“‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” – Jesus the Christ in Matthew 22:37-40
Loving My Neighbor
My family became friends with the elderly couple that lived across the street. The wife began telling me how she had hired a computer technician to repair some software issues she had been experiencing, to the tune of $387; however, the issues were not resolved. So, she hired another computer technician. This technician charged her $189, did not resolve the issue, AND installed remote connection software on her desktop that would enable him to watch her every move and record her keystrokes, enabling him to steal her login information and passwords. With this information, he could access her email, online banking, and financial records.
I made an appointment to troubleshoot the desktop computer at no charge to her. In three hours, I had removed all remote connection software, repaired her software issues, and optimized her computer. Out of gratefulness, she wrote me a check for $100 and Affordable Tech Support was born. The people of East Portland should be able to hire a trustworthy computer technician who is affordable, who cares, and who has the knowledge to resolve issues but won’t charge for issues that can not be resolved.
Technological Journey
My journey with computers began in 6th grade when I received a TI computer with a cassette tape recorder (yes – pre floppy disks) that recorded the programs I coded. In 8th grade I took a computer course where I learned to program on an Apple IIe in Basic. In high school I took a summer school computer course to increase my understand. In college I owned a desktop computer with a 50mhz processor running on DOS 2.0. I upgraded the computer faithfully, moving up to DOS 5.0 and, eventually, Windows 3.1. While in college I managed a computer lab of Apple IIe, Macintosh, and Pentium 1 computers. Also, I minored in Business Computer Information Systems. In the summer time I designed databases. Eventually, I entered the world of the laptop computer and have used Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. I have also branched out into webdesign and custom PHP, HTML, and MySQL coding for the web.
Spiritual Journey
My spiritual journey can be summed up as: Deist → Agnostic → Christ Follower
I come from a churched but broken family marked by alcoholism, abuse, and divorce. In college I greatly struggled with depression as I searched for a God that I was uncertain existed. I wrestled with the weight of the guilt that I had been bearing because of my obvious and hidden sins, having broken God’s moral law. As I investigated the major world religions, I found them empty and without hope for redemption. A friend named Hope told me God loved me and had demonstrated that love through Christ. Christ came to forgive me of my sins and save me from enduring the punishment of death that I deserved for my sins so that I could have eternal life in God’s kingdom rather than experience eternal death separated from God.
I met other followers of Jesus who met together nightly to pray and seek God asking Him to save others from their sins. While listening to them pray, I experienced the presence of the Lord by the Spirit of God; I was convicted (guilty/remorseful) of my sin and, yet, aware of Christ’s love and forgiveness. I repented and believed, joining them nightly in prayer as we daily committed ourselves to follow Jesus in loving obedience. Within a few months of trusting in Christ, while praying and seeking the Lord, the Spirit clearly called me into ministry. Since then, I’ve been a part of planting 4 churches and serving 3 other churches in ministry while steadily growing in Christ-likeness/character over the last 16+ years. I currently serve as the Program Manager for My Father’s House homeless shelter for families on the border of Portland/Gresham and supplement our family income through ATS.
Today, I am happily married to a wonderful wife of more than 17 years, have two handsome boys (11 and 9) and two miniature long-haired daschunds. We live in SE Portland.