Faith and Fear have one thing in common - they both believe in a future that hasn’t happened.

Our church has been going through the book of Mark and a portion that has stuck with me was the incident of our Lord walking on water.

It wasn’t so much the miraculous act of walking on water that stuck with me, rather the disciples’ reactions and our Lord’s dealing with them that did.

As we face trials in life, it is easy to feel like no one understands what we are going through.

That we are alone on this journey.

But as I turn the pages of scripture, I see a God who not only understands our sufferings but a Saviour who suffered Himself. He was “ tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15).

In 1 Thessalonians, Paul reminds us to “16 Always rejoice, 17 constantly pray, 18 in everything give thanks. For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”

This is a simple yet powerful reminder that no matter the trials we face, we can always approach life with gratitude, knowing that God has a plan for us.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the amazing moms out there! This time, it is extra special as it’s my wife’s first-ever Mother’s Day and I thought I’d write her a poem to appreciate her for all that she does.

It’s easy to feel that we are insignificant, that we don’t matter.

Yet in these few passages, I am reminded of how God sees us - that we are valuable, that He sent His only Son to die on the cross for our sins, for my sin.

It is amazing to know that the Savior of the world is also my personal savior.

He takes an interest in each one of us.

In AD 33, the most significant event in human history happened - Jesus Christ died on the cross for the sins of the world.

He died that we might live.

Not only did He die, but He rose again on the 3rd day.

The resurrection of Jesus forms the cornerstone of my faith as a Christian. Here’s why.

A lesson that I learned running HeyOrca, is to celebrate your wins in good and bad times. Especially in bad times.

We’ve made it a culture in HeyOrca to celebrate our wins both big and small. Recently, we made the last Friday of the month - #PodWins Day, where we meet to celebrate our wins and reflect on things that we are grateful for.

At our last #PodWins, we decided to pop champagnes on Zoom to celebrate a big milestone. It was definitely the highlight of the month for me! 🍾🍾🍾

On February 24, 2021, at 4:49 AM, our lives changed forever when we welcomed our son Marcos into the world.

It was a beautiful experience and a memory that I will treasure forever.

It still feels surreal that the child that we are holding now, was still in the womb just a couple of weeks ago.

Having my son reminded me of the beautiful promises that God promised us in the scriptures.

Here are some passages that I have enjoyed these past weeks.

I was supposed to be on parental leave last week but my baby decided to postpone his due date 😂 (Fingers crossed that he comes this week)

As a result, I had unexpected free time at work as I had blocked off my calendar in anticipation of my leave.

This newfound free time taught me an important lesson - you need time to be able to help others.

It seems like common sense, but as someone who tries to be as productive as possible, it took last week for this lesson to really hit home for me. 🤦‍♂️

If we are being honest, most of us don’t treat time as a precious resource.

We have financial budgets but why don’t most of us have time budgets? But what if we did?

Here are some reasons why we should budget our time.

Delegating wasn’t always my strength. (Even now, it’s still a work in progress)

As someone who enjoys doing the work, I always find myself taking ownership of responsibilities.

As HeyOrca grew, I found that the number of responsibilities that I was juggling grew as well.

It got to a point that I couldn’t provide adequate attention to any of them and started dropping balls.

Consider all perspectives before making a decision.

That is a piece of advice that seems pretty obvious, but when we have deep convictions or are confident in our views, it’s easy to get tunnel-visioned to our own perspectives.

If we can harness this diversity of perspectives, we not only create an inclusive environment but also increases the chances that we make the best decision.

We spend hours mindlessly scrolling through social media and checking our notifications, not realizing that we are passively consuming information that affects our mood and occupy our thoughts.

What I’ve come to recently appreciate is the value of protecting my ignorance.

Communication is the foundation of any relationship. Without good communication, it is impossible to build a high performing team. This is especially true for anyone who is in a leadership position.

I recently learned another crucial reason why timely communication is so important - Alignment.

When you don’t communicate well, you risk leaving your team behind.

I have generally seen friction as a bad thing. Friction prevents us from moving fast, getting things done efficiently, and generally makes us slower.

However, I’ve recently come to appreciate the presence of friction in my life. I came to recognize that in some situations, friction is not only needed but should be encouraged so that we make the right decisions.

I’ve come to realize that one of the most important things for growth is to be aware of what help you need. It is also one of the hardest problems to solve, as it requires the self-awareness to see the gap that exists and the humility to admit that you need help.

Developing other leaders is one of the greatest privileges and challenges of a leader. I recently read “Developing the Leaders Around You” by John Maxwell.

If you are looking for advice on developing other leaders in your team, I highly recommend this book.

Here are my highlights from the book.

You can be decisive and confident in your decisions when you’ve widened your options, reality tested your assumptions, attained distance from the problem, and are prepared to be wrong.