Day By Day: The "Flipside"

It's a brand new year and we are embracing it with an excitment like never before. We have been through many trials and tests and have learned alot of things, concerning our minstry and even our personal lives. We have worked diligently to clean up, "What We Messed Up", and have found favor with God. Now in this new year of 2010, we will "Do Business As Men"! This means that we will be on top of everything with no procrastination, and trust in God, concerning our lives and our ministry. When people call for Day By Day, we will adhere to the term, "A worker is worthy of their hire".

God has great plans for Day By Day in 2010 and it will take great faith and great finance to "Advance The Kingdom". So our prayer is this; "Lord, bless our ministry to reach millions of souls, and open huge doors for the ministry to be heard over all means of communications, and for people of the earth to be encouraged like never before, and allow us to be a financial blessing to those in need, for we desire to be lenders and not borrowers, and grant us favor where there has never been favor before", in Jesus' name - Amen!

We are once again wondering, Is this the last test? On Last Monday we were celebrating the fact that we have caught up all the bill except one: "The Electric"! Well, while in the midst of celebrating, the electric gets cut off. However, I already had plan "B" ready to go into effect, until we could get the bill payed. Once again I thank God for my next door neighbor. She allowed us to cyphan some of her energy so that we could have a little bit of energy to keep our phone, and refrigerator on, and also the computer. That's how I'm writing this.

We still know God is able and we are praying that more calls to minister start coming in like a flood. That would definately help!

Ever since August the 1st, 2009, we have had many trials to overcome. From the water being turned off to creditors calling for money, and a shortage of food and gas, we have learned that really, "We're not in control of anything"! God has been supplying our needs in the most unusual ways. People have been sowing into our ministry from out the blue, and opportunities started coming in. As for the project, we are receiving calls from people who purchased the CD, telling us how much the CD is blessing them. We now know for sure that we can never stop ministering in song and we can never give up. People are waiting for the manifestation of us, and guess what; "Here we come"!

Yesterday morning God showed out and made me feel like I had been Punk'd like the TV Show. First let's go back to Sunday at 12:01 am. We had a choice to make on Saturday evening, coming from rehearsal and cleaning up the church. We had 4 dollars, 5 hungry children, and less than a quarter tank of gas (the church is approximately 27.8 miles from our house), so you know we were praying the whole way. We had a decision to make, "Do we put gas in the van so that we can make it to church, or do we feed the children today. Of course we chose the latter.

So here we were eating cereal and believing God for gas. I placed a call to my brother in Christ, BIG C (Mad Love to you and Mrs. C), and he told me to meet him at the QT so that he could bless us with some gas. WE met at 12:01 am, you know the "Dawn of a New Day", and had a short discussion on our situation. He blessed us with enough money to get gas and some food for the house. Glory to God!

It's now sunday morning, and I'm thankful, but still stressed about our situation. We went to church with the mindset of "Praising & Worshiping God", and hopefully He would move on our behalf. Well, we did, and He did! Our praise team sang for special music presentation, Marvin Sapp's "Never would Have Made It", in which I led, and something unexpected happen. After the song, people started puting money in our hand back in the ready room, and long story short, we were able to get gas, food, and other little things that we were out of.

Then it struck me, God knew what He was going to do and when He was going to do, the whole time. If we had of just trusted Him, and not focused on our current situation, we wouldn't have gotten Punk'd.

We are so frustrated right now with the B-Side of the Body of Christ, it's ridiculous! Okay, let's see, we are paying our tithes, we are giving our last in the offering, we are praying for others, and going to churches and being a blessing with our music, and when we ask the people to just give a love offering, they hand us $20.00. Wowwwwwwww! That's how much they love us? I mean, How do you invite an artist out, take up 3 offerings to meet your budget, and then tell everyone to go purchase the artists CD? (Here's a Hint) Nobody has any money left to purchase a CD!

Now don't get it twisted, we're not doing this for money, but it costs to drive to an event, it costs to get a baby sitter, it costs to produce this music and master it, it costs to even buy water for our throats. Plus we've got bills to pay too, and we gotta eat.

It seems that our ministry is just being tolerated and not celebrated. Maybe it's time to visit the W-Side of the B.O.C.!

We were blessed to go to Greenville, Texas and experience some "Down Home Flavor". The spirit of the people were awesome and they definately believe in praising God. Much love goes out to Greater Rose of Sharon C.O.G.I.C. They were great hosts and we truly enjoyed ourselves. We also got to meet a brand new group called Sonday and they were awesome and anointed. Hopefully someday we will get to minister with them on the bigstage and more.

We were at the Miracle Temple on last night, and man did God confirm some things. The lady that was preaching came from the same chapter that I preached from on 2 Wednesdays ago. (2 Chronicles 29) It just confirmed that we are in a season of elevation and it is time for us to embrace the elevated blessings of God. Alot of people may not understand, just what is taking place, but for us we are preparing ourselves for the elevation.
God has been so good to us over the years and has blessed us while we were going through some rough times. He is now showing us that the times for struggling are over! As you can tell, we are very excited!

