Two Paths Crossed: Everything Changed

Sometimes the people who change your life enter it when you least expect them.

In this episode of The Blinded Truth Podcast, Co-Host Eric Foster sits down with special guest and friend Brandon Ragsdale for an honest conversation about the journey that brought their two paths together—and how that unexpected connection grew into the friendship and brotherhood they share today.

“Two Paths Crossed: Everything Changed” is a conversation about connection, life experiences, growth, timing, and the people we meet along the way who leave a lasting impact on our lives.

Eric and Brandon take us back to where it all started, sharing the experiences that led them to meet each other, how their friendship developed, and what they’ve learned from walking through different seasons of life together.

Sometimes two completely different journeys can cross at exactly the right moment.

🎙️ In this episode, we talk about:
• How Eric and Brandon first crossed paths
• The journey from meeting each other to building a genuine friendship
• The importance of authentic male friendships and brotherhood
• How life experiences can shape the people we become
• Growth, connection, purpose, and unexpected relationships
• Why some people enter our lives at exactly the right time

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Have you ever met someone unexpectedly who ended up becoming an important part of your life?

Drop a comment and tell us your story. Who crossed your path and changed something for you?

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Every view, comment, share, and subscription helps us reach more people with honest conversations about life, recovery, mental health, healing, relationships, faith, personal growth, and the truths we don't always talk about.

Our goal is to continue building a community where real people can have real conversations—and where someone's story can remind another person that they aren't walking through life alone.

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to the Blind True Podcast where real stories read real healing. I'm your host, Eric Foster. Today's episode titled Two Paths Crossed, Everything Changed. Sometimes the most life-changing moments aren't planned. Two people can be walking completely different paths, carrying different stories, different experiences, and different expectations. And the other encounter changes everything. Today we are talking about what happens when two paths unexpectedly cross and life no longer looks the same afterwards. We're going beyond the surface to explore the moments that brought these paths together, the truth that was uncovered along the way, and the impact one connection can have on purpose, perspective, healing, and the direction of your life. Because sometimes the people we meet aren't just passing through our story. Sometimes they become part of that very moment that changes it. So what happens when two paths cross and everything changes? Let's get into the truth behind the story. This episode is brought to you by Destiny's By Choice Support Services because your journey, your voice, and your truth matters. And today, that was hard getting through. Oh you did it, brother. We made it. Oh, you made it. This is gonna be uh probably. I might start crying. Um emotional touching uh it's surreal. And I just before we get started, just want to thank you for allowing us into your child to do this episode. But I guess this is it for the kingdom. That's right. Like that, baby. But uh it's an honor, it's a pleasure to be interviewing you, Mr. Brandon. Uh my brother, my friend. Uh I truly didn't see this in the car, you know, uh coming from where we came from and how we was introduced to each other. When we when I met you, this is around uh January or February 2024. That's a long time ago. Yes, uh you were sitting across the room. I was on this side of the room, and I guess out of I know out of respect, we acknowledge each other. Facts, facts, but we really didn't talk. That's right. And that was it. So I say it went from distance to friendship. That's right, that's right. Uh and sitting in your barbershop now looks a lot different than it did when I first met you because you cut my hair for the first time in the YMCA's locker room. Yeah, that was my first barbershop. Yeah. And then uh on the front porch of a house. Yeah, Oxford House. And just to see the transformation. You know, um it's truly motivation and inspiration all in the same time. And normally, I don't think we get the motivation that we are looking for from the people that's around us. We only gravitate to what we think is popular or what looks bigger than life, and that's normally like television and rappers and stuff, and you know, people of that nature, but you get it from a young black man, uh it means the world to me because you know you never know where you need to get that motivation from. So when I come in here on Thursdays and get a haircut, sometimes I don't feel like uh doing the things that I need to do as just like coming and get a haircut, you know. But me knowing I'm coming here and kicking with you for the hour, it it means a lot to me, man. I just want to thank you in advance, you know, man. Um so let's just jump into it, man.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

First and foremost, man, I definitely gotta give God the glory. Because when you sit back and you think about how our paths crossed, where our paths crossed, you know, it was it was a process in the making. You know, God had to take two souls that was hopeless, and he had to start flashing periods of hope to continue to keep us going to get through the situations that we were in, man. Um, you were right. You were sitting across the room from me. And uh the first, I'm gonna be honest with you, the first thought when I first saw you, I said, man, that cat thank he uh uh what's my bad name? Uh ah, he's a rapper. Um anyway, Eric Stern. I said, man, my boy is like the Eric Sterman over there. I like him. He's vibing, right? But um, it's amazing when I see you elevate to the level that you have elevated to. That's motivation. You just spoke about sometimes we don't have that figure or that influence of motivation, but the whole time, and I express this to you all the time, the whole time as we were transitioning through, just to see your humbleness, just to see how humble you were, and um the things that you did to dedicate yourself to receive the knowledge of recovery motivated me. Yeah, of course, we still had some throughout that process, we still had some junk that God had to fix us with, you know, because he wasn't done with his, and he still has, and he still's not done with his yet. But just to see you push, when you pushed, it gave me motivation to get to certain levels. Um all this transpired because of where my heart was at, right? If we take it all the way back, right, we having a conversation, this is what this is, we having a conversation. Two brothers having a conversation, man. If I take it all the way back to that period when our paths crossed, even after that, you know, when you left, you went on, when you came to get your hair cut at the Oxford house, I still had a lot of play in me. My heart still wasn't surrendered. So God had to do some whipping. You know, he had to do a lot of whipping. That was a time to where I got incarcerated.

