In 2018 I was getting my prescriptions filled at my pharmacy of choice, Rite-aid, and started noticing while waiting on prescription refills, a young black man who was the manager there. Being a martial artist my entire life, I’m always aware of my surroundings, but I’m also a student of people-watching.
When my three sons were young we’d often go to one of the local cities which was always bustling with people on the street every summer day and night. When we’d get there we’d order some ice cream and sit on a bench or on one of the large flower pots trying to find one that would fit the four of us before someone else slipped in and, talk and people watch. This was something I’ve always done, people watch, and would wonder about some of the people I saw coming and going; who were they, where were they going, and what was their story. Often times I made up stories from my imagination. For me, it was a fun afternoon in the sun or a warm summer evening with just me and my boys and I think they also enjoyed it. More importantly, I was able to share my noticing and curiosity about all types of people that my sons also have inherited. There’s an art to non-offensive people watching that’s inviting and not off-putting, that starts with a smile and has actually opened up conversations with all types of interesting people.
The young black manager of Rite-aid is one of those stories. After seeing him over the course of a few weeks and having a few brief conversations with him, I noticed how he was genuinely engaging with customers. One of the things I’ve done throughout my adult life has been to acknowledge this type of open-hearted engagement with customers by store personnel, especially when I see it performed by black men. Often I feel like and maybe it’s a story I tell myself but young black men who are excelling and exceeding outside of sports or entertainment don’t often receive positive affirmation, especially from other black men. I made it a point on my next visit to let this young man know I thought he was doing an excellent job and that his smile, attitude, and approach would take him a long way in life.
After that, we started having long and regular conversations about life, religion, politics, and business. This young man’s name is Avery Whiteside. Avery was in his early 30s at the time and was raised by a single mom with his siblings. He and his mom had a business making bowties and accessories, I shared a lot of my business knowledge with Avery, doing what I could to help him and his mother create a successful small business.
One of the surprising things about Avery was, he was a Deacon at his church. He was a strong Christian man and also well-versed in scripture. I was very impressed that at such a young age he was holding a position of trust and esteem in his church.
I started sharing books and authors with Avery, from Thomas Sowell, Jason Riley, and other black conservatives. He started seeing things from a different political perspective, one that he seemed to be attracted to.
One of the things I encouraged Avery to do was to get a passport, (I hold the position that every man should have a passport and especially black men). A few weeks later Avery informed me that he filled out the paperwork for a passport and it was being processed. A decision that would impact his life in the coming months. Avery invited me to check out his church and I promised him I would.
Around this time I was watching a YouTube video from someone I was a longtime subscriber of, Alfonzo Rachel. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Zo, he’s a Christian man, multitalented musician, entertainer, martial artist, actor, (Co-staring in the movie: “Gosnell: The Trial of American’s Biggest Serial Killer,” and author of the book “A Solid Right Cross.”
At that time Zo was doing YouTube segments of bible teachings on his channel called “Bible Trippin’ with Zo.” I was watching one episode and in the chat, someone asked the question I was also thinking, because I was captivated by his reading and text, “What bible are you reading from, it’s beautiful?” His reply was, “It’s a Messianic bible.”
That was the first time I had ever heard that name and I was curious, so of course I looked it up. At this point, that’s about as far as anything went, and filed the information away in my head.
I surprised Avery about a week later and showed up at his church, The Detroit House of Judah, on a Saturday, as they keep the Sabbath. I was living in a city that borders Detroit so it wasn’t very far from me. It was a storefront church with about 50 people in attendance. Avery was shocked when he saw me enter and I said, “I told you I would come.” I have to say I enjoyed the teachings, the Pastor was really good but there was something that didn’t resonate with me. The congregation was diverse, open, friendly, and welcoming. What I picked up, just from silent observation, there was a fair amount of leftist leanings. Not the majority but a fair amount. I continued attending for about 8 weeks, until Easter. And then it happened… My Yeshua Experience.
A day or two after what is considered Easter Sunday I was laying in my bed, attempting to go to sleep. If you’ve read my other articles up to this point, I talked about being a StarWalker. I’m most creative in the late night, and early morning hours but it often means I can have trouble sleeping because I can’t find the darn switch to turn my creative mind off.
On this particular night, I was somewhere between awake and sleep, fully relaxed, eyes closed. I then felt something, a presence in my bedroom. I opened my eyes and that’s when I saw Him. He was standing at the foot of my bed. He was dressed in white with a white shawl covering His head. His face was covered by shadows. There was what I would describe as this blue light emanating from and surrounding Him. Not the strong, lightning bolt type of light but these soft rays that filled the room. I didn’t say anything, only looked on in amazement at who I knew to be Yeshua.
