Wake Up! (From my Personal Written Journal)

I moved to the Valley and my commute to work is pretty crazy now considering the 405 freeway is one of the most congested freeways in the world. To make going to work easy and save much gas, I've decided to come to work 1.5 hours early every morning. That means waking up 2 hours earlier than usual! That means... 5:20am....

I was rereading my private journal and found an entry I wrote while I was still in school. It was an epic battle between mind and body to wake up to go to a class I considered useless to attend. Now I'm glad I went and glad I wrote this in my journal.

I normally don't share private journal entries... in fact this is the 1st time I'm doing so! But... Here it is!


























11/17/09 - 1:45pm - Tuesday
~Discipline in Waking Up for the Glory of God~
. .Yesterday morning (Monday) was such a struggle to wake up. I was tired - mentally + physically. Everything in me wanted to go back to sleep, to rest. Talking and self-motivating myself, I got up and even got dressed. But, thinking about my 8am Military Science 21 class, I thought...
. .Useless, no attendance, pointless to go.
. .Then I thought of excuses - I feel sick! And the crazy part is that I convinced myself that I really was, though I was not! I made my decision to sleep in, told Jon, and went back on my bed.
But God did not let me sleep - no, instead He made me think - really Cho? You're just going to give up? That was your fight?!
. .And as I thought, I came to a realization that in the future - especially w/ministry - I will face days just like these, sometimes even worse, but I can't just not show up. I can't just give in and sleep. I need to discipline myself, RIGHT NOW. I need to practice and fight now so that when days harder than yesterday come, I will be prepared to get up and glorify God whenever I need to be - wherever I committed to be.
. .Honestly, there are days I will feel like not getting out of bed. Eyelids will be heavy, sometimes heart heavier, but may the glory of my God always be heaviest that I may get up, discipline myself, and fully rely on God for strength.
. .Discipline now Cho! So you never miss a sermon, a work day, a promise. Discipline yourself to godliness Cho. Discipline - for the glory of God!

The Elevator Theory-Truth

The past few weeks I have been at training for work and I came upon a particularly interesting observation (I know, finally right?!).

I call this observation... the ELEVATOR THEORY.
Well... it was a theory until Jon Kang and Jacob Shin bashed on me saying that "Theories can't be proven." So just to spite them, I now call this...

the ELEVATOR TRUTH.

The Observation:
Quite sleepy after finally finishing training, I entered the elevator with a few fellow trainees as we departed on a particularly long elevator journey down from the 8th floor. We stopped on the 7th floor... then the 6th... then the 5th... then the 4th - by now I was grumpy and half asleep and starting to go into what many people call, "La-la land." When the elevator stopped and opened on the 3rd floor, I had somehow gotten to the middle of the elevator (I must have been sleep-walking or something). I lifted my eyes as the elevator doors parted like the Red Sea and... Low and Behold! A man and a woman stood in front of me. The man looked at the woman and said, "Please do go ahead in." The woman looked at the man and said, "no no, you go in first." The man lowered his hands towards the elevator and replied, "Ladies first." The woman looked at the man and said, "No no, please after you."



















And they just kept going... I was in disbelief and gave them a blank stare. During my blank stare the elevator doors started closing like the Red Sea did on the Egyptians. The two looked up as the doors had shut more than halfway and both their faces expressed shock. Both of them tried to reach their arm in, but both were too late. Everyone in the elevator could not help but giggle... I could not help but laugh.

Ironic how if either the man or the woman went first, both would have not missed the elevator... but since both were waiting for the other, both missed the elevator!

So the elevator truth is pretty simple: ...sometimes, you just have to do something!

Be courteous... but act! Don't wait around for others all the time; if it needs to be done it needs to be done. Take a risk =]

*Also note... that sometimes an act of courtesy is to accept the act of courtesy being offered to you.

*I have been very busy the past month and a half, but I have many great entries to come - I will not fail you - trusttt

Black Eyed Peas

Just kidding. ... Got'cha!

This entry has nothing to do with Black Eyed Peas.

It has to do with a black eye.

I have a black eye.

I watched in the mirror as my eye began to swell up more and more (it was my first time and I was fascinated). Sure enough on Sunday morning it was still a little swollen and starting to turn black.

Some people at work don't buy my basketball story - they think I am G and got into a fight. This is hella awesome because in 1 day I managed to go from the good guy to the bad guy. I never thought I could pull the bad guy image before.

To answer the never-ending flood of same questions by 230582 people, here are my answers.
Are you wearing make up?!: No - it is a black eye
Did you get into a fight?!: No - it was a basketball incident
Elbowed in basketball?!: No - forehead/eyes collided
Does it hurt?: Only if you touch it. Stay away.
Do you feel cool?: A little bit. But it's more embarrassing than cool.

