Relic Stone

  Subtitle:  How becoming a painter taught me patience, process, and how to master my mind. “Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.” — Proverbs 22:29 It's Going To Suck When I first picked up a paint roller in Michigan,  I had no idea what I was doing . I wasn’t some trained apprentice. I didn’t grow up painting fences with my granddad. I wasn’t artistic. But Mike’s dad threw me on the crew, and I knew better than to complain. I sucked at first. I mean  bad . Paint dripping. Edges sloppy. Tape crooked.  But I didn’t care . Because what I lacked in skill, I made up for in obsession. Work That Doesn’t End This wasn’t residential. We weren’t painting little houses and apartments. We were doing massive commercial contracts.  Military bases.   Hospitals.   Stadiums.   Schools.  We’re talking jobs that spanned  6 months to 2 years . I was driving an hour each way through sno...

“It is better to be criticized by a wise man than praised by a fool.” — Ecclesiastes 7:5 Change of Pace  I didn’t walk out of prison into freedom—I walked into a test. San Antonio, Texas had raised me, bled me, almost buried me. I knew every street corner like the back of my palm, but what I didn’t know was peace . What I didn’t know was me . After 18 months in the penitentiary and 7 years with the invisible leash of parole wrapped around my neck, I was finally “off paper.” No system tracking my steps. No check-ins. No breath held every time a cop car passed me. But even then, I wasn’t free. That’s the part people don’t understand— freedom doesn’t hit just because the gates open . You still got the system inside you. You still hear rules echoing, and you still second-guess your next breath. And most of all, you look in the mirror and know: “If I don’t become someone else—someone better—I’ll be right back where I came from.”   I was a man with a past and no blueprint for a ...

  🖋️ “I Wrote an Entire Book on My Phone Using This Free App (No Laptop, No Excuses)” Most people will tell you that to write a book, you need time, a MacBook, a desk in a sunlight-filled room, and a 12-step writing schedule backed by neuroscience and coffee. I had none of that. No desk. No luxury. No budget. Just a cheap phone, a beat-up charger, and a burning vision I couldn’t let die inside me. The tomb was speaking, and I needed a way to transcribe the echo. So I downloaded Lite Writer , an app I found on the Play Store, and started writing in the cracks of my day. That app became my sword. My phone was the sheath. And I became a gardener in a war against myself. Planting the seeds to my future success word by word, day by day.  Let me show you the tool that helped me craft a masterpiece I call " Shadows of Wealth "—because if you're waiting for perfection, you’re wasting time you don’t even know you’re losing. ⚠️ Quick Note: I’m Not Sponsored I’m not getting ...