Priorities

It has been a recurring theme that I begin my posts with a 'It's been a long time since I've posted...', but this time, it really has. I must admit that a lot has happened since my last post, which was about 2 years ago.

Since that time, I have gained unexpected knowledge from some of the best people in the industry, grew as a teacher, as a father, as a man. I have since quit my post in Tawau and have now moved back to my hometown of Sandakan.

My wife and I, we are working on a little project; our own tuition centre. We clocked in our last day at school in May 2013 and thereafter went off to England for 3 months to get our ESL teaching certificates. Now, we have been working on our tuition centre for almost a year to the date.

Throughout 2013, we've had numerous challenges, some near misses and also experienced the odd great-escape. We are still struggling to make ends meet but at least we are working towards something tangible and something that we are going to harvest in the future.

For this entire year, I have been adjusting to life as an entrepreneur but at the same time, trying to be the teacher that I was trained to be. I've had people cross my path, telling me that opening a tuition centre is all about hiring the right amount of teachers divided by the amount of rooms and empty slots in my centre. I've also had people tell me that some have made it big just by investing alone. My word, those are actually quite useful advice - unfortunately, I've got standards.

My own conviction is that if I can't trust my kids to the teachers I have in my centre, then I will not hire them. You see, my centre is not just any money-making business, it is also borne out of a need and want to teach our own children the right kind of education. That means not just any teacher will do. I make it personal that my colleagues are the right ones and only those who have the right motives for teaching need apply.

I believe that I have been through so much training for a reason, and that is to learn what is the difference between a teacher and an educator. Anyone can be a teacher, but not every teacher actually teaches. Some may have the heart, but not the dedication nor the skill - others, the other way round.

The way I see it, it take all the above to make the grade.

Since embarking on this project, I have also become a father to a second child. She's beautiful, but she throws my time and dedication towards my project into the bin. It's difficult enough to keep the company afloat, now I am seemingly bogged-down by this little bundle of joy and curiosity that requires near-constant supervision. I am typing this while she sleeps.

Then, came the moment of enlightenment of sorts for me - To succeed in everything that I do, I need to 'seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and ALL these will be ADDED unto you.'

It has clearly came into my mind countless of times when I struggled with my teaching, with student intake, with my finances, with taking care of the baby while maintaining our affection for her elder brother, while we make decisions to take up certain jobs or use certain chunks of our family time for business purposes and keeping the bills paid.

Only this has been the constant: That I should always seek the face of God.

It's a challenge to trust Him, really, when you have so much bearing down on your shoulders. There's so much I need to do. There's so much that I can do. However, there's only one thing that I should do.