To you lil Wayne

An open letter to lil Wayne in response to this quote from Rolling Stone:

"I also read the Bible for the first time. It was deep! I liked the parts where some character was once this, but he ended up being that. Like he'd be dissing Jesus, and then he ends up being a saint. That was cool."
Hip-hop artist Lil Wayne, on what he did during his prison sentence on a weapons charge.

To you lil Wayne I would say. Yes, you are right. It is cool how Jesus forgave and changed those who scoffed at him and his loving Father. I am glad you spent some time reading The Bible while you were in the pin. I don't know what sort of prison you were in, but I am sure you had lots of options for what to do with your free time, and the fact that you chose to read from The Word is great, terrific--and the Jesus of that day, who changed those who "dissed" him, still can do that today. He is still capable of reaching his tender hand into our hearts to stir the stagnant pools, refresh and reset the waters of our lives.

Is that something you want Lil Wayne? Do you feel a need for change in your life? Or, was that quote a cool soundbite that you knew the editors at Rolling Stone would eat up? There must have been a reason for you to wonder about the man and story of Jesus. There must be a reason, that with all your success, all your money, all your straight pimpin' rides and whips, that you wondered about Jesus? Do you feel loneliness? Does the weed really help you create, or does it more so help you chill the pain? Does it help you pull the black shades over the things that bother you the most? We all do that. I use food, media, the urge to be funny to distract myself. My kids use crazed relationships, sex, weed like you. But thankfully there is hope for all of us, because I know it gets tiring. I know how it is to stand there before the dam, arms and legs outstretched every toe and finger plugging a hole, pushing with all your might, trying to hold back that flood, that river, that trembling, quaking ocean waiting to overwhelm you. I get it man. I really do.

If that is you--if that is you plugging the holes in the dam, with your money, and your big booty broads, your weed, and your fame, take hope. The God of that Bible, the Jesus with those kind words and that power, still has it today. Don't get me wrong. He will let the dam collapse. In fact he will breathe it down, on top of you. It will be violent, and it will be difficult, and you will ask yourself "what the hell did I just do?" But, he will be there to help you up, dry you off, hug you..change you, give you the courage to change, relax--the courage to just be.

So, if you find yourself staring in the mirror after some concert, or if you find yourself at some after-party with some woman grinding on you, while you sit there with your purple drink and blunt watching all the people dance, and kiss, drunken and crazed, and amongst all this, in a brief moment of clarity you realize, if only for a moment, that this doesn't feel like enough, that it somehow pales in comparison to something you don't even know yet--just ask him--ask Jesus, and he will relieve you from all that you suffer.

With encouragement,

Jeff Crady