Stupid Christian

If I were Satan, I would be a master at distracting Christians with shiny objects.

“Hey Christian! Look at this shiny object. I’m going to show you a cool trick that will entertain your ego and make you feel good.

Fix your eyes on this object, which adds zero value in the eternal battle, so I can slip my hands into your soul and take things from you.

Things that will cause you to become less effective at spreading the message of the Cross, which I loathe.

Things that will make you less effective at living out the very Word, which I deeply hate.

If I can distract you long enough, I can dilute your effectiveness and keep you from entering that next door and shining the light that leads people out of my darkness. Distracting you will help me inch closer to victory by giving me more time to devour and torment souls. Stupid Christian.

My latest shiny object? The events surrounding gay marriage. Fixate on it Christian! Lose yourself in it Christian! Forget about your own salvation and duty to serve others. Fixate on it so intensely that you unknowingly let go of your Fathers hand and began to wonder off into the void. By the time you notice, it'll be so dark that you’ll never find your way back home.

I got you, stupid Christian"

Why Diversity Matters

I recently had an exchange on Twitter with a technology company about diversity. The conversation started when I saw a hiring post they shared. It was your typical recruitment post that announced how they have been killing it and, as a result, needed to hire more people. Sweet! They also shared a picture of the successful team that you, the applicant, would join should you get the job. Awesome! Beyond this great opportunity for someone, the longer that I studied the company picture, the more I felt something was off. Then out of the blue, I started counting...

Males: 25
Females: 3
White Males: 24
White Females: 3
Asian Males: 1
Asian Females: 0
Black Males: 0
Black Females: 0
Hispanic Males: 0
Hispanic Females: 0

What I began to realize is that this company, with all its accolades, had a diversity problem, and if left unresolved, would result in them never achieving their full potential. As a founder of SourceCode B46, I believe that diversity tremendously impacts the potential of a company, thus I wanted to make sure this belief was weaved into our mission.

“To make the world stronger and more beautiful by ensuring every community has a qualified representative at the table.”

This mission is our heart and the blood it pumps carries our commitment to the world and gives purpose to our work. Our commitment to diversity means that we structure our pricing differently and provide scholarships through our foundation to ensure every community has access to our services. Our commitment to diversity explains why we started actively recruiting women and people of color after I looked at the homogeneous makeup of our advisory board.

We are in the business of making the world better and to do this, we need a diverse group of qualified people lending their nuanced experiences and perspectives to the solutions. No community is an island. We are all interconnected, which means the challenges of one community impact all others. Thus, diversity gives us an opportunity to work together, understand needs, share gifts, experience struggle and create bonds that allow us to persevere during times of crisis.

A great example of how a crisis affects a community and diversity helpes people persevere is in the battle against breast cancer. Although it devastates millions of women, breast cancer was not always a top of the mind issue. In fact, it received little attention prior to the 1970's.  One of the reasons that attributed to this reality was a lack of diversity in the medical field, which influenced cancer research and treatment priorities. In 1970, only 9% of the doctors were women and as a result, breast cancer, which predominantly affects women, did not garner the same level of attention as prostate cancer, which only affects men.

Prostate cancer, due to a higher number of influential male voices, was a higher priority than breast cancer and, as a result, saved thousands of men's lives every year. But the victory was short-lived because the community, inhabited by women, was being ravaged by breast cancer. Inevitably, these men, who initially were victorious, would experience defeat when they encountered the suffering and deaths of their wives, sisters and daughters as a result of this disease. It was not until Title IX (1972) and the Public Health Service Act (1975), which banning discrimination on grounds of gender, did enough women enter the medical field to ensure that the  needs  of their community were being adequately expressed and addressed.

Today, close to 48% of medical degrees are awarded to women, which has resulted in more women at the table, more breast cancer research dollars being committed and a dramatic decrease in the mortality rate. Now, more women, the daughters, sisters, wives and partners of men, are surviving because diversity brought men and women together to develop solutions that allowed millions to persevere through this crisis.

There is a Jewish Midrash that says,

“In Heaven and Hell people sit at banquet tables filled with amazing food, but no one can bend their elbows. In Hell, everyone starves because they can’t feed themselves. In Heaven, everyone’s stuffed because they don’t have to bend their arms to feed each other.”

At some point in our lives, we all need help eating because our arms do not bend and to survive, we need each other. As a company that strives to make the world more beautiful, we appeal to other companies to maximize their potential and subsequent impact on the world by embracing diversity. Actively recruiting more women and people of a different ethnicity is great, but in reality more effort is needed. To truly be effective in fostering diversity, we must reach back into underrepresented communities and begin nurturing its members.

For us, we answer the call through our Pathways program, which is administrated by the SourceCode B46 Foundation. The purpose of Pathways is to identify and nurture promising elementary students from underrepresented communities who have a talent for software coding. With the help of a sponsoring corporation, we are able to provide each student with year-round enrichment opportunities until high school graduation. By providing this type of guided nurturing,  we help these students achieve proficiency and increase the chances of underrepresented communities having a representative, who can lobby for their needs, at the solutions table.

