A few years ago I took a course called “Perspectives.” It’s a course on Christian missions. At the time I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my life (and in truth I still really don’t) and thought that I might want to be a full time missionary someday. I guess it’s obvious that hasn’t happened, it’s probably pretty apparent from my blog that I’m not overseas as a missionary. I guess what I really took away from that class was that I’m pretty blessed, and I should use those blessings to be a blessing to others.

So for a long time I’ve had a burden to try and be a blessing to others, I didn’t really know what to do. One volunteering event that I really enjoy is the Sacramento Homeless Connect, which I’ve done several times in the past. But it only occurs once a year. Other than that I’ve volunteered sporadically, here and there, different organizations, different events, but never really found anything that I’d want to be involved in consistently.

About a month ago I was shopping for groceries when I came upon an information table for a service organization. Typically I try to avoid those tables, by making every attempt to avoid eye contact and by quickly making a beeline for my car. For some reason I failed that day, so I ended up talking to the volunteer canvasser and ended up giving them my phone number. I ended up going in for a volunteer orientation the following Monday. Before going in for my orientation I researched the organization online, but I didn’t really find a whole lot. There were some posts about them being some sort of political cult, which were somewhat alarming, but I figured I’d at least go in for the orientation to see what they’re about.

Since then I’ve found that they seem to be legit. They partner with many of the churches in the area, as well as a lot of the area’s volunteer organizations like UC Davis’s Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity.

So somehow I ended up being their publication’s coordinator. (They must have been really desperate.) One of the major things I’ll be doing is the layout and pictures for their next newsletter, so I spent a good portion of my first couple of days looking through old newsletter layouts.

They were sorely in need of pictures for the upcoming newsletter, so I’ve been starting to go to events to take pictures. It’s nice to be able to do things I enjoy for a good cause. This past weekend they had a back to school drive, where they provided backpacks and school supplies to underprivileged families in the community. One thing I realized though, I like photography in general, but I’m not very good at taking pictures of people. They wanted candid shots of people in action, and I didn’t get a whole lot of good ones. I have a new-found respect for professional photographers– it’s really not easy to get good pictures of people. You have to be sort of a friendly bubbly people person to get the best out of people– and I’m really not that sort of person. Or at the very least it takes a lot of effort for me to force myself out of my naturally introverted tendencies.

Thankfully a lot of the other stuff I’ve been doing is pretty introvert friendly, in that I can work on stuff alone on my computer. Lately I’ve been redesigning the flyers for their upcoming Halloween events. At work nowadays I haven’t been doing much design work since we hired a full time graphics designer. I miss working in Photoshop for work. It’s nice to be able to stretch those creative muscles again, and it’s a great break from the coding work that I’ve mostly been doing lately.

It’s not just the creative muscles that get used. The regular muscles get used regularly too, for unloading truckloads of clothes and foods that have been donated by local shops and church congregations.

Going back to my original thoughts from the Perspectives class a few years ago– I’ve come to realize that I truly am blessed. I’ve never really had to worry about food or clothing, and lately I’ve had enough money to pursue hobbies that I really enjoy like photography and Photoshop. It’s nice to be able to use those hobbies to be a blessing to others.

Things I’m thankful for:

• Digital SLRs
• Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop
• Being able to use those hobbies to be a blessing to others