Things have been going quite well these past few days and I'm feeling quite upbeat and optimistic as this week goes along. However, as I see and read about the devastation in Haiti, my mood is quickly dampened.

There's just something that seems particularly brutal about the devastation in Haiti that I find really striking. The scale and magnitude of the devastation is bad enough, but realizing that right at this very moment thousands of people are trapped under collapsed concrete buildings and rubble for miles around, and most of them will die before help reaches them - that's hard to digest.

One of the main motivations for the change in the direction of my career from Hardware Design to trying to combine creativity, engineering, and acoustics is because it's what I'm good at and will enjoy. This in turn I believe will allow me to be successful.

But more importantly to me, doing what I'm good at and what I enjoy will ultimately give me the best chance of positioning myself eventually to be able to take 3 months off during this year to be able to take my family on mission trips, and other charitable work.

Some of the most fulfilling time I've had has been helping to vaccinate sheep and goats in India. In India, a goat and a sheep is your retirement account, or your small business. It can be your source of income, or cushion if you get sick or need money. With no welfare or health care system for the poor in India, if you don't have money, you probably won't eat, or get proper care for easily treatable diseases.

I know it's a very small contribution, and a rather inefficient use of my resources to fly halfway across the world to treat a few sheep - but this is only a small part of the bigger picture of supporting effective missions work in India, including financially and the development of long-term programs and initiatives.

But if treating a few sheep motivates me to make the most of my talents and abilities, and not settle for a ho-hum job I'll regret later in life, then I'm going to keep focusing on the sheep.

And as I work on forming my business or am learning a new programming language, I see myself as getting one step closer to my goal.

I might not be able to fly over to Haiti tomorrow and save a life, but I can support those who are, pray for those whose lives are now in chaos, help out at my local soup kitchen or homeless shelter, and look forward to the next time my family and I can show God's love personally to someone halfway across the world.

So I think my goal for today is to make the most of my time and opportunities, and after I get home, I'll be sure to hug Debbie and Elliana a little bit tighter.