Indeed, diversity matters if your goal is to maximize potential and make the world better.

- K

My Divinely Inspired Revelation On Mission And Glory

Dear Brothers & Sisters:

Over the last few days, I've had the most wonderful things revealed to me by our God, father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This divine knowledge has relieved so much stress from my life and provided me with a clear understanding of our mission and the glory of God. 

Mission: Bring light to darkness, order to chaos and beauty to void.

From the very opening of Genesis we see our Father entering into a moment and seeing darkness, chaos and void.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Genesis 1: 1-2

Seeing this, our Father's first words are “Let there be light.” From this very moment he inserts his light into the darkness and begins the process of bringing order to the chaos (vaults) and beauty to void (plants, animals, etc.).

In Genesis 26, Our Father says, “ Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness.” Shortly afterwards, in Genesis 27, he directs mankind to follow his lead, bring light to darkness, order to chaos and beauty to void, when he says “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.”

Through this Word, I now understand, as clear as day, our primary mission. We are of God, made in his image and likeness, and our mission is to step into all darkness, chaos and void and use his Word and his gift's to bring light, order and beauty to it.

Glory:

Since becoming a Christian, I've had a hard time understanding the fullness and beauty of the word “Glory.” During this week, I was given a clear understanding that has dramatically affected my life and relationship.

God's glory is pure goodness on an incomprehensible scale and all things that are good derive from him. On a comprehensible scale, we partake in small slices of God's glory through highly individualized acts of goodness.

The kiss of a baby – God's glory.
Dancing taste buds – God's glory.
A cool & gentle breeze – God's glory.
A kind gesture - God's glory.
A loving look from a family member or significant other – God's glory.
A revelation through friends - God's glory.

Each time we experience any good thing, it is God, our Father, reaching out to us through the darkness to comfort us. It is a deeply personal and intentional interaction directly from our Father's throne. As a result, we should experience that dancing taste bud, baby's kiss, loving look and kind gesture with immense praise and glory because our Father is present. If these slices of glory provide us with great joy, imagine when we step into the entire fullness of God's glory! Here's my attempt to quantify God's glory:

The aggregation of all the goodness you have ever felt,
multiplied by...
the total number of elect,
multiplied by all the unseen goodness
and....
multiplied by infinity.

Now that's incomprehensible glory! Oh brothers and sisters, I can barely, if at all, comprehend the overwhelming beauty of that moment.

But what about the days when we are not experiencing these good things? Well first, I now believe it is impossible to go through a day without experiencing a good thing. But if you fail to recognize it, all you have to do is stand outside and look into the heavens that proclaim his glory. In these heavens, we see God living out his mission to bring light to darkness, order to chaos and beauty to void. It is the clearest sign that he has been faithful through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (light) and will not rest until there is order and beauty and we're brought as individuals and a people into the entire fullness of his glory.

Kyle Christian Steele

The Loneliness of the Christian

Being an entrepreneur is already a very lonely existence but add in my desire to walk close to God, my road gets even lonelier. I found this piece by A.W. Tozer a few weeks ago and instantly fell in love with it. Enjoy.

The Loneliness of the Christian by A. W. Tozer (From Man – The Dwelling Place of God, ch. 39) 

The loneliness of the Christian results from his walk with God in an ungodly world, a walk that must often take him away from the fellowship of good Christians as well as from that of the unregenerate world. His God-given instincts cry out for companionship with others of his kind, others who can understand his longings, his aspirations, his absorption in the love of Christ; and because within his circle of friends there are so few who share his inner experiences he is forced to walk alone.

The unsatisfied longings of the prophets for human understanding caused them to cry out in their complaint, and even our Lord Himself suffered in the same way.

The man [or woman] who has passed on into the divine Presence in actual inner experience will not find many who understand him. He finds few who care to talk about that which is the supreme object of his interest, so he is often silent and preoccupied in the midst of noisy religious shoptalk. For this he earns the reputation of being dull and over-serious, so he is avoided and the gulf between him and society widens.

He searches for friends upon whose garments he can detect the smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces, and finding few or none he, like Mary of old, keeps these things in his heart.

It is this very loneliness that throws him back upon God. His inability to find human companionship drives him to seek in God what he can find nowhere else.

Why I Had To Die

I prayed heavily before starting my perilous and public entrepreneurial journey. During this walk, many, known and unknown, have watched me go from a place of means and stability to a life of uncertainty, vulnerability, confusion and anger, bad report, poverty, tiredness and frailness. Essentially, they've received a front row seat to watch me travel down a road that commonly leads to the destruction of men. Was this public spectacle necessary? Yes, it was absolute necessary.

I'm Kyle Christian Steele and throughout most of my life, I've always projected an image of power, strength and intelligence through my physical stature, voice and attitude towards those who've encounter me. If people doubted me, I reminded them and never grew tired of hearing "you're going to do great things in life," which punctuated many conversations. It was all about me and my glory.

