Episode Nine: The Byte-Maury

Growing up with a mentally ill mother, Maury tells of his connection to God and how that connection saved him as a child. Facing poverty on Chicago's South Side, Maury's inspired belief in his sacred connection to God and Spirit led him to miracle after miracle. Listen to this byte-sized interview to find out how.

Please note: This track may include some explicit language.

Transcript

Anybody who tells you people like being on public assistance, That's just crap. Most people don't like it. You got to be real lazy to want to stay on public assistance. I'm probably so short because I didn't eat as a kid, Along with the very challenging upbringing of having a bipolar schizophrenic mom. First question you'll be surprised is, No, I was not raised in a very religious household. My mom, Who was diagnosed as bipolar, Schizophrenic and depressed, And she was that way my entire life, She was put in a mental institution for six months when I was in second grade, And for six months when I was in sixth grade. She did not attend church on a regular basis. On rare occasions, She attended the Kingdom Hall, Which is with Jehovah Witness. I went with her on rare occasions there. She also went to the Baptist Church, Which is how I identify from a kid to high school as a Baptist. But most how I got introduced to religion is through my grandmother, Who helped raise my sister and I. I went to her house on weekends and during the summer. Because of the bipolar and schizophrenia and depression, My mother didn't always work because sometimes she was too sick to work. When my sister and I would get home from school, Mom would be in the bed a lot of times. A person dealing with depression is in not only sometimes physical pain, But mental pain. That person doesn't realize what reality is at times. A person with bipolar, In my mom's case, She had huge bursts of energy at night and sometimes no energy during the day. But my grandmother said, If you're going to come over here, Everybody in this house goes to Sunday school, And if you want to, You go to church. At a very young age, After listening to the Sunday school teachers, I realized that there was something to this God thing. When I went to church, I was in Sunday school, I loved the Sunday school lesson. I couldn't relate to everything that was in it, Especially given my home life, But I can relate to enough to the fact that I believed that there was a God. One summer, My uncle and I, In the Baptist church, We had to come up front and say, I accept Jesus as the Lord and Savior. At one point, My uncle and I were talking, My step-uncle, My grandmother kept foster children. My foster uncle says, Hey, Are we going to give our life to Christ this weekend? I'm like, If you go first, I'll go next. We're basically little kids who are saying, Who's going to go up first? But anyway, We had to come before the church and say, Do you believe that Jesus died for our sins and He rose again to accept Him as your Lord and Savior? And I'm like, Yeah, I do. And people had already seen God moving my life through my willingness to review the Sunday school lessons. The way that worked in the Baptist church is, After the Sunday school teacher taught you, They would then say, Who wants to review the Sunday school lessons? Who wants to review the lesson when we go before the rest of the church? And I would raise my hand and say, Yeah, I want to say a few things about the Sunday school lesson. And I would do that and people would say, Amen. And they would be so happy and I would be happy. And of course, That was another way to get attention. I don't think I did it for the attention because it was sincere. It was from my heart, But it was fun. It was fun. And my uncle would tease me, My real uncle, Not a foster uncle. He'd say, Yeah, You're going to grow up to be a preacher. You're just going to be a little preacher boy. And I thought about it, You know, And I know God started dealing with me on my walks to and from my grandmother's house, But it would be a long time before I move forward with a lot of that. But at one point, Because we were so poor, I prayed for a 10-speed bike. I had a three-speed prior, But this three-speed bike was so raggedy, Even though it was bought new, It was poor quality. It wasn't a Swin. It wasn't a Huffy. When I was a child, Swin bikes and Huffy bikes were like the best bikes in the world. And I was a little kid. I was a little kid. I was a little kid. Swin bikes and Huffy bikes were like Michael Jordan gym shoes. They were the best of bikes at the time. I didn't get a bike like that because no one was buying it. So a 10-speed bike was on sale in the Chicago suburbs for $49. 