Briah Christia shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Briah, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. Who are you learning from right now?
At this very moment in my life, I am definitely learning from myself the most. One of the greatest gifts that God has given us other than salvation is relationships. And it is very often that we look to our relationships to be held accountable, to learn, to grow, etc. However, I truly believe that if you can’t or don’t look in the mirror and look to yourself for your own accountability, learning, and growing, then you’re doing life wrong. With this said, as of late, I have been looking at myself in the mirror and identifying the areas in my life where I am falling short and figuring out what is causing me to fall short. So, I am spending a lot of time teaching myself about myself. I am spending a lot of time trying to undo things that have happened in my life; ultimately just trying to right my wrongs.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Briah Christia and I am the founder of a media company titled Rerouted, a podcast titled B Fr: The Podcast, and a nonprofit organization by the name of The Rerouted Project.
I intend for Rerouted as a media company to serve as a network and platform for creators of all kinds to share their work, whether that be podcasting, videography, photography, vlogging, streaming, etc. I believe we all were put here on this Earth by God to serve and to do for others. I just want to be able to give others the opportunities that I didn’t have in my creative process. Rerouted will also serve as the umbrella for B Fr: The Podcast, The Rerouted Project, and any other creative pieces of work that may be birthed from myself and others. The ultimate goal and purpose for Rerouted is to serve as a platform of a melting pot of all kinds of creative work. Rerouted, as I call it, will be the home of the creative.
B Fr: The Podcast serves as the very first podcast under the Rerouted platform. B Fr is a podcast in which all things that include the ebbs and flows of life are discussed. I call it having cultured conversations with substance. You may get a laugh or a joke here and there, but one thing that you will always get from B Fr is real life things that we as a culture and a world may or may not talk about enough.
The Rerouted Project is an idea that I am currently still developing and working diligently on. The Rerouted Project, will be a nonprofit organization, funded through grants and sponsorships to give those with creative brands an opportunity to create their very own content with equipment and space provided by the organization and project. We look forward to ironing out the kinks of this idea, as we continue to develop it and figure out ways for it to work.
Nothing that we ever do in this life should solely be about us. But we should take pride in being servants; servant leaders.
Okay, so here’s a deep one: What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
For many, many years of my life, I played the game of basketball at a very high level. With the God given ability that God blessed me with in the game of basketball, I received a lot of praise and applause because I was so good at basketball. I also watched a lot of people latch onto me because of my gift. Because I seen those very things, it programmed me to think that I was only a basketball player. It programmed me to think that playing basketball was all I could do. It programmed me to think that basketball was my life. However, after the ball stopped bouncing and I decided to no longer play basketball after high school, I quickly had to reprogram my mind and remind myself that I am more than a basketball player, and that basketball was not who I was, it was just something that I did.
When I stopped playing basketball, I literally went through an identity crisis, which was one of the toughest things that I’ve ever had to endure. I was fighting the battle of trying to get myself to separate my identity from basketball for a very long time. But I now see myself as so much more than just a basketball player, that I don’t even try to convince people that I am more. I just make it my business to focus on how God sees me, how God wants me to see myself, and what God has entrusted me with and assigned for me to do; even if that means rerouting my path from basketball to a completely different world and industry.
What fear has held you back the most in your life?
One fear that has held me back most of in my life, and something that I still struggle with today is my fear of failure. A lot of my life, and even today, there are things that I will or will not do simply because I am afraid of failing. I have a very real fear of failure and falling short. However, I am learning that what will be, will be.
As I grow closer in intimacy with God and as my love for God increases, I cling to the promise that God’s will, will be done. If something works, it was meant to work. If something does not work, it was not meant to work. I am learning that failure is just a vessel to get you to where God wants you to be. If we didn’t fail, how would we learn? How would we grow?
I am also learning to just do things while still being afraid. You just have to step out on faith and trust that God will catch you when you jump. Things will not always look perfect, you may not know how it’s going to work out, but you just literally have to step out on faith, do it anyways, and just jump. We as humans with fear try to wait for everything to be perfect. We try to wait for everything to align . But sometimes if we wait too long, things won’t happen. You just have to do it afraid, even with all of your fears.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Whom do you admire for their character, not their power?
I will preface my answer to this question by saying, I admire this person for both their character and their power because their character and power is something that we cannot even fathom.
I admire the Lord Jesus Christ, for not only his power, but his character. I think a lot of people seek God because of his power or because of what he can do for our lives, but enough of us don’t seek God for who he is. Jesus lived a life that we never could! He literally lived a human life without sin. It’s not only what Jesus did for us by sacrificing his life on the cross so that we have eternal life. But if you look over the course of his life, if you look at his character, he was perfect. He was compassionate, forgiving, graceful, loving, humble, gentle, obedient, a leader, a faithful servant, etc. He possessed these same character traits even towards the people who went against him. Why would we not honor that kind of character? How could we not admire that kind of character? We can only imagine being as perfect as him.
The power of the Lord is one thing, but his character is a true thing of beauty. And we should be intentional about mirroring his character each and every day of our lives.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What do you understand deeply that most people don’t?
I understand very very deeply that I am nothing without the love, favor, and grace of God. I think a lot of human beings think that they are what they are or have become what they are on their own. I understand that only by God’s grace that I am what I am. God owes me or you nothing; he doesn’t even owe us salvation.
As I grow closer to God, the weaker I am becoming and the weaker that I feel because I am becoming more reliant and dependent upon him. I am understanding that I cannot do this life on my own. I am understanding that I am not that powerful, smart, or gifted without him. Everything it is that I am and will become and everything it is that have and will have is and will be because of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are all just weakened vessels and sheep that need a shepherd. We are nothing and everything, all at the same time.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/Rerouuted
- Instagram: @briahchristia
- Twitter: @briahchristia
- Youtube: @bfrthepod
