Flowers in the Weeds

My life took a dramatic turn at age 10.

It was a turn that threatened the very future of who I might become, and began rooted in who I thought I was worth becoming. With my birth father in prison, and having lost any extended family in the aftermath, we drifted for a while as my mom carried a family of 5 on what donations and other assistance she could find for us. Needless to say, things were difficult during the years most young people figure out what they want to do with their lives, and what they have to uniquely offer the world. Thankfully, it was those same years that I discovered Ska music. The upbeat, reggae-influenced sounds of bands like the Insyderz, the Supertones, and Five Iron Frenzy gave me not only something great to nod my head to, but a positive perspective on the challenges of life as well. They pointed me to Jesus, and His perspective on everything I was going through. This is one song that stayed with me, even as I eventually sang with a ska band in college – we covered this song everywhere we played.