HOW IT STARTED
The role of God in Minh's life and artistry...in his own words.
"Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither." - C.S. Lewis
I was 15 when I had the most incredible experience of my life. Prior to that, I was always a thinker (and still am). I was born in Vietnam. When I was little, I was always in my own little world. Before the age of 9, I was writing poems about things I was thinking about. I came to the U.S. with my family when I was 9 and left my poems in Vietnam. When I was about 12, I was thinking a lot about death and what would take place after. And I heard some people tell me about the end of the world. I was scared to say the least. I remember laying in my bed and saying, "God, save me." I said that without knowing if there was a God or who God is. I was just scared. Aside from that prayer, I also remember asking God to make me a famous singer. Back then, I was listening to a lot of Michael Jackson and, believe it or not, Michael Bolton.
In middle school, I joined choir and did pretty well in that. I even wrote a song that the school's choir ended up performing during the Christmas concert. However, when I got around to 9th grade, I started slipping. I started smoking weed (marijuana) with friends and doing stupid stuff. When my close friend got sent away, I started hanging with another group of guys. At that point, I started smoking even more and got into drug dealing. I was 14. I dealt drugs for about a year with a hood gang where I lived.
The turning point took place when a friend of mine gave me fake crack cocaine to sell without telling me it was fake. After I had sold some, I left the corner to go buy weed. When I got back, I saw the person I sold it to yelling and screaming at the other guys. She had this big guy with her. She had apparently realized it was fake and came back. I went back to my house another way so that they didn't see me. People normally got shot for selling fake crack.
To be safe, I had to stay off the streets for a while. I was 15 by now. I started hanging out and playing basketball with an old 6th grade friend. His whole family went to church and his mom invited me to come with them. So I did. The first Sunday I went, nothing happened. The second Sunday I went, I had an encounter with God that forever changed my life. From that day forward, I trusted Jesus Christ with my life. I have learned more about life, love, and God in pursuing a personal relationship with Jesus and following His teachings than anything else in this world.
Since then, I've been involved in many things - including ministry. I've also found myself struggling with many things internally and externally. Through it all, God has helped me make progress and taught me many things. I never made it to college. I was not so great in high school. And I had plenty of personal flaws (still have some).
To make it, I did something pretty simple. I have asked God to teach me just about everything - including how to play the keyboard and sing, how to produce music, how to publicly speak, and how to start and run businesses. There's a great deal of my life and artistry that is influenced by my personal faith and relationship with God. While I create music that expresses life and love, I also take time to write my personal songs to God and go around to tell people about God's love and how they can know Him like I have known Him.
Today, I am still a work in progress. And the only reason I'm still standing is because of God's mercy, grace, and love - so unconditional, so faithful, so true! I certainly did not and will never deserve anything good from God or out of this life. I depend on God's love and mercy...daily. His love has never failed me.