He didn’t say anything, He raised His right hand and the blue rays moved from His fingertips to my chest. With a slow downward motion, The blue light started moving down my chest and I could feel something happening. I tilted my head down and I could see, just like in the Cecil B. DeMille movie “The Ten Commandments,” when Moses parted the Red Sea, my chest opening up until I could see my heart beating, blood moving through veins, tissue, and arteries on each side of the split, the skin and bones pulled back cleanly. There was no awareness of pain, discomfort, or fear.
Honestly, this was like crazy, I wasn’t afraid but I was in a state of amazement. I also knew I wasn’t dreaming, this was real, as real as anything I’ve experienced in my life. I looked back up and… I can’t think of any better way to describe this, but in the Terminator movies when Arnold would melt or morph into a puddle of liquid silver and bounce back up again, I saw Yeshua morph into this liquid silver, and instead of being in a puddle on the floor He/the liquid silver was traveling down the blue rays that had come from His fingers and entered my heart. There was a sucking sound as the last of the liquid silver entered my heart and just like the Red Sea, my bones and skin started coming back together until there was no longer an opening.
I knew right then that Yeshua/Jesus had entered my heart. I lay there trying to make sense of what had just happened. How do you, how can you make sense of something like this? My mind was whirling asking so many questions… why, why me, why now, what does this mean. Then I heard a voice. I knew it was the voice of Yeshua, that said only these few words: “Your questions have been answered.” And that was it, I had no more questions about faith, God, or living, for I knew Yeshua was alive in my heart. I lay there and cried, a joyful, happy cry and my life has never been the same since.
I thought that was the end of my experience. I was very wrong. The next night, as I lay in bed, in that awake in-between sleep place, I heard His voice again. I didn’t have to open my eyes since I could feel Him in my heart. What He first said was, “Could you stop drinking? I didn’t have a problem with alcohol but I liked my IPAs and Honey Meads made by a few friends of mine. I’ve always said if I had to pick one and only one alcoholic beverage that I could have for the rest of my life it would be Mead.
With the different medications I was on for my cancer treatment, I was aware that I had gained weight, enough that I was noticing it. And being fit and active my entire life I didn’t like it. So my answer back was a simple, “Yes.” He then said, “I am not asking you to quit drinking I’m only asking you if you could?” I again said, “Yes.” He next said, “You can have a drink anytime you wish, however much you would like, I just want to know if you could quit?” Again, another, “Yes.” And that was it, He was gone. I have not had any alcohol since that encounter and it will be 5 years this coming April. The thing is I know I can have anything to drink at any time I want to, I just make a choice not to. Our band plays in bars and we generally can have as many free drinks as we want, but I stick with water, a slice of lemon or lime, and a little bit of cranberry juice to give it a little color and flavor.
You might think this is the end of the story, but it’s not. There’s more. I wasn’t sure how I could talk about what happened without people thinking I was crazy, had lost my mind, or was on a major drug trip. None of those things were true, and I had to share what had happened to me. Avery was one of the first people I shared the story with in detail. His reaction and words were supportive, comforting, and sprinkled with scripture. He knew by the manor I was retelling the story to him that it was real. I was still conflicted about who and how I could tell this story. I shared it with my sons and each one was also supportive and knew this was a real experience.
I think there were only one or two other people I shared my experience with because I just didn’t know how people would take it. Especially people who didn’t know me well, as those who did, knew I would only share the truth of an experience like this.
One such friend was Brett. Brett does a lot of speaking at local churches on a variety of topics. We were attending a birthday party for our friend Terry’s wife Tina. I shared my experience with Brett and just as others were, he was supportive. As we continued to talk he said something that kind of made my face frown. He said, “Kevin, you’re the Prodigal Son.” For some reason, I bristled at that. I didn’t see myself as the Prodigal Son. I had never lost my faith, but I had to admit I had done a lot of things over the past few decades that didn’t fit my Christian way of thinking about myself. Brett saw something that I didn’t want to look at.
The rest of the evening at the party I kept reflecting on my conversation with Brett. And then it became clear, he was right. I was away and now I was back. I can’t tell you how opening and satisfying it was to embrace and now acknowledge that yes, I was back.
As I mentioned I had stopped going to Avery’s church but he and I continued to talk for hours at the store, we also talked via email and text and he attended a couple of gatherings at my home. He had become a cherished friend.
Now, this is where my advice about getting a passport comes into play. Avery had met a Christian woman over FaceBook through another friend. She was a beautiful young woman around his age who lived in the Philippines and had never been to the US. She and Avery fell in love long distance, and I remember when he told me about a year later that he was moving to the Philippines to marry her and it wouldn’t have happened if he didn’t get his passport as I suggested. I was so happy and proud of him to see his dream come into shape.
I attended a send-off for him at I believe his mom’s church and was able to meet his future wife, Juvelyn, via Skype. A few days later he was off to the Philippines to get married, start a ministry, and build a freshwater station for the people of the village where he was moving to. This young man had nothing but love, blessings, and success ahead of him.
