risk taker

"Why do you have mood swings? How come you can be so enthusiastic over something and lose all interest the next moment? How come you can be so crazy over a person one minute and the waters become so mysteriously still the next?" ----Kie, 'A Heart, Treasured & Divided'

I guess by asking ourselves questions every day, we sort out our thinking and be a little more mature in our actions and behavior.

I just thought that, it's true, every one of us has something to look forward to at the end of it all: death.

No matter which primary school we came from, how much we bring in every month, whether we speak 7 different languages fluently or just one; each of us are in the same predicament.

We are all going to die.
And none of us knows WHEN.

I'm a risk taker. Planting cells when no one asked me to, not even God (Well at least I didn't hear any divine voice for the first one.)

Working in sales, selling something that is extremely difficult to sell in Singapore. But I survived. And will keep going on.

Opening my heart to someone who may not be worth it because he has so many issues of his own that I can't seem to understand.

But I've learnt, so much more about myself, that it seems that suddenly, overnight, I finally understood the meaning of being wise.

Why not take risks when you are young? Why not invest in stocks? Seem risky? So you will never invest? Why not go to church? Because you are scared that once you go, you will be changed? What's so scary about that. Why you can work overtime and not come for cell or prayer meeting? Is that little bit of extra cash so important, more important than your spiritual life?

I'm a risk taker. Although to me it seems that there are more rewards when you take risks.

If I had never took a step out and came to Trinity Church, I would have never had the chance to become a leader in my old one.

If I never planted the first cell, I would have never planted the next one. And what would happen to those people?

If I had never joined this job I would never have clients and would never been able to bring them to church.

If.

No one can tell us the answer when we take risks. No one can predict whether the US $ will rise to 1.54 this week or drop to 1.51. If I can, hey, give me your millions and I can make your money grow.

But living life without IFs is not living a life at all. You may consider yourself a robot, not having feelings, so the possibility of loving someone and being hurt is zero. Would you like that?

A life without meaning is a life without love.

I'm a risk taker. Although to me, it makes more sense to live the life I've always wanted than to look at others', and wonder why I don't seem to have what they have.

I don't really understand the people who have worked hard for years and yet achieved nothing. I think I don't really work hard, yet I've achieved much. Being here, in this place (though most of the time I'd like to be somewhere else) in this job, in this spiritual arena, has taught me to 'be a better person'. In Chinese, they call it, how to 'zuo ren.' (Be a (real?) person.) The Chinese meaning signifies a person of integrity. Not just any other person out there in the street. But a person of influence, a person who knows how to act, how to think. Mature, intelligent, capable, and kind and compassionate.

So would you like to learn how to be a (real)person?

You begin to write your own story, chart your own course. Listen to your heart. Breathe in the goodness of life. And see people as Jesus saw them. Forget about their attire, or their skin color, or whatever irks you. Begin to focus on the right things. Begin to make friends just like you did in kindergarten. Remember then? We were friends with everyone, mainly because we felt like there was a bond, something that took place almost immediately. And these friends became a shelter for us, from the big world. We took pride in our similarities and were fascinated by our differences. Never lose your innocence in finding friends. Or forgetting who you really are, taking off the identity of your #first place in class when you were primary one, and then the identities we were made to be defined by in our society. Good at English. Not so good at Math. The arty-farty type. The rebellious type. The designer type. The top student type. The salesperson type. The cell leader type. Take it all away and all you have is... YOU. And if you want to learn more about what God can do in your life, you have to take risks. Leaving your identity is a risk. Travelling alone at 19 is a risk. Changing job industries is a risk. Investing in stocks is a risk. Yet some never do it, and some are ridiculed for stepping out, for being different by those others (sadly, the majority of our prideful, selfish world.)

So how?

You can choose to worry about the IFs or just stay there, no one needs you to step out anyway. (Except yourself.)

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Pastor Bae Hyeong-gyu, kidnapped and killed, by the Taleban.
The male South Korean victim was found with 10 bullet holes in his head, chest and stomach in the Mushaki area of Qarabagh district in Ghazni Province, the region where 23 South Koreans were kidnapped last week, said Abdul Rahman, a police officer.

Taliban say they have killed second South Korean hostage
-31 July 2007 0049 hrs, CNA.

The militia killed one of the Koreans named Sung Sin with AK-47 gunshots at 1:00 a.m. in Korean time, the spokesman said.
The victim is believed to be Sim Sung-min, 28. The spokesman said the militia dumped the body in the Qarabagh district of the Ghazni province.
He is the second victim after the leader of the 23 church volunteers, Pastor Hyung-kyu, 42, was shot dead last Wednesday. Bae's body arrived in Seoul late Monday.
-NHK





Make your life here on earth count for the things that matter.
And please stop criticizing people who are risk takers.