Comedian Michael Jr. On Trusting God

RM: I love within the film that we non-verbally see the discussion presented of the importance of trusting God, but do you really trust God? It’s one thing to say that you do, but when it comes down to it, are you really trusting Him? I think that that’s something that we deal with every day, and it’s always refining. But for you, has there been a moment or a series of things that stood out to you where you were needed to trust God, and what had happened?

MJ: Oh. Yeah, that’s great, because I’m still in the process of finishing up a book that I’m writing called Funny How Life Works. Today, we’re going over this chapter that I wrote where there was a point when I lived in New York City, which is where I got saved, and I was moving to Los Angeles. But I had very little money, I was living in my car, and I had a choice where I could go west and head to Los Angeles, or I could go back eastward from Chicago and to Michigan, which is where I’m from, which would have been comfortable. I didn’t have any money. It was my last show.

I already determined in my heart, “I’m going to go west, regardless.” But how much money I made at the show was going to help determine that [decision]. I only had $72 to my name, which is not enough gas money to get all the way to California. But I also had thirteen T-shirts. So I figured if I was able to sell these T-shirts for $10 each, it could probably get me halfway to Los Angeles, and then I could stop and do a few jobs at a day labor place or whatever and then get to my cousin’s couch in Los Angeles.

But I knew I was determined to move forward, and I just became a Christian. I’m like, “God, I’m just going to trust You. It’s got to work out.” So I’m onstage, and I’m getting ready to do my last joke. I’m at Zany’s Comedy Club. There’s 27 people in the audience. It’s a miserable show. If there’s 100 people there, I normally sell two T-shirts. Well, there’s 27 people there. So I’m like, “I don’t know how this is going to work. It doesn’t make sense.” In the middle of my T-shirt pitch, I can’t stand pitching T-shirts, I get heckled. Some dude is like, “How much are those crappy shirts?” or whatever. So I jokingly said to him, just to get a laugh, I said, “They’re $50. What about it?” People laugh or whatever. Then I finished up my last joke, my big closer at the time, which was a joke about me jogging. I finished that up. I set up my T-shirts, and everybody’s walking by me. It’s all miserable and weird, and people are not making eye contact. I’m like, “How am I going to get to California? What am I going to do?” People asked me where I lived. I lived at 1997 Lumina Drive, because I drove a 1997 Lumina. That’s literally where I lived.

Then I’m standing with my shirts, and this lady walks up and she says, “Hey, I’d like a shirt. Do you have a medium?” I was like, “Yeah, I’ve got a medium.” Then she handed me a bill, and now I’ve got to get change. I’ve got to find a waitress to get change. I’m looking at her, and I’m like, “What do I do?” I turn back around, and the lady’s gone. I look at the bill, and it’s a $50 bill. Now I’m like, “Well, I need to find this lady. She gave me too much money.”

A guy walks up and says, “Hey, I want two shirts.” He grabs two large shirts and hands me $100 and leaves. I sold 13 shirts for $50. I was blown back. That was clearly God saying, “If you trust Me, I’ve got you. Just trust Me.” With that money, I was able to get all the way to California and get on The Tonight Show. God has just shown up in a significant way, and now we’re doing a movie, Selfie Dad. Just some amazing stuff happened as a result of that trust. I didn’t have a lot of trust, probably as much as a half of a mustard seed, but I just said, “Okay, I’m going to use this little faith to get to the next place.” I think Selfie Dad, this movie, will help people see the importance of having that faith, and the way to get it is by putting in the Word in your heart and then watching what happens in your walk.

Selfie Dad premieres at home, June 19