mickey mouse club

Ask Me Anything.

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:53:23 -0400

A Son (Del Augusta's Blog): 10 GUYS EVERY CHRISTIAN WOMAN MUST AVOID

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 03:13:07 -0400

A Son (Del Augusta's Blog): 10 GUYS EVERY CHRISTIAN WOMAN MUST AVOID:

So I was hanging out with some christian guys in Davis, CA and I thought I would never want my daughters to date these guys. hahahahah. So I thought, if I could tell my daughters the 10 guys I want her never to date, here’s what it would be. I’ll probably lose guy points for this but please share…

Great blog. Fun article.

“The Holy Spirit is in me for my sake; but He’s upon me for your sake.” - Bill...

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:22:00 -0400

“The Holy Spirit is in me for my sake; but He’s upon me for your sake.” - Bill Johnson

I love reflecting on the promises of God. In fact, I spend a lot of time remembering the things God has promised me through the Bible and through the words people have spoken over my life. I spend a lot of time listening for or waiting to discover more promises He has yet to speak over me. I spend even more time praying to take possession of His promises through faith. His promises are good, but I had a revelation today that we need to have the right perspective on why God’s promises are so important for us and the world around us.

It’s easy to adopt a self-centered theology of God. We can almost get to a place where we command God for our good and our benefit. Sometimes, we treat God as if He exists for the sole purpose of blessing us. I’m not saying it’s wrong to be jealous to desire and possess the promises that He has for us. But we have to see the grander picture of why God chooses to bless us so extravagantly.

I think of God’s promise for Abraham. God promised that He would make Abraham a “father of many nations;” that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand in the sea. First and foremost, God’s promise was a reflection of His love and favor for Abraham. His heart was to prosper and bless His son. God’s promises reflect the love and goodness He has for us as His children. Just like any good father, He longs to lavish us with his favor and blessing as a reflection of His love for us.

But here’s the second component of God’s promises. God’s promise of blessing for Abraham didn’t end with Abraham. His promise released a blessing from him to the generation after to the generation after him and so forth. His blessing extended far beyond Abraham and made its way throughout the generations that followed him. God’s promises for us aren’t exclusively for us. He fully intends that the blessings He releases in our lives make its way throughout the generations that follow us.

There are dangers when we accept one without the other. If we exclusively believe that His promises exist to prosper us, we lose sight of the grander potential of His blessings. One starts believing that life is all about God blessing me and only me. The fulfillment of His promises end with us and we have a narrow view of the world and God’s desire for it. On the other end, if we exclusively believe that God’s promises for us are simply a means to bless the generations after us, we lose perspective of the love and favor that flow from His heart as a Father. We cut ourselves off from the deep and intimate nature of His blessings. We must understand both.

I want to be one who is jealous for the promises of God, not just for my sake but for the sake of those around me and after me. I’m excited for the fulfillment of His promises because they are a reflection of His love for me. But I’m even more excited to see how His love for me will bless the world around me. I know He loves me. I long to see the world blessed as a result of it.

BUY FTK!

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 21:38:35 -0400

BUY FTK!:

It’s been two and a half years. Finally, I release my sophomore album, FTK. Enjoy!

wise words from the fresh prince

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 13:07:31 -0500

“Remember, danger is very real. But fear is a choice.”

Scientologist or not, Will Smith speaks some powerful words in the trailer for his upcoming movie, After Earth. We can’t always control the circumstances that face us, but we always have a choice in how we decide to face them. Fear, anxiety, discouragement, depression, hopelessness, etc, are always a choice. They are responses to external circumstances. What we have to understand is that external circumstances have no power in affecting our internal condition unless we let them. For most of us, fear, anxiety, etc., have become our default response to difficult circumstances. What we need to do is choose courage, choose encouragement, choose peace in the face of difficulties. The more we make those decisions, the more we program those things to be our default responses. One of the greatest rights God’s given us is the power to choose. Let’s exercise it wisely.

After Earth Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUcNyzu4IdM

LOL so good.

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 17:55:46 -0500

LOL so good.

lovers vs. workers

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 19:05:43 -0500

Today was one of those days at work. I looked at my to-do list and started blanking out, staring into the megapixels between each word. I finally mustered up enough energy to start my work but fizzled out within 15 minutes. There was no joy, no passion, no desire to do anything I was doing. I felt like a prisoner in the jail cell of my office, looking out the window into the free world. It doesn’t help that a school occupies our lower level, so whenever I looked out, I saw children running, laughing, and playing in the sunlight. It was just one of those days at work where I would rather have been doing anything else. By the way, did I mention I work fulltime at a church?

