March began as a joyous month with Ethiopians celebrating the 123rd anniversary of the Battle of Adwa. Yet the month of March 2019 turned solemn when many people lost their lives on Ethiopian Airlines flight 302, and Eritrean-American rapper Nipsey Hussle was killed. These isolated events might have all just been coincidences. But for me it all pointed back to east Africa. It seemed more suspicious than coincidence.

The strange nature of these east African related events didn’t stop there. I did not make any “109” connections to the Battle of Adwa nor to Ethiopian Airlines flight 302, however in the case of Nipsey Hussle’s demise, I found it strange that I saw 109 within two hours of learning that he died. Seeing 109 again on that day set the tone for the connections I would later make between 109 and Nipsey.

In fact, upon arriving in Oman and seeing 109, I was already hyper-aware of a spiritual nature of events that were to occur there. 109 is my sign. It comforts me. It tells me that my guardian angel is watching over me. 109 protects me.

During the month of April 2019, as I worked on producing my book entitled ‘109’ I searched for answers that would explain why I kept running into 109 throughout my journeys around the world. I presented my story to my colleague Calvin who suggested that I search Google for an interpretation of 109’s meaning. When I learned that Google explained 109 to be an Angel number, I was only mildly satisfied especially after searching other numbers only to find that they too were Angel numbers.

At some point throughout my research to discover how to interpret my ‘109’ encounters, I found a company — 109World. I wondered if they had been encountering 109 in the same ways that I had done so. Had they found themselves in strange countries staring at 109 as well?

For example, I booked a reservation at a hotel in Bahrain where I found the TV satellite box set to frequency 109. Only the satellite box in my room was set to that frequency. All other rooms were set to other frequencies or didn’t have satellite boxes at all.

Then there was the time that I walked past the door with 109 written on it as I walked to the restroom at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. One question plagued me: “why did somebody write 109 on that door?”

I emailed the founder of 109World. Leticia wrote me back:

Sadly, Leticia hadn’t been seeing 109 in the serendipitous nature that I had throughout my travels. But, it was a breath of fresh air to discover somebody who shared a similar appreciation for the number regardless.

I found another company that employed the use of the number 109 in its brand name — Felipe’s 109. Felipe’s is a Mexican restaurant that serves burgers, tacos and more in Colorado. After I came across the restaurant’s adverts via Instagram, I messaged the owner, Felipe. I wanted to know if he too encountered 109 the same way I had. I wanted to know what 109 meant to him. Once again, I was out of luck. Felipe hadn’t seen 109 the way I did. However, his interpretation gave me greater insight into which direction to go in search of a meaning of 109 that resonates with me. Felipe revealed that for him 109 was a reference to biblical verse Romans 10:9. It was then that it hit me like an omen.

Romans 10:9 was the connection to Nipsey Hussle and 109 that I was looking for.

What is the connection to 109 and Nipsey Hussle? Well, for starters, on the day that I learned of Nispsey Hussle’s death I saw 109 on that truck that cut me off. In that moment, I felt peace and calm. I felt God’s presence. I realized that life can end at any moment. I realized that we must not take a moment for granted and that we must remain grateful for life. Always.

Upon learning from Felipe that Romans 10:9 reads: “Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” I made the connection to Nipsey and Jesus.

I wondered is Nipsey Jesus? On the day that he was killed I believed that what with all Nipsey accomplished in his life that he was certainly anointed. Personally, I wondered why I couldn’t reach his success with all my resources — a high school diploma, college degree, international experience, a loving and supportive family, etc. It’s important not to compare oneself to others, but I couldn’t help to do so in some cases.

Within one week of learning of Nispsey’s demise and seeing 109 on that truck in the desert I had an even more wild occurrence happened. I saw a cross in the sky over Nizwa.

It was on April 8, 2019 that I was en route to work once again that I noticed something. As I walked out my home I looked into the sky and saw two perpendicular lines. This sight stopped me in my tracks. In the seven months that I had lived in Oman, I hadn’t noticed lines in the sky whatsoever. It was a peculiar sight because I was coming out of a week’s long funk after learning of Nipsey Hussle’s murder. Taken together, learning about Nispey Hussle’s fate, seeing 109 within hours of learning what had happened, and seeing a cross in the sky made me lean even more on to the intepretation suggested to me by Felipe. This was God’s hand at work. God was suggesting that Nipsey was divine. Nipsey’s real name Ermias even means God Will Rise. Again I felt the hand of God. My motivation to write 109 was even more concrete. I knew my purpose. It was my job to show the connection to that Nipsey was divine by connecting the Nipsey, 109, and the cross.

What made the cross sighting even more outstanding was the fact that airplanes don’t fly overhead in that city. How could those lines have been made if airplanes didn’t make them? Also, why were those lines so prominent on that day — seven days after Nipsey’s demise?

Questions like those plagued me. I could only answer that it was God’s will.

By the time I arrived back to Los Angeles, I had another revelation that made me even more resolute that I had witnessed a miracle and that God had sent me a message in the desert of Oman. I found a connection between my experience in the desert of Oman and the streets of Los Angeles. At the corner of 60th and Crenshaw blvd I found three things that reminded me of Oman — a cross, a mural of Nipsey Hussle, and the address 6109. For me, this was the closest to reliving the moments in Oman that led to my revelation that God was speaking to me through 109.