FRIDAY GOODIES

REST IN PEACE 'MCA'

AN INSPIRING, TOUCHING, HUMBLING, GOOSE-BUMP GIVING VIDEO.

A LOVELY LADY, PERUVIAN CHICKEN, MACAROONS, PREACHING AT JMU & BEING HUMBLED

This past Friday, I was invited to speak at James Madison University's (JMU) Christian fellowship, ACF. I have a few connections with JMU - my sister is an alumni and many close friends went there. I have visited JMU more than any other colleges in the area.

Humbling moment in the middle at a peruvian chicken restaurant (ATs) and some macaroons

Back to this weekend. My close friend Angela and I made it safely to JMU (eventhoughshedriveslikeamadwomanwithoutanycareforhumanlifeespeciallyminebutistillloveyou). We were greeted by David Rhee, whom I'm terribly proud of, Caleb and another sister. We ate at the staple of JMU - A&T's. A peruvian chicken joint I always go to on every visit (also as a pit stop on our way to Virginia Tech). What makes A&Ts so special is not the food, but the personality that runs it. Pa (sp?). She is a lively woman, with a small-ish frame but larger than life personality. She has the unique ability to remember everyone's name after just a few visits. I have only seen her maybe 5 or 6 times in my life, but she still remembers me by name and even kept a picture I drew for her (of me, of course on a piece of napkin). Even before I had a speaking engagement at the christian fellowship, months ago I had a burden on my heart to show her some type of appreciation. Why? Because even though she smiles (to me atleast) and jokes around, she is always covered in sweat and smoke from the kitchen. She is always there, without fail. That is dedication. That is perseverence. That is admirable, my friends. I heard that the restaurant "A&T" was named after the two initials of her children. Again, awesome. After we ate that good peruvian chicken and was time for me to speak to the college fellowship, I stopped by at the counter and gave her a present. I had stopped by Shilla Bakery before to pick her up a box of macaroons. It was something small. Worth only $10 (and less because I accidentally dropped the box off the top of my hood - oops :X). I handed it to her saying that this is just a small gesture of my appreciation, as well as many others. She works tirelessly and is such a great impact on the community and the daily lives of many people, including mine. Wish I could of said more, or given more, but on my way out she called me over, leaned over the counter to give me a hug. Then she proceeded to make a face that I haven't seen before on Pa. Her eyebrows furrowed, eyes big and shriveled lips. She had a genuine face of appreciation. My heart was warm and as I type it now, I have the same feeling that the Grinch (one of my favorite movies of all time - the original) had when his heart started to grow at the end of the movie overlooking the town. It's always important to look at others from their perspectives. The workers, the janitors, teachers, parents, friends, cops, people in need, etc etc the list goes on forever. Compassion and passion are two things that are lacking in today's world which results to bullying and many other forms of hate. Try to make it a habit of showing appreciation for those in your life while they can still appreciate it. 

Sorry for the side story, but I have a confession to make about this weekend. Was I fully prepared, yes or no? Both, kinda.

I have thought about and prayed for my speaking engagement at JMU for quite some time now. Especially, since my first engagement had to be postponed since my mom was rushed to the ER hours before I was supposed to speak. This past weekend, my sister was also sent to the ER, but she turned out to be okay and I finally made it to JMU. After the first time being postponed, I thought to myself it was a blessing in disguise because I haven't had enough time to gather my thoughts and prayers. This time around, I vowed it would be different. And it was, sorta. My process of coming up with a sermon or a message isn't to overly prepare. What I mean by that is, not having every word or senetnce conjured up prematurely so there's no room for the Holy Spirit to speak. I have done both and found the latter to be best effective for blessings. Now, this weekend was truly humbling (in the sense of I got smacked in the face humbling). This time though, I under-compensated (I dont know if this is a word) and had too much faith in myself and my speaking abilities. The last few times I spoke at retreats and churches, it went very well. People were blessed and even led to repentance and revival. I know that was all God's doing, but anytime you are distant from God's word and voice, things can get manipulated by flesh. Which happened to me. For the first time in a long time, I wasn't fully comfortable speaking when delivering the message. It wasn't until mid-way through did I feel comfortable because I knew the Holy Spirit was finally speaking and not just my nonsensical ramblings. I apologize to everyone who was there and to ACF for not preparing more through prayer and intimacy with the Lord but praise God that people did get blessed. I was prepared in logistics and even in prayer. But I didn't die to myself fully in order to allow God to work fully. For that, I am sorry. 

