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This month we celebrate and honor, Tyree Lewis, in the November 2023 issue of the Love Exquisite Magazine.  Tyree is a West Philadelphia native, husband, father, motivational speaker, and the owner of God or Guns.  Tyree is a graduate from Indiana University of PA, where he met his wife of over 15 years.  Together, they have three children, all young men (12, 16, and 21).  They rear their children to stay on the right path through communication, positive examples, and everyday living.  When speaking with Tyree about what motivated him to start his business he states, "It’s with God’s grace and favor that I’m here, because I had my struggles.  I grew up in an area where I have plenty of good memories.  However, the neighborhood was tough, infested with drugs, and violence was a normal thing to see (if you weren’t experiencing it firsthand). One thing I learned growing up, is that the choices you make now, will determine your future. As a youth, my parents took me to church and I joined the choir, until I was given the option of whether I wanted to go to church or not go.  At that time, I decided to hangout with my friends, chase girls, and made decisions that could have easily landed me in jail or dead."

 

Tyree continued, "At age12, I was introduced to one of my brothers for the first time and he was later murdered within weeks of that meeting.  This type of violence became a trend, unfortunately.  Fifteen years after my brother was murdered, my best friend, who is also my father, was murdered as well. As you can imagine, this tore me to pieces.  As a licensed gun owner, I wanted revenge. In all honesty, I felt obligated to avenge my father especially with the hood mentality of, 'They take one of yours, you take two of theirs.' However, I didn’t want to kill the people responsible for my father’s death, I wanted them to feel the same pain that I felt, so I planned to kill their parents the following morning.  The night before I was going to commit this heinous crime, I cleaned my guns visualizing my next steps, then l fell asleep. While sleeping, I had a dream, and in this dream, I saw the first man I wanted to kill.  During the dream God let me know that if I kill this man, I would be hurting my family.  Even after hearing that message, I still asked myself, 'Do I listen to God or do I say forget that and go use my gun?'  In that moment, I decided to listen to God, change my life around, and start my company, God or Guns.”

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God or Guns started as a clothing line, but the more Tyree shared his story, the more he realized that his story could change lives, especially in today’s society where gun violence is becoming a pandemic.  Tyree decided to walk in his purpose and developed an educational and inspirational mentorship program through God or Guns, where he talks with people about their choices and the importance of not letting a 15 second interaction get them 15 years to life in prison.

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Tyree is living proof that no matter what you experience in life, you can still make the right choices, even in adverse situations.  He embodies what walking with God looks like.  I am delighted that he made the right choice that day to not take someone else's life.  This is truly a wise decision that a lot of our youth need to take heed of.  Tyree is a man with great purpose and potential.   Tyree is proof that your life can change, you just have to put in the effort to work towards improving your life.  He ends with this question, "When facing adversity, 'Which is Better Protection, God or Guns?' ”  Tyree wants to remind everyone that life is about choices, and we don’t always make the right choices, but God has never and will never give up on us. 

 

Tyree, we are so proud of you and your accomplishments and we wish you all the best as you continue to do the work for God's kingdom.  You can follow Tyree on Instagram @ god_or_guns and support God or Guns by visiting: https://godorguns.com/.   We honor and celebrate Tyree Lewis in the November 2023 issue of the Love Exquisite Magazine.  Keep Rising King!

By. Lynnette Clement