You Can't Change Your Past, But You Can Change Your Future - Reggie Dabbs

your history does not have to define your destiny Reggie dabs is a living testament to the truth he passionately proclaims you can't change your past but you can change your future Reggie come on in here all the way from Florida remind me what city put Myers Fort Myers Florida how are you this morning we are thrilled to have you already been warmed up by all the football talk here that's awesome that's great that was one of the positive lights in your growing up is good discipline it was good character and uh coaches were father figures that I didn't have growing up so it was good you know it's um you you really opening chapter of your life uh it's amazing that you emerged from that you were told in second grade that your mom was not your mom that your dad was not your dad and you say you needed this truth oh yeah yet for me I needed the truth I need the truth I get a lot of people asking do I tell my child do I don't and I said you and God can figure that out but when I was a kid growing up my foster care parents everything is about them everything I am everything I get to do even down to playing saxophone my foster care mom said she wanted a saxophone player in the house and my foster care dad looked at me and said you're playing the saxophone and I said yes sir because that's the way we were taught but even everything goes to them that's why when you open up the cover you'll see their pictures right there and and it says thank you I'm just thanking them for who they are and every dynasty but okay you feel the warmth and we're going to church org and that's the good they're on their way to challenge away to church we every Sunday we went to church now the cool thing is when I was eight and we went to school for parent-teacher conference and so I had no idea except when I walked out of the conference all my friends were there with their parents and I noticed that my friend's parents were young and my parents were kind of old so I was taught if you got a question ask so when we got in the car heading home I just yelled to the front seat hey why y'all old which probably shouldn't do but when we got home that's when my parents told my dad was he started by saying there's a plan for your life and we're gonna help you find it my mom started by saying my favorite word she said baby whenever it was important she would say that when I was little I thought she was magic because every time she said baby my darkest night how to light my cloudiest day at sunshine and when she said I'm not your mom you're in foster care she just cried she cried for ten minutes my dad held her and she told me my story that my mom slept with a man for $20 to get food for the kids that she already had she had her first baby at 14 14 years old did she had twins and and didn't me and she kept them but she gave me away and yeah but they walked me through it day there they're just unbelievable people just and they both the passed away and that's good because their life makes me live even better and you do live strong and passionately absolutely purposefully to help instill in other young people what you didn't didn't have potentially but we're given we're given and I love the fact that when you when you talk to two young people it stretch it out stretch it out is is a theme of your song what are you saying to them oh well actually in public schools I'm not able to talk about God Jesus but all my characteristics come from him Jesus was speaking one day and there was a man with a crippled hand and that man with a crippled hand Jesus called him out of the crowd and said stand up then he looked at him and said stretch out your hand now I don't know about you but I'm just straight you know if I had a crippled hand and a normal hand and I'm in public I and they say stretch out your hands and I'm showing my good one because you want everybody to see what you have just normal you don't want anybody to see what you have this crippled but God didn't come and he didn't send Jesus for us to give him what we know is normal he came to fix the broken the hurt the pain the sorrow so I used that and just they stretch out your pain because you can make it I use analogies that kids understand like right now everybody's in the superheroes everybody likes the superhero movies they're all coming out every you got your Batman your Superman your spiderman your Iron Man your Wolverine I googled it those are the five that people love the most and then you look at it Batman watched his mom and dad get robbed shot and killed and he still became a hero Superman found out in the ninth grade when he was in year 9 that he's from a planet that blew up and he's only one of his kind he's got all these powers you can't tell nobody so he sits in the middle of a school and he can't tell nobody because he has a secret everybody got secrets don't they right then you got spider-man I wish I could be spider-man but I can't I'm too fat okay cuz if I could shoot a web I'd still be running down the street going I can't get off the ground it wouldn't work out too well for me but I found out spider-man looked at his auntie in one movie and said everything I touch dies but he fought through that pain and that sorrow to become the hero we know Iron Man came an inch in between losing his life did he realize he could change the world and Wolverine he can't remember nothing but then again there are a lot of people who have to lie for a living and they start believing their lies so much they don't know what to truth is anymore no matter who you are where you're at there's still hope if you are willing to stretch out your pain and you say there's buried treasure in the hearts of every generation buddy but you got a face and feel yeah those issues you had a friend Ryan yes that you couldn't help well I won we were same age and then when he was like a Ford they moved into the house next door and we grew up together it started dude we were best friends walked to school together walked home together in the same grade together and as we got close he was the only one I ever told my story because I knew his his dad was an alcoholic and beat him and his mom one Christmas my dad gave us GI Joe walkie-talkies and he had one I had one and now that I look back I know exactly what my dad was doing he was giving him hope that he can get on that walkie-talkie when dad gets drunk and my dad would go next door and stop it in the ninth grade my friend decided if you can't beat them join him so he started running with the older kids at school trying drugs doing drugs and in the ninth grade he died of an overdose and uh and that's sad but we can you just can't give up but those stones even the sad ones build Who I am today when you were given this potentially devastating news that the parents who so loved you weren't your parents what was your first response how did you do I'm okay I'm alright that's what that's what we do even back when I was a kid the response is deflected I'll be I'll be all right I'm fine it's okay I'll be okay oh no problem it'll be all right then I went to the bathroom turn on the faucet and cried like a baby all right and all I wanted to do is get from the bathroom to my bedroom and a lot of people