SPEAKER_02 6:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:54

You know, behind diving and dabbing back into a lifestyle that I said I wanted to be free from. I said I wanted to be free, but the the key point to that was I didn't totally surrender. Right. Right? I surrendered to the literature. That's the norm. I surrendered to the to the um the figures that was before us that had the clean time. You know, I surrendered to things like that, but I never surrendered to God at that moment. And I knew at some point in time that, you know, God was gonna whip me, and when he whipped me, he was gonna whip me real good. So it took to that point, it took that point of me getting incarcerated. And once I got into that cell, I knew that if I was to get released right now, at that very moment, I wouldn't have nowhere to go. I wouldn't have no money to put no food in my cell to eat, no money to put no clothes on my back. So what would have led to where that would have led to was me back to the streets. Right? So I knew that the jail offered a lot of programs. You know the norm when you're in there. Hey, let me go in here, let me make this look good for court. But that wasn't my situation. I knew I had to get something done, and I knew I had to get it done fast.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

So let me ask you a question. Um was it a light bulb moment, or was it um I gotta do this, or if I don't do this, I'm done?

SPEAKER_01 8:32

It was definitely a light bulb moment, but it was a light bulb moment of desperation. And that desperation came in the form of I know the literature, I know what entails of going to meetings, but I was missing something. I was missing something that was gonna not only spark that light bulb, but that would that would create a power source to continue to keep that light bulb on. And that was my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And I tell everybody, right, that recovery without Jesus is just a formality, right? It's just a formality.

SPEAKER_00 9:12

But I don't think if we don't tell the part of how we was five percenters, oh my god, more that man know. Um when we met, we was both five percenters.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

We were five percenters. And so and see the world might not know what five percenters be, right? And we didn't even go to get into all of that. Uh uh. But it definitely was not following this. No, it wasn't. Right.

SPEAKER_00 9:34

We probably thought we was a little bit above that. I I I hadn't picked a Bible up in like 15 years. Yeah. And I don't know. When I when I when I when you told me you was going back to church, I had been going to church with with with my girl. And it's just something changed, man. It's like when you go through everything that we've been through, and we we we come out unscathed. Like, you know, you know, with our right frame of mind, and and we find people that care about us genuinely, you know, like, and and and we have people who want to pour into us, and you know, it they say only two percent of the people that go through like rehabs and stuff like that make it.

SPEAKER_01 10:25

That's right, that's right. So that's what it says about us being from the 2%, I guess. I guess if you if you go by um their statistics, right, right, but the jump back is funny, just jump back to the 5% thing. I believe that God used that part right there to uh to add to bring life to our relationship. Because every day we've seen each other, the first thing we would say is peace, God. Peace, God, right? Not really understanding what we really say. Yeah. And you know, that was a jail thing, a prison thing for me, right? Um, when you're in there all alone, away from your family, you know, you you you look for comfort in something. Yeah, right? You got the bloods, you got the crypto, you got all these gangs, but you know, with the high intelligence that we have at that point, even as strung out addicts at that point, we still had high intelligence. But once we were in the system, it's like, hey man, let me find a group. Okay, I like the way that these guys talk. I like the things that they do, I like the respect that they get. So let me join a part of that. Let me get a part of that. I'm gonna forget about this. Yeah, but let me get with that. But you know, I even through that, I think God was shaping us by saying, you know what? Because with that right there, it required with the 5% is it requires a lot of studying. So God said, you know what? I'm gonna allow you to develop this double study moment because when you turn around and you come back bowing down at my feet in sorrow and brokenness, you're gonna realize that what you were studying was what I put together all the time, right? Because it's nothing under the sun. The word of God says it's nothing under the sun that's new, right? Everything it is what it is. But when Christ is absent in your life and you know that you need him in your life, it breaks you.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

But I also realize that I've always had a void in my life. It was a big void until I found God. Man, like I my my whole life has changed since I surrendered, you know. Um, and not to the program or a program, nothing from that, but I needed a little bit more, you know, and God was the missing piece, man, because He has totally transformed my life, my lifestyle, my family, you know, my friends. I mean, everything has changed just because of God. I know that, you know. And having a real conversation and not being ashamed to admit that is uh a lot saying itself because at one time I wouldn't tell people I was a Christian or um, but now I'm proud to say, you know, um a reborn Christian that you know I surrendered. That's right. You know, um that's right. And I think like all things are possible through him. That's right. Um yeah, you know what I mean? It's like it just makes you just want to sometimes just think that's just pause and think back where you breathe come from. So I'm gonna ask a question. Um if there was anything you could change, I knew you were better to ask that.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

I knew you were better to ask.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

But would you change or would you not change anything?

