DAY 6 - FAITH (pt.1)

It's SATURDAY YA'LL!!!!! Almost one whole week for the blog. I am still extremely excited about what is going on....right now, at this very moment!!!
Sorry for the late entry.....read along, and you'll see what my delay was:

So I take my daughter to the hair dresser this morning, drop her off, and proceed to drive towards my home. On my way home, I am listening to some gospel to figure out what the song of the day for today was going to be. As I get deeper into the music, God begins to speak to me. LITERALLY. He is telling me to make a right here.....so I make the right. Now I amon Bankhead highway, the old Bankhead Highway...its called Veterans Memorial pkwy now, but anyway, if you know Atlanta, you know that this is the hood. So as I am driving, I see an old, abandoned Wendy's restaurant. I was like WOW...the recession! So, I was inspired to take pics of abandoned buildings and things that reflect the recession. However, God told me to wait on that, he wanted me to focus on taking different pictures. He told me that the recesiion project was for myself, my friends James, Oscar, and Gus to do collectively, since we are started doing photography at the same time. (The recession portfolio is coming soon-stay tuned)
So, anyway, God told me about a week ago to take pictures of the word FAITH everytime I saw it. I did take one picture last week, but then I kinda forgot about it. Well, HE reminded me of what he told me to do last week, take picture of the word FAITH. So, as I am driving towads Atlanta on Bankhead Highway, I see a huge billboard withthe word FAITH on it. LOL. So I pull into this small church's parking lot across the street from the sign. I get out of the car, pull out the camera and start taking pics.
As I am taking these pics, a man come out of the church and says to me, " Hey! You should be taking pictures of me!" At first I couldn't hear him. SO I kept shooting. Then he said it again, " You should be taking pictures of me." So I turned and asked him what did he say. He told me what he said, then I replied, " OK...come on and take some pictures then!" Hahahaha. So now he gets all shy, and is like, "I'm just joking..playing around." UH HUH..he talked all that smack. :O)
So I ended up taking his picture. Then we started talking. I told him that God told me to take pictures of the word FAITH everytime I saw it. Then I pointed to the sing across the street. He was surprised, and happy that I was being obedient. He told me if I ever wanted to come in and check out a service, I was more than welcomed. Now, at that moment, I heard HIS voice again. He told me to print out the best picture that I took of that man, and bring it back to him. I didn't tell him that, but of course I am going to do it. So he and I wrapped up our conversation, and I was back on my way down Bankhead highway.
*side note: I don't remember his name....I do know he was a Deacon. I just learned a valuable lesson as I was typing.....make sure I write and remember these people I meet. There is a reason for our paths crossing. LESSON LEARNED...and I THANK YOU LORD!!!!!
I am back on the road, and I come across a church with the word FAITH in it's title. I start laughing, cause this is almost too good to be true. I pulled over into their parking lot, and then I saw the church van with the name of the church on it. I get out and start taking a few pics of the van. Then all of a sudden a man walks out, and asks what I was doing. I told this gentleman, I was told by God to take pictures of the word FAITH everytime I saw it. I was driving by, I saw the name of the church, and then I saw the van, which I thought would be an interesting picture. He was also excited. He told me that it was extremely important that I obeyed what I had heard. Not many people obey!
He also told me it was his church, and that he was looking to expand. He showed me his back lot and said that he wanted to buy it andbuild another building for his ministry. (I am adding him to my prayer list). I asked him if he wanted to be in the pictures with the van and the church sign. He looked himself up and down, tugged onthe bottom of his jacket, zipped up his zipper halfway, and said," Sure!" I took a few pics of him too.

Then I was back on Bankhead driving towards Atlanta. Not more than 5 minutes up the road, I see another church with FAITH in the title. Haaaaaaaa!!!!! I'm like YES! Its almost like a game now.....make sure I don't miss the word FAITH. So I hop out and take the pic of the church.

I only got a couple, and then I was back on the road. I couldn't wait to see the next FAITH sign. A few minutes later, I get a call from KBrenai. She tells me she just saw the last comment Terry made from last night. I told her that I hadn't been ont he blog yet, but I am smack dab in the middle of TODAY'S ENTRY! I am on a journey, that is being directed by God. I told her about the previous pictures I had taken, and then I said," I hope I get to see the word FAITH on more than just signs for chuchs." At that exact moment, I passed a Church's Chicken restaurant! I was like, you won't believe what I am looking at right now!!! We both were like WHOA!! Then, a few feet past the churchs chicken sign, I saw another sign CHURCH ZONE! I had to stop and take a picture of that. So we are both in amazement at this point.

(I know you weren't looking for them, but check out the bullet holes in the sign-WTHeck!)

Now I am in downtown Atlanta, and I see my boys store PHAT GEAR. They sell hip hop cloths, cd's, dvd's, and sneakers. I am like, let me go over there and say whats up to my boy Hassan. So I pull over, park, and get out of the car. KBrenai is still on the phone with me. I saw my camera, and I said,"Hold up! let me grab my camera. God just told me that the word FAITH is going to be somewhere in this store! I need you to stay on this phoone with me until I see the word FAITH, so you can experience this in real time with me." K said, "WOW". So I grabbed the camera, and walked into the store.

