Seen and Understood: For the Quiet Ones With Loud Inner Worlds

The Christian question I never wanted to ask out loud North Koreans aren’t cartoons. They aren’t headlines, or dark joke material, or characters in a dystopian movie we’ll never be part of. They’re people. And recently, I sat down and read more than I probably should have. First-hand escapee accounts. Starvation. Indoctrination. Families torn. Generations raised to fear, not dream. It wrecked me. And not in a neat, “wow I’m so grateful for what I have” kind of way. More like, I wanted to slam my laptop shut and shout at heaven. Why does God allow suffering? Why does He let this happen? And if you're reading this, you’ve probably asked it too. Maybe not about North Korea. Maybe about cancer. About that car crash. About something that still haunts you every night, while the rest of the world scrolls past and forgets. I used to feel so guilty even wondering about this. Like it made me less Christian. Less faithful. Less trusting. But I think that’s a lie. I think the real question i...

I once almost moved to Bali because I had a really good cup of coffee and the beach smelt like freedom. I stood there, arms stretched, hair tangled, heart pounding like a Hillsong bridge, and thought this is it . This is my destiny. I was ready to book a one-way ticket and start a coconut business called "Thy Will Be Done (on Earth as it is in Bali)." Fortunately, I didn't. Because five days later, I got a mild sunburn, a mosquito bit my eyelid, and I wanted to go home to my bed, my aircon, and my overpriced Singapore bubble tea. So… should I follow my emotions? Or not? Spoiler: sometimes they lead you to worship God in a field with tear-stained cheeks. Other times? They lead you to text your ex at 2:17am while eating cereal with your fingers. Welcome to the Christian life, where feelings are real, but not always right. And that, my friend, is where the plot thickens. What Are Emotions, Really? Emotions are not bad. They’re just not boss . They’re like children in...

Today, I read a Reddit post that made me pause mid-scroll, mid-bite of a cold sandwich I didn’t actually want. Someone was quitting their job. Not for a better salary, not for remote work, not even for the elusive "career growth." They were leaving because they felt like an NPC . You know, a non-player character . One of those background filler people in a video game who loop endlessly, saying things like, “Welcome to the marketplace!” while walking into walls. And I swear, something in my soul whispered: “Oh. It me."   ✦ ✦ ✦   The Background Character Life It starts out subtly. You wake up, hit snooze 3–7 times, scroll emails in bed like a raccoon rifling through digital trash, then drag yourself to your desk. Another day of looking alert in Zoom meetings while your spirit quietly dissolves in the background. At lunch, you eat the same uninspired meal from the same uninspired cafe. At 3:00 PM, you question your life choices. At 5:58 PM, you consider quitting everyth...

Let me guess. You’re tired all the time , but the moment your head hits the pillow, your brain decides it’s party time. Suddenly, you’re thinking about that embarrassing thing you said in 2017, your to-do list for tomorrow, or spiraling into an existential crisis about your life purpose. Sound familiar? You’re not alone. Most people think they can’t sleep because of coffee or screen time. But the truth is deeper and more uncomfortable. So let’s stop pretending it’s just about switching off your phone. This post is for the ones who want the real answers , not the fluffy tips that don’t work. Why You Actually Can’t Sleep You might not like this, but I’ll say it anyway: You’re not tired. You’re overwhelmed. Your body is exhausted, but your mind is wired. That’s not a sleep problem. That’s a soul problem . We live in a world that praises busyness and overstimulation. You’re expected to do more, be more, and respond instantly to everything. Rest becomes a luxury, not a basic need. So...

What the “Prince of Darkness” reveals about the human soul, and where real healing is found. Ozzy Osbourne has built an entire empire out of darkness. From biting the head off a bat onstage to drowning his pain in substances and shrieking through stadiums, his life has been anything but quiet. But peel back the heavy metal and mascara, and you’ll see something painfully familiar: a man looking for peace in all the wrong places. And if we’re honest, aren’t we all? Haunted by Fame, Not Healed by It Ozzy once admitted in an interview that despite all the noise, “I was just numb.” That word stuck with me. Numb. Not happy. Not fulfilled. Not even angry. Just numb. That’s what unchecked pain does. It doesn’t go away. It just buries itself under distractions until it begins to rot. Over the years, Ozzy’s battled addiction, depression, bipolar disorder, and most recently, Parkinson’s disease. In one interview, he said: “I’m not afraid of dying... I just don’t want to feel like this anymo...

Last night, I found myself listening to Mad World again, not by accident. It’s one of those songs I go back to when I feel a little off-kilter. Not quite sad. Not quite okay. Just… drifting. That haunting piano, those hollow lyrics “The dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had.” It gets under your skin. We’re not always sure why some songs sit with us longer than others. Maybe it’s the feeling that someone, somewhere, has finally said what we couldn't. That they cracked open the silence we’ve been living in and gave it melody. I think this song resonates because, whether we admit it or not, the world really does feel mad sometimes. Or maybe we’re the mad ones for pretending everything’s fine. ✦ ✦ ✦ 🌀 “Bright and early for their daily races / Going nowhere, going nowhere” That line feels like a punch in slow motion. It’s not even dramatic, that’s what makes it worse. It sounds like real life. People waking up to alarms they dread, stepping into clothes that don’t fe...

I don’t love my job. There. I said it. It’s one of those things where the hours pass, but the soul doesn’t grow. I don’t dread it exactly, but I don’t wake up excited either. And maybe that’s been the hardest part, that quiet ache of going through motions when your spirit is meant for something more. But in the midst of all this, I’ve been learning to spot the joy. Not big, Instagrammable, mountain-moving moments. Just small, sacred ones. The ones God hides like little notes in your lunchbox. ✦ ✦ ✦ Weekday Evenings: My Tiny Altars of Joy There’s something about coming home after a long workday and reaching for a snack that just… heals something inside. For me, it’s Eureka popcorn -  the Spicy Cuttlefish flavour. Something about the crunch and the umami hits differently when the fluorescent lights of the office are behind me. Sometimes, it’s iced coffee  in a glass I didn’t have to share with anyone. Or melon milk from Korea (Binggrae) , sweet and artificial and unapolo...