We are so needing God to move financially for us, it's not even funny. We invested alot of money into the concert, but toook a major hit. The rent lady called up and said, "You got my money"?, then the car people want two payments, and are threatening to repo the van. Plus now, the whole family is on a forced fast.

I'm not saying this for pity, because we knew when we made the decision to go ahead that if it didn't go right, we would be in the hole. But, we have seen favor, in certain areas, that let's us know that God is still working on our behalf. Me personally, I just want Him to work a little faster....

On Saturday, August 1st, 2009, many people witnessed the birth of the next level for Day By Day. It was the first time we ever ministered with a full band and had total control of the stage and the preparation. We were blessed to have an acceptional group of individuals that were skilled in their craft, and totally obedient to the spirit of God. People are still calling us about the event, telling us just how much they were blessed by our ministry, and believe me when I say that we give God all the glory.

The only blemish on the day was that alot of people who promised to be there, didn't show, but we know that those that did show, were truly blessed and that's what counts. We went into the whole financially, but God is still working on our behalf, and more than ever, we still have to walk in Faith. Believe That!

Here we are at the brink of a new project, a new season, and a new level in our ministry. We have worked hard for 14.5 years and been through many trials to get to this point. We are confident in our new band and just anxious to get on that stage and bless God's people with all of the music that God has placed in us.

Here we are in April and we've been so busy that, we haven't been able to Blog and keep you posted on current events. We sincerely apologize for that. So let's get you caught up, shall we? We are still working on the project, but now we have been ministering more and pushing the 1st single called, "If You Just Hold On". We released it to radio last week and it has already been pickued up by 3 Stations: KJTX, KHVN, and KGGR (all 3 are in Texas). I have shipped more copy's out and plan to get more stations to play it. The song is very encouraging and tells everyone to hold on tight, because God is really going to bless you. 

We are now in the studio on every Thursday until the completion of this project, which is slated to be finished by July, and released in August of this year. We currently have 7 cuts done and mastered, but we have 25 more to complete. We had to make some crucial decisions as of late and had to cut back on some other activities, but I promise you it will be well worth it.

We are very excited about the opportunties that are presenting themselves as of late. These opportunities will help Day By Day to reach people that have never heard our music before, which means new souls to reach. Please keep us in your prayers, because we are now coming up out of some major struggles and know with out a shadow of doubt, that this is our year to do some BIG and Magnificent things for the Kingdom. To God Be The Glory!

I am excited about tomorrow or should I say today, because it is now Tuesday and It is a day that I and many other Americans will never forget. It is the realization of "A Dream" and the conformation that in America anything is possible. It is the Inaguration of our 44th President and the first African American to ever hold the title of President of The United States of America. Barack Obama is that man, and Martin Luther King Jr. is probably smiling such a great smile in Heaven!

As I was talking to my mother on the phone, she eluded to the fact that she thought that she would never see it it come to pass, and I told her that I knew it was going to come to pass, I just figured I'd be 80 years before it happened, but "Thanks Be Unto God", it's happening today. I only wish that my grandfather, my uncles, and all those who have passed on, where here to see it. I am especially glad that my Aunt Rose, Aunt Veenie, and Aunt Isadella, get to see it happen. This is a proud day for all African Americans and we cherish this moment and don't take it lightly. History is upon us and let's meet it gracefully, with dignity, assurance, and the responsibility to change our communities, and eventually the whole world! Man, I sound like Barack Obama. He's definately rubbing off on me. God Bless America!

From medical bills to fiancial institutions to utilities, we are in a bad place and it seems like it's getting worse. The financial markets are looking "Blah"! The gas is going down, but the food prices are still going up. Bill collectors are acting ignorant and down right rude because they need to get paid too. We understand that, but nobody told them to buy up another banks debt and over-extend your company's finances "JP Morgan & Chase", and now you have to come after the little guy aggressively for being only 2 days late on their car payment! It's sickining.

Yep, I'm mad! We've got friends & family losing their houses, their jobs, their marriages, and their minds, and "No one seems to care" unless your famous or "Joe the Plumber"! This dude has been made a celebrity just because he asked Obama a question with the media around, and he is talking about a future possibilty that may never come his way. Heck, I could've ask the same question, based on where I am wanting to go, and you'd be calling me "Darrell the Singer"! I'm so tired of all of this political postering that I could just throw up. Excuse me, "Blaugggghh"! Okay I'm better now.

The fact remains that it's got to get better than this. We haven't stopped serving God and helping & encouraging others. We haven't stopped writing or singing, and we haven't stopped rasing our children. So it's got to get better, Right?