I digressed a bit and jumped ahead about a year from when I had my Yeshua Experience. As I said I had stopped attending Avery’s church and I was again on the search for and prayed I would find my last spiritual home.
I was talking with a friend one evening who lived in Indiana and out of the blue she mentioned and started talking about a Messianic church that was nearby her and one that she had attended a few times. Now understand, this really came from out of the blue, we weren’t talking about church or God and she really didn’t know anything about my Yeshua Experience or that I had first heard the word Messianic about five months before. I noticed and was aware that this was the second time that, that word had come up. I again filed it in my head and didn’t do anything with it.
In October of that year, prior to the midterm elections the next month, Vice President Mike Pence made a campaign stop in Detroit. This particular visit caused a bit of outrage because two days prior to the Vice President’s visit there was one of if not the largest anti-semitic shootings to date at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.
According to a Detroit News article, many were upset that Pence had invited a Messianic Rabbi to offer prayers at such a sensitive time. For those who may not be aware, Messianic Judaism and Messianic congregations are considered Christian and accept Jesus as the Messiah and embrace the New Testament. I was watching the Vice President’s visit on TV and watched Rabbi Loren Jacob from Shema Yisrael give what I thought was a touching prayer at the event. But that aside, I had now reached 3 mentions of the word Messianic. If you read my article “The Relevance of Three” then you’re aware I hold/place a certain significance about the number three.
So I started doing some research and found what I thought were a few Messianic congregations around Metro Detroit. The one that stood out to me was in fact, Shema Yisrael.
A month later in December 2018, I sent Rabbi Loren an email from the address I found on Shema’s website. I shared with him a bit about who I was and I was planning on attending service the next week. If you’re wondering why I sent an email introducing myself and my intentions, well the shooting was still fresh from Pittsburg and the anti-semitic attacks seemed to be on the rise across the country. Although I wasn’t aware of any such attacks in Metro Detroit.
As a show of respect, I didn’t just want to show up unannounced. Rabbi Loren’s reply back was to the effect of, “… we would love to have you and look forward to you coming, you sound like an interesting person I would like to meet.” So the next Saturday I started attending Shema Yisrael. From first walking in the door and being greeted by a lovely woman named Mildred, I was welcomed by everyone in the multi-diverse congregation. I knew immediately I had found my spiritual home. I was there every Sabbath, I started meeting several new friends, from Kim and his wife June, Ken and his wife Kathrine, Dave and so many more, and I just felt at home. Just so everyone is clear I am not a Hebrew Israelite or have any connection with any such group. I am a Christian.
After several months of attendance, I was invited to join the worship team, playing percussions with my Djembe and Cajon. Our worship team was incredible, led by the second of our three Rabbi at Shema, Rabbi Glenn, our third Rabbi is Rabbi Jerry. I started being a regular at bible study, even changing one of the martial arts classes I was teaching to attend. I was involved with the men’s group and later became an usher.
The biblical teachings were sound and solid as they come, and the majority of the congregation held conservative values, exactly what I was looking for. I participated in the High Holidays, Feasts, and Festivals, overall I was fully able to embrace what I had been missing for so long. And then… Covid hit.
The governor here started shutting down everything. I wasn’t able to teach my martial arts classes or attend the one I was taking. Our church service and bible study went full online. Once we were able to attend in-person service and bible study my sleep patterns had turned completely upside down from a combination of medications and side effects from cancer treatments. In addition to some other stressful events that were happening in my life.
I’m still not back there in person, still fighting with my sleep issues and stress. I know that in the next few months, I’ll be able to turn some things around and start attending again. I’ve felt a deep loss of not being connected to so many who were becoming my family. I’m longing for the day when I can make my return. ###
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My Yeshua Experience - The Prodigal Son: A New Beginning
“I am a sinner saved by the grace of Yeshua. I am forgiven for my many sins, I am a child of God and I know the Lord lives in my heart.” ~ B. Kevin
“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” ~ Romans 3:23 Tree of Life Version
“Likewise, I say unto you there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” ~ Luke 15:10 King James Version
“Who is it that overcomes the world, if not the one who believes that Yeshua is Ben-Elohim?” ~ 1 John 5:5 TLV
”That in honor of the name given Yeshua, every knee will bow - in heaven, on earth and under the earth - and every tongue will acknowledge that Yeshua the Messiah is Adonai - to the glory of God the Father.” ~ Philippians 2:10-11 Complete Jewish Study Bible
“The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach: That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the Heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” ~ Romans 10:8-10 KJV
“I Am the resurrection and the Life! Whoever puts his trust in Me, will live, even if he dies; and everyone living and trusting in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” ~ John: 11:25-26 CJSB