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You know what's great about doing these interviews - is the cameraman and producers can't laugh.
So they're all holding it in - which is weird,
right? Because that's really why, you know,
but the cool thing is I don't need their acceptance 'cause you know what?
What's his name -
Jesus, Jesus accepted me already.
It's comedy. I was doing a show in New York City,
and there's a club there that's really hard to get into -
like really hard. It's called the Comic Strip Live. So I go and I do this show,
and then George Wallace walks in and he's watching my comedy as well.
And he's laughing. So George Wallace says to me, "you're funny.
I'd love for you to do a show with me and my best friend in a couple of nights." I was like, "cool, I'm pumped.
Let's do it." I get to the show - it's me, George Wallace, Jerry Seinfeld. I'm like, yo,
that's who's on the show? This is phenomenal.
I do two shows, I get two standing ovations, I rip.
I'm the man. Afterwards, my manager says to me, "Michael,
you wanna' go to church with me tomorrow?" I'm like,
"church? Ain't nobody going to no church.
I got two standing ovations - what do I need to go to church for?
You trippin'." Then his fiance asked me to go, and she was
fine! She was beautiful. And she had some kinda' accent, too. She was like, "Michael Jr,
would you like to go to church with me?" And I was like,
"yeah, I was just wondering about going to church.
I was just saying to myself, 'shoot, you know, I need to find a church.'"
So I went to this church for the wrong reasons,
and I get there and I can't even find my manager, his fiance - I can't find none of them people. So
I sit down in this church, and this dude is up on stage talking about Jesus.
That's it - he's just talking. He's not screaming, he's not yelling, he don't got no perm.
Dude is just talking, and it was pretty cool.
Like, I was really - like I understood was he was saying. 'Cause when I was a kid, I had gone to church and
I didn't understand what those people were talking about, screaming
yelling, shaking, jumping - stuff didn't make any sense.
But this dude was making sense.
Then he did this thing - he did an altar call, right? And he said if you want Jesus in your life, you gotta' believe
in your heart and confess with your mouth - that's what he said.
And then he said you gotta come on down and I wanted to go down, but I was like, nah.
I gotta read the pamphlet first. I don't know what this is about.
So I told myself I'd read the whole Bible before I go down.
I didn't even have a Bible. I'm at the airport a couple days later -
I'm at the airport. And this lady who I don't even know
goes like this, and hands me a Bible. I don't even know this lady.
I'm at O'Hare airport, and I get the Bible and I'm like, man,
I'm gonna' start reading this thing. And I open up the Bible - the very first page behind the cover
says that the Bible - the copyrights. Like, I read everything
I read the copyrights. It said "made in Grand Rapids, Michigan." I was like, yo!
Me, too! This is pretty hot -
that's where I was made at. I'm just telling you what happened.
So I go ahead and I start reading the Bible. And I read the whole Bible - I read the stuff at the top, I read the little giblets
at the bottom.
And at the time, I wasn't a great reader - like, I read slow. But I started putting in...
Listen - you don't have to read the Bible to know God, to
get a relationship with him. I just wanted to 'cause I didn't know.
There's some stuff I didn't know. I wanted to make sure there wasn't no catch or nothing 'cause there's some
Christians out there who are a little creepy - I'm just gonna' be real with you. I didn't want to become one of them.
I remember getting to the part in Matthew
where it said Jesus died for me - and this is for real -
I didn't know til I was 27 years old
that Jesus died for me. I didn't know.
People were talking to me about it, but they were a little creepy or a little weird
or some strange stuff, but nobody was clear. I went to church - people yelling and screaming.
I didn't understand any of that stuff. I didn't know til I read it when I was 27 years old that Jesus died
for me.
Right there in Matthew - I didn't know. Then I remember turning to Mark and thinking, man,
he died again, and then Luke and John. I'm like, why they keep killing him?
I don't understand. I don't get this. Like four times - I'm just telling you.
I didn't know. So I finished reading
the Bible. I get to Revelations, and I go to church,
and I pretty much run up to the altar during the announcements
because I know that I don't know everything. Like, when I read the Bible I probably
only retained
two maybe three percent of the information
but what was happening is as situations would pop-up,
those situations in the Bible would come alive. Like, that stuff would show up and
I would kinda' know how to respond
or where to research or what questions to ask because I had downloaded some truth
into my spirit
and then that truth would just show up as opposed to
"Green Eggs and Ham" showing up.
So then, I gave my life over
to Jesus, and I realize even to this day
that I'm not just funny. Like, before I thought I was just funny -
I'm a funny dude, people need to laugh, that's enough. No, no, no.
I'm funny for a reason. Like, there's reason for me to have the sense humor I
have.
God knew that certain people would need to laugh around whatever subject, around whatever
time,
and he created me specifically for that reason.
And I'm just excited and pumped about finding out
each and every day what he would have for me to do next.
And that's how I know God is real.