I began thinking to myself, “I gotta remedy this.” I put my earphones in and isolated myself from everyone around me and started going at it. Nothing. I began trying to recapture the vision for why I was doing what I was doing. Nothing. I took lunch to regather myself and come back into the office refreshed for work. Nothing. Nothing was working. And the day was wasting away quickly. I felt lifeless. Dead.

Finally, something stirred in my heart. It was as if I could’ve started weeping right there in the middle of my office. I felt God. He said, “Stop what you’re doing, get up, grab the guitar, worship.” So I got up, grabbed the guitar, and walked into the other room to begin worshipping (one of the benefits of working at the church fulltime).

As I began worshipping, I felt my hardened heart grow tender. I felt myself being filled with joy. Affection began to well up in my heart. I felt alive again. It was as if in those 15 minutes, God made up for me the hours of a miserable, wasted day and transformed it into a beautiful, purpose-filled one. My gaze was set back upon my love, my reason for being, and my reason for doing anything.

“Lovers will always outwork workers.” I love that quote. I didn’t realize how much I had been working as a worker these past few days. I always talk about how having vision is crucial. If you don’t have vision for something, you’ll inevitably fail at accomplishing anything. But I realize, certain kinds of vision are not enough. Envisioning the growth of your ministry is not enough. Envisioning the countless salvations that would result out of your work is not enough. The only vision that will keep you going is the vision of the one you love. They say the most dangerous people in the world are those who are in love. They’ll do anything! Love will always outlast ambition. Take your focus off of why you do what you do and fix it on who you do it for.

I definitely lost some time getting to this place. Worshipping, writing this blog, etc. But as a lover I can get more done in two hours than I ever could as a worker in five. Be reminded today of your love and stir your affections for Him!

Elegance. Beauty. Art. Dance.3.31.13 | FTK

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 00:20:57 -0500

Elegance. Beauty. Art. Dance.

3.31.13 | FTK

failure is always an option

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 19:11:25 -0500

“When doubt seeps in, you got two roads. You can take either road. They’ll tell you failure is not an option. That is ridiculous! Failure is always an option. Failure is the most readily available option at all times… but it’s a choice. You can choose to fail or you can choose to succeed.”

- Chael Sonnen (A UFC fighter I previously could not stand)

created to be creative

Sat, 26 Jan 2013 14:44:30 -0500

One of my biggest pet peeves is when people say, “I’m not very creative.” Whenever I hear that, I just want to throw down some holy slappage. It stands to reason that if we were made in the image of God and if His Spirit dwells in us, then we bear the image and the Spirit of the most creative being in the universe. I think about Adam in the Garden of Eden and how creative he must’ve been. He had the enormous task of naming every single animal in the world. And he didn’t start assigning numbers like “dog 2” or “fish 5” like most of us would do. He uniquely named each and every animal, one by one. He tapped into the creativity that was part of his nature as a creation of God.

No matter what field you are in, what hobbies you have, whatever you do, creativity is necessary. Doctors, lawyers, teachers, entrepreneurs all need creativity to thrive. Some of the deadliest strains of viruses have been neutralized because scientists decided to think outside of the box and try unconventional things. The Church cannot afford to be apathetic in this area. There is a world out there that’s releasing creativity and innovation that’s shaping every aspect of culture. The Church must tap into her creativity.

The difference between “creative” people and “not creative” people is that creative people intentionally pursue creativity. People assume creativity flows out naturally and easily for those who are creative. Not true. Creative people simply have learned to work at tapping into the creative potential buried inside of them. Each of us have a vast, never-ending well of creativity to draw from inside of us. But only those who are willing to work at tapping into that well will be able to draw from it.

It’s not easy. There will be moments when you feel uninspired, unfruitful. But if you choose to push through and constantly posture yourself for inspiration, you will tap into a goldmine of creativity. You were created to be creative. Pursue creativity and you will surely find it inside of you.

it's not by zeal

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 15:27:00 -0500

I’ve seen many zealous believers in my life. Maybe it’s a Korean thing. Their lives were characterized by continual striving, reaching to fulfill the commands of the Lord. These believers often found great success in their respective ministries. But what stood out to me the most about them was their eyes. I could see they were weary. While their zeal and ferver were always an admirable quality to me, I witnessed the majority of them crash and burn. I think this created a paradoxical belief in me that zeal is great, but it’ll destroy you. So even though I went through seasons where I was “zealous” for God, I always held a portion of myself back with the fear of completely burning out.