I eat lunch everyday from 12-1pm - almost all the time at Northern Lights.
Please come eat with me - let me know you're free by doodling here!

India, the Beggar Child, Dendrite, and the Gospel

(This is not the boy I speak of in this entry)

The dirty, homeless, orphaned or abandoned, scrawny beggar child looked into my eyes and smiled. And this time it wasn't the devious smile I had seen for the past hour as we waited for our train. I had just fended off his constant nagging, pulling, touching, and begging. He wanted food or rupees (India's currency) and this kid would not give up. For fun I had seen him chase after an injured pigeon and kick it as hard as he could into the train tracks. He laughed as hysterically as you could when you're a child who knows no better. But here he was, finally calm and having fun, loving the attention it seems he never received.

And there after the smile, he expressed to me using his hands to stay here and wait for him. He took off running freely as if the train station was his jungle. I watched as he started getting smaller and smaller. He was a professional at dodging the bigger adult bodies moving around in the train station.

I smiled and leaned back, resting and thinking about what had just happened. Finally after shutting myself off to the beggar children in fear that I could do nothing for them; after only bad experiences yelling at the kids to leave or getting my hand shook by a beggar child's left hand (you wipe your poo with your left hand in India) as revenge for not giving (you clever little rascal), I finally had a good experience. Moments before Brian Fury (Missions Leader) had said, "More than money or food, they just want to be loved. They are just like all the other children you know. They don't get to experience the love we got to."

Convicted, I dug in my bagpack, took out stationery I was going to write notes and thoughts on, and started making origami. I made origami balls, origami planes, and origami cranes. On each one I drew a comic strip of the gospel and talked to the kids with the little Hindi I knew (a man on a previous train taught me). "My name is Cho. What is your name? Hashee? Hi Hashee." I would point to the man on the cross and say, "This person's name is Jesus." Then I would act out the gospel as much as I could. I realized they were much more fascinated with the "toy" itself. And I soon realized that they probably never had toys in their life! That they have never even seen origami before. That the paper ball, or the paper plane, or paper crane was the only toy they've ever had and they treasured it deeply though it was just paper... it was just paper.... I wanted to bury the gospel into them as much as I possibly could. "What is this person's name?," I would ask as I pointed to the man on the cross. "Jesus" They would reply. But they didn't care as much as they cared about the paper plane. But that's okay - they were just kids and we had a heavy language barrier.



He came back with a small folded cloth and a tube of half-used dendrite. He gave a hearty smile and offered it to me. My heart stopped for a moment. Then it broke. I was in utter shock. Dendrite is a strong superglue. In India, beggar children get high off dendrite - it makes them feel full though they are actually starving. It is one of their most valued possessions because through it, for a few hours they escape the horrid pain and despair they are in. I couldn't believe he was offering it to me.


(I got this picture online, but this person has just sniffed Dendrite)

It threw me into prayer. And that's all I could do. Pray.

In that one moment I learned more theology than I ever had at one point in my life. More than any book by Spurgeon (my favorite), Thomas Watson, the Puritans, Piper, MacArthur, Mohler, DeYoung, Harris, Mahaney, or Grudem (and you all know I absolutely love their books). In that moment I learned what true theology was. Everything I had learned in the 4 months of KCM Missions training and my life's worth of Bible reading and book reading came to life.

This is for you mission trainees going out this summer -
All this KCM training, all this theology - this is what it's about.
It's about holding the orphaned children in India telling them that though no one seems to love them, Jesus does. It's about drawing them a cross saying, "Jesus saves!!" and desperately praying that one day they'll come across a church with a familiar cross on top, enter, and hear the gospel in their own language. It's about befriending college students in Japan, teaching them English, and praying and hoping that they'll truly believe the very book you're teaching them English through - the Bible! It's about doing physical labor in Nicaragua while exclaiming you do this joyfully because of Christ. It's about comforting the frightened man in Uganda who is afraid the witch doctors are going to send evil spirits to him, saying to him that Jesus the one true Lord and Savior of the world can protect him. That's what it's about.

We're going to feel limited in these countries, but let us say with Peter in Acts 3:6 - "I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you."

And what we have is much greater than any monetary thing you can give. They'll never remember your $$ and donations - that's how they survive. You just become another passerby who gave them food or money. Give them something they've never experienced and cannot explain - something that captivates them and makes them wonder what we have - give them the love of God. Now that's something they will remember.

