The other day, as I finished giving a talk at a software conference here in Minnesota, I paused and reflected on this life.
And life, my friends, is good.
I thought to myself: now here I am. I’ve got a wife, I have kids, they’re precious to me. Funny enough, that was a big worry for me when I was a teen. I was afraid my super-introverted, home-schooled self would never find love or family. I remember it being such a relief to hear the first girlfriend I ever had wanted to marry me. “Oh, whew!”, I thought, “Now I won’t be alone, and my life will be complete.”
Hahah.
It was like a huge many-year burden was lifted when I got married and got a family. I suppose if I could talk to my 16 year old self, I’d tell him to relax and not worry, it’s all going to work out.
I’ve carved out a small name for myself in the Minnesota software community. And that’s awesome, because it took overcoming personal fears to get there.
I have a pretty damn good job. White collar, no physical labor, creative, perpetually learning. And if this job ever started to suck, well, I get about 5 job offers every month from people who see my involvement in the technological community.
I live securely. I live comfortably. I have more things than I need.
I help run a Hebrew roots congregation. I play music there, tunes for the Lord, and it’s spiritually quenching because God’s spirit is there.
I just came off one of the best Passovers I’ve ever had the pleasure to enjoy.
I’m an inventor that creates things. I have created things like Chavah Messianic Radio and Messianic Chords. These things have impacted other people’s lives, even if in small ways, for the better.
I live in the 21st century, where technologists are the new inventors. In this age of technology and the web, if you have the knowledge, you can create something from scratch and put it in front of millions of people. That’s powerful. All you need is the know-how. I have that know-how, I’ve done it, and it’s exhilarating and satisfying.
I’m soon going to Israel and visit this land I’ve spend so much of my life devoted to religiously and politically. How will I feel when I finally behold the thing I’ve so long had a yearning towards? I suspect it will be both overwhelming and beautiful.
None of these things existed 5-10 years ago. They all exist now. I wouldn’t have predicted it.
Frankly, I’m unsure where to go from here.
I’m 28 years old and I feel like I’ve accomplished most of the things I’ve wanted to accomplish, and then some. I’m generally happy.
Where to go from here? How will the next 10 years look? I’m uncertain, but optimistic.
My initial inkling? I believe medicine and technology will fuse in the next 10-20 years in mind-bending ways. People are going to be wearing computers that monitor health and catch diseases at a treatable stage. We’ll have microscopic computers circulating in our bloodstreams, battling sickness, repairing cells. Humans will live longer lives with less suffering, ones rarely plagued by disease.
I want to be a part of that. I think that is how I’ll spend my 30s. I want to get into medical technology.
That means I will probably need to go back to school. I have an inferiority complex when it comes to schooling, because I was homeschooled and then went to a dinky college and never finished my degree. So that will be another area I will conquer. And when I do, I’m going to do some awesome things.
To the future.
Do you know why in Jewish weddings the groom breaks a glass? It is a reminder that even in the midst of a great joy, calamity can strike in any moment.
ReplyDeleteAs long as you keep seeking God, never relying on your accomplishments, and do good to people, you will be OK.
God bless you bro.
I believe it. Thanks, Dan.
DeleteWow. I met a fellow after work for our semi-regular get together (my current answer to having a "faith community"), and we spent almost two hours talking about how a dynamic, growing faith almost always requires us to be at least a little uncomfortable all the time. I'm not saying this as a criticism Judah. I'm very happy that life has worked out so well for you. But when you say "I'm not sure where to go from here," perhaps God has something in mind...a challenge, something that will stretch you...and as we old guys can tell you, stretching can get kind of uncomfortable.
ReplyDeleteI don't wish ill for you or discomfort...but you have a lot going for you and I don't think you've gotten anywhere near your limits yet.
They do say, you should always be doing something just a little outside your comfort zone. I can get behind that. Certainly getting some higher education would be that. But we'll see.
DeleteVery impressive Brother Judah Gabriel Himango
ReplyDeleteJudah,
ReplyDeleteYou should blog sometime about your upbringing if you feel inclined. I'd be very interested in learning how you were shaped into the person that you are today.
Shalom,
Peter
Might be worthwhile. I'll do it.
DeleteLove the t-shirt. Shoot me an email when you're in the Land. Can introduce you to Succat Hallel house of prayer in Jerusalem , if you are interested.
ReplyDeleteI met the guy who invented the Dogloo (http://www.c28.com/founder.asp) when I worked for a paper in California. He'd made millions before he hit 30. Then he found the LORD. And now he runs C28, a Christian store chain. And he's doing things for the Kingdom.
You've been blessed to be in the LORD thus far. There is a special blessing there for those the LORD gets young. Yes, the fellows above are right about calamity and being ready for whatever. But God is with us. He gets us through those times.
