ModestGeniusXL

Things to Be Grateful For

God

You're probably thinking how did He not make this weekly entry before now?  Well if I remember correctly when I first started doing this weekly thing I made an oath that I would not use the obvious things like God, family and friends.  If I didn't, I could do one on all of them every week.  However, after a day like today I have no choice but to thank God for how great He is.

I woke this morning and noticed that I had two missed phone calls from Elijah and Mariah's Mom at 3:30am.  Jay would only be calling that early if it was something important, but there were no calls nor any texts from her following that so I didn't think too much of it.  Still, I called her around 6am to see what the calls were about (ed. note:  for those that don't know...I purposely don't have my voicemail set up so it's not like she could leave a message).  She told me that Mariah was in a serious car accident.  The car was totalled.  She was rushed to the hospital and was currently in critical condition.

I really couldn't hear much more after that little bit.  I just broke down.  Not only was she talking about my oldest child but also my only daughter.  Yes, I know we're parents don't have favorites when it comes to their children.  But again...that was my first born.  My only daughter.  The only thing that saved me from being a total wreck was that Jay said she was alert, wasn't paralyzed and was cognizant of what was going on.  Those were encouraging signs.  Still, hearing her following that up with the news that an MRI was needed and there may be surgery required did not help at all.

Even in spite of that news, I tried to get some work done.  I lasted all of about 30 minutes before I realized that wasn't going to happen.  I had to find a way to get down to Dallas.  I had handled far too many accident claims to know that if there was a chance for surgery to be needed then there was a chance for something to go wrong.  No way I could be hundreds of miles away if that were to happen.

Getting a plane ticket there would have been ideal.  Unfortunately, I don't have those kind of ends.  I had no choice but to drive.  It's bad enough that the GPS was telling me it was an 11+ hour trip.  That was the longest 11+ hours EVER.  It was made even more bittersweet when I got a phone call form Mariah herself about an hour into the driver.  She was calling me from her hospital bed.  I have NEVER heard her sound so horrible.  Then to hear her say that she hurt all over was too much for me.  I had to pull over from being so shaken up. 

By the time we finally rolled into Dallas it was after visiting hours.  The nurses understood and let me in to see Mariah with no problem.  I was surprised at how composed I was able to to keep myself seeing her immobilized like that.  It was aided by the fact that the worst thing I could see about her was the huge neck brace she was wearing.  There wasn't a cast anywhere on her body.  Her face looked absolutely the same.  Not a single blemish, scar, bruise or anything.  She looked much better off than I had envisioned so that was truly a blessing.

What had happened was Mariah nodded off at the wheel.  Her Toyota Corolla crossed over the median, went airborn and struck a brick wall.  You can see the outcome of the car with the pic in this post.  The first responder said she was lucky to be alive.  He just knew knew for sure that he would be telling us she had passed away when he got to the scene.  What he didn't know was that God was looking out for Mariah that nite.  Not to mention she literally had hundreds of people praying for her recovery afterwards.  God probably got tired of hearing her name.

You want further proof of how great God is?  How about the fact that Mariah was listed in critical conditon when she was admitted and was was able to be released the following day?  How about that her major injury was a fractured C2 which means she will need a neck brace for a few months as opposed to a fracture a little lower that could have meant total paralysis?  Most importantly, how about that my little girl is with us here today recovering able to wake to see another day? 

God really is good all the time.

Yes Virginia, There are UFOs

I was getting ready to do a long overdue Randomness post and was going to include this as one of the random rants.  Then the more I started thinking about it the more I realized that this was a topic I need to elaborate more on.  I had to give it a full post to properly address my viewpoint on it.

I had lunch with my good friend Bill and the subject of extra-terrestrials came up.  Don't ask me how because I really can't remember.  We discussed a myriad of topics in that short hour with many of them not connected with one another at all.  That's just how we roll.  But this subject came up and I made it clear what my stance is concerning other wordly lifeforms.

Simply put...I firmly believe that there is other intelligent life out there.  I have no idea what they look like or where they are, but I'm just using common sense to formulate that theory.  The reason being is that it would have to be extremely arrogant of us to think that as vast as the universe is that God only put intelligent life here on earth.  Even with as egotistical as I tend to be, I refuse to believe that. 

