two steps behind

I believe that everything happens for a reason…

Today post may sound a bit serious and very personal, but it is part of who I am and could and would affect the way I see and do things that may be different from others.

I truly believe that everything happens for a reason… that is simply because of John 14:6 “I am the way and the truth and the life…” said Jesus Christ.

Before I became a Christian, I always needed proof or some sort of evidence to verify each life events that happen to the point that… I always asked myself, “why on earth would this have to happen to me?”

No matter how many “because dot dot dot” for the answer of “why dot dot dot happened?” the question can NEVER be answered in full or totally acceptable to me.

But that has changed

After having put my faith and trust in Jesus Christ… my heart and my mind is at peace because I have stop asking myself “why dot dot dot?” because “everything happen for a reason” or reasons that has already been set by Jesus Christ, after all he is “the way” and “the truth” and “the life”

How could I say that I trust you, Jesus… but to always doubt in him when anything bad happen or when things doesn’t happen the way I – expected – it to be.

By having faith and trusting him, I simply believe that anything that happened is for the greater good and that it was from his best interest in my well being.

I mean… to think about it how heavy it would be if I were to have the burden of carrying all of the problems (or I thought that it was the problems) and try to solve them (maybe it doesn’t even need to be solve in the first place)

The way we do anything is the way we do everything – another phrase that I do live my life by.

I give the same trust and faith that I have in Jesus to all those around me. When I said I trust in Jesus, I meant it and that I would not doubt his method of how my life would turn out because… I simply trust in him.

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But we all know that everyone is different and I guess I was wrong to assume that everyone would have the same mentality as I am, hence I create an expectation when someone said “I trust you.” I know that everyone is different because no matter how many reasons explained… it sound like excuses to them.

Elbert Hubbard once said “never explain – your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway.”

I think he got the point.

But the point is really, why would you ever doubt the person you said, “I trust you” to?

It has been months since my last really good pastry. It’s an hour passed midnight and I just suddenly had the craving for French pastries which reminded me of the shop that Simon and I visited at a city fair in Orgiva. I remember he bought a loft of bread a size of a football! You can see that piece of bread next to his water bottle. Huge! Another amazing thing was that the piece of bread is gone after half an hour and that was him, him alone!

How I wish I could grab a piece of these pastries now, along with jamón (dry-cured Spanish ham) and olive oil. Wouldn’t that be nice!!!

Good times!

After looking for pictures for hours in my thousands of images archived that I have taken over the past 2 years, ever  since I got the camera, I found this picture that I took at a friend house in Orgiva, Spain to be very inspiring for me….

… I must have wrote pages for this post but chose to erase it because I couldn’t really explain why I choose this photo for today, November 11, 2009 – my 26th birthday.

Why?

Just because.

A day, a night, a year… with hope that achieves the impossible.

This is Cristobal’s backyard with an amazing view to the Orgiva valley. Cristobal is Simon’s uncle who moved from Paris, France to Orgiva, Spain for the great simple lifestyle and to start his lovely family there. I was curious of why would he move from Paris, a place of many dreams, to Orgiva and small town in Spain. Understanding his reason was easy, it is true that Paris is a place of many dreams but it take everything of a man to follow ONE DREAM and MAKE it happen!

After moving to Orgiva with his wife, Isabelle and attempting to make a living… an idea came when Isabelle suggest that they could do a getaway weekend vacation package for visitors. That was how www.cuestadelalmendral.com got started.

Together, Cristobal and Isabelle have turned a dream into reality, a great simple life.

We were exploring Orgiva, Spain, looking for a gift shop to buy post cards. The city seems to fold itself on top of itself. I can’t even tell while I was walking on the other side of the building that there is an underground layer beneath the street level. It is amazing how bright it was below, because normally any underground I’ve experienced has been dark and gloomy. Great idea with the opening above to bring in natural light! I think it would have been better if the water fountain actually had water in it! I am wondering if it ever had any water running before? Just a sculpture instead of an actual water fountain?

Well… That’s a first!

This was taken during a walk in Orgiva, Spain.

“Believe” and “Free” are the 2 words that I feel after seeing the collage posters.

I admire the man who stand up for his believe even thought he had to stand alone.
On the other hand, I also admire the woman for being so Free!

“Truly Believing in something” and “Totally Being Free from everything”

My very first trip in Spain started during a midterm holiday / Easter holiday. The plan was to go to Origiva and then Granada. The plan changed just a night after, when my friend Simon wanted to go to Madrid instead. Hey, I am just a passenger with a camera… I am glad to go ANYWHERE and take pictures ^_^

So for this shot it was the first day of the trip after we left Marbella around 4Am to drop of our friend, Aude to the airport. I thought, perhaps we can get to Orgiva before the sunrise! That was how the race against the sunrise started.

In the end… a photo as you see below, in Orgiva collection. The sunrise in Orgiva, Spain. My very first sunrise shot… was processed with a simply request…

“I want a picture of a sunrise that brings happiness”

The New Beginning.