As a follower of Jesus Christ, I now understand why I had to die and the public had to witness it.

The Basics Of What I Believe

My heavenly Father, who knew my name before all creation, fashioned me to achieve an eternal, specific and wonderful purpose. Along with that purpose, He has a level of love for me that is incomprehensible and can not be replicated by any human. Thus, living within His will is the most loving place for me to exist and the birthplace of my greatest and most meaningful work in this world.

What's Meaningful

I believe that the most meaningful endeavors in life are directed towards the benefit of others. These benefits are not superficial but "life giving" which means they are planted in truth and position people to experience the transformative power of true love. These meaningful moments are saturated with the sweet nectar of patients, kindness, goodwill, humility, meekness, honor, selflessness, gentleness, forgiveness, protection, trust and hope.

Why Did Kyle Christian Steele Have To Die

Through self examination, I was incapable of creating meaningful moments. Every personal effort was self-seeking, boastful, proud, blotted with moments of anger and envy and packed with records filled with the names of people who had wronged me. As a follower of Christ, these characteristics and behaviors are unacceptable and had to be eliminated.

What I thought, two years ago, was a fervent prayer for success, I now realize was a prayer that initiated a rebirth through my death. Essentially, I asked God to make me less so that Christ would become greater and others would become the beneficiaries of meaningful works.

The Process Of Dying

While dying, I desperately sought to cling onto my life through schemes, cleaver negotiations and backroom deals. All of these efforts were fruitless and ended in the delivery and acceptance of the parcel of death. When Death arrived at my door step, He gently took my hand and escorted me to the deeper meaning of life.

Every morning, my Escort called attention to the suffering which I had caused and handed me ornaments covered in the seen and unseen consequences of my actions. At the conclusion of each day, He would take me to the homes of those I had marginalized, feed me and clean off the decaying and putrid flesh that hung from my body by washing me in living water. I never knew when this routine would end and each day my emotions and empathy for others would intensify.

Life And Purpose

The process of death was essential in eliminating my self-love, establishing the true source of my strength and preparing my heart, mouth and hands for meaningful work. Through my death, my relationship with my heavenly Father became more intimate and my trust in His promise increased. Whenever my resources ran out and I rolled the stone over my grave, God would faithfully roll the stone back, call me out and carry me to the promise. Ultimately, my peace was found in meekness and all my strength flowed from Him.

My death had to be public so that others would see, feel and fear the power of the God I serve. For the believer, faith is reaffirm. For the few, curiosity causes them to draw near so they can inspect this great mystery. For the rest, superstitions and fear is enhanced and makes them think thrice before initiating evil plans against those I serve.

Kyle Christian Steele

It's About Having A Seat At The Table - STEM Beyond Jobs

Recently, I attended a talk by Dr. Mea Jemison, the first African-American woman astronaut. One of the topics she talked about was the importance of having diversity (i.e., ethnic, social, cultural, etc.) at the table when problems are being solved. One example she gave to illustrate her point was in the methods used to treat testicular and breast cancer. Dr. Jemison pointed out that the solutions and resources allocated towards the treatment of testicular cancer were designed to eliminate the cancer but preserve testicles. On the other hand, the primary solution, up until the 90's, for fighting breast cancer was treating the condition through the complete removal of the breast which eventually resulted in additional physical, health and emotional trauma.

Why were the solutions so different?  Dr. Jemison argued that it was due to the under representation of women at the table when solutions were being developed and dollars allocated for the treatment of these cancers. Hence, due to a male dominance, the resulting solutions and resources naturally favored men. Dr. Jemison went on to say that because of changes in public policy and laws, such as Title IX, women were afforded the opportunities that allowed them to acquire the medical knowledge and positions which lead to the introduction of their voices into the conversations around cancer research priorities and treatments. Eventually, the introduction of women into the discussion lead to the elimination of mastectomies as the primary breast cancer treatment option. Ultimately, her point is that better solutions - that lead to better outcomes - are developed when people from diverse backgrounds are contributing to the discussion. So how does Dr. Jemison argument fit into technology and school systems? 

We live in an increasingly technical world and as issues arise, technology will serve a central role in the creation and/or administration of the solutions implemented. As a result, massive amounts of effort and dollars will be invested into the research,development and application of technology to support solutions that will have massive local, national and global ramifications. As in the case of the solutions developed by a homogeneous group of people that resulted in inferior cancer treatment options for another group, pockets of communities will be negatively impacted if a highly diverse group of people are not contributing their unique perspective, shaped by gender, orientation, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, to the conversation.

Based on the above, I believe the discussion around STEM curriculum and programs in schools is bigger than preparing students to fill the increasing demand for STEM workers. The bigger conversation is around the adequate preparation of children to ensure that the most skilled and diverse set of individuals are present during the discussing of solutions and policies - highly dependent on technology - that have local, national and global impact.