I have heard people argue that aliens can't exist because they're not mentioned in the Bible.  Well there are a couple of trains of thought I have regarding that.  The first is perhaps they are and we are just interpreting passages in the Bible differently.  We all have our different interpretations of the Bible anyway.  Whose to say that some of those weren't meant to indicate that people had encounters with other worldly lifeforms throughout the course of time?

However, I dont' doubt that there probably was not any mention of any alien lifeforms in the Bible.  That leads to the other train of thought which is my personal favorite:  That would be because God intended for the Bible to be for us for THIS planet.  It pertains to life here on earth and the history of it.  What need would we have for it to include the history of life elsewhere? 

Keep in mind that I am not speaking from any type of personal experience as it relates to any close encounters.  Well...there was this one time when I was about 10-years-old.  I was flying a kite in my front yard (around telephone wires and everything) when I swear I saw a bright light whizz by my kite as it was elevated to around 200 yards.  It just seemed to be moving too fast for any type of airplane and/or jet I had known.  But I was 10 so what did I know?

I'm also not much of a conspiracy theorist, but I do honestly believe that the government is aware of alien landings and keep them hidden from us.  I'm just not sure why they would though.  My best guess is so that they can do some reverse engineering and steal some alien technology to pass it off as their own.  You know our government is shady like that.

So yes, I do adamantly assert there is other intelligent life out there.  However, I seriously doubt they are making contact with some of these inbred hicks that always claim to have seen them.  I would like to think that if a lifeform is going to travel millions of miles to this place that they would have enough sense to seek out people more intelligent than that.  Or maybe they have had the misfortune of only running into those type of folks which is why they don't visit that often.

Mr. Bungles

You had to know this one was coming ever since the first allegations started surfacing.  Now it's already up to four with who knows how many more out there.  No way I could let this one lie dormant without speaking on it.  Especially since I had somewhat of a vested interest.  Although minute, but still.  And no I don't care that it's just accusations for right now.  There is enough information out there for "Bishop" Eddie Long to be the runaway recipient of the Bungles award for this week.

A person would have to have been oblivious to the news to have not heard this story.  Atlanta megachurch leader "Bishop" Eddie Long is being sued by four men who say he lured them into sex by taking advantage of his position.  At least a couple of them are alleging that these acts took place while they were still minors and that he paid them off with gifts such as tuition and free trips to keep the affairs quiet. 

Now we honestly don't know yet if these allegations are true or not.  That's why I won't take the angle of Long potentially being a hypocrite.  He has long been an vocal opponent of homosexuality so it would make him look even worse if he was participating in it himself.  That and the fact that he is also married with four kids.  However, I won't go down that obvious road since, in all fairness, these things haven't been proven yet.  Unfortunately for him, there are other things regarding this story that are still ample to qualify him for recognition this week.

Like the fact that he should not have put himself in this position in the first place.  I can understand a pastor being proud of the fact that he got in shape since the Bible even says our bodies are temples and all.  But sending pictures of himself to other men in the congregation?  And quite honestly, he shouldn't be sending them to anyone at all.  It is HIGHLY inappropriate for a man of the cloth to be sending out pictures of himself posing in skin-tight clothing.  There is only one inference that can be made from a person doing that so he had to know how damaging that could be.

Or how about the fact that when they started coming out, he remained mum altogether.  He had the chance to go on the Tom Joyner Morning show and/or even have a press conference to address the charges and he reneged on both.  Maybe it's just me, but if someone accused me of something that heinous, I would IMMEDIATELY be screaming from the mountain tops about what a pile of horse crap it was.  I wouldn't be able to do it fast enough.  So why isn't he?  I'm guessing it has to be because he sees the writing on the wall.  He knows these men would not have come forward unless they have some pretty good evidence that what they are saying is accurate.  I'm guessing that the pictures we have seen so far are just the tip of the iceberg.

Then I found out that Long's church sits on 250-acres and it made me even more nauseous.  Why would one church need that much land unless some of it is used for houses for some of its members?  There are people who are out of jobs and homeless.  They would be happy just to have four walls to call home and here is this church sitting on that much land so that thousands of people can flock to one man claiming to be a vessel of God.  I am willing to bet that Long's home is just as opulent.  To be fair, this particular point doesn't apply to only Long.  There are other folks like Creflo Dollar that are in this same category.

