What's Your Story — Mikey
I just want to say that it’s totally God that He brought Mikey into my life and crossed our paths. He spoke at my first book launch for Faithbook of Jesus hosted at North Coast Church.
Then I asked him if I could interview him on camera for a second book project I was doing.
And then that project was canceled.
When I resurfaced and the book got picked up again by a different publisher–I asked Mikey.
And then nothing. All I heard was silence.
I’m so glad Mikey’s story is far from over.
On June 29, 2012 he wrote this on his Facebook page after being silent for many months.
M-1 Nation: As you know, I was taken off the air in March 2012 by 94/9. At the time I was taken off the air I was struggling personally and in a place where I needed to get some help that required in-patient treatment. Now that I’m out of treatment, healthy, and more tan than I’ve been in years, I’m getting back on my feet and I’m anxious to get back on the air somewhere. It’s been the hardest 6 months of my life, and as you know, I’ve been through some tough times in my life. Just know, I’ve been silent because I had to take time for me, Rebecca and my boys. As soon as I find a new place for the Mikey Show, you’ll be the first to know. I still love and support LOB, Jay and my pal for life, Woodsy and ask that you do as well. I trust and pray that all of you will follow me and the Mikey Show to whatever new station picks it up, and give the station, its advertisers and sponsors all the support that M-1 nation is known for. God Bless you guys. Mikey.
Without further ado, Mikey gave me his permission to share the long awaited interview plus footage below.
Most of all I hope his story along with those who shared their story last month–will encourage you to hope again. Stories take time. Lots of time. They are full of ups and downs. Fears and failures.
“It’s not about why this, it’s about what next?” – Pastor Larry Osborne
Long Lost Mikey Interview
If you’re a fan of radio, you might have already heard of him. For the past twenty years he has been the host of The Mikey Show on various radio stations—mostly located in San Diego. If you knew him before Christ, he was more perverse than Howard Stern. After Christ? A completely different person. That’s why he is the perfect fit for this series called “What’s Your Story?” One can only imagine how fearful Mikey was when Christ got a hold of him.
That’s why I’m so excited for you to read and listen to his interview.
My first question to Mikey, “You have a pretty crazy story. I wonder what your initial thought was after you just became a Christian? Were you scared? Excited out of your mind? Both?”
I’m the kind of cat that grew up scared anyway. My story is fearful with a lot of guilt. I had no idea what it [being a Christian] would be like and I had no idea how to be a Christian. When I was 19 years old I had been kicked out of my parents house. I had a friend that was going to San Diego State. I drove to San Diego and stayed with a friend and her boyfriend. There was a church across the street from where she lived. I was so broken. So depressed with what was going on in my life. I was balling my eyes out in one of the pews. The pastor came over and sat down next to me. I can’t remember his name, but I still remember where the church is. He took me into his office and talked to me about Jesus. I don’t remember the details, but remember definitely feeling the Holy Spirit with me. I was sort of exuberant about that for a couple of years. Somewhere around twenty-two to thirty three years old, it was almost like a day; it was gone. From twenty two to thirty three years old, those were the most painful years of my life. I never once used the Bible as an owner’s manual for my life from twenty-two to thirty three. In fact, I didn’t really know anything about Jesus between those years.
“What changed?” I asked Mikey.
I think it was brokenness. I got to the point where I was morally bankrupt. I was doing a shock jock show on the radio. Still to this day it was one of the filthiest shows I’ve ever heard—and that includes Howard Stern. It was a filthy, filthy show. It has achieved a certain level of success and I continued to be promoted through the ranks. I was addicted to alcohol. I was completely empty inside and broken inside. I felt like I had an emotional deformity. One night completely addicted to alcohol, I was lying in bed looking at the ceiling. Tears were just pouring down my eyes. I was crying but I’m not making noise. I knew I was as desperate and low as I could get in my life. My dad had said if I couldn’t quit drinking he wasn’t going to have a relationship with me anymore. At the time that he said it I was resentful and upset that he had done it. Something told me he was right about what he did. I just asked Jesus to take the steering wheel of my life and remold me, reshape me, do something with me. Help me out. I think that was the key for me. I was so broken at that point that there was no choice for me but to be humble.
I had sort of a moron imagery in my mind’s eye of what a Christian looked and acted like. I thought Christian’s were nerds, goody two shoes and snobs. I just had no idea but I knew I wasn’t any of those things. I was tattooed and rough around the edges. I had no idea God planned to use all of that. As I started reading the bible, I started to become more excited. I was growing rapidly and repenting from a lot of sin. As a result, God was speaking to me and I was on fire. It was like riding a rollercoaster for a speed junkie.
“As a result of changing your lifestyle, were you worried it would affect your role in radio?” I asked Mikey.
Absolutely. I knew I couldn’t do what I used to do and I was terrified I wouldn’t have anything to do. I was scared out of my mind. I had no idea what I was going to do day to day because I knew I had to scrap so much filthy stuff. I often thought, “What will I do?” But God worked it out. He just kept giving new ideas and filling me with a new, inspired idea. I was also worried about what my bosses would think and if people would think I was nuts. They didn’t and it worked.
