I have hit 100 posts!

 

100 posts

I just realised I have hit my 100th post! That calls for some sort of celebration don't you think? Well, it has certainly been an interesting blogging journey for myself. I started blogging because I thought I had something to offer the bigger internet community apart from the usual write about my life, complain about how tiring school or work is, everyone hates me, i just want to die kind of blog.

I started wanting to be able to inspire people in a positive way with my reflections as I journey through life. I'm not sure if I managed to do that. I know there were periods where I completely stopped writing. It wasn't because I had nothing to write, rather I had so much to say, but could not find the time or the best way to put it down on the blog.

You would have realised by now that I often put up posts under the Extraordinary Discoveries tag. That's me. I believe life should be one huge extraordinary discovery. And everyone who is willing to let me show you how that is possible for you too is welcomed to join me on this incredible journey.

My interest in photography is really a reflection, or rather a personal expression of this journey I am on. In particular I take a lot of people shots and landscape shots. Nature and people, to me, are evidence of how beautiful and unique God has made this world. Some people ask why I like to take "ugly shots" of them. (I call them "candid shots".) Truth is, I never saw them as ugly.

I choose to celebrate the simple things we enjoy as humans. How we "attack" a chilli crab with reckless abandonment, how we laugh without a care for the world (and in many instances, how we look), how a certain glance or look show affection, how we like to do crazy things to amuse ourselves but yet hope it never gets captured on camera and replayed for others to see. People never quite seem to understand this. The things I capture on digital film are in reality how they are. They are uniquely you and hence to me, can only mean beautiful. When we understand this, then we are free to be who we are - Extraordinary people capable of living extraordinary lives.

So I continue to blog. Though a little more specifically now. I hope this blog could reach a wider audience and inspire them towards greatness. I want to take time to share with you readers, the things I have involved myself in - the projects that I am dreaming of, the causes I am fighting for, the lessons learnt, the battles fought. I will continue to do so with pictures and personal reflections cos these are my modes of expression that I am most comfortable with. On the side, you will still see the funny Youtube videos I chance upon and other extraordinary stuff.

In thoughts: My pastor was speaking to me about the issue of mentoring today. He was at this talk where the speaker shared that Singapore as a nation can and needs to grow in the area of mentoring. We need to develop a stronger culture of mentoring in everything we do. That sparked of something in me. I have been a youth leader in church for 12 years now. In recent years, I have had the opportunity to lead and influence (in various capacities), youths in other arenas too, especially community work. I have learnt much through my experiences and I think some of these learning might help encourage those who are in a similar journey (youth work).

I am thus in preparation to start another blog where I will share my own experiences and learning these past 12 years doing youth work in church. Obviously it will be from a Christian perspective as I see no other way that is possible or even thinkable. I will also include reflections from my time with God and precious revelations gleamed through my conversations with Him. I have decided to call this new blog "I am an Architect of Man, but a Servant of God." In short, AOMSOG.

The term Architect of Man is taken from when I thought long about my mission statement in life. I realised I wanted to be a builder of lives. And not just a builder, but a designer of lives. I want to be able to bring out the best in people's lives, to lead them to discover their gifting and specialness so that they might come close to living out their full potential and purpose in God. I hope those of you who read it will be encouraged to do exactly that. For yourself and those you have influence over. Cheers!