Future? Directions?

The summer is almost over,
when i looked back at what i did for the last few months,
i am kinda amazed how so many things can happen in just a short 3 or 4 months...
Had to organize the City Mosaic Event, got stranded in the fishing boat during a thunderstorm,
the theme program in the Get it Right Camp...
(Hope i will write a summary of each event when i have time...
which they do deserve a blog in their own right)

Now that it is all finally over..
i have a couple of days off to rest at home..
which i didn't really do much except slept, sleep, and sleeping till noon..
eat a bit, watch a movie.. and sleep again...
just feels really exhausted after everything is over..

But what's next??
What should i do about the future?

I was reading a blog from shiuto.net.. "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish"
a speech by Steve Job, the founder of Apple..
He was a college drop out..
just sat in at classes in college, where he learned calligraphy..
none of it have even a hope to have practical application in his life at the time..
But helped him to make the best typography 10 yrs later for the first Apple computer...
Then he said,


"You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.
So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.
You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.
This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."

I guess it means that we sometimes get lost in life,
don't understand what we are doing today,
but just need to have trust in God, hold on to God's words,
that He will provide wherever you go..
he is in control..and He is connecting the dots for you...

Then Jobs go on about his career..
He was fired by Apple when he was 30...
Can you picture what it feels like..
to be rejected by the company that you have build??
It must have be so devasting...
But he did not lose his faith..just found another path of the work that he loves to do..
and started NexT and Pixar..which made the first computer animated film, Toy Story...


"Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith.
I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did.
You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers.
Your work is going to fill a large part of your life,
and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.
And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.
If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle.
As with all matters of the heart, you'll know,when you find it.
And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on."


Looking back at my own situation..
What do i love?

Surely not my bank job.. i really hated its repetitive nature and having no impact on ppl..
looking at the numbers day and night...

I love movies, love how the media can become a platform to touch ppl's heart,
how it can interact with audience and how it can influence ppl...

I love (like?) what i am doing in Across right now..
i am really touched when i see the youth that joined our event..
how their behaviors are changed, how their lives are touched by mentors in Across..
and in some ways... touched by God...



Finally, Steve Jobs wrote about death,


"If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?"
And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something."

All external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure -
these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.
Remembering that you are going to die
is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.
You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there.
And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it.
And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life.
It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.


Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.
Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking.
Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice.
And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."


I always asked myself the same thing..
if i were to die today, do i regret on what i have accomplished in my life?
is there anything missing?
Am i satisifed with myself?

I remembered what Ken said, after the City Mosaic event..
quoting from Gabriel from AFC..
"Life is too short to be Ordinary"...

We need to step out of our comfort zone...
and let God guide our paths..
then..
10 yrs later..
we can see how all the dots connected together..