogger, and/or subscribed to me on iTunes. So again, I'm not perfect, but I have to do my best to represent Christ in everything I do. The old song says, "This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine." The light here is Jesus. Another song says, "Everywhere I go, I take my light so that men might see Christ in me." Another song says, "Whatever you do, don't let your light go out." And another song says, "You maybe the only Jesus they see." I got people looking at me through this internet that may not ever go to church. I wouldn't be surprised if I got people watching me just to see if I will mess up, and no doubt, I will mess up. I'm human.

Let's say I was on the outside looking in. I was not saved. I was not sanctified. None of the above. I hang out with folks that proclaim to be saved, sanctified, Holy Ghost filled. I see them cussing, lying, gossiping, hating folks, and yet still proclaiming the name of Jesus. Or I see them depressed, looking beat up from life with no hope whatsoever. What would I supposed to think? I hear getting saved is the best decision I could ever make, and I see this guy looking worse off than I am now. I thought this God was a loving God, yet I see this guy over here gossiping about someone, or I see this woman over here lying in the church. Why go to church when I get this at home already?

See what I'm saying? It's extremely important to how you live your life. I'm not going to tell you how to live your life, but I will tell you that you need to realize that people are watching you. Rather it's a child or someone striving to be like you. Rather it's someone that cares about you or someone that's just waiting for something to scold you about.

I hope you got something out of this blog. Again this blog is for me also. I have to do better, and I know it. Be sure to leave a comment below. Share with your people anyway you can. Be sure to follow the blog. Twitter and Facebook info is on the right. Get at me also on YouTube, DailyBooth, and Podomatic. And I'll see y'all next Thursday.

Stay Saved,

Daniel aka Big Dusty

SOMETHING'S GOING TO HAPPEN...I JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT

First of all let me apologize for this being up a day late. I'll do better. I'm really trying to stay consistent with YouTube, my podcasts, and with my blogs.

I was going to blog on being deserted, but I don't know about any of you, but I'm sick of typing the mopey blogs. So with that being said...

Ever get that feeling in the pit of you stomach that something crazy is going to happen, but you can't put your finger on it? Like every time you daydream, you see yourself doing something you never thought you'd have the guts to do. that happens to me constantly. You just feel something brewing and there's no way to get around it. Here's the crazy thing though, as you see these things happening in your head, you get nervous like it's happening right now. Your leg starts shaking, your heart starts pounding, your voice gets hoarse...I mean it's literally like you're about to get up and do it at that very moment.

Like tonight, I'm going to the last of a 3 night 2 day conference. I didn't go to the choir rehearsal. I didn't go to any service of the conference thus far. Yet and still, tonight I'm expecting great things. I even caught myself daydreaming about leading a song tonight. Is that weird? I don't know what that is to be  honest. It's like at church, just about every time I lead a song, I just about know what the song is going to be because before hand I'm listening to the song over and over, or I can't get it out my head.

 Well that's the blog. I'll be back to my regular scheduled rants next week, but for this week, this is it.

Thanks for reading.  Share your thoughts and comments below. Feel free to read the other blogs and leave your thoughts on those as well. Twitter and Facebook info is on the right. Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/danielakabigd DailyBooth: http://www.dailybooth.com/bigdusty Podcasts: http://bigdusty.podomatic.com Also let's spread this around, send this to the people you know, like, and don't like.

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson aka Big Dusty

A FEW THOUGHTS ON HOLINESS

Know what I don't get? I don't get how traditions and customs that are man made are part of being holiness. Am I missing something? Yes! Yes, I agree that holiness is right. You won't get no arguments out of me. But let me bust your bubble religious folk, holiness has nothing to do with traditions and customs. Holiness has nothing to do with any doctrine. I'm so sick of religious folk. I'm so sick of those that don't read the Bible for themselves. They depend on what other people say the Bible said not knowing that some of what's coming out may be opinion or may be turned to gain attendance and not gain souls. The Bible says to study to show thyself approved. Not to show your pastor approved or anybody else. Read and study the Bible for yourself. Don't depend on someone else because they might be leading you astray. I used to make a habit, a habit that I didn't need to break, to come home from church and study the verses the pastor or who ever spoke used in their sermon for myself. Why? For one to make sure I wasn't getting led astray. Is that wrong? I don't think so. Is it questioning what the person preached about? Not necessarily unless they said something that does not line up with the Bible.