SPEAKER_01 14:13

I wouldn't change nothing. Right? And the reason why I say I wouldn't change nothing because everything that I went through drew me closer to God. I had to go through the homelessness. I had to go through the uh the lack of not having what I needed to survive. I had to go through the uh the depression, the the rejection, you know, the the uh the things that I went through the late nights uh on Melothy and Turnheight. Huh? Now you know when I think about that, when I think back at that moment, how dark that place was walking up the street, and a person that's not actually from there, and you got everybody that surrounded you looking at you, how God shielded me from the getting robbed, how God shielded me from getting killed, how God shielded me from being in these hotel rooms, right? I would not change, I don't want to go back to it, right? But I would not change any of that because that developed my heart. It broke my heart. It broke my heart to the point to where I was like, man, I need a contractor to come back in and reconstruct my heart, right? And Brandon couldn't do it, 5%ers couldn't do it, the Nation of Islam couldn't do it, NA couldn't do it, AA couldn't do it, any of that could do it. And I'm not taking anything away from NA or AA because they are excellent support groups, but they couldn't do it for me, right? Right? So I had to go through that just so that contractor that I hired, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to come back in there and put my heart back together. So back to when I was in the sale, man, you know, I even I prayed. You know, most prayers are, God, please get me out of this, and I'll never do this again. And guess what happens when the doors open? I go back and do it again. But my prayer was that time, this time, God, whatever, whatever the situation comes out of this, I'm I'm humble, I'm gonna accept it because I just want to be close to you. I just want to be close to you. I just want to surrender. I don't want to live this life no more. I don't want to be that person no more. I don't want to be that number no more. I don't want to be counted out. I don't want to be untrusted. I don't want to be that person that everybody looks at with the side eye. I don't want to be that person that when they see me come, they take their pocketbooks and hide it, right? I don't want to be that person.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

Hey. Now, if that ain't something to think about, right? But you said something that caught my ear. Humble. Yes. Being humble. And I think that by me also going through homelessness. Yes. It's a humbling experience. Yes. And it prepared me for everything that he's blessing with me now.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

Talk about it, brother.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

To be humble and accepted and not change. That's right. And not and not change in front of the people that I care about. That's right. Especially because, like, when you said that you had to go back, my heart for you didn't change. That's right. Because I came looking. You definitely did. You know, because I saw something in you and I knew you could do it. You know, um, and they tell us even just to find one person, you know, they tell us that. And I believe that for Cole Holly, because I found a person that believes in me. You know what I mean? Yeah. And no matter what I do, it's like you and you definitely found a person that believes in me. Definitely. And when when that happens, it's like you can see God manifesting himself in your life. Like you can see the shift, you can see the light, you can see the glow, you can see when the conversations start changing, and when the people you around turn into people that believe in the same thing you believe in, and and the energy shifts. Yes, yes, and it rubs off on you. Man, and you take the energy with you to work, to home, to wherever you go, you know, and I know we have bad days and we had bad days. Of course, but I can handle them days. I can handle them. That's right, that's right. I can definitely handle the worst day I have right now.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

We don't, when we experience those days by being the new man, the renewed man, the renewed man comes with uh a new way of thinking, right? The old man still holds on to that old way of thinking. So when we have those bad days, and when we have those disappointing days, though, you know, depression starts to knock at the door a little bit, like, hey, you remember me? Yeah, right back then, the first thing we would do, go on a go on a search, go on a search, then go on a chase. When you go on a search and you find, then you're out there all night chasing, right? So now I've opened the door to all this depression, all this anxiety, all the trouble that comes behind it, versus to me being that new man with a new frame of thinking, with a new mind, right? That makes me a new creature because once my mind changes, the body follows. The mind don't follow the body, right? The body follows the mind. So when I put myself in a position to be changed mentally, so now that I know how to handle certain situations when it's bad, when it's bad. Even as a Christian, I face a lot of bad moments as far as when my mind gets to thinking back to what I used to do, what I used to be. Those will be some rough times. But I have a tool that I didn't have then. I knew about that tool back then, but I didn't think that that tool worked. Right. But by using this tool now and understanding that that tool has then gotten me through some of the most hard moments. Even as a born-again believer, that tool has gotten me through some tough moments. And that tool is prayer. See, when you pray, you got to believe in what you're praying, you got to believe that he hears you, right? And then when you believe it, you just leave it. But that can be hard, though, B. It can be hard. It can. But your heart has to be set in the right place, right? I'm gonna tell you a story, right? It was this guy named Peter, right? It was this guy named Peter, right? Peter went out and preached a message, right? And this message was a message of salvation, right? And he preached this message to a bunch of people that were from different places, from Richmond, um Baltimore, um, China, Africa, right? So these people, you know, he spoke it, he he spoke their language. But before he could speak that language, something had to happen to him. And it's called the Holy Spirit, right? The Holy Spirit had to come upon him in order for him to speak in these different tongues, for everybody to be able to understand this message of salvation. And with intrusion. Everybody is that how in the world can Peter how can the world did this man speak this type of language, right? He from China. I'm paraphrasing, he's from China. You know, I'm from we from everywhere else that don't even speak this language, but I can understand what he's saying. They can understand what he's saying. So now that the Holy Spirit came in and showed an outer evidence by allowing Peter to speak these different languages, guess what happened at this moment? Hearts started to change. Conviction. That's one of the main evidence of the Holy Spirit is that you're going to get convicted. And that conviction is going to lead to a repentant heart. And that repent of heart is going to lead you to bowing down in tears, in sorrow, saying, God, please forgive me. Right? And that's when you said it's hard. When you said it's hard, it's only hard if you allow it to be hard. But when you're filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit, it drags you.

SPEAKER_00 22:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:58

It drags you before that altar and lay it there. Right? So at that moment, when these people gave that, when they could develop this repentative heart and they gave their life to Christ, they said 3,000 souls were saved. Now, if the presence of the Holy Spirit went and it came, right, it would have been hard for them to understand what Peter was saying. Right?

SPEAKER_02 23:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

So it's only hard for us if we don't understand the presence of the Holy Spirit. That's what gets us through. Right? See, the Holy See, God protected us throughout all that we went through for this moment because there's a purpose and there's a plan. The blinded truth, man, this is an awesome platform. People need to see this, people need to hear this because the hopeless need to understand that there is still hope. Yes. There is still hope, man. We are true evidence. We are the outer evidence that the Holy Spirit is real. Because nothing saved us from what we were going through other than us surrendering ourselves to the power of the Holy Spirit, man. So we're able to sit here today as brothers, as brothers in Christ, and just enjoying a normal conversation. A normal life. Oh my God. Now don't get me up in here showering right now.