Highlight of my night was after the service. After I delivered the message, I just sat in prayer telling God to do "damage control". I just laughed while praying, being reminded once again how great our Father is in the midst of our stupidity (me = exhibit A). Afterwards, people came up to me and started to have conversation. They said they were blessed and that the message reached them on a personal level. It was mostly sisters who approached besides this amazing brother Steve. Not sure why, but it was a blessing to speak to all of you. Also had a great time of fellowship afterwards with some new and old friends at Jimmy Johns. A brother of mine, Gim dot J aka Daniel reached out to me via facebook and David Rhee to talk about some business. But, that time of business advice turn to be a great time of fellowship. Ended the night praying for that brother and got to witness my lil babies be all grown up and be fierce warriors for the kingdom of Heaven. By the way fam, just letting you know, I always support those chasing to bring Heaven here on to earth. People was asking about the shirt at church. remember what we talked about it homie!

It was refreshing to see some of my youth kids from my home church back in the early 2000s grow from elementary school kids to college students now. Amazing. Grateful. Excited to see what more growth will happen in ACF and the campus of JMU. Excited to see God working in all you brother and sisters, individually and collectively. If you ever do choose to have me back, trust I will prayerfully and humbly come into it. Am and will be praying for you all.

Love and Blessings.

PS - Here's the link to their yelp review. A&Ts check it out!
http://www.yelp.com/biz/a-and-t-chicken-harrisonburg 

CAINE'S ARCADE

 

Meet Caine Monroy. He is a regular 9 year old boy from East Los Angeles. He is the most recent craze that's going on in the cyber world. His video [see above] has gone viral with almost a 1 million views views in less than a week - that's almost 2 million eye balls people. I'm not going to explain too much about the story since the video does a great job of telling it, but short film short (see what I did there? no? ok. moving on), Caine has started building his own arcade made out of cardboard boxes from his father's auto shop. The ardcade is fully functional with security, tickets, claw machine, prizes and much more. With the help of a fortunate filmmaker who happened to stumble upon his father's old auto shop, his story has spread to millions of people all over. 

MORAL OF THIS STORY?

Not going to lie, I was tearing up in the heart and maybe near the eye area while watching this in my office. Why? Maybe it was the pure innocent jubilation of Caine when proudly working on his creation. Maybe it's his diligence and dedication upon his creativity to continue to improve his arcade (see the calculator and the "check button" as a security measure in the video - seriously, way too cute). Maybe it's his father unrelenting support for his son and never impeding in his son's pursuit of his goal. The way I see it is that we can learn a lot from Caine, yes, but the father's role in this is ESSENTIAL. It makes my heart warm to see how supportive and how passionate the father was for his son, Caine. I'm grateful for the filmmaker to share Caine's story and to even show Caine and the father support by bringing out hundreds of people to the arcade. Hope this inspires more people to think outside of the (cardboard) box. Hope this inspires fathers to be better fathers and to support their children instead of suppressing. Love, what a story huh?

MOM CHOOSES UNBORN OVER CHEMO/OWN LIFE & LOTTO WINNERS WHO DESERVED TO WIN

There's a lot of wrong in this world. A lot of my posts on facebook and twitter kind of highlight that in the hopes to have a call to action by the readers, including myself. Part of my full-time job is to browse the internet and while I browse the internet I read a lot of articles about deaths, murders, injustices and it saddens me to see two things A)the fact these tragedies are happening at an alarming high rate and B)we as the general public have become numb to it. There will be many more times where I'll speak on ways to improve our communities and those lives around us by highlighting different tragedies to learn from, but today I want to provide you with two articles that brought a little sunlight into a world that's full of darkness.