I was watching this video that featured Hezekiah Walker leading a church in a praise or what us pentecostal people like to call a shout. I looked down at the comments below and I saw one comment that was so religious. The individual made a comment talking about some of the dudes in the video that happened to have dreads. The comment basically said that the young dudes with dreads need to cut them off because "Holiness is still right!" Then someone responded to that comment saying that women needed to keep their head's covered in church because "Holiness is still right!"

This is why people turn away from the church and turn away from God. We try to witness to people with the customs and traditions we were born into rather than witness to people the Word of God. I talked about in blogs past how now I'm leading songs at church. My mom made a joke about how it was because I cut my hair. What's sad though is that some would probably say that and mean it. For the record, I could sing when I was growing my hair, but I didn't do it. Cutting my hair had nothing to do with me gaining confidence enough in my voice to lead songs. What gave me confidence was just going out and doing it. Getting my mind past being nervous, past every judging eye looking at me, and just sucking it up and doing it. Could I have done that while I still had cornrows and my Afro? Yep.

Another questions now comes, did my hair make me any more or less saved? Did the fact that I got my hair braided and had long hair make me more or less holy? Tradition would say yes. Religion would probably say yes. From all I've read in the Bible, I didn't read anywhere where having an Afro and braids was an abomination.

If you going to say, "Holiness is right," know what Holiness really is and please don't go by the customs and traditions you were taught growing up. Study to show thyself approved.

This wasn't exactly the blog I had planned, but here it is. Hope you enjoyed it. Hope you got something out of it. As always, my twitter and facebook information is on the right. My YouTube is: http://www.youtube.com/danielakabigd. My DailyBooth is: http://www.dailybooth.com/bigdusty. My Podcasts page is: http://bigdusty.podomatic.com. If you have an account with Blogger, go ahead and follow me here so you'll know when the next blog comes up. Don't forget to share your thoughts below. Share this blog with other people. Feel free to advertise this blog all you want. Trust me, you're not going to hurt my feelings.

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson aka Big Dusty

MY THOUGHTS ON JENNIFER HUDSON, AND DANIEL RICHERSON

A couple of things I want to get into, so here we go.

Have y'all seen Jennifer Hudson's new video?



When I watched it for the first time, I was blown away at how much weight she lost. One of the comments I read below the video said something to the effect that for 30 secs. he thought it was Brandy Norwood. Yes, Jennifer Hudson has lost that much weight. She looks good too. I mean she really looks beautiful. Now as I say that, the question comes to mind. I think she's fine now, but what did I think of her when she was fluffy? That kept ringing in my head as I watched the video for the first time. It's like I was forcing myself not to be attracted to this woman that went from being bigger or as big as I am now to being compared to Brandy. Hopefully, for Jennifer's sake, she lost the weight for her and her alone, and not because she was in Hollywood, or because David Otunga, her fiance, is fit so she just had to follow suit.Was Jennifer fine before? I will say this, physically she was not my type. Sound fair?

That's always been something I thought about when it came to losing weight. If or when I lose weight, would I get treated any differently then I do now? Would I have a better shot of finding a wife one day? Would I have a better chance of finding the direction I need for my life to get it going? These are the things I think about. I mean I would be the same Daniel aka Big Dusty I've always been. Obviously, after losing weight, I could get through leading a song without feeling like fainting afterward. Look at Jennifer. She could sang before and she can still sang now.

