Article | - 12:34 pm
Read Rodney's Life Transformation Story
When I would leave school and go to the dope corner, I used to see the guys with large amounts of money. I used to go there every day and see those guys running the cars and hustling the people out of money, and they always had big wallets of money. And one day, I said, “I probably want to try it and have me a large amount of money. If I can go out there and make me $500 in 45 minutes, then, you know, I’d rather do that than do a 9 to 5. I don’t have to get up at 7 in the morning. I can get up at maybe 3, maybe 2 in the afternoon, and I can still go get me $300, maybe to a $1000.”
When I started off and ‘graduated’—meaning I started buying a large amount of cocaine, then I started having people tracking me, following me, drawing down on me, and robbing me. I’ve been shot almost eight different times, and I’ve been shot multiple times.
One guy shot me seven times, one guy shot me six times, and from there, I’ve been shot multiple times with a nine-millimeter. Every time I’ve been shot, it was with a high-caliber pistol.
Since I was coming up, I always broke the law and ran from the law. I disrespected the police, and I wasn’t afraid of the law. Back then, it was like it was cool to go to jail. I mean, you felt like you were having fun when being incarcerated. It never dawned on me that I was wasting life. I felt like I was somebody for going to jail! Blaming people, blaming the system, you know, this is what we had fun doing.
Me and a couple guys jumped on a guy, and from us fighting that guy, he died. That wasn’t our intention. We were having a fight, and that wasn’t our intention for that to happen. I’ve been in and out of jail since I was a teenager, but I’ve been to prison four times. I did that from 17 years of age all the way up to 49 years of age.
The last time a guy tried to rob me, I had my daughter with me. And that was the day I knew if I continued in that life, something could happen to my daughter or my family. It had got too close to home.
When that guy was in the bushes and he ran out, he didn’t see my daughter because I had placed her back in the car. Her mother covered her up, and they lay on the floor. He didn’t see them. So once he charged me, he hit me in the back of the head and knocked me out, and then he started shooting. I got shot in my back and lost my kidney.
He shot me in my back, then it ruptured through my stomach. They had to cut the majority of my stomach out. And the doctor said that I only had so much left. If I got hit in that area again, they would have to probably put a plastic inside.
My daughter’s mother watched the guy gun me down. And she said if I continued on that life, she wouldn’t let me see my daughter again.
See, when you leave from the outside and get incarcerated, you are away from all distractions. So this last time I got incarcerated, I said, “Well, since I’m away from distractions, man, it’s time to study the Bible, make changes, learn God, receive the Holy Spirit, and once upon my release, I’ll be living a new life.”
When I came in contact with Universal Beyond Bars (UBB), what really touched me about UBB was the faith that UBB has. God told me, “In order for you to live life and be prosperous and productive, you got to get rid of some stuff.”
During the 21-Day Fast of Daniel, I removed myself from the ‘Day Room.’ I removed myself from different conversations. Basically, I just spent time finding out who I was, who I am, and where I need to be in my life. I had to find out what needed to be removed and what needed to be changed.
I read Christian literature, I listened to Christian music, and I meditated on the Bible. God said to meditate on His Word night and day (Js 1:8). God said that His Word would never come back void (Is 55:11), meaning when I read His Word, that meant the Word was doing something inside of me.
Once I received the Holy Spirit, I couldn’t believe that I had slept for that many years. I mean, I lost all those years of life. You know, it was a “Wake-up!” God actually told me, “You had slept for 20 years of your life. Foolishness!” If I had never received the Holy Spirit, I’d probably be like some of the other guys, still doing time in prison and thinking that living for satan would be better than living for God.”
I was released from prison on March 18th, 2021, and I came to The Universal Church. I haven’t missed a day of church since 2021. I brought the money the Criminal Justice gave me, and I’ve returned my Tithes to God since 2021. I listed myself as a handyman on social media and got plenty of work. Also, I started off doing Detail and have been driving my box truck.
I was just so glad to be back in my daughter’s life—watching my daughter grow up, picking her up from school, going to her soccer games. I’m doing gymnastics with her. She’s very active. She just loves to spend time with her dad. And we have scooters, and we ride the scooter. It’s a wonderful feeling to hear your daughter say, “Daddy, daddy.”
Everything that I accomplished in that past life, I lost it. I don’t have anything from then. But this life I’m living now is going to be built on a solid foundation. It’s going to be made out of brick. You can’t blow that down. My thing is the peace that I have, and the good thing is when you wake up, you read your Word, and God hits you with something, and then you can go right on with your day. And that’s the part I like.
God always gives me something. Every time you read the Word, there is something different, and He gives you different visions about different things. The most important is that I build wisdom and knowledge. Today, I make great decisions, and they are clear, and my peace is outstanding.
Once you go to rock bottom, It’s a pain that most people probably never experienced—a pain that is unexplainable. When I was at the bottom, there were people coming inside the prison to lift me up, to give me strength to endure. And that’s my job today: to lift somebody up and let them know they too can change. But your change has to be with God and God only. And that’s my mission.
—Rodney M.