I started developing this distasteful view of people who I characterized as being overly-zealous. You know what kind of person I’m talking about. They scream the loudest during prayer. They jump the highest during praise. They spiritualize every thing and refuse to engage in the patterns of this world to set themselves apart for the Lord. What’s their favorite TV show? TV shows?? Ain’t nobody got time for that. They’re busy praying and seeking the face of God. I began labeling such people as legalistic. I wanted never to be that extreme because at the heart of it, I felt they were just burning themselves out.

The Church has made burnout such a huge thing to be feared, that most believers are rendered impotent by the thought of it. We have a generation that’s longing to run hard after God, but because of their experience with people who’ve been burned out, or their own personal experience of it, they have yet to take off. And rightly so! Who’d want to burn just to fizzle out? Why be zealous when your eventual fate is the extinguishing of fire and passion?

For the past two years, God’s been correcting my thinking. I’ve met people who are zealous and spiritually fervent, who have been burning hard after God for their whole lives. I don’t see weariness in their eyes. I see joy and strength. They’ve proven to me that zeal was never meant to be destructive. Ferver was never meant to fizzle you out. What makes them different from all the other zealous believers I’ve known? Pursuit is not the foundation of their lives. They have an understanding that it was God who pursued them, not the other way around. Zeal is built upon the foundation of unmerited favor, upon grace. They need not strive hard to obtain anything they haven’t already received freely from God. They’re freely given all things in Christ. They never have to work for any of it.

It’s from this foundation of grace where true zeal can be built. Zeal with no foundation of grace is a fire destined to sizzle out. We don’t strive to obtain favor. We strive because of the favor we’ve already obtained. We scream the loudest in prayer not to be heard, but because we’re confident He’s already moving. We jump the highest in praise not to reach the Heavens, but because we’re filled with joy, knowing that Heaven has been released here on earth by His Spirit. We abstain from worldly things not to obtain higher status with God, but because we love Him so much and He’s our sole desire above anything else.

God is raising up an army of zealous warriors in this hour who are first and foremost sons and daughters. Their zeal burns from a place of the Father’s grace. The fire of His love consumes them and their fire never burns out. They never grow weary for the joy of the Lord is their strength. Love consumes their actions. I used to criticize such people until God rooted me in His grace and set me ablaze. Now I’m one of the burning fanatics I used to criticize.

“Zeal for Your house consumes me.” - Ps. 69:9

Ladies and Gentlemen, introducing Sliver Pizzeria in Berkeley,...

Sun, 13 Jan 2013 00:02:20 -0500

Ladies and Gentlemen, introducing Sliver Pizzeria in Berkeley, CA. Proceeds go towards the ending of human trafficking in our time! And good food too. #sliver #instagood #pizza #endingslavery

free-dumb

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 14:22:12 -0500

I grew up attending an extremely conservative Christian school. While I fully appreciate the impact this school had on my life, there were some things that to me were off. You wouldn’t believe some of the experiences I had there. I remember one time in 5th grade, I brought a burned CD of mp3’s to our class party. I had no idea pirating music was illegal at the time, so I was surprised when my teacher confiscated the CD and sent me to the principal’s office. There was fear running through every fiber in my body as I sat in that dim office, waiting for the principal to come and discipline me. She walked in, sat down, and glared at me intensely. I never could’ve anticipated what she did next. She took out the CD I had brought, held it in front of my face, and snapped it into pieces! I was shocked. What she said shocked me even more. ”You’re Satan’s little helper!” I was speechless. What? I remember that was a defining moment for me in developing a hatred towards the religious spirit. Something about that moment developed a fear in me of becoming so religious that I’d go so far as nearly traumatizing a child for his ignorance.

While I do believe the religious spirit is a wicked, demonic force, aiming to separate us from truly loving God, I feel that there’s this fear of the religious spirit in the body of Christ that produces a false understanding of what true freedom is. There was a period during my college years when I walked with this false understanding of freedom. I wildly flaunted my freedom so that I wouldn’t be perceived as religious. I’d drink beer and wine, pray with my eyes open (this was a definite no-no at my church growing up), act obnoxious and mock believers who I saw as religious. What I was doing wasn’t so much what was wrong, but the attitude in which I did them was. I’d do things just because I could. I’d extravagantly exercise my freedom to show people I had it.