SPEAKER_00 24:21

I'm just saying like some days I wake up and my drug of choice was heroin. Yes, sir. And to wake up and don't have to get up to go find something just to make me be able to function. Make me be able to go to work. Just going to get something to make me be able to eat breakfast. You know what I mean? And just being able to just lay there and don't move. It's like the best feeling I've ever had in my life, man. Because the only time I've ever had that feeling is when I was locked up. Wow. Now you're free. Free. You experiencing that free.

SPEAKER_01 25:03

Free. Say who the father has set free is free indeed. Right? And these are called physical, physical, spiritual, and mental chains. Right? When they say the chains are broken, man, that's a true statement. Yes. And the hopeless need to understand that. And they need to see that those chains can be broken. And the way that they get broken is just by surrendering.

SPEAKER_00 25:33

Let me ask you a question. I know you believe that this could this is possible. I know you believe that it was possible. That's because that's why you're here. Yes, sir. Did you think that it would happen so soon?

SPEAKER_01 25:47

No, no. I lost hope, man. When I was in the midst of my addiction, you know, um cocaine was my drug of choice. And um when I say a chase, it sends you on a chase. Yeah. You know, I grew up in a family, man, that, you know, my mother, she was addicted to heron, my grandmother addicted to alcoholism. Growing up in Baltimore City, you know, um, it's destined that you're gonna become a product of your environment. Yeah. Right? Because that's all you see. You wake up seeing it, you go to bed seeing it. But to be here today is a total blessing. Nobody but the power of God. But when I was going through what I was going through, I was a barber. I was a barber, right? Up there. No here. You know, speaking of the terms, yeah. I was a barber, but I lost the passion, I lost the desire. You know, um, this became last in my life. But if I needed a a fix or something like this, this is what I would use. Um, you know, then selling drugs, selling drugs back in Baltimore, yeah, that. But you know, all that became a lot part of my lifestyle. So when I did become a barber, I would use that as a vehicle to get what I needed to supply my habits. So it became so far away from reality. But when I surrendered, I was sitting in the cell and I was surrendering. I surrendered, man, and God started, I'm looking at a wall, gray wall, but it's like I got a big flat screen TV in my cell. This is how it appeared. And I can start seeing my life line up because of integrity. God was telling me, start putting integrity in your life, right? When you're not, and even when you're not in the presence of no one, still walk as if you're in the presence of someone. Um, be respectful, be kind, love everybody, don't be selfish, right? So I'm starting to see these things, and these these words are popping up, but I'm also starting to see a timeline of my future. I seen it, I know the timeline of my past, but I'm starting to see a timeline of my future. Even my wife. I'm starting to see all of this. God is like, you're gonna meet a wife in a place that to some would seem impossible to grab this jewel. But the Bible said, man that finds a wife finds a good thing. So he said, I'm gonna put her in your path. You're gonna find her, but I'm gonna put her in your path and you're gonna know this is the one. Right? Because of the heart that she has, gonna be able to identify it. But once I start seeing, these things line up. So then I got something to pray for. Then I got something to believe God for, so then I'm writing it. So Bible said, write your vision down and make it plain. I'm praying over it. I still got the book. I'm praying over it. So once I get out, things start to, the vehicles start to move, the building block starting to build. Okay, I'm getting this. Okay, God is blessing me with this. God is blessing me with a sound mind. Those is the first thing that He blessed me with is a sound mind so that I can understand what's happening, how to deal with what's happening, and how to manage what's happening. See, God ain't gonna give you nothing that you can't manage. He's not gonna give you nothing that you're gonna squander and throw away. Right? So, rehab, you get your life, I'm here, I'm in there, developing, getting myself together, and paying attention to which being said. Instead of just being here because I ain't got a place to go, um, I need food or I need clothes. That didn't even matter. What mattered was, hey, you got a disease that you need to get under control. And um, you have to believe that God put you here and understand this literature, understand what's going on. Because my wife told me, she said, honey, you only really need rehab one time, right? She said, I don't know why people constantly keep coming back. And I was like, What do you mean by that? She said, Because the literature, the information is the same. You just gotta apply the information that's being said. So then I started to think, well, you know what? She's right. Every time I have been in there, they say the same thing. Yeah, they teaches you the same thing, right? So now a light came on, that light came back on. So then I gotta put in perspective what she's saying. So if I get out of here and go back, go out here, mess up and go back, I'm gonna hear the same thing. That's why people, when you in there, dudes that don't want to be in there, man, they keep saying the same thing. They keep all right, so they keep saying the same thing. So when we're gonna start putting that in into action, but it's the same stuff. Yeah, it's the same stuff, man. So I grabbed it, put it in my, put it in my in my treasure bank, held on to it, and start applying it to my life. Start applying it to my life. Not only did I apply that to my life, but I had a covering over my life that helped me apply it, which is my Lord and Savior. So that made my journey and my transition that much more peaceful, that much more better to just get out here and do what I had to do, regardless of what somebody thought of me, regardless of what they say I used to be, regardless of what they thought I was gonna do or how they thought I was gonna be or act or however. Didn't let any of that bother me, man. And I came out, start doing what I was doing. Next thing you know, I'm starting to be trusted again. I'm starting to hold on to a couple dollars now. You know, I'm starting to hold on to a couple dollars now. Um I'm starting to understand how to separate myself from certain conversations and certain people that I was attracted to. I was attracted to this type of stuff. I'm starting to understand how to get away from that, but it was only the power of the Holy Spirit that allowed me to do that. So next thing you know, things start happening. Um, doors are starting to open. Right? God's starting to close some doors, but he's opening these major doors, and my passion for barbering started can't it just came back. So I go get in the shop and I'm renting the chair at this time. But the whole time I'm renting this chair, God is speaking to me. It's like you're gonna have your own shop real soon. Real soon.

