Archive for the 'insight' Category

Don’t Waste Your Life
- May 1, 2008 -

I took this picture on August 4th, 2007, and almost threw it away because it was out of focus. He never let me take a ‘natural’ picture, because he’d always see it coming and put on his cheezy smile. He was such a character. For those who have been following my blog for while, you know that this is Binil Samuel. And within 48 hours after the image was taken, he was killed in a hit-and-run accident in Chicago. Today would have been his 23rd birthday. It’s been almost 9 months since it happened, and there’s so much that runs through my mind. But I just wanted to share a memory.

In the spring of 2007 I started my corporate job in downtown Chicago, and Binil was interning down there as well. Within my first days there he asked to have lunch together, and it soon became a regular occurrence, both alone and with other friends downtown. Throughout the summer we would talk and share about our lives, our visions for our church, our future, our friends. It was good to have regular conversations to talk to and share openly about perspective.
As the summer drew to a close, he was planning on leaving the city for another job. But he had a vision that went much farther than basic living. He shared with me how he read this book called “Don’t Waste Your Life” by John Piper, and it really challenged him in living for more. He didn’t want to live a comfortable life…he didn’t want to simply go through the motions. He wanted to make drastic changes in the world, spreading the message of the love and saving grace of Jesus Christ beyond our general comfort zone.
He was one of the leaders of our creative arts ministry, and I remember him talking about it many times, as if it were his own child. He wasn’t able to take on the full burden of that ministry in the coming year because of other life callings, but was desperate to make sure it kept pushing through. He shared about how he wanted to do so much more with it. He wanted to evolve the ministry from being one that puts on skits for our church events, to becoming a missions based ministry, making trips to India to perform dramatic plays in areas that don’t know Jesus. And I remember I laughed, because I’m a much bigger ‘realist’ than others. But his passion encouraged me so much. He set his goals high, and the only thing I could do was encourage him to push forth…I didn’t want to be the one to quench his fire. I was so impressed with him, as even just hearing him talk and share, it moved me to really seek more and do more.
He had a vision for many years down the line, but God had different plans to bring him home sooner. Although he’s physically gone from our presence, I can honestly say that his passion still reverberates within me on a regular basis. As I say many times…there is so much more to this life than what our eyes see and perceive. I want to live with an even greater vision. I want to see this world transformed.

[04.14.08] Monday Night Recap
- April 14, 2008 -

• [Cubbies] An off day today, but we’re still above 500! It’s the little victories that keep me going…it’s still early. I still haven’t seen a game yet (not even on TV!), but that’s why its a 162 game season.
• [Photo Challenge] We’re halfway through the month! Keep taking those pictures and get your images in for the photo challenge!
• [UIUC] So this past weekend I made my last trip of the semester down to U of I to visit my wonderful girlfriend (and all the others). It was a rather busy time for everyone, so I wasn’t able to make my visits and such like I normally do, but I still had a blast. It’s always great to go back…my home away from home.
• [CFC] I got in Friday night, and caught the end of large group at Covenant Fellowship Church, the church I attended during my undergrad. Although I’ve been gone for over a year, it still feels like I’ve been there every week day in and day out. On Sunday, Pastor Min game a message on our dual natures which makes me want to go back and hear the podcast from last week’s message (since this was part two). A little something-something that caught my attention:
• Don’t be too impressed with the greatness of people, and don’t be too surprised by their sin
• Growth is not a weaker propensity of sin, but just a stronger ability to fight
• [ICF] My other ministry on campus was the Indian Christian Fellowship, and I was able to hang out with a select group on Friday night. A quick game of catchphrase followed by a rousing time of the bowl game kept us busy until the wee hours of the morning. Good times!



• [Bloomington] On Saturday, Nithya and I took a trip out to Bloomington to visit my good friends Jason and Susan, and their little one Isabelle. One thing I love about Bloomington: the price of gas was $3.20. That was about 20 cents cheaper than what was at U of I, which is a few cents cheaper than up here! It was a fun catching up with them and spending some time with Isabelle. She’s quite the character!






And here she is getting ready to enjoy her long awaited dessert:




• [Colbert] Anyone watch the Colbert Report today from Philly? He sang the National Anthem with John Legend. I must say, he did surprise me…he’s got a decent voice.
• [Delayed Posts] Keep an eye out, as I’ve fallen behind on quite a few posts that I wanted to get out. Things like an S&P on TaDa Lists, a book review on ‘Never Eat Alone’ (I’ve started my new book ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’…it might take me over a month to finish though), and some photography tips are just a piece of what to expect. Sorry for the delay!