Filling jobs is needed but the negative impact that weak solutions and policies have on communities is far more substantial than a company not being able to find enough skilled workers for a position. Considering that technology will continue to become an increasingly vital component in the creation and administration of future solutions, every school must take immediate efforts to integrate STEM curriculum, specifically technology, early, broadly and deeply into core curriculum. Accomplishing this is not a heavy task because the democratization of technology has allowed software curriculum and programs that are sustainable, cost-effective, resource-friendly and scalable to be introduce into classrooms. In effect, this means no child in the United States should ever enter middle school without the experience of writing at least 20 lines of workable software code because all barriers to entry have been lifted.

The stakes are high and local and national communities are significantly weakened everyday that a child's introduction to technology is delayed. My vote is to introduce STEM aggressively and early. Please join this discussion and openly share your thoughts in the comment section.

Kyle Christian Steele

Distractions

To many distractions rob me of enjoying the moments.

Kyle Christian Steele

The Lamp

In all his imperfection, God displayed his light through him, the lamp. 

The lamp that carried the light which guided me in the early days of my election.

The lamp who's hinges I held onto as the light guided me into the water.

Thank you Father for displaying your light in the lamp and allowing your light to transfer to me for the purpose of illuminating the way for others.

May God rest his peace on the lamps family and comfort his soul throughout eternity. Good bye Isaac Hunter.

Kyle Christian Steele

The Uncrossable Chasm

Even before this journey started, you wrapped yourself intricately around every detail of my life. At many times during this walk, I felt very weary and like a was falling apart. You always continued forward but I sometimes chose to collapse onto the dusty road like a child and soak myself in tears, defiance and frustration. Faithfully, you always came back for me and sternly, but lovingly, order me onto my feet and to keep moving.

Along this journey, you told stories about your plans, the past and my purpose. Although I have to admit, even though I nodded my head in agreement, sometimes your plans didn't make sense to me. 

We sang songs loudly and laughed together. I showed you tricks that surely you had seen a million times before but you always acted like it was the first. In return, you showed and taught me wonderful things but unlike you, I was truly hearing and seeing for the first. 

If I misstepped or got to close to the edge, you rebuked me. You always stood back and watched as I interacted with other travelers. Like a teacher, hovering over every one of my words, actions and thoughts. Never failing to point out errors and to request corrections.

At night, when we rested from our daily travels, you would sit next to me, hand me a cup of your water and wash my face and feet with your linen cloth. Beside the crackling fire, I rested my head on your shoulder and closed my eyes under your sky. Always a peaceful sleep that ended with a gentle kiss, a welcome to a new day and food for the next part of our journey.

Now the road has abruptly ended at a wide chasm and starts again far on the other side - a stretch that's beyond my human reach and ability. I'm looking at you in confusion and you keep saying:

"Step into the palms of my hands."

Not possible. Possible. May be possible. Possible? Nope, not possible. This is impossible! All things are possible.

Kyle Christian Steele

I Am Thankful For You

First and foremost, I am thankful to my God who has blessed me with so many things and sacrificed his son, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, so that I may stand in front of him blameless. You have shown me a clear example of how to live in this world - a willing servant to all who are in need, continuously striving to love everyone and forever thankful.

I am thankful for those who have antagonized and stood in opposition to me. I use to hate you but now I love you because I see how your agitation has greatly benefited me. I am thankful for you.

I am thankful for my mother and my father, who laid the foundation that this man is built on. I am thankful for you.

I am thankful for my sister, who I love more than the number of stars in the heavens. You have always been my rock and provided life giving wisdom. I am thankful for you.

I am thankful for Tyronne Jolly , who has been my brother and best friend for many years. Your wisdom and insight, has always steered my thoughts and open great doors. I'm very thankful for you.

I am thankful for Himanshu Pagey and his wife,  who have walked with me through this journey of entrepreneurship. Through it all, you've remained steadfast, true friends and family. I am thankful for you both.

I am thankful for the men in my Bible study. You have shown me the virtues of good men - God loving, vulnerable, humble, strong, honorable, patient, loving and kind. Surely because of you, I will be a better father and husband - God willing. I am thankful for you all.

I'm thankful for Doug S. and Pete K.. You two are simply phenomenal men and I'm thankful for your living example and leadership.

I am thankful for the men in my crew - Ja Ja Wade, Eric Dean, Julio Garcia and Chris Romer. All of you are great men and highly trusted friends. Finish strong through the tape fellas and I am extremely thankful for all of you.

I am thankful for the people associated with Urban Rethink in Orlando Florida. You have provided me with a place for my business to flourish. I am thankful for you.

I am great for the men and women of the Orlando tech community who sacrifice and hustle hard for something greater. Aric V., Robb S., Orrett D., Pam H., David D., Gregg P., Christine O., Eric K., Denise P., Joel M. and a host of other soldiers, seen and unseen. I am thankful for you all.

I am thankful for my roomie and good friend, John Hall. We've been grinding since 1993! I'm thankful for you.

I am thankful for my Dreamit Ventures Alumni Network for providing a friendly place to stop and recharge before, during and after the daily startup hustle. It's more than business and investor contacts, hence the reason why I am thank for for you.

