making my faith my own + a personal movie trailer
A David Cho Exclusive
Welcome to Apple Hair!
Usually, in the CANON, I explore creating a fictional universe with hopes that you’ll follow along with your own world. Every fourth week, I’m releasing an AU story or an exclusive with one of the members of Apple Hair. This time, we have an entry from David Cho, the Korean American member of the boy band.
Want to read Apple Hair, the boy band fantasy novel, from the very beginning? You can start here! Apple Hair is a fictional, Asian American boy band from Hawaii.
Welcome to the newsletter, and I’m excited to share this exclusive with you.
Hey everyone! I’m David Cho, the Korean member of Apple Hair and the one who likes Instagram poetry and mobile gaming. You may or may not know this, but they call me the “Christian” of the group. I’m the only one who goes to church regularly, and I’ve been a Christian since I was a little kid, since I was able to understand and utter the sinner’s prayer.
I want to share a little bit about how I made my faith my own.
Going to church every Sunday, I always felt comfortable there. And maybe it was a matter of finding that comfort, which is why I became so involved. I started out cleaning the bathroom, then singing in the choir. I set up chairs before the services and began to know almost everyone in the church by name—quite a feat when hundreds usually come to each of the services. I guess you can call it becoming fully submerged, until the only place I knew to go was the church, where I knew how to swim in the waters many people might call murky.
My parents definitely had a view on where my faith should go. I won’t go into details about my parents, because it’s just so complicated, but I am thankful for them for teaching me about God at such a young age. They always had one rule in the house: play worship music when getting ready. I began to memorize these songs. I guess that’s where my love for music began.
But making my faith real? That was a long journey. But it started with a new year’s resolution. I was fourteen that year.
Have you ever heard of a manifestation movie? I want to give a shoutout to Michelle Phan, the OG beauty YouTuber, for bringing this more to the public. I know it sounds a bit non-Christian, but bear with me.
I call this technique by a different name—a personal movie trailer—a one to two minute clip with pictures, video, music, and text. You’re meant to make this for the new year, listing affirmations about yourself along with your goals for the year. You can choose music that will remind you of your identity and goals. By watching this video before you go to bed, you remind yourself of your purpose and you can refocus.
Anyway, when I initially made this personal movie trailer, the first thing I wrote besides “I am David Cho” was “I am a Christian, and this year, I will make my faith my own.”
Watching the video before I went to bed every night—the clip included some anime visuals from my favorite phone games, along with the opening of “Stand By Me” by Florence + The Machine for the Final Fantasy XV soundtrack—I felt a little bit weird. Would this movie trailer really work for me? Would I really draw closer to God? It was such an abstract concept that I didn’t know whether I was just lost, wading through the swamp of wandering souls.
But one day in May, after watching my trailer the night before, I woke up and went to church. During worship, we sang a song called “Goodness of God.” And I felt it, all of his goodness and love, filling me up as if I was standing under a warm waterfall, bathing in so much aureate light.
After I returned home from service, I spent a long time in bed. I know that making my faith my own is a process, a lifelong one, but that day I made the decision—This is what I believe. And this is completely my own. Not my parents’. Not my pastors’. But mine.
Just like the other boys of Apple Hair, I’m on my journey to become a singer. But I also hope to share my faith on the stage one day. And please pray for me as I continue to share my testimony with the other members?
I have much more to share—this won’t be the last time I talk about my faith.
Much love,
David Cho
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As a monthly bonus for my paid subscribers, here is early access to Onsen Boys! This is chapter three of the Japan AU featuring Seiya and David.