What I really hate about this story is it is yet another reason for heathens to say that is the precise reason they don't go to church.  One man's actions should neve prevent a person from fellowshipping with others in the name of the Lord.  Honestly, it shouldn't even cause you to change church homes.  I speak from experience.  When I was attending a church here in Des Moines the pastor was involved in a scandal of sorts that eventually got him ousted.  If the church supports the wrongdoing that's one thing, but if they don't then its obvious the body is truly about the greatness of God rather than the greatness of the individual.

It was right out here that I once professed how a song featuring "Bishop" Eddie Long has moved me.  It was "Freedom of Preach" by Ludacris.  Long's sermon in there was powerful enough to move anyone and provided proof of how charismatic he could be. But he is just a man.  He should not be propped up on any pedestal to be worshipped regardless of how gifted he is with his words.  And if it turns out that he was using that position of influence to manipulate those men then I certainly hope his church does the right thing.  Especially if he refuses to do it himself. 

 

In the Church of the Union Mind

Okay...so this actually took place three days ago.  It's a little difficult for me to keep up like I would like to when I'm working a full day and then entertaining shorties when I get home.  I usually don't end up updating my site until later in the evening when everyone has started winding down.  I caught a rare moment of quiet since Mariah is visiting her cousins and Elijah is napping.  Just enough time for me to share my Sunday experience.

It's rather sad that I don't get back to Union Baptist more often.  Not near as sad now as it used to before I moved.  Previously, I was less than five minutes away from the church and I just didn't go.  No good reason at all.  Especially given the fact that it's the church where I grew up.  I was raised in Union just as much as I was in Norwalk.  That's also the good thing about it.  Whenever I do go back, there are those same familiar faces.

This past Sunday, that's exactly where Mariah, Elijah and I attended service.  Auntie Ann made the "suggestion" that we go to church.  She said it didn't have to be Union, but it needed to be somewhere.  The thought of going to Cornerstone did cross my mind, but only temporarily.  Union Baptist was the natural choice.  My longtime streak of being a Bedside Baptist regular would have to finally come to an end.

Funny thing was, I had just found my two favorite Bibles earlier this week.  In the process of moving my things, I located my Amplified Bible and my Study Bible that I thought were lost for good.  I was all geeked about finally being able to use them again (yes....I know it's sad) and then guess what I did?  Yep...turned right around and left them at home when I went to church.  Luckily, I was able to download a Bible app on my iPhone.  I may have looked silly sitting up in there reading my iPhone when they came to Scripture and everyone else had a real Bible, but oh well.

I have to be honest...there were some elders in there that I really wasn't expecting to see.  A couple of folks I thought had already passed away and they were still in there going strong.  I even swore I remember attending one of their funerals a while back.  Or maybe it was her relative and she was just there as well.  It was still good to see that they still looked so good in their older years.  Gives me something to look forward to. 

There was one thing I always remember about Union that still remains true.  The pulpit situation reminded me of "Star Trek: The Next Generation".  Stay with me here...even though only Trekkies will get the parallel.  Commander Riker was always one of the best second-in-commands in Starfleet.  He could have easily had his own ship if he wanted to, but he was more comfortable always having Captain Picard's back.  That's how I always perceived Rev. Thomas and Rev. Hanna.  I was a little surprised that after all these years, Rev. Hanna wasn't head pastor at a church somewhere else, but not really.  He was Riker to Pastor Thomas's Picard.  Nothing wrong with that.

Even though it seemed like I wasn't paying attention due to my numerous Twitter updates I sent, I really was engaged in the sermon.  Especially given the fact that it was delivered by none other than Pastor Franz Whitfield.  I didn't even know he was a pastor.  I still remember when he was singing in Uncle Johnny's choir Voices of Inspiration. 

The Word came from John 5:2.  The theme was "A Change Gonna Come".  He spoke about how although a change is gonna come, it is not dependent on your circumstance.  It's right there before you and it's up to you to make it happen.  Rather aprés peau given my current situation.  So God definitely wanted me to hear that message.

Another takeaway from the sermon (see...I really was listening) was Franz's take on excuses.  He said a excuse is nothing but a dressed lie to look like a good reason.  Pretty clever, but I like ours better:  excuses are nothing but tools of incompetence used to build monuments of nothingness; those who specialize in them seldom accomplish anything else.  There's not an Alpha alive that doesn't know that one.  