If you were able to pick it up in the last paragraph, my life is at a stand still right now. In a little over two months, yours truly, Big Dusty, will be 24 years old. In a little over 3 months, it will be 6 years since I've been out of high school. This all really hit home last night before I went to bed. I know I've blogged about this, podcasted about this, and even took some shots at myself through video, but it's still sad on my part. Something happened this morning that hit home too. This morning I was messing with my dog, Ginger, like I usually do. I came off with a comment, "I'm trying to teach you about life." My dad then asked the question, "What are you going to teach her about life?" In other words, "What do you know about life?" That coming from your father can really hit home. I'm sure he meant no harm by it, but Holy Crap did he have a shot and did he ever take it.

I wake up every morning not understanding how or why God lets me live day after day knowing that the last 6 years was completely wasted. Don't get me wrong, my spiritual life is on the rise. I'm singing with more confidence at church. I'm reading the Bible and praying more than I've ever have. If you read through the blogs, you can see that I've grown spiritually. I'm not downing that for a minute. But my natural life has been wasting away. Singing God Is, Made A Way, and I Won't Forget at church and it going over every time is not getting me off my butt and naturally getting my life on acceleration. Naturally speaking, I've been riding the breaks. Spiritually and church speaking, I've been on acceleration. I keep wondering how can I get my natural life to step up. As I'm typing this, my hands are shaking because this is hard for me to just open up about, but the truth is the truth. The smiles I make on dailybooth, the randomness I come with through podcasts and YouTube videos, is not moving my life forward spiritually speaking.

Now I can hear my dad's annoying voice--it is annoying. I'm his son. What else do you expect from me? Back on topic--in my head. "When you pray to God, you got to be specific because God has a sense of humor." I hear it every time I get on my knees to pray. The problem is, at least in my opinion, I don't have direction. I don't know where to go or where to start. Would I want to get paid doing what I'm doing now which is putting my thoughts down through blogging or writing a column? Of course I would. Would I love to make an income entertaining? Of course I would. Would I love to make an income doing podcasts or talk radio just sharing my opinion? Of course I would. So I do have dreams like writing a best seller, or playing drums in a successful band. But what's the use of having dreams with no direction? That's my problem. I have no direction. Again that's my opinion, and I'm sure, as a matter of fact, I KNOW all of you have an opinion on this.

For those that are worried and praying for me, trust me I'm not in denial. I know what I'm doing, or should I say in this case, not doing. When people ask me how I'm doing, I say I'm fine to stay away from conversation. When I'm the subject of conversations, I try my best to keep it short in sweet. That's probably why I have no friends that I can call on, because I don't open up to anybody. I've had the bad habit ever since High School of hiding my feelings from people and faking it. But as you can see through my blogs, I have a lot on my mind and my heart that's just waiting to be shown to the light.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below. I know you got opinions on me and my situation, but feel free to share your thoughts on my thoughts on Jennifer Hudson. If you're a member of this blog site, follow me so you'll know when I post another blog. If you have a Twitter or FaceBook, my information is on your right. As mentioned above, I am on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/danielakabigd and DailyBooth: http://www.dailybooth.com/bigdusty . Plus you can listen to my podcasts. I just did one yesterday as a matter of fact: http://bigdusty.podomatic.com.

Again thanks for reading and I look forward to your comments.

Stay Saved.

Daniel Richerson aka Big Dusty

SORRY FOR THE, UH, PAUSE. I'M BACK!!!

SORRY FOR THE, UH, PAUSE. I'M BACK!!!

Hey y'all. I'll come with a real blog later, i promise. Until then, check this out

Was CBS right to cancel Two and a Half Men?

So by now I think we all know what's going on with Charlie Sheen. If you don't then use these search engines called Bing or Google. I think they will help a lot.

Charlie recently went on a radio rant which was reported to be the cause of the cancellation of his successful show and a show that I'm a fan of, Two and a Half Men. During this rant he went after the higher ups of the show and blah blah. Am the only one thinking that this is not a just reason to cancel the show? I'm not condoning what Charlie did, don't get me wrong, but I thought this was show business? Wasn't the show like one of the top sitcoms on TV? So they had a show that was a money maker, and they cancel it because Charlie was honest when the host asked him a question. Way to save money in a bad economy CBS.

