Triumph Over Trials: Rapper Otis Kemp and Softball Star Katelyn Pavey
Otis Kemp: Anything you do for the Lord, and you present it to Him in the right heart posture, He will come and consume it and He will dwell there.
Triumph Over Trials: Rapper Otis Kemp and Softball Star Katelyn Pavey – Episode #386
Narrator: Welcome to the Jesus Calling Podcast. The Bible is filled with stories of people who faced uncertain times; like Joseph who was betrayed by his brothers and was sold as a slave, or Job who went through unbearable pain and loss. But their hardships didn’t cause them to give up—in fact, their lives went on to have profound impact, despite the challenges along the way.
This week’s guests know what it’s like to feel like giving up after enduring a trying season, but instead, persevered in the hope of making their lives count. South Florida rapper Otis has collaborated with artists such as Rick Ross and Flo Rida. As a youth, Otis was kicked out of multiple schools and made some unwise choices due to peer pressure. Instead of succumbing to a label of being a “problem,” he took the challenges he faced in his youth and turned them into a passion to help all kids succeed. Collegiate softball player Katelyn Pavey was born without a full arm. You might think this could have been an impediment to pursuing a sport like softball, but Katelyn was determined to be the best she could be—and ended up becoming one of the top players in her sport.
Let’s start with Otis’ story.
Otis Kemp: My name is Otis Kemp and I am a live recording artist, a life music recording artist, some people equate that to gospel music, but I prefer to call it life music. I am from Miami, Florida. I am a singer/songwriter/producer, and I am also an entrepreneur.
Growing up in South Florida, it was interesting because I grew up in the time where Miami was a hub for drug dealers, and so you had preachers, drug dealers, and robbers on the same corner. And so me seeing all of those different types of individuals, it actually impacted my life in so many ways. I would never want to change that experience because I really love my city.
I went to public school first, then my parents put us in Christian private school, and I was just the prodigal son in the private school because I challenged people. I was a child that read the Bible from a young age and having that gifting on the inside, I still had to navigate how to deal with it, and that came with some rough hurt as with people not understanding me in schools. And of course, now when you’re challenging someone, you’re being disrespectful.
I was a bit rough because I hung around with people—my family was rough. It shaped me to now be able to deal with the young kids in this age and this time we’re living in to let them know, listen, I know what you’re going through. Learning for me is essential in every aspect of my life.
From Hip Hop to Helping Others
I was at the studio in South Florida and a friend of mine—his name is Flo Rida, and he’s a hip hop artist. I walked in there and he had this other guy with him, and I don’t remember their conversation verbatim, but they asked me something about the Bible and I began to expound on it, and before I knew it, I looked up again and there were about twenty people in the room.
And the guy that was with him at first was a muslim. And he said, “Brother, I’ve never heard anybody explain the Bible to me that way.” He said, “I need your number. I want to get to know you and talk to you more,” and that right there shifted things.
I’ll never forget. I said, “What am I doing? You know, God, you gave me this gifting or whatever it is,” I didn’t understand it, but I knew that I was supposed to be using it for Him. That turning point for me had been a huge curve because it didn’t happen overnight. When we got the deal with Def Jam [Recordings], I was married at the time and my wife was threatening to leave me, and so she moved to Orlando without me. And I said I couldn’t let that happen with my kids, so I left and went to Orlando with her.
“I’ll never forget. I said, ‘What am I doing? You know, God, you gave me this gifting or whatever it is,’ I didn’t understand it, but I knew that I was supposed to be using it for Him. “ – Otis Kemp
And so me separating myself and moving to Orlando, people thought I was crazy. Like, “You gotta be kidding. You were here every step of the way to build this thing, and now you walk away when we get right here?”
It was hard, it wasn’t easy, and I think that’s why God is faithful and He’s blessing me now, because I gave up something at a time where it was just insane to the normal individual. And even at that time, I was not at 100%, not even at 80%, to be living appropriately, according to the Bible. But my heart was always in a place where I wanted to do it.
“It was hard, it wasn’t easy, and I think that’s why God is faithful and He’s blessing me now, because I gave up something at a time where it was just insane to the normal individual.” – Otis Kemp
I represent the misfits. I represent the people that are looked over. I represent the people that no one wants to take the time to show them how to navigate. I always served people. I always helped everybody else except myself, and so I saw all of the different hurdles that we had to jump and all the different avenues that we went through in hip hop music.
I have an understanding of the Word of God, as well as understanding academia in a way it can be shared to the youth in a simple form, not deep or not difficult. That’s what they want. And to be honest with you, children have such a pure spirit. They can feel the authenticity of the individual that they’re dealing with, and so I’m able to relate that now to the kids that I’m dealing with.