I read the first chapter of Jeremiah today. Here was a young man, son of the high priest, raised in a godly home, literally touched by God and called. "Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you, says ADONAI, to rescue you." He tells him that twice in chapter 1.
One of the first things God says to Jeremiah is 'I am with you to rescue you.' Implies he will need rescuing. But the rescue is already taken care of.
To the future, Judah. Our Abba continue to bless you and guide you and strengthen you and use you. He will, because you have let him use you thus far.
>> "Love the t-shirt"
DeleteHa! Fellow nerd?
>> "Shoot me an email when you're in the Land. Can introduce you to Succat Hallel house of prayer in Jerusalem"
Will do. And thanks for the edification, sincerely!
Very cool, Judah. Community, family, Messiah, and joining God as a sub-creator under his great role as Creator, is what we were made for. Sometimes this present world, for a while, resembles the world to come. It gives us hope.
ReplyDeleteJudah, I am happy for you!
ReplyDeleteI wonder Judah, what are your thoughts on the "Beatitudes"?
ReplyDeleteWhen I consider all of the good things God has showered me with in life, I cannot help but wonder...are these really the blessings?
Why did Jesus say things like: "Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep." ?
I get what you're saying. All these good things in life come and go, and we need to temper the good, knowing it will not always be here.
DeleteMessiah taught on the mountain that all the downtrodden people will see their situation reversed in the Kingdom. Mourning on earth -> comforted in heaven. Humble on earth? They'll inherit the kingdom. Merciful towards people on earth -> God will be merciful to you. And so on.
I don't believe we're called to be gloomy monks without happiness or joy in life. The psalms and the prophets are filled with promises like these (paraphrased from memory):
"Blessed is every person that fears the Lord! He will see the fruit of his labor. His wife will be as a fruitful vine, his children like olive branches around his table. The Lord will bless him out of Zion, he will see his children's children, and he will see the good of Jerusalem all the days of his life."
Or another:
"Roll your way upon the Lord, and trust in Him and He will bring all these things to pass. Delight in the Lord, and he will delight to give you the yearnings of your heart."
Likewise, Messiah's statements about reversal of good fortunes into bad can also be true. And these statements were certainly true for the people of his day, who soon suffered this horrible calamity, some 40 years after Messiah's death.
The good things in this life are also blessings. I'm not guaranteed to have these as a follower of God. There are an abundance of righteous people who are suffering, right now. So this isn't the prosperity gospel.
I have these good things in my current state. I'm thankful for them. If they disappeared -- and in time, all things do -- I'd still be following God. Good times and bad. After all, I didn't have all these things 5-10 years ago. Maybe they'll be gone in 10 years, maybe they'll multiply. Whatever the case, I'm thankful God's blessed me in this current state.
I count it an honor and privilege to know you Judah. You are a blessing in my life.
DeleteYou as well. We need to do a dinner with our families soon. Or a nerd dinner with the guys.
DeleteCool that you were homeschooled. I really consider it a tragedy that many things "require" a degree which don't really. The amount of things I've used extensively in from my BS in Comp Sci is very limited (mostly the stuff from my last semester of college), and the pratical stuff I learned from Electrical Engineering courses on approaching problems in general was much more valuable than the "science" part of CS. ALL that to say, the gree doesn't matter unless it is a tangible roadblock. You've got the life experience and practical development skills (and more)... so please don't feel inferior. (As an aside, I also regret this wrt to pastors -- I hate that it has become a profession people go to school to do, rather than one that people are called to do and discipled extensively to do)
ReplyDeleteAnyways -- since you are skilled in both technology and also in studying faith, I encourage you to pray and fast and wait on the Lord as to how you might combine them with medicine. Hospitals (as I understand it) can trace their origins to Christian's who cared enough to do something to help the sick, and perhaps you can do something revolutionary by combining all your gifts as well. If you wait for Him, I believe he will show Himself faithful to lead you.
Very little of what I learned in college I actually use today. That might be particular to technology, though, seeing as how tech advances at a breakneck pace; things that were useful just 5 years ago are obsolete and discarded today. So I think universities are best at teaching just the fundamentals.
DeleteThanks for the encouragement. I really do believe what you said.
You were homeschooled??
ReplyDeleteJust when you think you know somebody... :)
Great post, JGH.
And when you say "medicine and technology will fuse in the next 10-20 years in mind-bending ways"... I betcha most of those mind bending things will be developed in Israel.
So you're going to Israel for the first time? That is way cool. I haven't been, so now I don't feel so bad :) I know it will be everything you hope for, and more. It is, after all, the land of hope.
As for yours and Eric's comments re blessings- this is what we journey in. We are blessed, but YHWH moulds us into people who actually have the strength to live without those blessings. Whether or not those earthly things take a turn for the worse, the journey is the whole point.
Maybe when I'm on my whistle-stop US trip next month, I'll head down to the Amish towns in northern Indiana. Might be an interesting lesson along those lines.
Blessings y'all.