Back when I xangaed (old times) I wrote about it more with more pictures below.

http://chochacho.xanga.com/614933240/the-language-of-love---gods-love-entry-of-the-century/

Aborting the WRONG Baby

Today's topic is a controversial one that creates tension amongst many people in society, including amongst Christians themselves. Yes - this topic is Abortion - the murder of babies.

That's my stance - abortion is the murder of babies.

I'm not writing this entry to spite people for having had one or believing it is perfectly okay. I'm writing this because a very interesting newsworthy thing happened in Sarasota, Florida.



A woman with twins had decided on a "selective termination" of one of her babies who was identified as having down syndrome. However, the doctor made a mistake and aborted the wrong baby. He had killed a perfectly healthy female baby rather than the 'defected' male baby carrying the markers of down syndrome. He lost his license for this and was involuntarily hospitalized because he said he planned suicide.

Any way you look at this - this abortion of the healthy baby was murder. The mother knows it, the hospital staff knows it, the doctor knows it, and above all God knows it. I guarantee that the mother in all aspects regrets her decision. I guarantee that the doctor is filled with guilt (thus wanting suicide). And I guarantee people reading this are angered that this doctor could make such a mistake. For goodness sakes it made me furious. It made the whole city furious - one can only be filled with anger and sadness when they hear and read this story about a healthy baby whose life was wrongly taken in the womb. It was supposed to be the other baby! BUT hold your thought. If a healthy baby's abortion is murder, then every abortion is murder! Are people today with down syndrome any less human than all of us? No. They are amazing people with personalities and gifts special and unique to them like all of us.

Many healthy babies are being aborted today along with babies with even slight signs of defects. The twin baby with signs of down syndrome was NOT the right baby. The healthy twin baby that was aborted was not alone the wrong baby. ALL babies are the wrong baby.

**If you read this and have had an abortion - Please know that there is forgiveness and grace in God through Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior who takes away the sins of the world, including abortion. May Christ minister to your soul and may the church provide love and care for you. If I may point to a past entry (a reminder for Christians who agree with me and words of hopeful comfort to those who need forgiveness).

*First read about this in Al Mohler's Blog

In the Big Inning, God

note: I'm back. Blogging starts again. I have much to write and to share and I am excited. So here we go.



This past weekend, the college campus ministry with which I serve, KCM, held an all-campus KCM softball tournament. Now, KCM stands for Korean-American Campus Missions. You put a bunch of Koreans together for a competition and what you get is a handful of passion. I mean hard raw passion where everyone goes all out. This meant multiple times a week practices, softball gear purchases, and batting cages.

I didn't go to this year's tournament due to various reasons, but I remember last year I went all out. I bought NEW softball gloves - and I mean expensive ones. I bought NEW softball cleats. I bought NEW softballs. I bought NEW socks. We as a ministry bought NEW softball shirts and hats. I went to almost every practice and even went to batting cages on days practices were not scheduled. I gathered people to play catch and practice throwing. My schedule depended on when softball practices were.

At the tournament itself - every team is set on winning. They want to win - who doesn't?! Moments get filled with intense passion as games get close. People cheer and their entire hearts and facilities get involved in the game - GO BRUINS GO BRUINS! LA KCM! (cause we really are the best). And at the end of the last inning one team stands tall as the victor, the champion of the multi-campus KCM Softball Tournament. Done. Trophy in one hand, Glory in the other.

As a freshmen to now, a graduated senior, I often wondered ... what if... what if we trained that hard, not for softball... but for God. I mean, if I can get so passionately fired up for 1 day of softball games, I have to be able to get passionately fired up for an eternity with God. If I can train hours upon hours with discipline for softball, making time for it in the midst of my busy schedule and my studies and work, then why don't I do the same for God?! Am I REALLY too busy for God? Imagine - all of us reading the Bible together, memorizing scripture, and evangelizing, regularly! Yes I care about winning softball games and tournaments, but in light of winning souls - I'd much rather be a soul winner for Christ.

In that perspective I give UCLA KCM Softball a HUGE Congrats for taking 2nd place. A small congrats to our arch-nemesis USC for being the champions (take the small one cause I'm humbling my Bruin pride to say that). <~~obviously a joke - don't take it personally. And here's to all of us "practicing" for God. Let's do this. There was no "Big-Inning" in softball. In the "Big-Inning," GOD. He is before "Big Inning." And with him there will be no last inning.

*Stevo - i jacked your "Big Inning" = Beginning pun from the jubo for this entry.

Today a Great Savior Died

You really didn't think I was going to write about a great teacher dying and then not talk about a great savior dying did ya?

Blog post to come after Good Friday Service today =]

Get ready for this one.