When Christian hip hop artist William Lee Barefield III, better known as “Trip Lee,” began composing lyrics as a 12-year-old boy, he dreamed of becoming a celebrity. When he gave his life to Jesus Christ as a 14-year-old, however, his worldview began changing, and he eventually decided to use his talents to glorify God instead of himself. In his recently released debut book, The Good Life, Lee shares how living “the good life” isn’t dependent on money, sex, or fame, but rather on a right relationship with our Creator.
CP: When people think of “the good life” they often think of living in luxury, what is your definition of the good life?
Lee: I think if you were to ask me when I was much younger what my definition of the good life was, I think it would have sounded a lot like what most people would say – a life with all the things you want and everything you think you need to make you happy, and these sorts of things. But the way I’ve tried to redefine the good life in my book is, instead of it being all about what you have or all about the things you achieve, I think the good life is living by faith in a good God. And what I mean by that is, instead of living by faith in whatever lies we’ve been told about what the good life is, instead of that we believe God. And when we follow God, then He’s going to lead us to the good life.
CP: Obviously you already have a fan-following from your rap career, and the book is written in a way that is simple, but it’s very theological. There are a lot of foundational truths that you address, so who is this book written for? What was your target audience?
Lee: I wanted to write a book specifically aimed toward young people. I wanted to write a book that anybody can read and enjoy, but I did want to aim it at young people and, even more specifically, urban young people…Also, I think there’s a need for even young people to grasp and get truth, so I wanted to take time and kind of point to that.
And I want people who don’t read a lot to enjoy it, so that’s why I tried to write it in a simple and engaging way, for a lot of people who don’t read a lot or who don’t really like reading. And so that’s been probably one of my favorite feedbacks that I’ve gotten from people: “I never read, I don’t like to read, but I read your book and it was helpful for me.” That’s probably the best feedback I can get.
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article courtesy of TheChristianPost.com
