The Ultimate Headhunter

"Then he said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.’” -Luke 9:23-24

It’s a pretty tall order what Jesus asks of us. It’s not like you’re simply giving away your clothes to your siblings because you don’t fit in them anymore, or sharing the last slice of pizza with a friend. No. This is our lives we’re talking about. Jesus is telling us to drop what we’re doing to live a life for Him.

If we see further beyond our initial shock we are then able to see the greatness God has planned for us up ahead. What we usually fail to realize is that this is nothing but a win-win situation.

I saw these words the other day and oh how perfectly does it fit into what I’m writing about here today. You see, when Jesus asked us to drop our lives and pick up the cross, it was His own way of saying I have something greater for you. God created you as an individual, He created you with your own personal desires that He has not forgotten (Psalm 37: 3-4). Not only that but if you allow Him He can also give you a new desire for something you have never considered before. So whether it be your love for design, veterinary work, technology, cooking or what have you, He knows it all! The path He is leading you on is not that different from the one you currently walk on, the only maybe minor difference is that it is one billion times better (Jeremiah 29:11). He will show us how to use our passions to the fullest and not only will they better our lives but that of those around us.

Here comes the personal story:

I’m a lover of the arts. I enjoy a good design and I take delight in capturing moments with my camera - I enjoy these things so much that during my last year of college I even started a small business and it did pretty well. However, following my move from Oregon to Sydney I found it difficult to start it up again. Fortunately Jesus came in and blessed me with a job where I could do just that but on a more selfless level. Sure it was a weird transition but what stage in life isn’t? I now work for my church and in all honesty, I am so grateful. Once I got past the sting of losing my business to help others I found more joy in doing what I now do. Through that, God has given me more opportunities to design and photograph different things. Additionally, the people I have been lucky enough to call co-workers are people I can also call my friends. When God wants to bless you, with Him it’s either a “Go big or go home”
type of thing.

Just remember:

YOU WERE MADE FOR THE PLACE WHERE YOUR REAL PASSION MEETS COMPASSION BECAUSE THERE LIES YOUR REAL PURPOSE.

My Wayward Child

So I stumbled across these words today…

Story of my life. I’ve felt this way ever since my last first day of college and that notion has haunted my thoughts ever since. Some days I would remember to actually come up with a plan and other days the best thing I could do was deny that the day after graduation was closer than ever. So, as the hours got longer somehow the days got shorter - fears will do that to you. It then dawned on me, I’m not in this alone. The brunt of this choice does not lie on my shoulders alone but God’s too. After going to Him in prayer, he said if you’re truly not ready, stay in incubation for a little while longer (okay, maybe not in those exact words but something similar). With that said, I applied to grad school.

I got to say, the waiting period after sending in my final portfolio pieces and my transcript… can’t even put into words the mix of emotions I had running through me. You know, the ones like: What if I don’t make it?” “Ahhh! Did I send in the right pieces?” “Shoot, did I put in the right address for them to contact me?” “What if getting into grad school is not God’s plan for me and I just thought it was and now I’m gonna be stuck in Oregon foreeeeeevvvvvveeeeerrrr?”

Anyway, long story short, short story long, I received this in the mail…

I got accepted into HOGWARTS!!!

Actually, no. I won’t be attending that school, I’ll be going to the University of New South Wales for their College of Fine Arts Program for Photo Media. Yeah. The only bummer part about this all is that my acceptance letter did not come on parchment in handwritten calligraphy. Oh well, I’ll just have to find someway to deal.

So, here is to the future. Here is to STILL not knowing what I want to do with it but being sure that God is ALWAYS there to lead me away from the path of the wayward.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TYy_3786bo?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

19. Why does this Facebook generated campaign work and others don’t?

You cannot just hand someone a product or a service that you think is really cool and expect it to grow like wildfire. If you do, you already made the first mistake. A lot of companies think that if they create a twitter, Facebook, or some sort of online presence that all the users will just automatically flock to them. Businesses that flourish in the social media world are doing more than just putting their product in cyber space for all to see, they are executing it in such a way that makes the public turn, watch, and tune in.

The reason why I believe this campaign for IKEA worked well with Facebook is because they are the ones who made the first move towards user interaction. Most ads that I see on Facebook are pretty boring and mundane so it takes a special thing to make me want to click on the link. In the case of IKEA, they created a profile that was personal and then used the photos from there to generate more frequency. The users that were on the IKEA page a lot of the  time then went out to spread it to their friends and family. If you have not found this out by now, people are more likely to listen to you, buy things, and trust you if they are close to you or believe you are coming from good intentions.

That is why this campaign worked, because Ikea gained trust and then let the people take over.

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)