[03.17.08] Monday Night Recap
- March 17, 2008 -

• [Illinois] After a disappointing season, I was thoroughly impressed that they made to the Big 10 Finals. I mean, they were a 10 seed going in expected to lose the first game, and came one game short of an NCAA Tourney birth. Rough season, but well played at the end (minus the last game…a little disappointed).
• [Tourney Time] It’s finally here! So, I really haven’t followed college ball this season at all, but I’m still excited for the tourney. Brackets are out so start building yours! I’ve created a public group on ESPN so make a bracket and join up. It doesn’t matter what you know of the game - I used to watch the games religiously in college and still couldn’t be in the top 50% of any tournament. Hurry, brackets get locked on Thursday, March 20th!
• [Girlfriend] She’s Back! She’s on her spring break now, and it’s rough that it’s during Passion Week as my evenings are busier and I still work days (I wish we got a spring break), but we were able to hang out Saturday evening. We watched this movie called Margot at the Wedding (her choice) starring Nicole Kidman…I was lost the whole time. I really don’t think there was much of a plot or character development…it did take up quite a bit of time. I think I actually fell asleep a bit too. Ah well, better luck next time.
• [Vantage Point] Yesterday we celebrated my brother-in-law’s brother’s 30th birthday. My goodness have we all grown up. After dinner with the family, a couple of us went out and watched Vantage Point with Dennis Quaid and Forest Whitaker. I’m not going to ruin it for you guys, but it’s an interesting concept but could have been written a lot better. A lot of details could have been added to make it a top movie…for now, it’s just ‘decent’. But definitely better than that Margot movie…definitely.
• [Passion Week] A bit late as yesterday was Palm Sunday, but we are now in Passion Week, remembering the week up through Jesus’ crucifixion on the cross followed by His resurrection. I’ll be busy most nights with church stuff so I probably won’t be able to blog much. In any case, wanted to get this resource out to you all - it’s a collection of bible passages that account Jesus’ last week. It’ll be a good way to reflect during this week.

I’m Thinking of a Challenge…
- February 29, 2008 -

Pretty much everyone and their mother has a camera nowadays, by it a D3, an XT, a simple P&S, or even a camera phone. At a wedding, about 75% of the people there will have some sort of camera (no factual evidence for that statistic). And I think it’s a great thing. I feel like so many people, though, are not letting themselves really use this tool to get a deeper glimpse in the world around them, which is one of the things that I love about photography. As I walk down the street, I immediately see a massive picture with great details, be it signpost, a colored door, or a distant statue. And many times, as we walk through the day consumed with the concerns of ourselves, we walk right past the beauty that’s around us.

So I was thinking of possibly doing some sort of “Monthly Challenge” thing, basically in an effort for people to take more pictures and get creative; to experience the beauty and ‘reality’ of the world they live in and share it with the rest of us. There would be a simple topic/theme to cover, and then for the month you would go and ’search’ for it., take LOADS of pictures, and e-mail them to me. I’ll combine them all and post the different perspective that we all have on the same idea. What do you think? Here’s an example scenario to show you want I mean…

Theme: Color
And people would submit (these images are from a free stock photo site):

It’d be very interesting to see how different people perceive the same direction. Even though we’re all looking at the ’same thing’, we will all have different aspects of it that jump out at us. And recognizing the differences in people’s perceptions will inevitably open up our eyes. So…do you want to play?

This will only work if we have a decent number of people participating, so let me know (leave comments!) and if we get a good response I’ll post the first theme. Maybe I’ll even pick my favorite one (totally subjective ) and that person can win a special prize. So…let me know! Happy shooting people, open your eyes and keep it real…

The Beauty Within - 01
- February 6, 2008 -

Earlier, I stated that I was going to start on a personal project outside of the project100’s (100 different images of the same type of subject). And this one is called “The Beauty Within”. What I love about photography is it captures the essence of life. It looks deeper than we did at a single moment, and allows a clearer reflection of our lives. With that in mind, I realize that there’s so much around us that we overlook so quickly. We might ‘experience’ it everyday, but from our general point of view, it looks very bland and doesn’t catch our attention. But from a different angle, everything can look simply stunning. This project is for me to capture 50 different objects within my house from an angle that I just might not totally look at it. Here’s image number 1:

Sometimes, you need to look at things from a different angle to see the beauty in it. A change in perspective can open up your eyes and your mind to new ideas and a greater vision. Do not let yourself be limited my consistency…work outside of the box, step a few feet back, and open yourself to a greater potential. Much love.

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