I am thankful for Mr. Conner and Sarah Stack at Ferncreek Elementary for standing by me during our important mission. The nudges we're giving will greatly impact the arch of these children and others throughout eternity. I am very thankful for you.

I'm thankful for my "play play" cousin J.D. Simpson. I just simply love you and your family. I'm thankful for you!

I'm thankful for Rick and Cake. Yes, I put you two together because it was the two of you together that served as the foundation of our lasting friendship. I am thankful for you both.

In conclusion, there are so many people I am thankful for, so I apologize if you're not directly mentioned. Ultimately, the point of this post was my way of publicly acknowledging that every thread of my personal and professional growth was only possible because of my God and those who he has surrounded me by - I am nothing without any of you.

Kyle Christian Steele

Decay, Life and Truth

DECAY

My name is Kyle Christian Steele and before I took my first breath, death tried to take me. The world I was born into was not traditional according to the "standard image." My mother was a young catholic school girl from a blue-collar family. My father was a Corvette driving kingpin who owned clubs and earned a substantial living from the streets. I had the perfect blend of ultra-morality, hustler and street stamped onto my DNA.

By the time I was 6, my innocence was taken from me and by 7, I felt abandon and unheard. 

People moved in and out of my life throughout my childhood. Relationships never seemed stable. 

In high school I was a poor kid from the hood of Detroit. Surrounded by the rich and elite, I felt self conscious, inferior, unaccepted and misunderstood.

During my second semester of college, I reacted wrong to my racist roommate. I allowed him to get the best of me. One week later, I stood at "parade rest" in front of the VMI general committee and felt helpless as they kick me out of school. I loved VMI but no one spoke up for me during that trial. I was alone. I didn't know what to do.

Anger towards my father consumed every molecule of me. He was always suppose to be there and I hated him with gnashing teeth for not standing with me. I never invited him to my college graduation and didn't speak to him for 8 years. 

I made my first $100,000 by the time I was 24. A big shot who was outwardly living the dream but inside, I was hurting and selfishness, unkindness and inpatients rode shotgun with me. The more I made, the emptier I felt. To fill the void, I sought the comfort of women. I knew early on that it was a woman's nature to give everything but unfortunately the gift would never be returned. They loved me at 11PM  because I promised everything but by 3AM, they hated me because I was finished and now promised nothing. 

No one loved me but everyone loved the illusion of me. At least that's what I thought.

One night, I stepped out onto the balcony of the loft I built from the ground up with a half drunk bottle of premium vodka in my hand. I gazed at the flickering Windsor skyline that sat on the banks of the Detroit river and I realized my business was ruined and life was quickly crumbling. Overcome with anguish, I crashed to the ground and contemplated ending everything. The illusion was gone and the emptiness I felt was too heavy.

LIFE

In my mist of my most intense anguish and tears, He sat next to me. 

He: Why are you crying? 

Me: Who are you?

He: Kyle, I'm the one sitting next to you.

Me: Who the fuck are you?

Then He leaned over and whispered into my ear and from that moment, I put all my hope on the truth of His words and promise. He told me these things:

• Death tried to take me as unborn child because he knew I would become a significant enemy.
• My mother was afraid, lonely and loved me.
• My father saved me and his imperfection greatly benefited me.
• Unforgiveness was poisoning and leading me to death.
• The trials of my youth prepared me to be a steadfast and resourceful trench solider.
• I'm beautiful.
• Instability lead me to my sister.
• It's OK that I'm not perfect and continuously fall short.
• Happiness can't be found in the embrace of money.
• Hardship made me keenly aware and extremely sensitive to those who are in distress, disadvantaged and in need.
• When I look at you, you're as imperfect as me.
• Getting kicked out of school allowed me to find my best friend.
• The crumbling of my life in Detroit was necessary for me to find my destiny and many blessings in Orlando. 
• I don't have to hide and can live in the light because I'm accepted and loved unconditionally.
• I have an Advocate who goes before me and petitions on my behalf. He levels mountains, rips down bars and subdues things that oppose me. He is my Helper and there's nothing a mere mortal can do to me.

TRUTH

We all have dark spots and sometimes our lives do not go according to plan. I want you to know it's normal, you don't have to be ashamed and the imperfect you is awesome and loved. Things have and will get shaky at times but don't look to the right or to the left. Instead, keep your eyes locked forward and on the truth and the light which guides and illuminates your path. Ignore the lie and allow the decay to nourish your life.

Kyle Christian Steele

A Gray but Far From a Gray Man.

He was a powerful figure to me and every time he entered a room, I felt his presence. It was good. The son of a pastor and former president of Florida Agriculture & Mechanical University, I always knew I was in the company of something special, great and unique.

As a confused teenager, he sat me down on the couch and told me pride would kill me. He looked me in the eyes and helped me understand the value of education.

When I got kicked out of Virginia Military Institute, he let me stay at his home, so I could make up lost credits at a local community college during the summer. Later that year, in one phone call he gave me a second chance to continue my education.