MARYLAND SCHOOL WORKERS WIN MEGAMILLIONS

 Even though I didn't win (probably because I didn't enter), I'm glad these three friends did.

"One Maryland winner is a special education teacher, one is an elementary school teacher and the third is a school administrator. All three said they plan to continue to work, noting that they were committed to their students, Martino said.

"One said 'I can't give up on my kids," he said."

For full article click here or the image below

 

TEEN MOM DIES AFTER FORGOING CHEMO FOR BABY

A bittersweet end to this story but I am inspired by the love that this 17 year old girl had for her unborn child. Gives me hope for the coming generation. We can learn a lot of how to value life from Jenni Lake. God bless you and your family

"Seventeen-year-old Jenni Lake had a difficult decision: Battle brain cancer or forgo chemotherapy in order to save the life of her unborn child. The Pocatello, Idaho, teen chose the latter and died of the disease just two weeks after her son was born,according to affiliate KIFI.

Lake, who gave birth November 9, opted to end her chemo once she learned of her pregnancy. Without the treatment, the cancer grew. She died November 22, a little more than a year after her cancer fight began. Doctors had diagnosed her with Grade 3 brain cancer in October 2010 and gave her only two years to live.

Lake’s newborn is being raised by her boyfriend, with the help of her family. In an emotional interview, Lake’s mother said she wished she could tell her daughter how much she loved her.

“I want Jenni here to take care of him,” Diana Phillips said."

Click her for full article & video or the picture below

I KNOW WHAT I'D DO IF I WON $540 MIL

What would you do if you won $540 million dollars?

Just so it's clear, it's $540,000,000. That's alot of zeros. Let's just say, if taxes took half, you're still left with $270 million. How would you spend it? Here's how I would spend it, realistically. 

Note: Please do not ask how I came up with these amounts. I'm just a genius. Let it slide ;)
Note 2: I rushed this entry so please excuse any typos and grammatical error. I'm still at work. Don't tell my bosses. Sh. 

1. Buy parents home. Approx: $1.3 million (paid in cash, homie)

Not a crazy big home because they wouldn’t want or need one. Give them a garden to do what they do. Have a room dedicated for a gym since they somewhat like to work out semi-ish. Maybe a pool, spa and a gazebo. Will definitely have the fridge stocked with ice cream for the mother and have baked goods from Shilla Bakery (I’ll hire someone to delivery bread to them every day, yes, being a millionaire I can do that now). A HD TV with tons of Korean movies in blu-ray and hundreds of Korean channels for their viewing pleasure. Also a state of the art stove top so they can have cookouts with family and friends on a regular.

2. Grandparents. Approx: $100k

I wouldn’t buy them a home because I think they enjoy their apartment complex and their neighbors, BUT I’d definitely upgrade their standard of living. To start off, I’d buy them an HD TV not for luxury purposes but for necessity. Let’s be real, they like 70-80, they can’t see like they used to, or hear haha. I’d give them a TV and the size will be based on their age – one inch per year, so it’d be a 70-80 inch TV ;) Same situation with parents, all Korean everything. My grandma has the sweetest tooth as well, so that Shilla Bakery delivery will have to come to their apartment as well. I’d pay for all their medical bills and have the doctors come to THEM and not the other way around. Pay for the dentistry work, buy them some new hips and whatever else. My grandpa likes tennis so maybe enroll him in a tennis program for the elders as well. Oh and have sushi/fresh fish delivered to them on a weekly basis since they love it so much. It’d be limitless what I’d do for them.

