A New Age - Feel The Movement

J.O.E (JesusOverEverything). – All Day Everyday Part 1

Waking Life readers! WHAT IS UP!!! Man I am fired up today! Hope y’all feeling good as well, & that life is beautiful, but if not, then just hang in there where ever you are and whatever you’re going through. It won’t last forever.

Before I start telling y’all about the two very well rounded young gentlemen I’m writing about, let me just take this time to say thank you to all of you. All y’all who have sent through messages of encouragement, have motivated me personally & have just sent out mad love, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I know my posts are actually articles, and they’re a little longer than most blog posts, but thanks for taking the time out of your day to support me & the people I write about.
 

Okay so, J.O.E. What is J.O.E? What is the purpose of J.O.E. & why should you as the reader, even give a damn about J.O.E.? Well, those were my questions exactly when I first heard about J.O.E. So I set out to meet with the creators of J.O.E. Had a little chat with them, interviewed them about their business and other aspects of it, and I must say, I found it to be quite intriguing. Hope you will too. Check it out:

 

Nash & Seth are two young men very dedicated to their faith. Starting a movement called "Jesus Over Everything", the two are poised to make a huge impact on the lives of todays youth. But what kind of men are they at face value? 

 

 

 Nash: “Hi guys, I’m Nash but actually my full name is Munashe Mautsa. I’m originally from Zimbabwe, but I’ve been staying in SA for about 10 years now. I’m 20 years of age, and I just finished my degree in finance at the University of Pretoria, so I’m officially unemployed, haha.

Well, Seth and I have been friends for just over 15 years. So I’ve known Seth for most of life, so you could say we’re brothers. And it was a dream ours you know, ‘cause we like fashion, we like to look good"


Pause! Really guys? Such Divas. Ok forgive me... But Really? Ok no continue...  Maybe I'm the weird one.. But let's continue.


"... And we were like ‘you know there isn’t really a young Christian youth label out there’ so we figured why don’t we actually start one. Took us quite a while to get there, about 5 years, but ya, it was a dream of ours & last year we just decided ‘you know what, let’s just get this dream on the road, let’s get it out there so yeah.”

A Christian Label... You know that's so true. You can tell a lot about a person from the clothes they wear. Believe it or not but that is actually non-verbal communication. The image you portray outside, kind of gives the world a little insight as to who you are on the inside... Good on ya lads!
Now let's get to know the other half of J.O.E - Seth! 

 

Seth: “Hi guys, I’m Seth Mwonga Mulli, I’m Kenyan, well I was born there, but I was raised in Zimbabwe where I met my brother Nash. The transition from moving from Kenya to Zim wasn’t too difficult I guess. I was pretty young, also because I moved with my family it made it easier, as well as meeting people like Nash. I wouldn’t say the culture is exactly the same but what I will say is that the Zimbabwean people are very welcoming. And it was even easier because my parents are missionaries and...”

Wait hold up. Missionary parents? That means Christianity's he's default... I Mean how many of us would've been Christians for real if our parents didn't bring us to Christ?

 Seth: “There was a stage when I needed to make my own decision, which was when I was 13 years old, I wasn’t forced. So my parents gave me a choice... I’m reluctant to say I’m religious, but I think I have a relationship with God, because in religion it’s a set of rules & stuff, in my mind that’s what religion is, so I think I’d rather say, I have a personal relationship with God.”

What men hey? There's something refreshing about talking to young guys (especially young guys) who have this desire to just wanna follow Christ. It's admirable if I may say so myself.

So... I bet y'all are wondering what got J.O.E started yeah?

 

Seth: “Well like Nash said, we’ve been brothers for 15 years, & we had a dream... I mean every young kid has dreams, it’s putting the effort in that’s the real kicker. We did a lot of dreaming & talking about it, & everyone knows talk is cheap, you need to get to the grind of it. Ideas... Everyone has ideas, but it’s the people that really take the idea, put initiative into it & start working towards it that are really successful. So after 5yrs of waiting, sitting & procrastinating, we finally got the show on the road”

 Nash: “I think it’s because we were young also. Focused on school, & to be honest, I don’t think either of us ever thought it could ever be, so we lacked belief to actually follow through this idea.”

 Seth: “I think it actually took a conference to get us going. A Jesus culture conference. A Pastor was speaking at a conference & he said ‘some of you here have dreams that could change the world’ so ya.... That was kind of like our wake up call.”

 Makes you wonder don't it? Two kids surrounded by the Christian lifestyle, yet even though they were growing up as Christian guys, with the bible talking so much about belief & faith, they still lacked some of their own. I mean took them five years to get it going. So what was up?

 Nash: “At that time we also lacked maturity. I think, yes we had faith & belief, but like I said, School & stuff shifted our focus on other things. The focus wasn’t really on starting the label then & there. Also... I think God was just building us. I mean we were teenagers, we were boys, our bodies were still changing, so God was just moulding us. So that and other things played a major factor.”

Seth: “I also believe that... We didn’t think we could sustain it at such a young age because we were very immature & still trying to figure ourselves out & also the time constraints. I mean still in school, your focus is shifted but with that said, we were being reminded about it in our minds. We knew we had to do it. We just needed the proper time, and I believe faith & belief in oneself comes with time. I don’t think it just happens, you have to grow into that. So you start to grow & believe in yourself but also take your time”

Alright. Let's pause for reflection here. Now Nash... He has a degree in finance, he's black, AFRICAN!! And he's young. Surely he's parents must have been like "Munashe... You have a degree now, we want you to put this J.O.E. business behind you & go get yourself a real job, find a good woman & make us good grandchildren" - Sh*t I know my parents would've. So how is it that he's folks are okay with this as oppose to making him follow the status quo?