99. Back then, You looked at the newspaper every weekend. And so I prayed by faith as probably a fifth or sixth grader for a 10-speed bike. And I didn't know where the money was coming from because my mother received food stamps and public assistance and over a lifetime probably never made more than $600, $700 in a month over an entire lifetime. That was about her income. And so this is partially disability and partially food stamps type income. And she was on Section 8. And so I prayed for this 10-speed bike and I got it. And that's all it took. I knew that I could pray and God would hear me. I don't know what would have happened if I never would have had that prayer answered. But he answered it. Thank God. And I tell that story today because that bike. . . I turned that bike back in the Chicago area. Bikes were like cars for some people. This bike got me to and from work when I wound up getting a job before high school. I got my first job at 13. That was a God moment. Because working at that job getting less than minimum wage taught me I learned the work ethic. So, Oh, This leads me to another God moment. So I get introduced to this guy who was. . . He was Greek. The gentleman was Greek. He came from over in some foreign country. I don't remember exactly where. But he told me that there's always something to do. In the workplace. I started as a bagger. Then I became a stalker where I stocked groceries. Then I became a checkout person who. . . Or a cashier, Basically. So I would bring people's groceries up. And one day I found a wallet in the parking lot full of money. And I brought that wallet in to my boss and said, Look what I found. See, The Holy Spirit told me to bring the money in. God, Jesus, Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit says bring the money in. I never knew what happened as a result of this. Of course, In my little mind, I'm like, Maybe at some point he'll give me that wallet so you can have the money. But what he said was this. I had favor. Favor can be more valuable than money. Favor can be more valuable than money. And so he says to me, My own relatives, And a lot of his relatives worked at this grocery store. You know how it is when you have a grocery store that all the Caucasian people move out and now all the foreigners come in and take over the grocery store gas station. And it was like that. So they took over this grocery store. And basically at that point, I could work any hours I wanted to work. If I needed to go to church on Sunday, I could go when I went away to college. And I came home on break. I had a job. And anything I needed, All I had to do was go to him. And all his relatives knew me and knew they better not mess with me because I had favor with the boss. ["The Boss Theme"] On the other hand, My mom, I couldn't even go over my grandmother's house till I went to the grocery store and help people with their groceries and earn money to buy her cigarettes. At times, I also had to go earn money to buy food because many months we didn't have enough food to make it a whole month because she would run out of food stamps. Anybody who tells you people like being on public assistance, That's just crap. Most people don't like it. You got to be real lazy to want to stay on public assistance. I'm probably so short because I didn't eat as a kid, Along with the very challenging upbringing of having a bipolar schizophrenic mom. ["The Boss Theme"] The Methodists believe that grace is at work and it's wooing you or pulling you toward God long before you know it. And I don't know if I were, You know, The Methodists think of these grace in three different types, Provenient, And there's two others they talk about. I just call it grace. And so, Yeah, He's been there and I don't know why I believe. I almost sometimes figure it's like, Man, The alternative was so much worse. I felt like I needed a God to depend on because there were so many bad things that happened. And I can remember just like some adults are today, They'll go to God and say, God, Why are you allowing this to happen? This should not be happening. You're a great God. I remember some times like that when I was a kid. But after I became an adult, My child life was so bad. Being an adult was so much better. I never felt like I gave up on God. This has been episode nine of Bite-Sized Blessings, The podcast all about the magic and spirit that surrounds us. If only we open our eyes to it. And whether you choose to listen to our bite-sized offerings for that five to 10 minutes of freedom in your day or the longer interviews, We're grateful you're here. I'd like to thank the Reverend Maury Clay for sharing his story today, As well as the creators of the music used. Sasha End, Agnese Fomagia, Winnie the Moog, Raphael Crux, And Alexander Nakarada. For complete attribution, Please see the Bite-Sized Blessings website at bite-sized-blessings. Com. And remember that's bite spelled B-Y-T-E. On the website, You can find links to other episodes, As well as to books and music. I think will brighten your day. Thank you for listening, And here's my one request. Be like Maury and never give up on that higher power that you believe gives breath to this universe. Some of