Fortune Cookies & Purpose

Ok, sometimes freaky things happen.  Yesterday, Krista and I were having a date lunch at a local Chinese restaurant and were having a wonderful time.  At the end, the usual occurred where the server gave us our check with two fortune cookies.  Krista and I like to have fun with the fortune cookie sayings just because sometimes they seem to be so generic that they could apply to anyone in any situation.  Anyways, mine read “You would do well in the field of computer technology.”  Freaky right?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it now, I’m living my dream job.  While its not easy and it has parts that I don’t really like at times, it is my dream job to impact people so that they can come to a better understanding of God and Jesus Christ using technology to that end.  This is what I was meant to do.  I can look back to when I first started taking apart telephones as an elementary student trying to figure out how they worked as the beginning for my love of all things technology [Note: Just want to say sorry Mom & Dad & Sis that I couldn't get the phones back to working order after I figured out how they worked] My first computer was a TI-994a that I pulled out of the trash – cleaned it up and redid some of the soldering and presto – it worked!  Now I’m a technology junkie.  I almost drool when I walk through places like Best Buy and the Apple Store.

But my technology is all with a purpose. I took apart the telephones because I wanted to understand how they allowed people to talk with one another.  I scrambled to get a 300 baud modem for my Tandy 1000EX so that I could connect with people on electronic bulletin boards (before the days of the Internet).  I started to learn HTML in 1996 (and started the original version of this website) as I could see how the Internet was already connecting colleges and it was seeping into the business world.  I was amazed with the first VGA monitors that had such vivid colors (previously, I just had “green screens” or 8 color screens) as I knew we were moving more and more into everyday life being intertwined with technology. Today I drool as I watch the competition in the smart-phone arenas – why? because these new technologies allow us to be more and more creative in how we can connect with people.  The connection and collaboration of the Internet is now sitting on people’s hips, pockets and purses.  While I love being geeky and exploring new technologies – it’s always in the forefront of my mine that it’s about connecting with people through these technologies that I’m passionate about.

So what should your fortune cookie say to you?

[side note fun:  A friend of mine said that it's really not that freaky about the fortune cookie - watch this video by clicking here]