SPEAKER_00 32:38

Because when when you was talking about moving out here to Rocky Mount, I thought that was why you was moving out here until when I came and you was telling me, no, this is what it is. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:53

I had the opportunity was presented to me. Um at the time she was my fiancee. She said, uh, honey, there's no really no barbers here in Rocky Mount. It's a few that's cutting. But nobody has their license. Nobody has their license, nobody's doing it correctly. So I'm comfortable where I'm at. Clyde Taylor's building. Um I'm in an Oxford house at this time. You know, um, I'm riding a bus. Right? You see, I see you walking.

SPEAKER_02 33:22

Yeah, I was walking too.

SPEAKER_01 33:24

But we're passing. Man, look how good God is. Look how good God is, right? He saved the bottom of our souls while we were walking, right? Not till our feet up, so now we can sit down in the seat comfortably and drive the work.

SPEAKER_00 33:41

You gotta give him the praise for every little thing that we have, right? I just remember seeing you walking now and passing. It was cold as I don't know what passed.

SPEAKER_01 33:51

It was cold. What the way we passed each other, you was up on the hit. I was like, What's up, brother? You like, I ain't got time to stop and talk. It's too cold right there, right? But look, from that point to where we are now, you have to praise. But you gotta give God the glory where it's due. But to just to send a message to those that are still in the struggle, it can be done if you apply yourself. The number one rule, surrender. Surrender. You gotta surrender. So back to the story, right? She said, Come to Rocky Mount. And uh, she don't talk like that, but she said, Come to Rocky Mount, come to Rocky Mount. Yeah, I know she is. I'm gonna probably be in trouble later on, but uh I love you, honey. Um she said, Come to Rocky Mount and uh try it out. So I came here, met Miss Linda, that's her front, offered me a decent deal. Like we ain't even gonna disclose that, but it's way better than what the booth rent that I was paying for in Runo. So I still held on to that. And um, I was coming here, I was almost paying $1,000 a week. No, a thousand, I'm sorry, a thousand dollars a month. Wow. A thousand dollars a month for that space and here. But the long make a long story short, man. I got here, I started cutting, going back and forth. I started off with cutting five heads a week here. I started off cutting five heads a week. I kept praying, I kept seeking God, I kept believing God. So now I'm seeing 20 heads a week. So at this time I leave, come here. Boom. Alright, God, I'm believing what you're gonna do because you just showed me the increase. You just answered a prayer. I know you're gonna do more. I started off in a very little small room, way in the back. Right? So I'm constantly praying, I'm still praying and still trusting God for the increase. Next thing you know, it jumps to 30 heads. Today, we cut over 60 heads a week. And clientele is still building, not because of how good of a barber I am, not because of how much enhancements I can put in your head, right?

SPEAKER_00 36:14

It ain't got nothing. All natural. You look good too, brother. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 36:23

Hey, listen, I give you some enhancements Thursday. No, I'm good now. I'm good now. You done showed me you can do it without it. Exactly, man. But um, I didn't develop that clientele behind that. I set a godly atmosphere, right? You do. I set a godly atmosphere. Um I stay respectful, but most important, I allow Christ to shine through me. And people see that, man. Yeah, and I gotta give God the glory in that. Because back in the day, this would this was not branded. This was not branded. Definitely won't brand. But today, yeah, to come covered, you're walking through the room. Exactly, man. And it gets it, there are tough points. Even now, there are tough points. Um sometimes it be a struggle. Yeah. But to be able to go through that struggle with peace, a peace of mind, a partner that's there to motivate you, a support team that's there to surround you. You know what I'm saying? Family, such as yourself, that's there to like, come on, bro. Remember what we used to be?

SPEAKER_00 37:40

So let me ask you a question. This is this is really should be off the books, but since we here. No, no, it ain't it ain't it ain't that kind of question. It's not a crazy question like I know I'm gonna ask it's just me and you.

SPEAKER_01 37:52

Because you ask some crazy questions sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 37:54

See, but you gave me a crazy the other question, you gave me a crazy answer about the job thing. I had to tell somebody to work about it. When you pray to God, did you pray to God and never found a job? Before you ask me the question, that's yeah, that's all right. We we get to that. All right. Um now that you're married, yes sir, you know, and the old man has passed away. And it took time to get to that point. Definitely, you know. Did you see that for real? Like, did you see that? You knew that you would you you you if you stayed faithful to just doing the right thing, the right person would come. Were you ready when she showed up?

