cbabi

It’s July 2005, and Cbabi Bayoc is standing at a crossroads. It’s a familiar position all experience: easier plan A or hard-as-hell plan B. For Bayoc, the choice is even more difficult because on his heart is his wife and three small children (four-year-old Jurni, two-year-old Ajani, and seven-week-old Birago—all with wide eyes and open mouths). The rhythm of their voices beat his heart; it’s a beautiful thang. But on his back he carries more than a mere monkey, but that monkey’s whole family, waving his mortgage, car note, student loan bills, phone bill, etcetera…like, “Looka here, now, bruh. What is to be done?”But Bayoc believes in himself in a way that only God can. He sees his greatness when no one else does, again and again. And instead of going to graduate school to get a job professing to artist-in-training, he decides, for now, to go the road less traveled, knowing full well the mouths he has to feed and the bills he has to pay are watching and waiting and depending on this brother to follow up and through. A mere man would find this task too difficult, but a man who sees his greatness as only God can, who sees the God in himself, knows that there is no other choice. No crossroads, just one road headed toward a greatness that resides only in legends.Here stands Cbabi Bayoc—paint brush and pencil in hand. And to witness his work is to witness God’s light shining through. Open your eyes. You have now been blessed.--reine keis bayoc, 2005 (my AWESOME wife wrote this to keep me inspired to stay the course of answering my call from God)