My next question to Mikey was, “How did they first react when you told them?”
With confusion and fear. They trusted that I would work it out. People trusted me. In hindsight, they had no real reason to because what I was suggesting was so….weird. I think it was God moving their hearts to allow His will to be played out. They all trusted me though and knew I would work out the details.
“When/where/how old he was when you started following Christ?”
I believed in Jesus as God from a very young age. I was 5 years old when I first saw my family’s nativity scene and my folks explained who Jesus was. I can remember lying in bed at night and asking Him to comfort me if I was scared and He did. So, in that respect, I believed from a very young age. I had another encounter with Jesus at age 19 when my dad kicked me out of the house for disobedience. I was alone, scared and desperate. I remember being filled with the Holy Spirit at such an incredible level that it brought tears to my eyes. During my 20’s though, I went off and did my own thing, abandoning any sort of obedience to God. I was 35 and started reading the bible. Before that I was a believer.
I asked Mikey, “Can you remember a time early on in your Christian walk when you felt paralyzed with fear? How were you able to overcome it?”
Not paralyzed with fear but fearful. I overcame it by walking through. Really, do we have a choice? I really believe we overcome fear by asking ourselves what power it really has over us. The bible says in Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
My next question, “How have your copying mechanisms changed since you have known God longer? Have you found it’s easy or harder to move forward?”
Prayer. I pray about things more. Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
“What would you say to a 20/30-something who might be struggling with a major life issue and not sure what to do?”
Bible, BIBLE, BIBLE. If you don’t know, Google “where in the bible does it talk about _________?”
“What is your favorite Bible verse?” I asked Mikey.
Whenever I sign autographs at the radio station I always put Proverbs 3:4-6. The reason I put it is I think of it as my desert island verse. If somebody’s going to a desert island and they don’t get to take the whole Bible, but they get to take one verse. What would it be to really make an impact? For me, Proverbs 3:4-6 hit me so hard. It says, “If you want favor from both God and man and a reputation for good judgment and common sense, always trust in the Lord; don’t ever trust yourself. In everything you put God first and He will direct you and crown your efforts with success” (Proverbs 3:4-6 NLT). And in my life when I’ve been able to put aside my selfishness (which is still there), and allow [God] to be first—it’s always bullet proof. But, when I decide to be a backseat driver and grab the steering wheel and say, “No I got this” I mess it up almost every single time.
I asked Mikey, “If you could have one thing written about you that would be said about you for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?”
That I loved God and that I loved others. Truly, this is what God wants. Over and over and over and OVER and over and over, He pounds this into us. Love Him and love others. It’s the gospels at its most basic point.
My next question, “Do you think being a Father has helped you understand God’s love?”
In the context of “I would never do what he did”—I’m not capable. As much, and especially doing it for enemies of mine. He did it for us when we were his enemies, which is incredible to me. If somebody walked up to me in a dark alley and I had my son by the hand, and they put a gun to me and my son and they said “which one of you?” Take me right now. Save him. I don’t have to think about it. But if anybody ever said to me, “What will it take for you to sacrifice your son?” I can’t do it. I could never do it, and he did that for us…when we were his enemy. I can’t even fathom that. That is a whole other level of selfless love. When I hear people at times say, “Would a loving God (fill in the blank)” I think of myself, would a loving God sacrifice his son for you who’s asking this question. Because he did.
The obvious answer, I think, which is just the love He has for us. It comes in times of discipline. When I have to discipline my son, it kills me. I love his little face so much. He’s so benevolent and cute. He is also extraordinarily obedient and so when he is bad, it hurts to correct him. However, my correction proves my love for him, like it says in Hebrews 12:6 “The Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” Being a husband has changed me in that it’s strengthened my obedience to God in that I love my wife even when she doesn’t deserve it.
My last question, “When you start to feel stuck in your spiritual life, what do you do?”
Struggling through fear even at this point in my Christian walk is difficult. The toughest dude in the world, how does he get through it? I think you just do it. Everybody’s not wired the way I am. There’s not a blueprint to safely passage your way through fear. Fear is frightful. But in terms of practically speaking for me it’s the Bible. It’s God’s word. There is a verse in God’s word that deals with every single situation that we face in life. Every single area that we’re willing to give over to the care of God He’ll bless. If I’m willing to give my sex life over to God and treat it how he wants me to treat it, he’ll bless it. If I’m willing to give my finances over to God and treat them how He wants me to treat it—He’ll bless it.
You’re going to hear people say Christianity is a crutch. It is. It is a crutch. What a crutch is something that holds you up when you’re wounded. A crutch is something that when something is broken it gives you aid and helps you to stand up straight and strong. It gives support. What’s your crutch? What do you have that genuinely helps you in a study way holds you up and supernaturally guides you through something. Like people can’t even see my crutch but it’s all around me and living inside me so when I went through hard times. I stay diligent in prayer, I focus on obedience; I try to be of service to others. I wait. I listen. I recognize that there is a season for everything and that I will experience God’s closeness again but that it has everything to do with me. When I am in obedience, it works. When I am sinning, He’s distant. The only thing that satisfies God’s desire for obedience is obedience. God’s faithfulness encourages me to be obedient again.