SPEAKER_01 38:38

Um that's a good question, man, because when I expressed my feelings to her at that time that I was interested in her, I did tell her, I need to get myself together. Right? There's been times to when, you know, I've crossed the path of a young lady that I was interested in, and you know, and jumped straight to the gun, right? And this is how I knew that this was the woman that God put in my path. Because I told her, I said, listen, I need to get myself together. I am very interested in you, right? But in order for me to be that man of God that God has called me to be in your life, to lead you, to walk side by side with you, to love you. Well, you about to give me 10. To love you, right? I gotta get this together, right? Not only getting the physical part together, but I gotta make sure that my heart is in the right place to be able to engulf your heart because God has entrusted me with your heart. And if I love God the way that I say that I love God, then I have to love you the exact same way. But I can't love you that way if I still got some things that I need to work on. Right? So, yes, the answer to your question was I no, I wasn't ready to take on a journey and to um take one of God's trusted angels and support her and be responsible for her at that very time. There has still had to be some construction to be done. But she knew, right? She knew. And the beautiful part about it, we were I was so transparent with this woman. She knew everything that I'd have gone through in life. Right? And a woman in that type of position, in that type of place, when you explain stuff like that, now now the coins are left on her table. She can choose what she wants to choose. She could have said, you know what, I'm not interested. Because, first of all, we leave two different lifestyles. You're coming with a lot of bags. Oh, she could have said anything. But this woman sat back and said, you know what, I trust God. I know what God is about to do with you, and I know you're my husband.

SPEAKER_00 41:01

And the reason I ask you that is because being in so many volatile and unhealthy and toxic relationships going through the lifestyle that I used to live. I I knew that I wanted that woman. And to be honest, when she showed up, I wasn't prepared. I was not a hundred percent ready. And I made a my a major mistake that I thought was minor. I didn't think that I could be forgiven. And but I believe by her being a one of woman of God, it's the only thing that saved me in the world. Something different about the woman of God, man. Yeah, and and and I remember you told me I need to make her an honest woman, and I I am, you know, I am. Um it's coming together. We talk about this.

SPEAKER_01 42:12

Yeah, we we, you know, even we've had, I don't know if you remember, you know, um, but we have had conversations then, right? Even when we crossed paths of these special people, of this special, of these special women in our w in our lives, we even spoke about it then. And then we started, we started to put the similarities together, like, bro, that happened to me too. Like, bro, it the same thing happened. So now it's like, and I believe that took our bond, what that brought our bond a little bit more closer, right? Yeah, because we knew at that very moment that God was really, really doing some work in us to be able to be that head, that leadership in these women's lives.

SPEAKER_00 43:01

But what I realized though, just sitting here, I knew, I knew, I knew, I knew, but just sitting here is how much I appreciate God for doing what they did. Um, because I know I wouldn't be sitting here without that person.

SPEAKER_01 43:19

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 43:20

You know, um that's awesome, brother. My my life would have been, I probably, I probably still be in the Oxford house. Come on. Just uh trying to get along just to be able to have somewhere to Jesus, you know, because I it wasn't no expectations of me. It wasn't nothing pushing me to do better.

SPEAKER_01 43:39

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:40

And you can't be in in a relationship with somebody that doesn't push you. That's right. That doesn't motivate you and doesn't co sign your BS. That's right. So I know now, like when I'm wrong, they're the first to tell me, you know. And no, I don't like to hear it. Come on. I listen. Yeah. Sometimes it stays, sometimes it go out my edge. And then they come back around and tell me again.

SPEAKER_01 44:03

You know, and not to cut you off, brother, but you just said something that's so profound, man. You know, we've developed this ego in the midst of whatever lifestyle that we were living there, man. And that ego looks like, hey, I got to be macho. You can't tell me nothing. I'm always right. Almost like a narcissist, almost, right?

unknown 44:30

Right.

SPEAKER_01 44:30

But, you know, when we when they correct us, boy, that ego gets to talking, right? Yeah. That ego gets to talking. But you know, this is how you know that this woman is strong and that she's there for you, is when you can humble yourself. It's hard to sit there in humility at that very moment where you know that this woman is correct, where you know that she's right. That's the hardest thing to do. But because of the Holy Spirit, and I'm always gonna give God the glory because of the Holy Spirit and the heart, that new heart that He's put in us. And we might give him a little bit lip, a little bit kickback at the moment, but when you sit down on that bed and you're away from him for that second, you sit in that humility, you like no what she like. That's a push. That's a push.

SPEAKER_00 45:21

It's happened so many times. Man, that's a push. And then they come back around and apologize. Oh my god. That's like that's like walking the what's the eight-mile movie with the big dude. Yeah, walking like man.

SPEAKER_01 45:34

And then it'd be sometime, you know, even when you get in a little argument, you know, sometime I might throw out there, well, I'm gonna go to the shop, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that. And that's just a a a uh a lingering behavior of running from my old behaviors, right?

SPEAKER_00 45:57

I've been told that's when I get back into survival mode. That I don't have to be. That is definitely survival mode. You know what I mean? Like, before this new life and the things that's going on, I had never been on a vacation. Oh my god. I stayed trapped in the project. Oh, you know, um, like just being able to get up and go get some fresh vegetables or fruit, some bread, me uh some uh egg waffles or something, you know, and I'm living the life.