He is the reason why the president, Dr Perry Bronson, on my very first day at Bethune-Cookman University personally greeted me in his office and let me sit in his leather chair to pick my classes while every other student sat in long registration lines.

As long as a kept over a 3.0 GPA, I never had to work and could focus on education because of him. When my buddy needed a scholarship to stay in school, I called him and within days it was done.

He put me in rooms with former presidents, world-class athletes and the political elite. 

He often introduced me as his 4th son.

His birthday was August 20th and mine August 19th. That made me feel special.

When I took his car one summer night, he yelled at me. When, my grades slipped, he explained to me why I couldn't afford to be average. When I disregarded a phone bill that I ran up, he made me pay every cent of it. He held me accountable for everything.

Because of the way God shaped his heart, he had the tolerance to deal with a confused, prideful, angry, scared and arrogant kid. His blood and hands run through the spirit of the man you see today. 

Oh how I grieve.

I remember so many intimate moments and times where I would mimic him - the way he combed his hair, walked and talked.

My heart is heavy for his sons, my brothers, and for his wife, my mother. 

In the end, I find comfort in knowing that he has already heard the words, "Well done good and faithful servant."

Thank you Mr. Gray for every thing. (August 20, 1941 - June 1, 2013)

Kyle Christian Steele

Everyone Deserves Good Love

Everyone knows I'm a Christian because I'm  pretty open about my faith and how it governs my life. Being a Christian doesn't make me perfect but actually exposes me as very imperfect. Being imperfect means I often say, do and think about things in the wrong way. Being imperfect doesn't absolve me from the duty of being accountable and making corrections, in fact, I'm constantly in the process of examining and correcting my actions. All Christians have been charged with this command by the one they call their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ:

"Love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command" (John 15:12-14).

This is a pretty serious command because Christians should know what the love of Christ looks like, how much it cost him and what we gained as a result of his love. For this reason, I'm constantly measuring my actions against this but unfortunately things can get a little squirrely in my head. For example the other day, I was faced with a situation that was very challenging for me to deal with. When I think back on my response, I'm forced to ask myself if I responded in the way I've been called to respond - with love. First, I need to remind myself what pure love looks like, so I jotted down it attributes.

Love is...

Patient

Kind

Doesn't envy

Doesn't boast

Not proud

Doesn't dishonor

Not selfish

Not easily angered

Keeps no record of wrong

Doesn't delight in evil

Rejoices in truth

Always protects

Always trust

Always hopes

Always perseveres

Love never fails

First, whether you're a Christian or not, we can all agree that it would be pretty awesome to receive this kind of love from people. Second, I majorly failed at showing this kind of love in my response. 

Okay, so this doesn't make me a bad person but it does tell me that I need to keep this list in my pocket and refer to it before shaping a response to every relational challenge I encounter. Ultimately, keeping this list in my heart, on my tongue and in my hands will allow me to love you better.

Kyle Christian Steele

Awkward Timing

Michelle Cloney is a high school classmate and founder of Le bibble, a 6-in-1 organic and designer cotton baby bottle bib that sops up leaks & dribbles while keeping baby focused on feeding. 

Michelle and I have known each other for over 20 years. Although we grew up in the same town and went to intermediate and high school together, our interaction has always been very limited. We simply didn't touch each other much and even 2 class reunions and the invention of Facebook couldn't push our conversations beyond "what's up's," "good to see you's" and "nice talking to ya's."

I've never could understand why our interactions were so limiting or awkward in my view. Matter of fact, during our recent class reunion, I felt our conversation became increasingly awkward because I simply did not possess the mental capacity to work through a dialogue of vague high school memories. In addition, Sir Mix-a-lot's "Baby Got Back" was blaring through the speakers, so instead of talking over this golden nugget, I'd rather "raise my hands up" on the dance floor. Frankly, whether it was that or any other night over the past 20 years, our timing has never been right until June 6th, 2013.

While cruising Facebook on this day, I saw a news segment done by a former classmate called "More US Women Becoming Breadwinners." As a man who looks forward to taking my place as the breadwinner in my future family, this title quickly grabbed my attention. While pushing the play button, I expected to see a male bashfest of epic proportion but instead saw a story centered around Michelle. As I began to watch, I noticed that Michelle was openly putting her humanity, vulnerability, hustle, love and sacrifice on full display to the world as she talked about her business and life. By the end of the video, less than 4 minutes was able to pull off what 20 years could never do, meaningfully connect me to Michelle Cloney.

The segment showed me that Michelle and I shared something very special  in common - entrepreneurship. Being entrepreneurs meant we've both jumped off the same cliff, fight the same fights, hold on to the same faith and dream the same dreams. Knowing we shared these experiences allowed me to truly understand the expressions on her face, tones in her voice and her word selection in a very unique way. Shortly after watching the video, I sent Michelle a thank you message for sharing her journey in a way that was inspiring and connecting. 