So the big question is will I now start going back to Union on a regular basis?  I really have no excuse now since my Bibles are back in my possession.  I'll be out of town next Sunday so that's out.  I'll be out of town the Sunday after that as well.  Jesus knows my heart though. 

A Sunday in Kansas City, Part IV

Despite what a prevalent impression Rev. Dude made on the ceremonies Sunday afternoon, there was more to the 44th Anniversary of Pastor Popoo and First Lady Grandma.  Enough that everything else merited a separate entry.  I couldn't very well sum up the entire afternoon program by putting Rev. Dude on blast.  Regardless of how easy it was.

Dad and I's intentions were to surprise Popoo and Grandma with our arrival to the program that afternoon.  Not only did they not realize we were coming, they didn't even know we were in town.  Unfortunately, we were the ones met with a surprise of her own.  We walked thru the wooden double doors of Philadelphia Baptist Church only to be greeted by a solemn looking Auntie.  She broke the news to us that Auntie Ann had to rush Popoo to the hospital.

That was just what I didn't want to hear.  Judging by the expression Auntie was wearing, it was evident the feeling was mutual.  The good thing was that Auntie Ann was keeping in touch with Makea thru text to keep everyone posted with what was going on.  After a few texts, we were informed that the tests didn't reveal anything serious and they didn't have to admit Popoo.  He wasn't going to make it to church, but at least he would be home later.

As they say, the show must go on.  The program carried on in Popoo's absence.  I'm sure Popoo would have wanted it that way.  At least I hope so.  It was still odd seeing Grandma sitting at the guest of honor table without Popoo by her side.  The two are always synonymous both literally and visually.  Just as we always say "Popoo and Grandma", we were always accustomed to seeing them together.  It took me a minute to get past that.

I knew before I even got to Philadelphia Baptist that one thing I was not looking forward to contending with was the heat.  Philadelphia is an older church where the ventilation is not the best.  Fortunately, Popoo and them realized that and had central air put in.  With the controls that were locked so only certain individuals could get to them.  Deacon Adams, a LONG-time deacon of the church, was one of them.  I watched as he came over and adjusted the temperature.  It seemed like it took him forever to change the eletctronic thermostat up to 77 and then back to 76 where was in the first place.  I guess it was the thought that counts.  Bless his heart.

You will never guess who the emcee for the program was.  At least I know I wasn't expecting it.  It was none other than my 10-year-old cousin Emanuel.  Better known as E-Man.  Our "little" cousin who just cracks me up.  He has the appearance of a kid who should be in junior high school and he's only in fourth grade.  Lil man also had a tiny, meek voice that seemed to be a mismatch for his exterior.  He did an excellent job emceeing though.  What he lacked in volume, he made up for with that personality of his.  He very well could be a  little preacher in the making.

There was one cat there who was giving Rev. Dude a run for the money in the "interesting" category.  It was this guy we shall call "Scotty" who had been a member of Philadelphia Baptist for as long as I can remember.  As he sat in the pew in front of me, I kept hearing him talking all throughout the service.  One small problem:  there was no one sitting anywhere near him except me.  So maybe he had one of those irritating Bluetooth things?  Yeah...not so much.  He was basically sitting there having a conversation with himself.  I should have tried to listen harder because whatever the discussion was, he was really into it.

On a rather random note, it used to bother me when older folks pronounced our last name "Flemmins".  The most frequent offenses seems to always occur at church functions such as this one.  The day I finally let it start rolling off my back was when I discovered one of my own elder cousins from Arkansas was doing the same thing.  And it wasn't like this was a cousin who had a different last name.  He was mispronouncing his own last name.  Bless his heart too.  Thanks to him, it didn't bother me as much with the senior not related to us did the same.  Seriously though...I'm not going to lie...it does still irk me a little.

I was having a little technical difficulties with my camera so I had to rely on other photos for the day.  Okay...so I actually forgot my memory card and accidentally recorded the pics to the camera's internal memory.  Fortunately, I was able to recover them when I got home.  I thought they were lost for good for a minute there.  The end result is I was able to create the latest photo album thanks to a combination of three different photographers (myself, Dad and Amanda).  You can see the differences in my 44th Anniversary - Sunday album.  See if you can tel who took what pics. 

