From BRX, this is the Maw 3DO hour. I'm Jay Ellison, producer of this radio show, and

this time our theme is I got you. Stories about the times we have each other's backs,

even or especially when it's not expected or easy. Our first story comes from Lydia Caesar.

Lydia told this at the Sheldon concert hall in Art Galeries where we partnered with the

University of Missouri, St. Louis. A quick note this story does deal with some mature

themes. Here's Lydia Caesar. Live at the Maw.

So I currently live in St. Louis, but I'm born and raised in Hollis, Queens, New York.

I am a church girl in every word, every sense. I'm what they call a PK. This is an acronym

for Preacher's Kid. My grandfather founded a church, a storefront with a handful of members,

and by the time my father grew up, the church grew as well, by the thousands. My dad took

over the ministry and we have international churches, branches. My dad's sermons were

picked up by a radio broadcast that's heard by the masses. So I'm basically saying all

of this to say that my dad is kind of a big deal in the church community. I got used to

being called Pastor Caesar's daughter as I was a little girl growing up, and I'm a Leo.

So the attention that came from being a part of the first family was okay. I didn't mind

it so much, but at the same time, this fish bowl life that we lived in, it had a lot of

pressure. I was the second born of four kids. My dad is a total family man, and we went to

church every Sunday as you would expect, religiously, no pun intended. We went to Sunday school,

junior church, Friday night youth services. We even went to Christian summer camps. And

to be honest, I loved it. I would not change the way I was raised for anything in this world,

and I actually began to love God for myself. I developed my own faith not because my parents

forced it on me. So much so that by the time I turned 16, there was a group in my church

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