Nash: “Truth is I got the degree to benefit me. I’ve never really seen myself as being in the corporate world for all my life, that’s not really me. Yes the degree is there, & I’m thankful that I got the degree, because you need some form of education (education is important after all) so yeah. I’m still young, so I have age on my side, that way I can be focused on J.O.E. so there’s more time for me to give it my attention, set it up, expand it, even while doing my honours this year. That’s my decision right now, that’s what I feel God wants me to do. Obviously I’d like to work for a while so I can get myself some capital to set myself up, but I don’t really see myself in the corporate world for like 20 years or anything like that.”

 

 Seth: “It’s actually a funny story, ‘cause I should’ve been gone to America last year, to study there but that didn’t happen so in that way I knew I had to be here & really focus on J.O.E. so we can expand it. With that said, I’m also going to pursue my degree in corporate communication, which will help in the long run with J.O.E. But like Nash, I don’t see myself behind a desk for the rest of my life, I do want to own my own company”



Huh? Well I guess anyone can just start a brand these days. I mean school? Mmmm yeah, not as important as dreams right guys?



Nash: “I think there’s two ways to look at it. If you use those examples, Mark & Donald, they obviously had big dreams. They dropped out because they wanted to pursue their dreams & those ideas needed their full attention to them. I mean Mark, he’s making billions now because he saw the dream, saw the vision, saw the path. But sometimes, I think, with the education background, you obviously get more matured, more experience, and you obviously understand the elements of owning a business, and if you drop out, you run the risk of not actually knowing what it takes to run a business, what it takes to succeed. Personally I’d say stay in university because it is going to help you in the future”

 

Seth: “I mean, I’m firm a believer of education first and foremost. A lot of young kids believe they have great ideas & at times someone is already doing that idea, so it’s like they’re recycling ideas. A lot of people have a dream, have ideas, but I think it’s best to further your education first. Stay in school, get your matric certificate, go to university. Then when the time is right, you can set yourself up and be like; ‘you know what? I’ve gained some knowledge, I’ve gained some skill, I think I want to try this out‘, whatever it might be. Instead of running straight out of high school/college & kind of falling because it’s a huge risk. So it’s better to be wise in your decisions, because not everyone is going to be the next Donald Trump, the next Bill Gates, next Zuckerburg. Because not every idea is the next best idea, I mean J.O.E. might not have been the best idea for us. Who knows? We had to make a sacrifice but education wasn’t one of them. But I know that all our parents, & I’m sure the parents of other young ones, would’ve wanted us to get a degree first”

 

Nash: “Yeah, because life has its own plans, as God has his plans for our lives. You never know what reality will offer you so best get a degree so you have something to fall back on’

 
But... Wait.... How does one even know when that burning desire one has in their heart is from God or their own personal ambition pushing them forward? I mean not everyone just knows... Right??

 

Nash: “I wouldn’t say we knew, it was a gradual thing. It wasn’t something where we had the idea & we were like, let’s go for it, this is it. I think God pushed us & we just did what we saw in terms of what fashion’s out there & the kind of clothes people wore. Especially the kind of t-shirts you see nowadays, the messages behind them. So we felt like, this is something that God would want us to follow. So that 5 year period was for us to form that relationship with him but also just to develop as men” 

Seth: It was also like a stirring period where God was just, stirring in our hearts this desire in us to change the way people perceive Christianity & Jesus as well. It wasn’t like an instant feeling in our hearts where we were like “Hey! We Gotta Do This!” I think, even now, the feeling is still growing & growing in us.”

 

Nash: “Thing is even when we started last year, we didn’t think we were going to get as much response as we have now, but God also spoke through J.O.E. gradually, that showed us that he’s on our side. So that’s how we knew ‘Ok, this is what God wants us to go for’. I mean there were times when we didn’t have enough money to get more shirts, or we didn’t know how to get more stock, & then someone would be like ‘I’d like 5 shirts, I want 10 shirts’ & that’s just God working...”

 

I'm guessing the motto here is just that with perseverance, faith & belief, God will always come through just in time

 

Seth: “ALWAYS DUDE! AAAALLLLLWAYS. It was just those small instances when we were like ‘man what are we doing?’ someone would be like ‘I heard about J.O.E. can I get a couple of shirts.’ Small instances like that, that let us know this is part of God’s plan. So we knew we couldn’t give up. When the going gets tough, the tough go to God”

 

Alright ladies & gentlemen, I hope you enjoyed that yeah...  That’s it for part 1 of  J.O.E (JesusOvereverything) – Nash & Seth. I really just wanted to give y’all a feel about the two gents, who they are & how they’re relatable to you. Just two normal guys trying to do extraordinary things. Starting a movement where Jesus is over everything in their lives. Quite a challenge & a message to the rest of us. 

 

Part 2 of this in depth conversation will be published in 2 weeks time so don’t forget. Nash & Seth tackle the most intense questions anyone can ask you about faith & it’s perception.

 

But please be sure to read next week where I talk to a remarkable young lady, by the name of Barileng Ratsela, starting her own jewellery line. So this will be something interesting for the ladies.

 

Till then, take care of each other & stay safe

 

PEACE!!!!