I said, "WHAT UP" to Hassan. Then I said, "Do you have the word FAITH on anything in this store? ANYTHING. Shirt, CD, DVD...anything? " He said that he didn't think so. So I said, " I am telling you...I know that you do! Would you mind doing a little search, just look around and see if you see it?" So he obliged, and turned around and started to look for the word faith. I saw a sign that had a bunch of words on it.......I stared intently at the sign. No FAITH. Then I looked at another sign right next to it, no faith. Then I looked at Hassan, and he was giving me the "you're out of luck buddy" look! Then I turned to my left, and BAM! There was a t-shirt with the word FAITH in it staring me right in the face! I start screaming, " I TOLD YOU!!!! I TOLD YOU THAT FAITH WAS IN THIS STORE!!!!" Now mind you, KBrenai is still on the phone with me. LOL. Some I am like,"WHOA! GOD IS SO GOOD! I TOLD YOU!" Feeling it!!!!

So then K got off the phone. Hassan and I got into this conversation about faith and I told him what I was doing. I stayed in the store for a little while when my daughter texted me to come pick her up. So I leave and head towards her direction. Now, I am $5 short on her hair money. I stop at my bank to get some money, but I know I had little funds in there. I check my balance, and its $3.94 in my account. Then I call my other account and they tell me they closed my personal account, but left my busines account open. I'm like WOW.....So in a matter of minutes, I am deflated. Just then K calls me back. I had texted her a picture of the t-shirt from earlier and she called to tell me about it. She heard that something was wrong in my voice, and asked what was up. I told her. Then she said, "Well, thats why you've been on this journey all day. It's to build your FAITH." Ha!!!! the lightbulb goes off in my head. I'm like, you are right. I know what I'll do. We both said a quick little prayer about finances, then I was on my grind to get $5. So I went and used an emergency account that I wasn't supposed to touch. Went to the supermarket, brought my daughter her favrite drink, Sprite, and then got $5 cash back. I got pick up my daughter, and she's like, "Ooo a sprite! I am so thirsty! Thank You Daddy!" LOL
On the drive home, I am explaining to her what has been going on with me since I had left her this morning. I told her that I was smack dab, in the middle of something big. I asked her to see if she saw any signs or anything with the word FAITH in it. As we are driving, I did see an interesting sign, Favor Road. So I made a U turn and asked her to take the picture for me, so I didn't have to get out of the car. She did......and we kept it moving.

(photography by Azia)

Then I asked her if I was taking her to her mothers house or my house, then made a right like if I were going to my house. Then I realized that she didn't have a change of clothes at my house, so I had to turn around at the light. As I made my right turn to find a place to turn around, there were 3 different churches on each corner. The two in my immediate view didn't have the word FAITH in their names on anywhere on their signage, but when I turned to my left to make sure the road was clear for me to make this right turn, I saw the third church had FAITH in their title! I laughed out loud (scared my daughter),a nd said, "See! This is why I made that wrong turn and had to turn around! So I could see that sign with FAITH in it." My daughter was like,"You're scaring me." Hahahahahahahahahahaha.
I told her to relax, and enjoy the experience. I pulled over and took the picture.

Now, I turn around, and head back towards her moms house. While we were driving, I told her that I am confident that we are going to see at least one more sign with the word FAITH in it. She looked at me, and smiled. In the mean time, I called my boy Gus to let him know about the Recession pictures I wanted to take. While we were talking, I explained to him how I got the inspiration, and that God told me to share it with the fellas. I told him I didn't want to go into details about what journey I was on today, but just read the blog later to get the full gist of it. After a few minutes, I couldn't hold it any longer, and I told him about all of the faith pics I took, and my experiences. He was buggin...I could tell there was a little apprehension in his voice though. At that moment, my daughter points emphatically straight ahead. I ask her what was it, and she said it was a FAITH sign! YEP. While I am on the phone with Gus, in real time, we come to another FAITH sign! Now Gus is laughing and like WOW....I am like,"I am telling you...I am in the middle of this thing right now! Are you hearing this. There is a FAITH sign right in front of me. I'm pulling over...I am taking out the camera....I am taking the pic!" Gus is like, "WOW". Hahahahahahaha
So I am excited, Gus is excited, my daughter is excited.....we all all caught up in the right now. Gus and I got off of the phone, and I am close to home now. My neck is stretched out now for real, expecting to see another FAITH sign. I drove around my whole neighborhood looking for one more sign...LOL. I didn't see anything. So I pull up to the house, she gets out and check the mail. I am getting my things out of the car. I asked her was there anything for me in the mail? She holds up one envelope. I could tell from distance it was a check! PRAISE GOD!!!! I had $3 in my account, now I got this check. Hahahahahahaha. GOD IS SO GOOD. Words can't even describe what I am feeling today!!!!!!!


SONG OF THE DAY
My favorite song by my favorite voice -Faith Evans, "KEEP THE FAITH".
All I can say is, listen to the words......just listen to the words!