This is proof that Life's sense of appropriate timing is completely different from ours. I tend to want everything on my timing and when that doesn't happen, I disconnect and label the situation as awkward and meaningless. Thankfully, Life knows better because it structures timing with infinitely greater wisdom and foreknowledge in a manner that perfectly serves our greater need. In the case of Michelle Cloney, Life applied a timing that allowed her to fully impact me at the optimum point. Her impact filled in a missing and intangible component that helped me nail down a cornerstone deal for my business. So thanks Michelle and thank you God for your timing.

Kyle Christian Steele

   

What Remains

Bombs burst overhead as you stand in a trench full of mud. Your eye's are intensely focused down range because this is a matter of life or death.

You fire, fire, fire, fire and fire again! Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop!

The line must be held even as you feel the hands of adversity and anguish brush over you. Suddenly, the footsteps of bullets marching out of your rifle go silent and all that remains is the desperate but rhythmic clicking of your finger hitting the trigger. You shout to yourself, "Please one more! Just give me one more!!"

The pause in your firing signals to the world that it's time to start their final assault. The distant words of "CHARGE" leap into the air and gallop towards your ears. Suddenly, in the distance, 40,000 soldiers rise from their position and head straight for you.

This is it, the nightmare has finally manifested. Tossing your empty rifle onto the soil, you grab your knife from its sheath, muster up any remaining energy and with the force of clapping thunder, strikeout like a mighty lion after pray.

There are no thoughts of death, tomorrow or yesterday as the gap between you and the 40,000 quickly closes. 

CUTTING AND SWINGING as YOU FIGHT! One after another they fall. Suddenly the punch of pain resonates through your body as someone behind you plunges their bayonet into your flesh. You turn and make swift work of your assailant. Gnashing of teeth and soulless bodies hitting the ground is the song of the day.

As quickly as it began, it ends and silence lays her head onto the battlefield. The 40,000 has been reduced to shadows as your weary body stumbles backwards and fall to its knees. Heart pounding and your eyes open to the vapors of breath lifting into the sky. Battle scared but you're alive and for the first time, you're able to survey what remains - 5 fellow fighting brothers and a tattered Bible.

Now you know exactly what to take into the next battle of your life. 

Kyle Christian Steele 

Remove the Noise

Is Mariska Returning to SVU? Hargitay gives us the details on her Season 15 negotiations. The world Why is Charlie Sheen changing his name? has Relive the Scandal Season Finale a lot of noise. Who has the edge heading into Game 3? We weigh in on the East finals. Noise that keeps me 217,000,000 other results. from experiencing beautiful things, Not really sure how to feel about it. Something in the way you move. Makes me feel like I cant live without you. It takes me all the way. I want you to stay. connecting with wonderful people and Rasheeda is shocked at Kirk's reaction when she tells him she's pregnant while Joseline doesn't want Stevie working with anyone but her. having creative thoughts. The constant and Facebook is a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. Every increasing volume drowns out Sunday, May 26 at the Mansion Meek Mill and Ace Hood. your soft voice as you cry out for help. That nigga sold you that re-rock, you ain't even know it. I die over these Reeboks, you ain't even know it. Put Molly all in her champagne, she ain't even know it. I took her home and I enjoyed that, she ain't even know it. But I can't hear you for the noise of the world keeps me from serving and Republicans slam the president's counterterrorism strategy, saying terror groups and international conflicts, like Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons, still threaten the US. expressing the thing you need the most - for my lips to say Apple's rumored iPhone 5S and low-cost iPhone are said to be coming in a rainbow of colors I love you and to be the salt that leads you to the Water capable of quenching your thirst. The Duchess of Cambridge has a maternity wardrobe that would make any grown woman wish she could be a princess.

Kyle Christian Steele

Pathless Journeys

I remember walking along a pathway that cut through the jungle in southern Banta Mokella in Sierra Leone Africa. The pathway was well established and traveled by locals walking from village to village to visit friends, family or to deliver goods. At some point, I noticed that on either side of me was the densest and darkest jungle I've every seen. It was actually quite frightening and my imagination added fuel to the fire as I started to conjure up images of gigantic snakes and people screaming in horror while trapped in the mouth of some wild beast. At this point, I was 100% committed to staying far as possible from that dense and dark jungle, which shouldn't be a problem on this wide path.

A few miles down, the pathway began to narrow and the jungle started closing in but I figured it was just an optical illusion. A few hundred yards more, the illusion became real because the jungle I was committed to staying away from was now invading my space and tapping on my shoulders. With each step, the jungle hugged me tighter which caused my heart to start racing as I stepped over downed trees and through tall grass. I had to endure this suffering for another 20 minutes before finally she released me onto the edge of a river. 

I've come to realize that pathways are naturally comfortable places because we know hundreds of people have traveled safely down them before. They're little safety zones and the wider the pathway, the further the unknown (a.k.a. the jungle) is pushed out of our space. As I admitted earlier, I was scared as hell traveling down that pathway in Africa , especially as it became narrower but here are a few things I learned during this experience.