I know, I know, Charlie's unstable. Charlie's a drunk. Charlie's doing home rehab. Charlie's this, Charlie's that. Let me introduce y'all to a little known performer, arguably the best wrestler of all time, and he's going to the WWE Hall Of Fame by the way, Shawn Michaels. Shawn, in the mid 90's, was what Charlie Sheen is now. I don't think he did rants on radio station, but he was a pain in the butt backstage. He spoke his mind to the higher ups when he didn't like something. All the while Shawn was on drugs. See the comparison? Did the WWF/E fire Shawn? No. Did the WWF/E kick Shawn off the main show? No. Shawn was making money for the company. WWF/E was smart to know that yes Shawn was a pain in the butt, but he was stealing the show and holding the company together while WCW was kicking their butts in the ratings.

Please save the "money isn't everything" stuff, ok? While I do agree the money is in fact not the most important, it is important. Is Charlie right in the head? No, but is any actor in Hollywood right in the head? I rest my case. The only difference between Charlie and everybody else is that Charlie got caught.

Doesn't that remind you of religious people? When you make a mistake and get caught, they ride you until they or you die, but at the same time they have done the same thing or something worse than you did.

Now, I know that not many people is going to agree with me on this, but this is my opinion, and I'm sticking to it! I am American, fat and opinionated.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to leave your comments below. As always the Facebook and Twitter info is on your right. My DailyBooth is http://dailybooth.com/bigdusty My YouTube is http://youtube.com/danielakabigd Share this on Facebook. Retweet this on Twitter. Share with whoever you think will enjoy it.

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson

YOU THINK YOU KNOW SOMEONE...

Before I get going on this blog let me say that yesterday was a day like I haven't had in months. I posted a new video and a new podcast. That's right, I am back in the podcasting game. I'll plug the website at the end.

Some time ago, I tweeted something to the effect that if you really wanted to know somebody, follow them on Twitter. Well recently I found out that goes with all Internet social media. It's crazy to me what some people say on here. I will admit that I was guilty of being one way on the Internet, and being another way in person. So I know how it is. It's not until you actually see someone else do it, that you realize how nuts it is. I mentioned before that I did a podcast. I'll be the first one to tell you that if you listen to my old podcasts, I was no where near like that in person. In person, you would be lucky if I said more than two words to you. It wasn't to be mean, it was just how I was. I wasn't comfortable talking to people in person. On the Internet, I could do it easily. In person, not so much. Now what kills me is how people act saved in person, then you follow them on social media...good gosh. I finally figured out why some old saints are against social media. Think about it, who in their right mind wants to mess up their reputation? One thing that will never change in this world is the fact that people are very protective of their reputation. People get real offensive when there's false gossip being spread about them. Why? Because their reputation is getting affected by it. Weather we believe it or not, people do care what you say about them. I believe there's something in all of us that care about what people say, however, it's up to us to acknowledge that something.

Lately, I've been blown away seeing people I thought I knew in person being a complete 180 on the Internet. Be who you are. When I wasn't saved, I was honest about it. I knew better than to lie in God's house. I remember some years back, I was at this youth meeting, and the guy teaching asked who was saved. Some people raised their hand, some didn't. I didn't. The teacher then asked a question to the effect why aren't you saved? My answer was peer pressure. Completely honest.

What really blows me away is the language some use. I expect that from my unsaved friends, but from the ones that shout in church on Sunday, then on Monday...yeah, holy goodness. I believe that's how we stay in the bubble we put ourselves in. It's not healthy to be free on Sunday and bound on Monday. To be in Eden on Sunday then back to Egypt on Monday. BTW, yes I'm a husky man talking about what's healthy and what's not. What?!?! And just so you know, I know that from personal experience. Being free on Sunday, jumping and leading songs, then going home and searching...yeah. So believe me, I'm not trying to come off as perfect Big Dusty because I'm no where near perfection. What I am saying is, it's dangerous territory. Seeing what's going on in Egypt and the middle east, we have no time to be playing both sides against the middle. The Bible says that God would rather us be hot or cold. If we're lukewarm, the Bible says, God will spit us out his mouth.