I was able to start a school with my parents. And so we’re blessed and we thank God for it. It’s been ups and downs, but God has been able to sustain us all the way through. He never said it would be easy, but He said, “I’ll be there with you even until the end of the age.”
“It’s been ups and downs, but God has been able to sustain us all the way through. He never said it would be easy, but He said, ‘I’ll be there with you even until the end of the age.’” – Otis Kemp
Sharing Stories Through Life Music
There’s a saying in church where we’re from, and I’m sure it’s been heard around the world, but it says, “Let the life I live speak for me.” So there’s people that say they’re gospel artists and they don’t walk in love, they don’t exemplify any signs of a person that follows Jesus Christ. So life music should exemplify your life and it should come through the use of music and whatever avenue God is basically giving you to use it through. So life music, to me, means that my life should exemplify who I’m singing about or what I’m singing about, you know, and who I represent.
I just wrote about my life, that’s life music. I always knew “Daily Bread” was a song that would touch people’s hearts no matter what you were a part of, no matter what you believed in, your religion, it doesn’t matter. Music is a universal language and it’s involuntary. It was out, but it was locally, and I just never really pursued it. And so one day—they played it on the satellite radio here all the time—and I was riding and people started calling me again years later, “Man they’re playing you on the radio.” And I just heard God, He said, “Go.”
Anything you do for the Lord and you present it to Him in the right heart posture, He will come and consume it and He will dwell there. And so I’m honored that He chose Otis. And that’s something no one can ever take from me, that God has smiled on me, and it’s just the beginning. When you read the Word of God, it gives you all of the necessary tools that you need in life.
“Anything you do for the Lord and you present it to Him in the right heart posture, He will come and consume it and He will dwell there. And so I’m honored that He chose Otis. And that’s something no one can ever take from me, that God has smiled on me, and it’s just the beginning.” – Otis Kemp
Jesus Listens, February 18th:
Cherished Lord Jesus,
While I sit quietly in Your Presence, please fill my heart and mind with thankfulness. This is the most delightful way to spend time with You. When my mind needs a focal point, I can gaze at Your Love poured out for me on the cross. I need to remember that neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation can separate me from Your Love. This remembrance builds a foundation of gratitude in me—a foundation that circumstances cannot shake.
In Your soothing Name,
Amen
Narrator: To learn more about Otis Kemp, follow him on social media, and check out his songs wherever you listen to music.
Stay tuned to Katelyn Pavey’s story after a brief message.
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Our next guest, former collegiate softball player Katelyn Pavey, was faced with challenges of being born with one arm due to Phocomelia Syndrome. Katelyn shares how she trusted that God had a plan for her to overcome adversity, and how in doing so, she was able to be used in a great way to inspire others, eventually even having a movie made about her life.
Katelyn Pavey: Hi, my name is Katelyn Rockwood, people might know me as Katelyn Pavey. I just recently got married to my husband, Kevin, and we live in Greenville, Indiana.
I’m also a former collegiate softball player who just happens to have one arm. I currently work at the FCA, which is a big softball organization, and what we do is we help support fastpitch softball coaches and their quest to excel in the sport, and we all come together to try to advance and further the game of softball.
Phocomelia Syndrome basically means that my arm didn’t fully develop in the womb, so my left arm kind of cuts off right where my elbow would be, and it left me with a small hand with two digits. I was diagnosed right when I was born, so my mom went in for ultrasounds, went in for everything, and everything looked normal. Nothing detected that I had one arm at all. And so no one knew until I was born. And for me, knowing that I have one arm, I didn’t really see myself as any different or really didn’t think much of it. My grandma told my dad, “God doesn’t make mistakes. She was born like this for a reason. God has a plan and everything’s going to be okay.”
Persevering Through Adversity
So my journey to become an All-State softball player for my high school began my senior year. I had a whole goal sheet of what I wanted to accomplish that year. I wanted to hit my first home run and I wanted to sign a scholarship to play somewhere, to play softball in college. And so that year I really worked hard, and I’m proud to say that I did hit my first home run that year. I did become an All-State softball player.
My senior year of high school, I also received a full ride scholarship to Cincinnati Christian University and to get that really meant a lot to me. It really showed just the work that I put in to get there and overcoming all the negative comments that I would get from people saying, “You can’t do this. You will never be able to make it.” And so just for me to prove to myself that I can do this and that I got to this point was very, very humbling and exciting.
I love softball because softball is a game of failure and I kind of relate it to life. There’s going to be a lot of adversity that you face in life, and I liked that adversity that I faced in softball, because I like to figure out ways to adapt and to overcome that.