The worst part of this misunderstanding of freedom was that I had a constant judging spirit. Whenever I saw people who were passionate and zealous for pursuing God, I’d scoff at them and write them off as being religious or legalistic. People who set prayer schedules, who began bible reading programs, who would read authors like John MacArthur and engage in the exegesis of the Word, used to really annoy me. I’d think, they don’t know true freedom like I do! The truth was, my false understanding of freedom was actually a form of bondage in itself.

In Exodus 9:1, Moses says to Pharaoh, “Let my people go, so that they may worship me.” I’ve been realizing lately that freedom wasn’t purchased so we could do whatever the hell we want. We’ve been set free for the purpose of worship. Not as an obligation, but as a privilege. The greatest priority for freedom from bondage is a heart of true worship. All bondage does is hinder us from that.

God longs for His people to worship Him endlessly because He knows that what we behold, we ultimately become like. If you behold Justin Bieber long enough, you’ll start talking like him, dressing like him, and even singing like him. Worship does more than just minister to the heart of God. It also transforms us more and more into His likeness. Bondage hinders this process! Freedom is the solution. Make no mistake, God didn’t buy your freedom so you could live a self-indulgent life apart from Him. He didn’t set you free so you could enjoy your wine. He didn’t set you free so you could walk free of control from authority. He set you free so you can worship and behold Him. He knows it’s the best thing for us.

We have dumbed down the true purpose of freedom. I call it free-dumb. It’s for freedom Christ has set us free. But we aren’t yet fully free until we use that freedom to worship Him. It’s what we were made for. It’s what we’ll be doing all eternity long. You’ve been set free. Are you walking in the true purpose of your freedom?

the most important ministry

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 13:59:51 -0500

Our primary ministry isn’t the ministry of evangelism, healing, deliverance, teaching, preaching, outreach, etc. Our primary ministry should be the ministry of ministering to the Lord. Worshipping Him in a manner befitting of all He deserves should be our greatest desire. The practice of lavishing extravagant praise upon our King is a ministry that’s lost its importance in our generation. If we haven’t set this ministry as our priority, every other thing we do loses its true value and worth. Worship is of the utmost importance in our life of ministry. Our ministry to Him deserves our greatest attention.

It's Merry Christmas, Not Happy Holidays

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 19:18:38 -0500

Merry Christmas! Check out the brand new holiday track and download it for free right here: http://mickeycho.com/track/its-merry-christmas-not-happy-holidays

me hungy?

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 15:30:36 -0500

Physical activity has been known to increase your appetite. I remember way back in the day when I used to hit up the gym consistently, I would get home with a tremendous appetite. I would be able to scarf down way more food than I normally could. My body needed the extra energy. My body made room for more. If I wasn’t exercising, my body wouldn’t feel the need to make room for more energy. My appetite wouldn’t be as great.

If physical activity increases your physical appetite, then spiritual activity must increase your spiritual appetite. Working out your faith through prayer, worship, evangelism, intercession, and other things of the Spirit increase your hunger for more. The problem is that most of us eat and refuse to be active. We would quickly learn that if we were more active in the Spirit, we’d find our appetite for the things of the Spirit increasing more and more. Our lives would demand more room for Him.

Photo

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 14:40:45 -0500

I met these two on a ferry ride back to SF from Saulsalito....

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 13:44:34 -0500

I met these two on a ferry ride back to SF from Saulsalito. They turned out to be actors, starring in many independent films and 80’s television shows like Murder She Wrote. And they just turned out to be super photogenic.

Hey, I just met you…

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 14:34:43 -0500

Hey, I just met you…

stewarding words

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 14:02:22 -0500

Stewarding the prophetic words God’s given you is one of the most refreshing and strengthening things you could do. Recollecting God’s promises over your life help hone your vision in every season. I went through my 2010-2011 journal last night, reading over the promises that were spoken over my life. It’s amazing to see the words that have come to pass and the words that are in the process of physically manifesting right now. I got a new perspective of the season I’m in.

Steward your prophecies! Right now, I’m regurgitating some of the words spoken over me by Pastor Erin Lee of New Philadelphia Church in Seoul, Korea, way back in 2010. It’s blowing my mind. I’m reading through the words my pastor, Benjamin Robinson, spoke over me all throughout last year. It’s blowing my mind. We always ask for more, but have we stewarded that which God already released to us?