Hanging with a professional.


Recently I had a chance of a lifetime. As someone who loves dabbling in photography I obviously wasted no time in accepting when I got invited to accompany a friend who is professional photographer to a dream job – a forest wedding shoot. After quite an arduous journey by train, road and foot we were there in a small town named Pouri nestled away in the Himalayas. It was quite a memorable few days spent there. The location was so scenic with the wedding venue being built up completely from scratch by the bride and groom’s family and friends. Benches made of fresh beams of wood, flowers that were picked from the forest the night before and many more rustic touches just made this a standout wedding experience.

The ceremony was short and beautiful and a celebration. After that came the couple portraits and I had my camera ready with a handy set of mouth-watering lenses that were borrowed. But as the shoot wore on I found a very strange reaction occurring from my end. I was not taking as many pictures as I thought I would. Half way through I had stopped taking pictures completely and was just in awe of the work ethic, the talent and the incredible eye of the professional clicking away right before me. It was not long before my camera was slung around my back and I was busy peeking over my friends shoulders to see how incredible the most recently shot picture looked. Soon I was busy helping him do his job whether it meant carrying bags or changing lenses or just plain old staying out of the way. I thought to myself “aha, this is what happens when you hang out with a professional.”

For seventeen years I have been involved in some form of ministry or the other. For eighteen years I have been a follower of Jesus Christ and I have been walking with Him. All this time I have been “hanging with a professional”; a professional at fixing lives, at breathing meaning and purpose into our often mundane existence, at infusing our temporary living with His eternal life – a true professional. I look back and realise how when you work with God there are many times when you cannot help but cease to work because you’re just in awe of how incredible He is. You thought you had much to offer but as the work went on you realise the best thing you can do is be of assistance rather than do your own thing. Christianity after all is a lifelong experience and even  an eternal experience of “hanging with The Professional”.

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