In this journey called life, we often find ourselves at the crossroads where our professional aspirations intersect with the deeply rooted values of our faith. Though occasionally challenging, if we are fortunate to create a harmonious convergence, we will unlock a profound sense of purpose and fulfilment ahead.
Like many others, I have been blessed with the gift of being driven and ambitious. However, my ambitions seldom align with my eternal purpose. In this piece, we take a deep dive into a life that has only existed in my dreams—a life where my Christian devotion and professional ambitions converge and thrive in remarkable harmony.
It was on the 24th of July, 2023, during a midday break. I had just completed my first half of work for the day, and my choice of leisure activity was to skim through the internet mindlessly. After a few minutes, I found something to end my mindless skimming: an exciting project by a young man named Cameron Pak.
A crucial background for this story is that four months earlier, I encountered an uncommon issue while using the YouVersion Bible App: I had thousands of notes, bookmarks and highlighted scriptures on the Bible App that had accumulated for over four years—filtering through this data became a burdensome task. My natural response as a problem solver was to create a solution for myself, so I started building and testing solutions. I soon hit a roadblock, and the project took a long pause.
Back to the 24th of July, while I was mindlessly skimming the internet, I remembered the project I had begun on the 4th of March—the one I would later abandon for four months. The remembrance ushered in some level of mindfulness, which is how I came across Cameron Pak. He had built a project in the past using the single tool I could not find anywhere on the internet (The Youversion Public API). Of course, I was intrigued by how he could access it, so I began to look over his profile on the internet.
I landed on Cameron Pak’s GitHub profile and read his bio—the excitement I felt was over the ceiling. The bio read:
“I design, create, and maintain websites and apps, freely given, for people to connect with resources that point to God.”
What was so exciting about his bio? I had found someone who I hoped had been living the life I dreamt about. A life that would allow me to build solutions for people with my skills without losing sight of my primary purpose and profession, the gospel and my faith, respectively.
Image: Stats on monthly visits on Youversion’s Web app on similarweb.com
I took a longer look at his profile and felt convinced to send him an email. He responded swiftly and helped with possible routes to get past the roadblock I had faced when building a solution for the Youversion Bible App. I ended up building a Chrome Browser Extension. This was after doing some research and sharing a mini-survey on how much users interact with the Youversion web app. During this process, I realized that the solution I was building was for more than just me—I also had to cater for people who might have experienced similar problem while studying with the Youversion Bible App.
Image: Results from Instagram Poll
I have built many solutions in the past: a few just for myself and many for people and organizations across several time zones. However, this little Chrome extension seems the most fulfilling, even at its very early stage. It will help me reference Bible passages better and recall notes I have written in the past, and I hope it helps other people do the same.
Building Youversion Search ignited a mind-shift and has shown me how to gain immeasurable satisfaction in my mundane pursuit. Never in a million years did I think I’d be fortunate enough to reach the exciting pinnacle where my sacred faith converged with my secular ambitions before retirement.
I’m excited to see how the story unfolds from here; thank you, Jesus.