3. Buy car for extra car for me (im not greedy, read below!), dad, sister. Approx: $2.5 million

I’d buy a car for my mom and dad, since they are sharing one now and it’s a weak car. Id buy my dad either a sports car or a SUV since hes a manly man. Maybe an old car so he can work on it and I can join him and we can do manly stuff (tap into my inner Tim the Toolman Taylor – arghhh!). I’d pay off my sisters car, she still needs a humble car by the way she drives hahhaha. Maybe buy her foam or bubble wrap for her car so she can bounce around the highways as she pleases J I’d buy myself an SUV and a lexus or audi. Why you ask? If you don’t know I have tons of kids who I love and cherish (not blood of course) . The lexus or audi would be more for business trips and such. Gotta do that corporate thing you know. But also learning the lesson of what’s necessary and what’s excess. So bare with me people! Haha

4. Take family to vacation tour. You heard me, tour. Approx: $1 million

Let me get somewhat serious for a second. My family (parents) have not taken a vacation since coming to the United States in 1989. They work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week people. That’s 72 hour work weeks. Insane. Never took a vacation. Sometimes working on Sundays. Without a complaint. And still provided for me and my sister. They are my heroes. Sorry Batman (see previous post). With that said, I’d take them to wherever they wanted. California to visit family. Korea to visit family. Hawaii, because I want to go. Cancun. Paris. Wherever. They deserve it more than anyone else I know in my life. 

5. Helping Hands & GET clothing: Approx: $1 million

Some of you may or may not know, but I have started a non-profit called Helping Hands a couple years back. We’ve done lots of shows, raised lots of money and inspired people. Amen. But secret is, we’re not “official” yet (I have no idea why I put quotations around official, because its actually true, anyway I digress). So I would invest my money to start it, and fully fund myself, staff, office, equipment in order to seek revival and raise up generations of history makers. Yes!

Also have in the roots, a clothing company. Can’t speak too much about it, but I’d use the money to hire designers, get all the equipment, branding, marketing, etc to use this shirt company to bring hope and joy to the less fortunate (starting from the school in Africa – lets do this carol!)

6.  Helping Hands Center & Prayer rooms. Approx: $3 million

Helping Hands center will  be a retreat center, a rec center (YMCA style) and a refuge for homeless people, victims of abuse, etc. A place to be safe and be in the care of loving people. I’d hire full time workers so the relations would be pure and genuine and of love. We’d have homeless people come off the street and learn real life skills (computer, math, hygiene, interview skills) to prepare them but also teach them the gospel to equip them to be missionaries. They don’t have homes, so nothing to leave behind to do God’s work, right?

I’d instill prayer rooms  all over NOVA. Change this area with prayers and have full time intercessors and workers to plant the seed and see God send revival.

7. Plant wells, missionaries, churches and schools in as many places as possible. Approx: $100 mil

I’d honestly spend most of my money to bring hope and love to people all around the world. It’ll take me weeks to list all the needs of this world. From medical, physical, spiritual, emotional – there’s a lot of messed up stuff going on folks. What can we do? Pray, for sure. Let’s not make light of prayer. Prayer > Money all day. But through the tangibles, it allows us to be accepted and received by certain people as the bridge to speak the gospel. Want to see wells be planted everywhere for clean water (big ups to all those orgs that do that now, so blessed by you). Build schools and churches so young people do not have to have no future and go into trafficking. So much to do, but make DIRECT connections to these places so 0% goes to under nonsensical crap such as “overhead”.

Also I’d start a scholarship program to send young people to places to do God’s work. Not necessarily overseas for I want to see the misconception that mission HAS to be outside of the US. But want to see young people realize their identity in the Lord and move powerfully in the Spirit. 

8. Pay off any existing bills and help any loved ones in financial hardship and plan for my future joe jr.s, joey, joe the second, johanna, joejina and joegernat. Yes, those are my kids names im considering. The wife has to be the most understanding person in the world.

JOE'S TOTAL COST: $108 MILLION

These are things that have been on my heart for awhile and I plan to make these happens by the grace of God. Maybe some additions/subtractions here and there but I believe the Lord wants those to happen. So to whomever wins the $540  million, HOLLLLLLLA!

HOW WOULD YOU SPEND $540 MILLION?
BEST ANSWER WINS $500K IF I WIN ;)