SPEAKER_01 46:34

This is definitely the life to be able to walk around in my pajamas with my my little tank top or with my little with my little fluffy slippers, with my little cup of coffee in my head, right? That's exactly what I wear. Is that not the life? It is when we then, and I'm always gonna compare because it's good to compare, right? Especially when you get in a in a good frame of thinking, it's always good to compare. All right, at eight o'clock in the morning with my pajamas, with my fluffy slippers on. I'm gonna compare. Back then, eight o'clock in the morning, what would I be? Watch this. If I was still in that old lifestyle, I'd probably be sitting on somebody's couch or sitting on somebody's porch because I'd have spent all my money up. I no longer have the resources to help support their habit. So now they don't want to deal with me no more. But I can't go home because I done spent all the money that I'm supposed to take home to support my family. So now shame and guilt won't allow me to go home. So none of them push me so further back out there, then I'm a I'm out there. Right. Container deep out there. Ain't no turning back. Ain't no turning back, brother. And ain't no telling where that road's gonna lead. What? So I've got to be so grateful that I don't have to live like that. I can now get out of my bed. I'm a married man. I'm not sleeping with whoever. I didn't spend all my money up. I can now get on my phone, hit an app, guess what, to a bank account with my name on it and see what's in my account. And when I see what's in my account, I can smile because I know I got enough money in there to be able to take care of my wife, be able to take care of whatever bills that need to be taken care of and myself. Versus man, who I'm gonna call and tell a lie that I need $20, or who I'm gonna who I'm gonna manipulate, where I'm gonna steal from, right? Which dope boy I'm gonna go rob. I don't have to live like that no more. That's the though back then when you in it, that's the change we were just talking about. You back then when you in it, it's so hard to get out of it because that grip has you.

SPEAKER_00 48:57

And everything that it's easier to get to. Like I think we were talking about the store thing one time. Yeah. And then like the street part of the negative stuff that comes with it. We know we can do that. Yeah, that's easy. You know what I mean? That's easy, but we also know we can do this now, right? And that's what keeps me moving forward. And you gonna be a deacon.

SPEAKER_01 49:26

Oh my god, oh my god, yes. Two years ago, brother, I would have never thought that.

SPEAKER_00 49:33

Two years ago, I thought, well, not two years, three years. Yes, sir. I thought that I would either be doing 10 years in prison or I would have died because I had just died not too long ago before I got locked up, you know. They brought me back in the hospital and stuff. So I I just knew my outcome would be death. That's right. And and and and they did. The old man did die.

SPEAKER_01 49:55

That's right. That's a good thing. Amen. That is a good thing to um to elaborate on that man to be sitting, to sit in church and just think about the goodness of God and how far he has been brought me. I still got a long way to go. But he done bought me a mighty long way, right? And just to be able to sit there, and say in church, all you need is a thought. Just get a slightly thought of the goodness of God, where he has bought you from, and you're gonna cut up. And what I mean by cut up, your feet get light, your hands get to get up into the air, and you sincerely just start giving God the praise. That's all it takes, man. Um a thought. A thought of where you came from. Two years ago, like I said, man, I'd have never thought I would be a deacon in training. Yeah, they uh the pastor tell Megan called me up. Listen. I see the I I see the I see the post, brother. Uh it was so so inspiring, man, just to see you standing behind a pulpit doing what you were doing, man. That was very inspiring. I said, uh, so look at Pastor Foster. Look at Pastor Foster.

SPEAKER_00 51:14

People keep saying that, man.

SPEAKER_01 51:16

Tell me, man. God has a funny way of uh of just bringing something to pass. He has a funny way of showing us what we might not even even thought.

unknown 51:33

Right.

SPEAKER_00 51:34

So tell God your plans and watch you laugh. Yeah, yeah, man. When they say that, I just laugh at that because it's so true. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 51:41

Man, it's awesome, but just to sit here and think, man, the past, how our crap paths cross, the similar paths, the similar lifestyles. We our paths crossed like that because we were in journey of going get help, man.

SPEAKER_00 52:00

Yeah, we are we're we're really a whole lot of light, man. You think so? Because the simple fact is that we didn't think of like we want to track a lot of the same stuff. Because you gotta track, you gotta warn it, you gotta, you gotta, you gotta thank it to get it.

SPEAKER_01 52:18

I I like what you I like what you was just saying, what you were saying, right? But I thought you was about to go to some 5% of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 52:25

No, no, no.

SPEAKER_01 52:27

I thought you were about to say A alike, B alike, C alike, right?

SPEAKER_00 52:32

No, no. I know we've been going on and on and on, and and I was prepared, but I won't prepare. Because normally I have a whole list of questions that the the the host of the show she will print out for me or whatever. Awesome, awesome woman, man. Awesome woman. But she asked me, um, do you got it? I was like, yeah, but I didn't. Because, you know, I didn't know what way or what direction it was gonna go because I had so many directions to choose from with our relationship and what I do know. You know what I mean? And what I do know about you is like you haven't changed. You haven't changed, you know, from the outside looking in or from the inside looking out. I I I see, you know what I mean? And that is just the the most amazing part because when every time I've gotten clean before this time and started gaining things back, I never gave God the praise. Come on, man. You know, I always accepted that I did all of this, so and that's the first thing I lost. You know, and and and and you know just being able to lay down and sleep is like my biggest joy for real, because this is the first time in my life that I can lay in a bed and not have to worry about my life.

SPEAKER_01 54:12

Come on, brother.

SPEAKER_00 54:13

You know, I know I'm in a safe place, you know? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:17

So Jesus just um man, just what you about to well about to cut this flow, I'm about to tear this flow up right here, man.

SPEAKER_00 54:28

Hey, listen, it means so much, bruh.

SPEAKER_01 54:31

It does. And it comes from this is what you call a heart of repentance, man. A heart of sorrow, man. Uh, that God, I even put myself in a position to be so far away from you. It's not even about the material things that God has blessed us back with. It's not, it's not even about any of that, but just to know that I'm in right standard with God. Not saying that I don't have thoughts, not saying that I don't mess up sometimes, far as, you know, committing whatever sin, not drugs, but I don't, I'm not 100% perfect. But what I do have that's perfect is a repentant heart. So when I know when I mess up, I can get on these knees, I can get at that altar and say, God, please forgive me. Please forgive me. Please keep me, right? See, what took the children of Israel so long to reach the promised land is that they didn't have a repentative heart. It took, what only supposed took four days, took 40 years. What took me, I'm 44. And I probably jumped out there at 12. What took that long to hear is that I didn't have a repentive heart. But God's timing is always right, man. It's always right. God knew the exact time and the exact day that Brandon and Eric would just surrender their heart. I don't care if I didn't have this barbershop. I don't care if I didn't have a vehicle, I don't care if I didn't have anything that God has blessed me back with. Today, long as that my heart was in the right place with God.