you know everybody has something and when I'm speaking no matter kids or adults I look at them and say take my quiz you ever sit up at night and watch TV just flicking through the channel ain't nothing on and you can't go to sleep you can't get quiet because when it's quiet you remember stuff you're trying to forget then you start falling asleep so you turn off the TV go in your bedroom and lay down and you're wide awake again so you grab your headphones and listen to the same song over and over and over again all these things we do to try to hide the pain when really we just need to go to someone what happened that night was when I walked out of the bathroom trying to get to my bedroom so I can cry some more my dad was at the bathroom door he was on his knees he 6/6 265-pound man he put his hand on my chest and he looked at me and he said listen to me he says I cannot give you my blood but if you let me I'll give you my heart and years later I was in California speaking and I that was told that he was dying I flew back to Tennessee and I walked in his hospital room he took his hand patting me on the chest and said I couldn't give you my blood but boy did you take my heart and it was their love and the love of God through them through this that held you through that earthquake amps in your heart absolutely and for parents pray for your children let him hear you praying for him I think that's the key when I was little they went from the oldest to the youngest child now the aged was huge there my brother older than me is 7 years older than me and he's the one I grew up with because they had five boys two girls today and I remember asking why you raised me why you raising me and my foster care mom said I knew your mom she gave you to me and then I was 13 when she said I was your mom's favorite teacher at school and and that's just that just picks it all full circle you normally that's just amazing that I would speak in public schools that I would work mainly with young people though I'm finding out adults need to hear this as well adults need to hear this they've never stretched it out Reggie they need someone to encourage them that they need to there's always hope do you know how your birth mom is you know when my foster care mom passed away every Sunday morning I get a phone call and we're working through that right now I talked to her she calls me every Sunday morning in the book I didn't mention her because that's probably the later time I'm gonna let that relationship culture and and and it's amazing how God just brings things full circle I'm still at the point to where I kind of asked her about my father and she said no you don't want to know and something I can live with that I've gone this far but you know it's a journey and it's not a journey that you do alone it's a journey where people will come alongside you and help you get through hard times well your daddy to a lot of young people home for the globe then some of them call you daddy but you've got to see this picture this is aa given now a Michelle is your wife yes Dominic your son yes uh he said seventeen seventeen no but that was my wife's favorite picture I want that one in the book I love this picture becoming a dad seemed to galvanize something for you and it's impacting what you're doing with your life today absolutely and the thing is too is um a lot of psychiatrists at college they all say that you you are effective your pass your an effective of where you come from so if you're from a broken home you'll have a broken home if you if you're from a messed up relationship you'll be in a part of a mess of relationship that's wrong that's wrong because he like I said and you said it earlier you know your history is your history your past is your history your future is your destiny don't let your past or your history dictate what you can do and what you will be let Jesus dictate that let him be the one that leads you there and it's true when I was 10 years old I used to ride the city bus to school I liked it one day I ran into a man and when I ran into him I said excuse me sir he patted me on the head and said excuse me son moved me out of the way and started walking first thing I noticed was his skin color I'm not the darkest brother I'm not the lightest brother I call it Carmelo alright but what happened was when I saw his skinning I went ooh he's saying colors me then I went oh he called me son then I went oh he my daddy in and at 10:00 what I did next was really sad I totally forgot about school and I followed the black guy he turned left I turned left he turned right I turn right he walked into a building that had security in front of it so I couldn't go in so I'm standing on the street corner and this one thought went through my mind all I thought was this nobody cares and at ten years old never forget it is something inside me died I put my hands in my pocket I couldn't move I was frozen I stared at the ground and I just cried I could feel the breeze of people walking by me but nobody stopped which is fine today I'm glad nobody stopped in cuz because nobody stopped in I get to stop for you I get to stop here on one hundred hundred Street I get to come alongside Brian and say what he's doing for these kids is unbelievably honest and then people think they did it on purpose but God has a plan he really does and I think this book is geared for young people because you give opportunity at the end of every chapter yeah for them to respond whether by themselves or with group reflection and we did that heart get to those feelings yeah we did that because a majority of the kids I work with are unsafe they don't even know I'm a Christian because they saw me in public school setting which is fine but it's the character that comes through you know and it's that character that can help kids and it's amazing it's amazing I'm a little bitter with Canada though what do we do I just got to tell you it's hard to come across the border every now and then and be with you because of the olympos lash all we wanted was one gold medal and would you people let us win one sorry no see that's it see no way you said sorry it just hurts my heart but I'll be okay I'll get over you see the authenticity in my eyes and on you liked that didn't you you Explorer ten aspects of life in the present that will renovate the future it's it's a journey that young people can take the book is available everywhere everywhere online anywhere you know we just heard we have less than a minute here but we've just heard that one in four families in the u.s. single-parent families yes we need the encouragement we need the the Reggie's who are going to get up and say to those kids you're going to be a history maker that's why it's cool that kids who are malnourished in Canada aren't going to the state for help but the Christians are helping them why not it's all good it's all good thank you thank you for the music you will thank you for the message thank you for all that you're doing it's good to be with you god bless you Reggie thank you

Channel: 100huntley

Views: 61,742

Rating: 4.9402986 out of 5

Keywords: interview, huntleystreet, may-16-11, HS8848, 100huntley, christian, reggie, dabbs

Id: eI00cL17-S4

Length: 13min 38sec (818 seconds)

Published: Mon May 16 2011