A Sunday in Kansas City, Part III

Finally, the post everyone has been waiting for.  Okay...maybe not everyone.  Just those folks who follow my FB updates and saw me remark about the hilarity that ensued Sunday at Popoo's church.  All because of one certain individual.  It started with just the outfit, but I had no idea it would evolve into so much more.  Some folks don't even know what started the whole thing so allow me to elaborate...

First off, let me say that my intentions were to do a post on the program itself that was taking place Sunday evening.  There was plenty to say about it even before the guest speaker appeared.  However, once things started rolling, I was left with no alternative but to dedicate an entire post to just him.  He just provided that much material.

 From the minute he emerged from the Pastor's office, things got off to an interesting start.  I had to look twice because I just knew I had to be seeing things.  I have seen all types of crossing jackets in my time, but I have NEVER seen a crossing robe.  The only thing he was missing was a huge patch on the back.  I couldn't wait for him to turn around to see if was going to have one and I just missed it.  No such luck.  That would have truly been the icing on the cake though.

I need to take a break here to provide a little more definition.  Some folks may not be in the know.  A crossing jacket is something closely associated with fraternities and sororities.  It is usually a windbreaker or similar material that has various paraphenalia of the organization on the jacket.  Things such as the name of the organization (of course), the date the person crossed (was initiated), nickname, etc.  Now imagine something similar on a pastor's robe.  Sure, it was on a much smaller scale, but still.  I thought I didn't have a picture of it, but luckily Dad caught a little. 

Anyway, Rev. Dude was called in as the guest speaker for the 44th Anniversary of Pastor Popoo and First Lady Grandma.  The theme of the evening was supposed to be "Chosen".  The contextual scripture was supposed to be Matthew 25:21 and I Peter 2: 4 - 9.  Honestly, I couldn't tell you if Rev. Dude at least started off with that theme.  All I remember is he veered WAY off the topic once he got warmed up.

Somehow, he started down the road of how God created man to be with a woman.  Not a man.  He must have stayed on that subject for a good ten to fifteen minutes at least.  Even went as far as to say that two males can't produce anything because they can rub and rub and rub up against each other all they want and they won't ever produce af amily.  I was in awe.  I'm sitting there next to my cousin Amanda tapping her saying "He did not just say that, did he?!"  But the moment I would ask that, he was already on to the next outrageous statement. 

He went on to say that God did not mean for man to be alone.  That's why He created a woman.  A woman, not another man.  Rev. Dude brought that point home by saying if he wasn't with his wife, he'd be with another.  While his wife was sitting just a few feet from him, mind you.  Because as he put it,  a man by himself is just a pitiful sight.  People...I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

By the time Rev. Dude was done, I didn't know whether to laugh, be shocked or what.  I wasn't the only one either.  You could tell from the looks of some of the other folks in attendance that they were just as bewildered.  I can only imagine what a regular sermon at his church must be like on Sunday.  Not sure how much of the Word you would actually get out of it, but you certainly would not leave without being entertained.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Every year I have been fortunate enough to find something special that can be done on this site for my birthday.  I usually discover it well before my actual birthday so I'm chomping at the bit to use it.  This time around, it is thanks to Auntie who sent me an e-mail about it.

There's a site where you can get your birth day verse.  It consists of 366 verses chosen from the 66 books of the Bible.  Each verse correlates the chapter and verse with its moth and day.  Here's mine:

1 Peter 5:10 NIV

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm

Naturally, it's been entirely far too long since I have had a Wadin' in the Water entry.  This one came just in time because a brotha is going thru some things.  Of course what else is new, right?  For as much as I do put out here, I don't put ALL my business out there so we'll just have to leave it at that.

So anyway, this is about the most special thing I will be doing for my birthday.  It is afterall just another day.  Just one more day getting closer to that dreaded 40.  And fortunately, still looking like I'm closer to 20!

Daily Bible Verse

It's been quite a while since I had a good entry for the Wadin' in the Water category.  Probably far too long.  Regardless, it's so appropriate that this post would be it's return to glory.

