Be the Helper

What sort of world do we live in?

A bombing in Boston… a school shooting in Connecticut… a movie theater shooting in Colorado. I can remember watching coverage of the movie theater shooting in the Nairobi Airport in Kenya. There is something so surreal about watching something tragic happen in your country while watching from another. But it’s just as bad, if not worse, watching the coverage from your own country.

As human beings, we (naturally) have so many questions. How could someone do such a thing? What makes evil people do evil things? Are we all capable of doing unspeakable, evil things? Sometimes, in these questions, we forget to look for the good. I will be the first one to say that when something extremely tragic happens, like a bombing or shooting, I automatically start questioning and looking at the bad. And questions are okay. They’re natural. But as a follower of Christ, I am called to do so much more. I am called to see the potential in the situation. To look for whatever good there may be, and to love those who are hurting.

Fred Rogers once said, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” But what if, instead of looking for the helpers, we were the helpers? What if, instead of waiting for others to step in, we decided to make a difference? Lately, I have been SO challenged with these questions. I tend to wait for someone else to step in and make the change that I want to see… but I need to step up. We all need to step up, especially those of us who call ourselves followers of Christ. We were created to love God and to love others. Simple as that.

The world that we live in is so messed up, and it needs people who will rise to the occasion. People who will not just look for the helpers… but people who will be the helpers. So my challenge for myself, and for anyone else who may be reading this – be a helper. Be the type of person who gets off the sidelines and makes a difference. Because someday – someone could return the favor for you.

Get Uncomfortable

Let me preface this post with a little known fact: I hate public speaking. People tell me that I’m good at it, but I am not very fond of it. That is, unless I’m talking about something I am passionate about – such as TOMS Shoes. TOMS is a shoe company that uses a “one for one” business model. With every pair of shoes that TOMS sells, a pair in return is given to a child in need in an undeveloped or developing country. I personally think this model is genius, part of the reason being because TOMS is teaching consumers how to be socially mindful with their purchase. I love knowing that, when I choose to buy a pair of shoes from TOMS, someone, somewhere across the world is being given a pair of shoes who may have never owned a pair before. This overwhelming excitement may be due partially (or fully) to my love for Africa – specifically, Kenya – which I traveled to this past July. I’ve seen the feet without shoes, and my heart aches for them.

But let me get back to my point.

A few months ago in public speaking class, I chose to give a speech on TOMS Shoes, mainly because I knew I wouldn’t have as much trouble speaking in front of a class full of strangers if there was true passion and meaning behind my words. Thus, I wrote my speech, practiced it, and delivered it. Then I was done with it.

Or so I thought.

A week or two later, a girl I sit next to in class told me that she had ordered a pair of TOMS… because of my speech. Yes, I had passion behind my speech – but did I think it would spur anyone to action? Not really. I honestly could not believe it! The fact that God had used me, through something I really had no desire to do in the first place, was astounding… and still is. Someone, somewhere in the world, has a new pair of shoes because of a speech – because of a seized opportunity. And I claim absolutely no credit for it, because it was all God’s work and timing.

“Here's a scary thought: What if God called you to give beyond your comfort level? Would you be afraid? Would you try to explain it away or dismiss it as impractical? And in the process, would you miss out on a harvest opportunity for which God had explicitly prospered you in the first place?” (Andy Stanley, Fields Of Gold)

“Why would we need to experience the Comforter if our lives were already comfortable?” (Francis Chan)

Then and Now

"The only person you should compare yourself to is the person you used to be." Or, in my case - "the only photographer you should compare yourself to is the photographer you used to be."

Sometimes, it's easy to lose sight of how far you've come.

The Power of Thought

“It’s not the destination that matters, it’s the journey.” Though I’ve heard this phrase time and time again, I constantly find myself trying to speed up the “journey” so I can reach the “destination” in almost every part of my life. Quite honestly… I’ve never been patient enough to enjoy the journey. The journey is uncomfortable, and from it come uncomfortable things – like embarrassment. And disappointment. And fear. And failure. All of which are uncomfortable… all of which can be used either to my advantage or to my disadvantage. I find myself thinking over and over (with a voice of self pity and victimization), “why me?” Dale Carnegie once said, “It isn’t what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.” This quote (and quotes like it) always stop me dead in my tracks, because they remind me that it’s not my circumstances or situations that determine my state of mind – it is ME. I may not be able to control what is happening around me, but I can control what I think about it. And that, in itself, is a powerful thought.

Courage is What Counts

Welcome to my little corner of the vast world wide web! This blog is dedicated to the small things that make life beautiful – hot tea on a cold day, short quotes with a big impact, and capturing the details of life through photography. Starting a blog has been a goal of mine for a while now, spurred by my love for writing. Ever since I can remember I have kept a journal detailing the changes, thoughts, and moments of life that I hope to remember, and more importantly, learn from. After all, life is a cycle of failure, change, improvement, and achievement (with achievement sometimes taking the longest to come). As Winston Churchill once said, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” Courage is what gives us the strength to rise above our failure and beyond our success to continue the work that we have been called to do – to push towards our purpose in life. And sometimes, that purpose is found in the small and somewhat unseen things – in loving the unlovable, in believing in those who have ceased to believe in themselves, in living life with integrity and purpose. I would contend that true purpose in life is found in the details of who we are and in who we believe we can be – and in having the courage to be, as a friend once said, “the most saturated versions of ourselves,” without fear of rejection or failure. That takes true courage… and that, as Churchill believed, is what counts.