Eugene Cho

Imagine if you had only one week to live, or one month, or one year. Seriously, take a few minutes to imagine the mental and emotional anguish.

Imagine if you knew that you were going to only live until you were 33 years old and that your death would come in the most horrific manner imaginable.

As some may know, “Palm Sunday” marks the beginning of Passion Week – the final week of Jesus’ life on earth. As we engage in Passion Week, it’s important to take some time to reflect on the life of Jesus and in particularly, his final week. Some may make the mistake of thinking or assuming that since Jesus was fully God, he didn’t experience human anguish. But Jesus wasn’t just fully God, he chose to be fully human. He was God who assumed humanity. He took upon himself flesh and bone. And in and through this…Jesus understood the fullness of our human condition. Jesus understood hunger, thirst, temptations, anguish, the pain of human betrayal, sadness.  During the final week of Jesus’ life, we see a glimpse of his humanity as he anguished in prayer at Gethsemane.

Before we try to jump to the celebration of His resurrection, we need to take the time to walk with Christ during the last week of his life.

So as I reflect upon the final week of Jesus’ life, it’s only natural for me to ponder what I would do if I knew I only had one week to live.

Don’t we all have what we call a “bucket list?” 

…Stuff that we want to do before experience our physical death?

I do. I have both a mental list and a list of some stuff I’ve started compiling in my notebook. Here’s at least 5 things I’d like to do if I have a week (or month) to live: Read the rest of this entry »

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I didn’t expect writing this post to get so emotional or for this weekend to be so emotional but such has been the case. I’ve been particularly reminded of my immigrant story – my personal journey trying to find my identity in a foreign country when I first came to the United States at age 6. After immigrating to the Land of Opportunity, I soon began to be pounded with questions like “Where are you really from?” and “Why don’t you go back where you came from?”…and of course, the mixture of insults which included words like chinks and gooks and commentary about my beautiful slanty eyes…

It’s been emotional as I’ve been reminded of the courageous story of my parents, the future for my children, and the investment of so many in my life.

It’s been emotional as I’ve been – again and again – reminded of God’s grace.

This weekend, Minhee and I are in Washington DC to attend a banquet to commemorate Korean-American Day in United States history (January 13). Be honest. You didn’t even know there was a Korean-American Day, huh? Read the rest of this entry »

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What would Jesus do with guns?

Would he own guns? Sell guns? Perform miracles and multiply guns for 5000 people? Would he use guns? Would he ask his followers and disciples to own guns? I’m no expert on the topic of Jesus and guns but I do know Jesus and for this Jesus who encouraged people to “turn the other cheek” and gave encouragement to be “peacemakers”,  my guess is that he wouldn’t be a member of NRA.

I know that Jesus has many names but he is also the “Prince of Peace.” Right?

The sad truth is that guns and violence are no laughing matter.

Today only marks a week since the horrific mass shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School at Newton, Connecticut. Even as of today, families are burying children and loved ones. A week later,we still can’t make sense of something so senseless.

When the shootings at Columbine took place in 1999 that left 70 shot and ultimately killing 13 people, I heard some pundits explain that we need not fear and that Columbine was going to be an isolated once-in-a-lifetime incident. Since Columbine, there have been 181 shooting at schools across the United States. 61 mass murders since 1982 and 6 alone here this year including one about 3 miles from our home that left 6 people killed on May 30, 2012.

I don’t care what you say, we have a problem. Read the rest of this entry »

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How do you make sense of something so senseless? That is what I hope to address in this post.

Like all of you, I was initially stunned and shocked to read the news. I was in the middle of an amazing day long church staff retreat and development day when I glanced at the headlines on the internet and couldn’t believe what I had just read.

The shock turned into utter heartache.

These were some of my thoughts over the course of the day via my Twitter account.

Heartbroken.

Heartbroken. Grieving. Devastated. Speechless. Praying for those impacted in the Connecticut school shootings – especially the children. #lordhavemercy

A Time to Mourn & Weep…

Whatever your views, we should all agree on this: We must do all that we can to protect children – your kids, my kids, their kids, & our kids.

There’s a time to argue issues and there’s a time to just grieve, mourn, and weep. Read the rest of this entry »

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Couple years ago, Minhee and I made one of the hardest decisions we’ve made thus far in our marriage and in our calling as parents.