SPEAKER_02 56:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 56:20

I know we've been talking for a minute, so I'm uh gonna wrap this one up. I always ask the guests this um final question, man. Um there's anything that you can go and tell your younger self that will prepare you right here. What would you tell me? Wow. Strap up.

SPEAKER_01 56:43

It's about to be a ride. Strap up, it's about to be a ride, but stay the course. Stay the course, because you're gonna be surprised at the end.

SPEAKER_00 56:56

Well, brother, it's been real, it's always real, it's always a wonderful time with you, man. It's been nice, it's I mean, it's just another layer to the relationship. And I just want to thank you for allowing us into your life, um, into your second home. Yes. Um and just being a part of your journey and your story because you're a part of mine. Wow. And this is just something I started something new.

SPEAKER_01 57:28

Before you end, I just want to share a quick testimony.

SPEAKER_00 57:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 57:31

Alright, you remember the time that you know I told you I went to Martinsville, I got in trouble, and I had a court date pending. So I went to this court date, and this I had, and these charges had happened two years ago, right? I went to I went to court. My wife can tell it a hundred, she can tell my testimony better than I can, but I'm gonna do the best I can. So we get to court last Tuesday, I believe, right? And um, man, I'm gonna tell you when the power of the Holy Spirit showed up, he he tear the whole place up. So we talking, they put me on the stand, I share my testimony, um, I present all my certificates from the time that I was released all the way up to now, right? And which is total transformation. Total transformation. Um, the officer that pulled me over, he was in the courtroom. Prior to going into the courtroom, he saw me. I had a conversation with him. He said, Man, I didn't I done heard some great things about you. Said, I see you doing well. All right, so we get in the courtroom, prosecutor speaks, he said, uh, and I never had a prosecutor say this. Your honor, um, the officer called, the officer called me and told me that Mr. Ragsdale had changed his life. Right? So the judge gets to talking. So the judge said, listen, she saw the evidence, right? So she's like, um, never have we ever had someone that come before us like this. You know, I see you totally changed. Never have we ever had anybody come before us like this. Um I had one person, he but he died because he didn't get a chance to live, live out his recovery. He was doing good. She said, but sir, I see that you're doing well, right? So at this time, the bailiff walking around handing everybody in the courtroom tissue, right? Even the officer that arrested me, he cried behind the testimony, behind the evidence that's presented, just how things are going. You know the presence of God is in this place. I look at the officer and I say, man, thank you for pulling me over that night. Because if you hadn't pulled me over that night, I probably would have died. Because I was on my way to do what I needed to do. Probably would have died. Apologize to the courts, right? My lawyer, she's standing up. She's saying all, she's saying the things that she's saying. But when they say God will show up and be a lawyer in the courtroom, my guidelines, I'm not one supposed to sit here today, right? I'm supposed to be on my way to prison. But the the first judge and the first prosecutor that was supposed to preside over my case, they got removed. When they say God remove mountains out of your way, sometimes those mountains come in the form of people. So they weren't there. So I got a new new judge and a new prosecutor. So the judge said, she's crying, she's bawling crying. She said, sir, I'm not gonna get in the way of what you're doing. Your guidelines, do call for three years. So I stood up so she could sentence me. She said, but you know what I'm gonna do? She said, I'm gonna sentence you to do three years, but I'm gonna suspend all that whole three years. I'm not even gonna put you on probation, I'm not even gonna give you no court fines, I'm gonna just let you go on and live your life. And I pled guilty. I went in there and pled guilty because I was guilty. But they had my rap sheet, it probably was a book. And I told the judge, I said, Your Honor, that paper that you got right there in front of you, that book or whatnot, yeah, that used to be me. But this is who I am now, and my life has been consistently this way. You know, I put myself at the mercy of the court. You do what you're gonna do, you can say what you're gonna say, but God is gonna show up and he's gonna have the final say so. Man, when I looked over at the officer, he cried, my family crying, the judge crying, the prosecutor ain't, you know, a prosecutor get up, he going to town. The only words that came out of that man's mouth was, Your Honor, the officer called me and said, Mr. Rex has changed his life. I can't take any of that glory. I give all the glory to God, man. And this was going on for two whole years, two whole years. But I knew God was gonna show up and he was gonna show up. Never have I walked out of the courtroom without no probation, without any court fight. Wow. Man, to God be the glory, man. Hey, won't he do it? Won't he do it? So I just wanted to tell, you know, those that's listening, man, there is hope. There is hope. Surrender. Give it all to God and watch what he does.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:21

All right. Well, this has been another episode of the Blinded Truth Podcast, man. Speaking here with my brother Brandon, and you know, realizing that we didn't do it, God did. And there's always hope. You just gotta you guys gotta keep hoping and keep having faith and keep praying. And don't and don't be afraid to ask for help, man. Because somebody will lead you to the right direction. That's right. And this is another episode that's brought to you by Destiny's By Choice Support Services. And it is a pleasure of being here with my brother Brandon at Kingdom Cuts at Rocky Mount, uh, Virginia. And um just take your time. Peace.