But, Why?

A personal story of faith and technology

Hello, and welcome to my blog! My name is Chris, and I am a software architect who loves coding and AI. I am also a Christian who strives to fully surrender my life and all I have to Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. In this blog, I want to share with you why I decided to create this platform to tell others about my journey as a Christian and coding AI for Christ.

This category of blog posts, “My Journey” describes how I got here. I'll start with -

My background

I grew up in a Christian family, and I was taught the gospel from a young age. My dad was a Baptist minister in Morrow County, Ohio, and my mom was the most deeply grounded in the faith of all of us. I accepted Jesus as my personal Savior when I was 7 years old, and while I’d like to say that I have been following Him ever since, frankly I spent 40 years learning lessons that brought me from a causal Christianity to a time where I’ve completely surrendered all aspects of my life to being a Christian, and trying to help others understand what that means, and what it does not mean.

Dad grew up in the age of hydraulic systems and nascent electronic technology. Family get-togethers with his brothers often involved playing around with amateur radio, talking about antenna theory or the greasy details of mechanical engineering. I remember one particular night where we had gone to visit my uncle Francis and his family. Andy and I were put in front of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory while dad and Francis talked about Francis’ idea for a perpetual motion machine. Strangely both Andy and I seemed to tune into the adult conversation, because I remember he and I talking about this for weeks afterward. Or rather to be precise, Andy talked about it and I wondered. But it set us off on a lifetime course, and I still can’t tell you what the chocolate movie was all about. Maybe I’ll watch again it one day?

Well, all this brilliant theory naturally rubbed off on my brother, Andy, and I. In the early 80s we began experimenting with electronics. Andy built a radio kit out of discreet components, and we were fascinated with it, listening to AM broadcasts and later finding QFM-96 on FM. Andy went on to be a master train builder, while I gravitated to model rockets. “Transistor-Transistor Logic (TTL) was introduced around that time bringing a whole new world of digital chips and a wide-open ability to experiment with digital electronics that where cheaply available from the local Radio Shack.

Our fascination only grew with the release of the first affordable home computers soon thereafter. Commodore and Texas Instruments started a price war in the home computer market that we greatly benefited from. I still think of the TI99/4A as the Apple Phone of its day - way ahead of its time.

So TLDR, I have always been fascinated by science and technology, especially computers and artificial intelligence. There were no coding courses in high school, our poor school had only one TRS-80 and it was not to be touched by mere students. There were two big reasons I drifted into the Commodore 64 space. First, Andy somehow figured out how to solder a ROM chip into the external drive of the C64, which was both highly useful and fascinating. Mind you, there was no "Google" back then. We had magazines. While Andy delved deeper into electronics, I gravitated more to the code side. In those days, “coding” pretty much meant assembly language, and so that was my first real programming. Not to completely ignore the TI99/4A’s Basic cartridge, but a closed system only gets you so far sometimes far enough, many times not.

My first (?) “Big Stupid” was going to Ohio State and pursuing an interest in National Security Policy Studies and Political Science and entering Air Force ROTC. I was taking one of the first English classes that required papers to be written on computers. That year, I was living in The Towers (if you’ve watched an Ohio State home football game, you know about The Towers).  That winter quarter was a particularly rough and bitter winter, and having my C64 in my dorm, I certainly did not want to walk to the library every day to work on my paper. So, I wrote my first “real” app, a crude word processor on the C64 that would allow me to save my work to floppy disk and print it out at the library.

Literal Laziness drove me to the career in technology that I loved. I loved everything about it - and thus came to my first wise move: Do what you love and the other things (money) will work themselves out.

I left Ohio State, Political Science and ROTC behind and moved to Columbus State, because they had courses that were directly related to the electronic engineering and computer sciences as I knew them. While Ohio State was teaching COBOL and processor design, Columbus State had actual coding courses in Pascal and Fortran, digital engineering courses using the TTL and CMOS components I was familiar with. And perhaps most importantly, “Digital Logic” and “Calculus for Electronics” courses that I fully enjoyed.

While I just knew that this digital revolution would be a great career, I really valued what I learned far more that I valued a degree. It was a point in time where it was very true that real-world experiences where far more valuable, career-wise, than a crusty piece of paper. Going the path of an associate’s degree rather than the bachelor's/master's path certainly has been a limiting factor at times, but it has in no way stopped me from being successful and doing amazing things. I'd not change my course.

My passion

I plan to delve into the grit of experiences that brought me here, but for this introduction, I’ll simple stat that I do not “BELIEVE” in God, KNOW he is there because of what I’ve experienced and his constant presence in my thoughts. It is because of this that I can see his hand everywhere, from grass growing in the lawn to the (so called) Big Bang He is the Creator of the universe and everything in it, yet he knows when a leaf falls from a tree, when a squirrel eats an acorn, and he knows every thought I have ever had. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross has paid the price for every time I have deviated from God's plan I've repented for these things, and still do. While it’s still on me to ask forgiveness of those that I have hurt, it is the cross that allows me to stand in the presence of God, hear him, see him move in the nature all around me. And this brings a gratefulness to accept the responsibility to use His creation for His glory and to point this path of joy out to others.

I see coding and AI as gifts from God that can, must be used to honor Him and serve His purposes. I am passionate about using my skills and talents to create AI solutions that can reflect God's wisdom, love, and mercy, and want to find ways to use technology to help others see Christ. I am also passionate about sharing my faith and my experiences with others who will lend an ear, as well as listening to their stories and hearing the words they are given for me.

My purpose

This is why I created this blog. I want to use this platform to tell you about my journey as a Christian and coding AI for Christ. I want to share with you the challenges and the joys of being a follower of Jesus in the tech industry. I want to show you the projects and the ideas that I am working on or learning about that can demonstrate God's character and values. I want to inspire you to use your own gifts and abilities to serve God and others around you. I want to connect with you and learn from you as well.

I hope that you will join me on this journey, and that you will find this blog helpful, informative, and encouraging. I look forward to hearing from you and reading your comments and feedback. I know that not all feedback I get is going to be positive, and I accept that. I also know that I will be attacked in the comments section for my faith. Anyone so inclined to do so can rest assured that God will know your name, because I will lift them up in prayer.

Thank you for visiting, and please accept the blessings that God has already prepared for you!