In our hope to honor a conviction of the Holy Spirit to give up a year’s salary, we had begun the two year process of saving, selling, and simplifying in 2007. Our goal was to come up with our then year’s wages of $68,000 – in order to launch a movement called One Day’s Wages. With only a few months left to come up with the total sum, we were a bit short and decided to sublet our home for couple months and asked some friends if we could stay with them on their couches or their guest room.

“One Bag”

Needless to say, it was a very humbling time.

Our instruction for ourselves and our children were very simple:

Each person gets one carry-on bag for their belongings. Read the rest of this entry »

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It’s sad when a person passes away and hardly anyone notices and when done so, it’s without a name and the simple description as a “transient.” This is my simply attempt to humanize and give dignity to a person that so many loved and respected. Yes, he was homeless…but he was more than “a transient.”

This past week, Quest Church and our ministry, The Bridge Care Center, hosted our annual Thanksgiving Dinner. It’s always good to not just host a one-time meal but to do in the context of ongoing relationship building and advocacy through the BCC made it even more meaningful and special. As I’ve shared before…

Relationship are important:

And when you start dehumanizing the poor, you have no desire to build relationships with them. You have no interest in their stories. You have no interest in relationships. You believe stereotypes that have been told about them. You believe the lie that they have nothing to teach us and are incapable of contributing to the larger society.

When we’re not interested in building genuine mutual relationships, you rob people of their dignity and they become projects and not people. They become statistics and not reflections of our selves. How can you love and serve the poor if you don’t even know the poor?

When you dehumanize the poor, you have no desire or investment in their redemption.

More than a “transient” person

But on the morning of the Thanksgiving meal, we heard some unfortunate news. Initially, I read it through the local neighborhood blogs and then the local papers: Read the rest of this entry »

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Friends,

I want to invite you to join Minhee and I at our Annual ODW Gala on Friday, November 30, 2012. Whether you’re in Seattle, the Pacific NW, or anywhere, we’d be honored by your presence and support.

In three years, we have had over 10,000 people from around the world join the ODW movement. In addition, we’ve had numerous partnerships with musicians, artists, companies, and other organizations. Thus far, we’ve invested in 35 different projects around the world including our latest one to provide heart surgeries for 20 Iraqi children and provide 5000+ hours of training for Iraqi medical professionals so that in the future, they can perform these surgeries on their own.

From our inception, ODW has raised over $1.35 million dollars and our pledge is to invest 100% of donations in projects to empower those living in extreme poverty. Because of this pledge, the Annual Gala is the one public event that we ask supporters to donate directly to our operations. The funds raised tonight will help ensure that we are able to continue our mission of alleviating extreme global poverty and continue our commitment to allocating 100% of donations to projects to empower the poor.

Again, we’d be honored if you’d join us for the Gala. Read the rest of this entry »

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During this election season, there are many conversations that are going on. They’re all important. For example, the most recent and last of the three presidential debates centered around foreign policy. Clearly, very important in light of the ongoing global tension and relations. But what has been very troubling for me is the the lack of focus and substantive dialogue around domestic poverty in any of the debates is tragic.

Why are poor Americans invisible?

And if and when it’s discussed, mere numbers and statistics are thrown out…and then on to the next question.

When you break down the numbers, this is the reality.

15% of Americans are living at or near the poverty line.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Thank you.

No person is an island to themselves. There is no such-thing as a self-made person. Someone invested in you and that’s certainly the case with me. Many people invested in me and I hope that I can be a source of encouragement to many as well.

I’ve been blessed by your support, prayers, and encouragements.

I wanted to take a moment to thank you for your prayers for many things but for this post, to thank you for your prayers and support for One Day’s Wages, the organization that my wife and I started almost 3 years ago. Before the organization officially started, I felt like we hit bottom – starting the org was more difficult than I thought, we needed to move out of our home and was couch-surfing for couple months, I had ruptured my Achilles (the other one) and couldn’t afford surgery, and felt my leadership at Quest Church was in disarray.

But God remained faithful. Our friends remained by our side. Strangers – literally – came to our aid.

I just wanted to share a few updates that might encourage you as well – that your prayers and support have not been for naught. Read the rest of this entry »

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