Be inspired and change your perspective

I am touched when I saw the passion flowing in the APTE Summit. They are using social business and connecting with resources and capitals to alleviate poverty. Brilliant and creative! They address social problems like sanitation in Africa. Other than the topic itself, I did learn a lot from the speakers about social business and was inspired to take action. I will share here.


"A for-profit business with the heart and soul of a non-profit...it just feels right to do right". I had some ideas about taking the community into better direction and I didn't realize how people's comments gradually tore down my ideas. Without experience, we as recent graduates feel so hard to take action on something big. A speaker shared "The best way to learn is to start by doing." 

What action am I going to take? Let's first see what God has to say:  ^"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much." Yes, I am going to be faithful in small things and wait for God to give bigger assignment. 

-Begin by changing myself. 
-Love people around me. 
-Be conscientious at my work. 
-Use my talent in a way God is pleased with. 
-Speak the word that build people up. 
-Give.  
-Smile and be grateful.
-Be social minded and pray for opportunity.
etc....

I am thankful that Phil asked us several questions afterwards. What is your purpose here? Why are you an IFI intern? What can you do? 

I think, for me as a Data Intern, I would like to see IFI have more clean data LOL and I am looking for ways to improve that. I pray that my work can bring the glory to God. Pray that God gives me the wisdom. I want to see people come to Christ and bring the good news back to more people. I want to be a witness for God by acting my faith. I want to be motivated by love, thanksgiving, and delight to serve God. 

I don't want the thoughts just run away as time goes by. Don't be motivated for just a moment. Keep the inspiration going :) It is about passion !!!!

Reflection on Alleviating Poverty Through Entrepreneurship Summit 2014

On March 22nd, 2014, I attended the Alleviating Poverty Through Entrepreneurship (ANTE) Summit 2014 with Lexie and Amity. This event was to present entrepreneurs with their vision, business model, as well as their endeavor to break the poverty circle.

(http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2011/05/26/global-poverty-action-fund-open-for-applications/)

God has blessed my life with material abundance. I could not imagine how life would be if I were one of the people there that suffer from poverty. While I felt gracious, I also sighed for the suffering people. God loves every human being equally. If it's a true statement, why would some people have less or even none, whereas some have many or even everything? This question has been on my mind even before I believe that God exist. In fact, it was one of the biggest huddles for me to put faith in Him.

After attending this event, I feel amazed how people could put their talent into utilization and vision into reality. We know that God created each one of us with unique gifts and inspires us with little things that happen in our lives. This combination defines our destiny, which is made suitable and perfect by God. These entrepreneurs have their destinies - alleviating poverty.

Love your neighbor as yourself. It is God's commandment. He also had prepared us to fulfill this commandment, by giving us talents and visions. For the entrepreneurs in this specific event, the "neighbors" that God made them to love in particular, is the poor. By creating good values through business, with their talents and visions, they give the poor love and better lives.

What gifts had God given me? What is His vision for me? Who does He want me to love in particular to best fulfill his plan for my life? I can see a blurry blueprint of my life unfolding in front of me. I'm patient and awaiting His further message.

Some Thoughts about a Recent Trip

After a busy and cold winter, my friends and I decided to relax ourselves and head for a soothing road trip. We were really excited and had multiple plans and ideas for our upcoming trip. In the end, we all decided to take a few days road trip from Columbus to Washington, DC for two days. After that, we changed our course to Baltimore for a day, and then we headed to Philadelphia for another day. Finally we headed to Pittsburgh as our last destination and returned to Columbus on the next day.

I still remember how exciting we were on the road heading to DC until someone found out that we were almost running out of gas. We were in the middle of nowhere on the highway with the “low fuel” light blinking. Upon checking the GPS and our phones for the nearest petrol station, it was miles away. And without knowing how long our remaining fuel might last, we were terrified. With no choice, we drove to the nearest petrol station we could find crossing our fingers and praying to our Lord to provide fuel for us. To our dismay, it was a family operated small petrol station and most importantly it was closed.

Our hearts sank as we turned off our car engine to save fuel in the wintery cold night. Stuck in our car, the only thing most of us could do was to pray. The other nearest station was around 15 miles away and we had no idea whether our fuel could even last that long. Battling between the thoughts of gambling we had enough fuel or to call 911, one of our friends suggested we should ask the neighbors for advices.

As a last resort, our driver head to one of the neighbors and knocked on their doors desperately. The man that answered the door was surprisingly friendly and told you we will have at least two gallons of fuel and the nearest petrol station is within our reach. Finally, we made it to the nearest operating gas station with little fuel. It reminds me of one story from the Bible, which was Jesus feeding five thousand people with only five loaves of bread and two fish. God will always provide and protect us in all circumstances.

Overall, the journey was relaxing and inspiring with great experiences of how mighty our God is. We were astonished on how beautiful the world that was created by our God is with all these great sceneries and views. We really had fun during this road trip relaxing, conversing many topics about god and listening to worship songs. It definitely strengthens the relationship between our friends and with our God.