I faced an injury my freshman year of college as soon as I got there. We were practicing in the fall and we had a scrimmage game that we were going to have right before one of our first actual collegiate games. I hit the ball right to the shortstop. Well, knowing me, I do everything 100%, so even though I hit it right to the shortstop, my goal was to beat it out at first base. So when I was running down first baseline, I kind of lunged at the base. My left leg landed on top of the bag and my body went forward, but my leg didn’t come with me. And all I heard was pop, pop, pop, pop, and I fell to the ground.
And in my mind I knew something was wrong. I didn’t really know what was wrong. I just saw my kneecap kind of pointed the opposite way. I had X-rays done, had MRIs done, and I ended up tearing my ACL, I tore my meniscus, and I sprained all the ligaments around my knee. And so my freshman year, before I even got to play, was done ,and I had a red shirt that year. And the doctor told me it was going to be a nine-month recovery. And at that point in my life, softball was so important to me and I was lost without it, and I didn’t even know what to do. And so that’s really when the questioning of, Why me? and questioning God, you know, Why do bad things happen to good people? Am I ever going to play softball again?
The same grandma who told me that God doesn’t make mistakes, she told me that God has a plan for everything, and you might not know what that is, but it’s going to make you better, it’s going to make you stronger, and you just have to trust in Him. And that’s kind of what I leaned on to get through this recovery. And I told the doctor, “I’m going to get back to playing softball because that’s what I love and that God gave me the ability to do this and this is what I’m going to do.” And he said, “There’s no way you can recover quicker than nine months. It’s going to take a while.” And I said, “I’ll be back out there in five.” And I ended up recovering in four and a half months from this injury, and it just proved to me that trusting in God and trusting that He has a plan, really pushed me to get better and pushed me to come back and play softball again.
“I ended up recovering in four and a half months from this injury, and it just proved to me that trusting in God and trusting that He has a plan, really pushed me to get better and pushed me to come back and play softball again.” – Katelyn Pavey
Trusting God’s Plan Through the Chaos
I’d just gotten back to where I could play softball again, and then all of a sudden we were hit with an email saying, “Your school is closing in December.” And at this point it was October. So we had three months to figure out what we were doing, and in my mind I was like, Okay, well, I just got back to playing softball. But going back to what my grandma said and what I pushed through with the injury is, you know, trusting God and trusting God has a plan for you. I searched for schools, and I ended up going to Midway University in Kentucky. And I was playing about twenty games there, and went to school for about a semester, and then COVID happened.
When I got to KCU [Kentucky Christian University], I really realized that and I realized I don’t need to play for myself. I need to play for Him in all my playing and all my life, my actions and my words should be glorifying to Him and show others Him through my play. And that’s really what helped me get through that and really what wanted me to help inspire others.
“I don’t need to play for myself. I need to play for Him in all my playing and all my life, my actions and my words should be glorifying to Him and show others Him through my play.” – Katelyn Pavey
For me to rely on God at this time was, in prayer and trusting that, like I said, that He has a plan for me, even though I didn’t know what the future held, I just was reminded that I know who holds my future, and that in the end, there’s going to be a plan and there is going to be a reason why these things happened.
“He has a plan for me, even though I didn’t know what the future held, I just was reminded that I know who holds my future, and that in the end, there’s going to be a reason why these things happened.” – Katelyn Pavey
I believe that I ended up at Kentucky Christian [University] for the reason that I became an all-American softball player, and I don’t think that I would have done that if I didn’t go through one school closing or I didn’t go through the injury, that really opened my eyes to see that it wasn’t myself that got me to this point, it was God. And God had a plan in it. And God gave me the abilities and gave me the platform to use.
Jesus Listens, April 22nd:
Dear God,
Even when everything seems to be going wrong, I can fight discouragement through my trust in You. I know that You are a God of surprises—not limited by the way things are or by the paltry possibilities I can see. With You all things are possible because You are infinitely creative and powerful! The longer I wait for my prayers to be answered, the closer I am to a breakthrough. Meanwhile, I’ve found that waiting for You—aware of Your loving Presence—is a blessed way to live. Your Word assures me that You are good to those who wait for You.
In Your breathtaking Name, Jesus,
Amen
Narrator: To learn more about Katelyn, check out the new movie based on her story, called I Can.
If you’d like to hear more stories about discovering God’s unique purpose for our lives, check out our interview with Darnell Ferguson.
Next week: Stevie and Suzan Hendrix
Next time on the Jesus Calling Podcast, we’ll hear from digital creators Stevie and Sazan Hendrix, who share how they discovered the true definition of a “good life”—and it wasn’t at all what they expected.
Stevie Hendrix: Sazan and I have seen time and time again where we’ve felt let down, we’ve felt hurt, we’ve felt misguided, that God has actually come in and said, “If you’ll just trust me again, if you just follow me, I’ve got a good plan for you.”