There's a site that I check everyday that provides a daily Bible verse.  Ideally, you're supposed to copy and paste the code to your site and the verse will automatically update each day.  It lends itself more to the formats of sites like Myspace where your page doesn't change every day with new posts such as an online journal; therefore, I can't use it as it is truly intended.  Nevertheless, I still get inspiration from their choices and here is the one for today:

They should have had this for their first verse of the new year.  It's like they were in my head and took my motto for the new year.  Better late than never though.  This just became my new favorite scripture.

Reverend Fun

This toon has it's own daily site that you should check out when you get a chance.  This one cracked me up so I had to share it.  I'm sure all of us have been to churches (or maybe even presently going to one)where they can relate this to...

 

It Was Just a Dream, Wasn't It?

I have a tendency to sometimes have some pretty vivid, memorable dreams worth sharing.  I told myself that if  I ever came across one, I would take the time to share it on this forum.  I just woke up from one that was fresh on my mind [ed. note: this post was originally written a couple of days ago] and was fairly interesting so I thought I'd share it.  This may be unbearably long, almost like a short story, so bear with me.  Personally, I think it's worth it to stick it out.

E and I are pretty avid video gamers.  Well at least I used to be until this thing started taking up most of my time. Anyway, some of the games we play are role-playing games where you create characters and build those characters up thru time to get strength and powers to fight evil elements.  You could almost consider it a Dungeons and Dragons for video games.  In this dream, for some reason, he and I had been playing on the Iowa State campus when something went wrong.

I was walking down a hallway of one of the dorms when E came running past me yelling that he had somehow released some actual demons.  Naturally, I followed him and went flying up a flight of stairs.  He outran me and I lost him.  As I neared the top, I thought it would be better to fake out the demons and jump down the stairwell to the bottom and past them as they were going up the stairs.  It actually worked.

I jetted back outside where I knew it was a crowded campus and I could blend in with everyone.  Unfortunately, the demons did the same thing as they transformed to take on the bodies of humans.  I didn't see them do this so I didn't know who to look out for.  That's when I stumbled upon the first one.  He was a short, stout older guy who was balding and had a Costanza-type hairstyle.  He was wearing an all black leather outfit...almost looked like Run-DMC's gear from back in the day.

Something dawned on me that if the demons had become real, maybe  I had manifested real powers from the game too.  Sure enough, I had.  I started doing battle with Baldie and was holding my own for a while until the second demon showed up.  This cat was a tall, Black guy.  I can't remember what he had on, but he looked like Alonzo Bodden, the cat that won last season's "Last Comic Standing".  I knew I couldn't take on two of them so I took off running again.

This time, I'm headed towards the middle of campus, almost down by Hamilton Hall, the building that is the home of the journalism department.  As I'm running, I notice ahead, there's a huge blue glowing dome with the word "God" just above it.  Common sense told me that would be my salvation from the demons if I could get there.  It turned out to be a small cement slab on the ground and the small dome was over it.

It was a haven and while there, not only did their powers work, but mine didn't either.  The Black demon yelled to a third that she had to seduce me.  Apparently, there was some bylaw that if someone had sex on the cement slab, it would be so blasphemous that it would unleash all their brother and sister demons from hell to earth to join them.  That's when I saw the third demon and she was looking like every bit of J-Lo, scantily-clad and everything.

She tried to work her mojo; however, just as she started, a huge hail storm came about.  It was affecting only those outside my protective dome.  I pushed her out so she could feel the wrath also.  At this time, three lightning bolts struck down all three of the demons.  As quick as the storm arrived, it dissipated.  Along with it went the dome.

As I started to make my way back to campus, I ran into this gal that I work with in real life.  Apparently, she had noticed the glowing dome before it left, but didn't believe what she saw.  She asked what it was and I told her she wouldn't believe me if I told her.

I got back to the dorm where I guess I was living in the dream.  D was there getting ready to have a Tupperware sale at some exhibit in the commons and asked where I was.  That's when I commenced to relay the entire story of what just happened.  She was laughing so hard that I never got to get all the way thru the story.

That's when I woke up and jumped right on here to share this epiphany with all of you. If you stuck with it thru to the end, then thanks for your patience.  I know if D reads this, she'll give me the "I told you so", saying that's what I get for playing "demonic" games and watching "demonic" movies.  However, I'm thinking it was just that flamethrower burger from DQ the previous night that was talking.  Well, that and God's way of telling me that no matter how deep I may get, He'll always be there for me.