Arrived in Orgiva, Spain. Minutes before sunrise.

It took us about an hour to walk around the city centre of Orgiva, Spain to find a tapas place. This is one of the restaurant that we ran into, however, Simon didn’t seem to be satisfied with the menu, hence we didn’t get to eat there. However, I love the simplicity of the restaurant with the use of primary color to decorate the table, simple white chairs, roofing and street sign. It is amazing how they have turned an alley into outdoor dining and well greening of the area.

The potted-plant and the use of simply chair probably made the customer feel at home while dining there. It must have been a great experience for a simply dine out of an evening. Good Evening, indeed!

All day long, I have been studying accounting… doing one exercise after another. However, it was more of doing the same thing over and over because I could never get it right the first time. That is why we practice, keep doing it until we get it right.

And while I am studying here at the desk in the Lobby of LRM, it reminded me of the time while I was in Orgiva working in the yard. It was so relaxing, nice view and weather. Just relax…

I am in love with these decorative lamps. I remember seeing these when I was quite young and I just loved turning them upside down every now and then and everytime… a different shape of sand dune!!! INTERESTING! And these have lights behind it… even more interesting!!!! I just stood there and looked at each of them, sand dropping from top to bottom after it was rotated. For some reason, I just keep staring at it… I don’t know why… but I really enjoy watching these sand fell.

Then I think, what if our moon has different colors each day, each month, or year. That would be interesting to see!

After just sitting there, enjoying the time, watching Matilde and Zoe having fun… time just flew by so fast. I was really worry about them because they are so athletic…  jumping, climbing, fliping, and swinging. A few moments later, I grabbed my camera and just clicked! It caught this moment that reminded me of a childhood time when there was nothing to worry about, no responsibility, no drama…

Just enjoy one day after another.

Life is simple… we have the choice to choose and when we choose, we choose it… just because. Once you choose something, be committed to it. Choosing is different from making decisions because when we make a decision… it is a debate between which is better than which. Just by looking at the word “de-cide” and how often do you see this word “-cide” ? Some examples would be, pesti-cide, geno-cide, homo-cide, insecti-cide… the lists go on.

according to Wikipedia :The English suffix -cide denotes an act related to killing. From Latin caedere “to cut, kill, hack (at), strike”. In its wider meaning, it may also signify the destruction or dismantling of an object or concept. When attached to a word indicating an animal or plant considered to be pestilent, the combined word is frequently used to indicate a substance used to eliminate the pest in question. E.g. Pesticide, insecticide and herbicide

Okay… so what I am trying to say is (and no one else would say it better than NIKE) “JUST DO IT”
It doesn’t matter how hard the task it, don’t think about it.
It doesn’t matter how tedious the work is, be patient.
It doesn’t matter how boring the job is, be content.
The Problem is that when we are in this mindset (un-happy mode), we think that it is “hard, tedious and boring” will cause us to be grungy, pretty much just make us “not happy” with whatever we are doing.

The solution… (a really hard concept to understand, but once you do… it is entirely different world and that everything you do… MATTER)
…is to understand that we can CHOOSE to do EVERYTHING with a different mindset (happy mode) knowing that… the end result of whatever we are doing is – happiness -.

Those thoughts came into my mind after I took this picture because just and hour before this… the entire area was dark, cloudy, windy with heavy rain. It was freezing cold and wet that I just wanted to stay inside the house. All the negative thoughts were in my head… thinking that the day was over. But then… THIS! THIS amazing moment that just totally blew my mind away.

The beauty after the storm; Orgiva, Spain.

After Madrid, we drove back to Orgiva to pick up my friends laptop and to say goodbye to his uncle’s family. With his uncle Cristobal’s permission, here is the picture of his lovely daughters. The little one to the left name Zoe. She is very energetic, happy, laughs a lot, smiles and like to say “what?” in French all the time. And that not so little one is Matilde, very calm, polite, caring for her younger sister, and very mature for her age. Just a few days ago I posted the sunrise view of Orgiva. That is the view from the front yard of Cristobal house. Amazing view isn’t it?

If you look closely to the left, just a bit above of Zoe’s umbrella in the background, you would see a little bit of the tail of the rainbow that is cast over the downtown of Orgiva. I will have that picture posted in no time. Until then, look at how happy they are… so happy and free spirited.

As requested, here is a photo taken just a few minutes after arriving at Orgiva, Spain where I stayed with my friend for a night before we drove up to Madrid. The house is surrounded by mountains that which ever direction I turned to… the view would be similar to today’s pick.

I am stuffed at the moment because I just came back from brunch, eating “just” a little bit too much. But isn’t that the idea… eating Breakfast + Lunch. Because of that, my brain is lacking Oxygen, resulting in me… just staring and blanking out at the picture and in my head, just “dot dot dot” ……….