2020-05-20 Coffee and Computers with Chris

The speaker reminisces about their childhood and the influence of computers. They talk about their dad's skill in repairing computers and how it led to having computers and computer parts all around the house. The speaker learned a lot about computers from their dad and recalls the excitement of getting new software and operating systems. They also discuss the rapid pace of technological advancements and how people often resist change. The speaker relates this to the current pandemic and encourages embracing positive changes and being more community-focused. They ask listeners to reflect on the positive changes they have made during this time. Good morning and welcome to Coffee with Chris. You know recently I've been nostalgic for a part of my childhood and of course this is dating the generation which I grew up in but something that was huge for my childhood was computers and you see especially for me You know my dad Really amazing thing that he did as I was growing up was people would give him computers to repair He knew lots about computers. They'd give him computers to repair He would take sort of what we called cannibalizing some good parts from one computer good parts from another computer And make a make a nice half-decent machine that we could give away that he could give away to Seniors that maybe wanted to be able to keep in touch with their With their grandkids that sort of thing right email or For teenagers that needed them for homework and things like that for school So it's a really great thing he did but because of this we always had computers around us growing up. We had computer parts Everywhere that you can think of in fact. We had an entire room just up with like Shelving and up that shelving all the way up the wall. There was computers monitors computer parts Anything you could think of relating to computers So growing up as a kid my dad taught me a lot of things about computers how to put together the hardware Do things in software that were needed so it was really cool. It's great education that I'm very grateful for And from that as a kid if I wanted to install a new piece of software Maybe a game or just something I wanted to use on the computer And it took a little bit more horsepower than the computer. I was using had I could just walk into the other room Pull a video card off the off off somewhere pull a sound card off somewhere. We could plug it in and we can make it work You know so with this I've been just a little nostalgic the last few days and looking up We had something called living books. It was kind of like an interactive digital book. We had Arthur we had a Daniel in the lion's den one we had the story of creation But another thing was the operating systems, so I remember as a kid us going to the the computer room and And it was either Windows 95 or Windows 98. I'm going to guess it was Windows 98 because I would have been three years old when the Windows 95 came out So I I'm doubtful that I would be remembering something when I was three, but I remember going to the computer room and it was either Windows 95 or Windows 98 I'm going to guess it was Windows 98 because I would have been three years old when the Windows 95 came out So I I'm doubtful that I would be remembering something when I was three, but it was probably one of those ideas came out I remember going to the store and we were going to get Windows 98 and I think that's also we've got a few of our educational software games and I remember kind of the excitement of this new thing. I remember getting our computer. It's IBM computer I remember the box had a on the that with the software had this dolphin and a bunch of other things on it I remember we got an old older version of Corel draw. It was new at the time of course the big hot air balloon on it I remember all of these things Pretty vividly and the sort of the excitement around this new thing of course we look back now Windows 98 is by any standards antiquated in terms of technology anyway, and that's the thing about technology something that was made Windows 98 would have come out when I was six years old and Something that was made when I was six years old a lot of you might look at me and go Chris You're so young though. Nothing that was made in your lifetime is old But the thing is the world of technology moves so fast as we're all become so aware of right now As we're trying to use things like zoom and FaceTime To stay connected with people and it's just a learning curve for a lot of us Myself included with a lot of this technology zoom was something that I've never used before this whole thing started so Technology always has that learning curve it changes fast And everything like that and sometimes we might look back like I learned this technology a while ago I wish it was still like that right so I was looking at Windows 95 when it's 98 online Watching some videos on YouTube about it because I'm a nerd okay. Let's just get that over with okay, but watching some of these and some of the YouTube videos talking about the advancements that came with each instance of Windows Well, here's the thing and then you're probably wondering Chris. What does this have to do with the Bible? What is what is what is this? I'm getting there So with each in advancement there came changes, but changes that we take for granted See the world is changing around us and Some of those things are good some of those things are not good. You know But we seem as humans that have a resistance to change when Windows XP came out a Lot of people I know hated because it was so different than Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 95, Windows 3 Anything that had come before it and people hated it But then Windows Vista came out everybody hated that and said XP was the greatest the same people I remember the same people who said well I'm going to leave Windows for Mac because of XP and Windows Vista came out and they said XP the greatest thing ever We seem to resist things that are new we seem to resist things that are changed right now We are in a world that has changed before our eyes so rapidly more rapidly than the change of technology We've seen our world just change due to the pandemic our lives change the limitations That we have as a result of these changes, and it's frustrating We want to go way to the way things were before the old way of doing things Hopefully as we're seeing and hearing some encouraging things from our government right now our health authorities that we may be getting back Progressively one step at a time back to something that we could view as normal But I want to challenge us that is as we've been in this time To look at the good things that this has brought that we might want to carry forward such as Contacting our friends our relatives our neighbors whatever it may be Contacting them trying to check in on people and see how they're doing. That's something we should carry forward that sense of community thing So we also want to ask ourselves what we're really missing You know as I look back to Windows 95 and say and feel nostalgic for those days I look back and I'll watch some of these videos and go what is it? I'm actually missing because I can do everything that I could have done Windows 95 now and better So what is it we're actually missing is it being in our church building I can relate to that feeling But more than that I think one thing that we should be missing is our ability to reach out to the community in a physical Way and be a blessing and I think we have to take stock and go if I've not actually been Connecting with my community being my hand being God's hand and feet to the community Then I think we need a change I think then that this Pandemic was forcing a change that we need in our hearts to be more outward focused More community focused more missionally focused in our own community and so I Say all that to say Change is not always bad even Catalysts that are uncomfortable The catalysts that in of themselves are not good like a pandemic can still force us to positive change So I think about that today what positive changes did you make because of everything that's happened