Tourist Love Wide Pathways  

Rarely do I find anything special at the end of a big wide pathway. Odds are, at the end of a wide pathway will be stuff I already know and a bunch of tourist mulling around. For example, I know if I travel west on I-4 in Orlando, at the end will be a Magic Kingdom with a bunch of, yep you got it, tourist mulling around. In my life, I find all the fun and most interesting things off the wide pathway. It takes some guts to journey down a less traveled pathway or to make up your own because it forces you to wrestle with a lot of unknown stuff that sometime induces paralyzing fear and insecurity. There are no mile markers, exit signs or rest stops, so you're forced to deal with things as they come your way. But the beauty of the pathless journey, if that's what you want to take, is you have first shot at discovering some beautiful things, creating new pathways for others and start reducing your fears and insecurities about the unknown.

Travel Wisely

Don't be an idiot by travel down a narrow pathway or attempting to create a new one by yourself. These journeys require a good and wise guide if you desire to walk out the jungle unscathed or not wrestleing yourself out of the jaws of a wild beast. As a Christian, my guide is God, so I rely on him to guide my journeys from start to finish. Sometimes, I can be a control freak but when traveling unknown journeys, I try very hard to resist the temptation to take over or turn my guide into a copilot. Trying to take over the guide position on any journey that's unknown to you is a terrible thing to do. The point of a guide is to keep you away from danger, so that means it's best if you saddle your ego, shut up and follow their lead. In the case of Africa, God assigned me two 14 year old girls. These girls walked briskly, confidently and ordered me around but most important, they guided me safely in and out of that jungle.

Embracing The Experience

One of my fondness memories was when I looked back and saw a woman by the name of Daisy strolling peacefully through the jungle in the far off distance. At first, I feared for Daisy's because she was a little woman who was part of our group but quickly the fear was replaced by a powerful experience. A year prior to being in Africa, Daisy had lost her husband, the love her life, to cancer. For over a year she struggled daily with the fear, noise, insecurities and uncertainties that resulted from his death. In that moment, while strolling quietly on a pathless journey through a dense and dark jungle, God spoke to Daisy and brought her into his rest. Our experiences  on the pathless journey were so different at that moment because I walked crippled in my fear and she walked peacefully in its embrace and as a result found a needed peace.

Time to Finish

At the edge of that river I was lead over a bridge made of sticks and bonded by straps of bark. Each step I took was bouncy and made the bridge creek but it was sufficient and resulted in one of the most awesome and peaceful experiences in my life. 

Daisy and I in Freetown.

The results of a pathless journey.

Kyle Christian Steele

Power-Drive Off The Top Rope

While waiting for a meeting at the University of Central Florida, a kid runs over to me and says, "Hi Kyle! Do you have some time to talk with me?" Immediately I began trying to figure out how we knew each other but after a few second, I put those investigative thoughts to the back of my head and said, "sure." The kid wanted to talk about his big idea and based on his body language and tone, he was super excited about it. He starts by telling me how original his idea was but the more I listened, the more unoriginal his idea became.

The kid tells me he wants to build a location-based social network and asked if I knew of any similar products. I told him yes because my company and other groups in California, New York, Singapore and some other place tried to build that product 4 years ago. I could see the kid deflate a little bit and when he asked me if the product worked, I felt a wrench in my gut because I knew what was coming next. I'd already dazed the kid with a right uppercut but to answer this question, I would have to take him to the top rope, jump off and power-drive him into the mat. The power-driving commence with the following statement:

"Listen up kid, conceptually, the idea is awesome but it does not work. Admittedly, myself and the 4 other individual groups could be stupid people, so let's not take that potential reality off the table. Location+Social is one of the holy grail's of technology because everybody has been trying to understand it for the last 9 years. After my group spent $40k and the other groups spent 30x more developing and proving out this idea, 7 billion people told us the product sucked. Ultimately, people didn't find any value in going through the effort of socializing online with a bunch of complete strangers around them. None of us could solve how to keep people from freaking out with location-based public social networking or the huge chicken-and-egg problem."

After telling him this, I wondered if this kid was going to get up off the mat but he did and immediately went into "idea upgrade mode." It's always fun to watch people go into "idea upgrade mode" because they're trying to salvage pride and more important, their brilliant idea. For the next five minutes he kept upgrading his idea and each time, I would sling him back over my shoulder, carry him to the top rope, jump off and power-drive him into the mat. 

This kid tried hard but every upgrade he came up with was an upgrade that myself and the four other groups had tried. By the end of the conversation, the kid laid exhausted and in a puddle of sweat on the mat. As I stepped out the ring and headed back to the locker room, I turned around and said:

"Hey kid, good fight. I know you feel like you just lost but in fact, you won. The goal of entrepreneurship is to get from point A to point B faster than the other guy by straightening out the curves in the journey. Because of your fight, your journey just got straighter. By the way, I just saved you 4 years and $40k worth of heartache and pain."

Kyle Christian Steele