Hello Steemit! Please read my story to see how I got here.
I’m . I was born at an early age, like most of us, HaHa.
No, but seriously, though. I was born in the United States, and am African-American. My mom was a great teacher. It was always in her. She first raised me as a single parent until I was six; then she married my stepdad.
I think she practiced her teaching skills on me, because I did very well in school. I skipped two grades, and ended up going to a prep school and to TWO Ivy League schools! I got an undergraduate degree in politics and an MBA in finance and marketing. (Which ones are often picked as the top university in the U.S., and the top business school in the U.S., if not the world? You got it: both end with "ton"..."Two 'tons' of fun!" :o) )
When I was in that Ivy League undergraduate school, I almost flunked out and became a borderline alcoholic (No excuse, but I was only 16 years old when I started there.) A friend of mine introduced me to a Transcendental Meditation ® (TM) instructor, who taught it to me. It calmed me down quite a bit, but I was always searching and reading about God, whether it was reading about Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and, of course, Christianity, and I was often shuttled off to church, but something was still missing.
I ended up working in “the corporate world” and hated it. I was discriminated against many times, and always wanted to be an entrepreneur. (I found out my biological dad, who I never met, was an entrepreneur, owning his own store and/or restaurant.) Also, my mom told me, before she passed away, “...you need to teach!” I thought she was wrong, but tried it, and became really good as a substitute teacher in the K-12 grades and as a college professor. I guess I got the teaching part from her!
My girlfriend, who is now my wife, and I got involved in a multi-level marketing, or network marketing - whatever you want to call it - business. We stayed in it for a long time, and never made any money, but the one thing that happened is the most important thing of my life: WE BECAME CHRISTIANS! Like, REAL Christians! Like, born-again Christians! Some pretty dramatic and interesting things happened from then on, which I’ll tell you about in future posts. Jesus Christ was no longer some abstraction. He became, and is still becoming, more and more real to me!
I began to read the Bible, and where before being born again, it was pretty much “gibberish”, I could begin to understand it! As a result, I have been teaching Biblical entrepreneurship, and have taught it in several churches, for quite some time.
I subsequently found out that my “spiritual gifts” are teaching and giving. (“Duh!”)
I am also an adjunct professor at several universities, and have been teaching marketing to undergraduates for 12 years, but my passion is to teach people about entrepreneurship and practical living according to the Bible. In other words, how to use this ancient wisdom for life and self-help. It can help you. I know, because it has helped me. God has helped me through His word, and his Word. (More about that later.)
I am also interested in Christianity and culture, and fancy myself a “Boomster” (Boomer + Hipster = Boomster - Get it?) I have a wanderlust that involves visiting cities and towns, especially those with a “hipster vibe”, in the U.S. and abroad.
I love languages. I speak French (I lived in and outside of Paris for eight months when I was in graduate school) and a little Spanish, and I am studying Biblical Greek at my church, and other languages, so I can understand the Bible (Scripture) better.
I also love and appreciate good writing, and try to help my students to succeed with it. In fact, I have a few books in various stages of completion. (After all, I'm a Kingdom SCRIBE, right? :o) ) I’ll keep you posted!
I am a runner, love running, and even came in second place in a small local race a few years ago.
Thank you, David Kadavy and Joanna Penn
, for turning me on to Steemit, and thank you,
and
for your excellent teaching and encouragement to get started on Steemit.
Hope to Steem-on with many of you! :o)!