At the age of 16, I was all about following trends. Plain white t-shirts, timberland shoes, bandanas; I wore it all just to be one of the cool kids.
Believe it or not, I actually had my hair in twists and got away with it. I guess my parents, even though against it, thought that it was my way of expressing myself and hope that I grow out of it. Of course there were boundaries. I could not sag my pants.
I never liked sagging anyway and that is probably the only thing that stopped me from doing it once I walked out of my parents house. Call me strange, but I’m not too crazy about the public seeing my underwear. That’s private.
But no matter what my parents let me get away with, I always caught grief about it from someone else.
I remember visiting a church and the visiting choir was to sing. Although I was decked out in a Stacy Adams suit, the pastor of the church took one look at my hair, which was about neck length in twist, and stopped me from singing in the choir.
I wasn’t embarrassed, but my parents were. Everyone except the pastor’s son can’t sing because of his hair? Let’s just say that following day I heard the buzz of hair clippers in my ear and saw the tumbling of my hair on the floor.
Although I was allowed to grow my hair out, I learned a valuable lesson from that experience. I have an image to uphold, not just for my parents, but also for my religion.
I Corinthians 11:14 reads “Doth not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?”
And I Corinthians 11:3 also reads “But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.”
But not only am I following from what I have been taught, but how I dress is a sign of my maturity. Don’t get me wrong. I’ll be quick to wear a nice t-shirt, jeans with a fresh pair of Nikes and a hat to top it off, but you may not see me with a long gold chain a Jesus piece around my neck.
I have to set an example, rather I’m a son of a pastor or not. I represent God.