Contrary to belief, the Bible is around for us to use it for cliches. As Donald Lawrence said, we got to let the Word do the work. In order to let the Word to the work, we got to believe it. It's hard to execute a game plan when you don't believe in it. Athletes, am I right or wrong?

So let's make a decision today that we will no longer be lukewarm. If we're going to be saved, let's be saved on AND off the Internet. Let's be saved in AND out the church. Let's be saved away AND with friends and family.

Thanks for reading people. I hope you got something out of it. Please leave your comments below. As always, my twitter and facebook info is on your right for the blog site people. My podcast site is http://bigdusty.podomatic.com/ check out the latest one. Of course my YouTube is http://www.youtube.com/danielakabigd .

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson

2-21-11 WHO IS THIS GUY? OR GIRL? WRESTLING BLOG

So if you’re a wrestling fan like me, you’ve probably been keeping an eye on the dirt sheets to see what’s going on. Especially with the whole 2-21-11 mumbo jumbo. Is it Sting? Is it Awesome Kong? Is it Undertaker? It’s the talk of the wrestling world. Let me say, I highly doubt its Awesome Kong because let’s face it, WWE cares nothing about Women’s wrestling. Look who the Divas Champ is, Eve Torres. I rest my case.


Most likely it’s the Undertaker, which would be the most typical WWE thing to do. I understand Undertaker is who he is, with the whole “most respected guy in the locker room” stuff, but is it just me, or is it getting old seeing Undertaker leave and come back, then leave and come back again? I don’t know about any of you, but I will not be happy if this whole thing is for Undertaker to make another comeback. Taker is coming back. That’s a given. How bout this? Figure out who he’s going against at Wrestlemania, and while whoever that guy will be is doing a promo, Undertaker shows up. No vignettes. No warning. He just shows up. That would be unique. Again though, if this whole 2-21-11 thing is for Taker, then please WWE, spare me.

Now there’s been a lot of speculation involving Sting. Is he in talks with WWE? Is he not? Is he signing back with TNA? Is he not? Is he the father? I mean there’s a lot of talk going on about Sting and where he’s going. Now if I was Sting, first of all, I would be happy that my name out there. Everybody is talking about me. As I’m typing this, the latest thing I’ve read was that Sting was close to resigning to TNA. If that is the case, I really don’t get the logic from both sides. From TNA’s side, Sting is 51 years old. Bringing him back, you have to put him in a major storyline because of who he is. The problem with that is that it leaves the young and great talent you have taking a back seat to a guy past his prime. Why not push the guys that are in the prime of their career now? Why bring in a legend that only has maybe one good year left? And on Sting’s side of things, I don’t get why he loves being on a sinking ship. I don’t get why he wouldn’t want to go to the WWE where he could go out with the reaction he deserves. Why not go out in the biggest company in the wrestling world, like it or not, and end your career in the WWE Hall of Fame? You’re not going to get the big reaction in a studio in Florida. I have no doubt the higher ups in the WWE would respect the status of Sting and use him correctly. Sting is no doubt a legend in the business. He’s no doubt a hall of famer in any wrestling hall of fame.

I will admit that I am a Sting mark. I have been for all my life. Sting has always been in my top 10 list of favorite wrestlers of all time. I want to see him go out with a bang that he deserves. Not in a company that is copying the mistakes of WCW. Plus Wrestlemania is in Atlanta this year. Perfect setup for a Sting run in, isn’t it? Ah well, wishful thinking.

I would love to hear your feedback on this. I know there are a lot of opinions on this. Feel free to share them below. Of course, as always, Facebook and Twitter info are on the right if you’re reading this on my blog site. My YouTube is: http://youtube.com/danielakabigd Also if you have an account on this blog site, feel free to follow on here as well.

Thanks for reading.

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson