Where are Memories Stored?

As you saw in a previous post, I work in computing. Mostly I work in networking, but about a year ago I did some work related to cloud computing. There is a strong correlation between cloud computing and how humans store memories, highlighted by the story of Lazarus and the rich man.

You may have heard of "the cloud" in the news, since many technology companies are working in this new area. It's a hip term. "Cloud computing" means that instead of having a single computer sitting at your desk to perform calculations and store data, all of your calculations and data get stored across a network of computers. The computers cooperate with each other so that if one computer fails, others will perform your calculations and store your data. With the "cloud", there is no more any worry about losing your data due to a hard disk crash, because other hard disks are always available.

You store a copy of a photo on your computer, then it gets copied to the cloud by Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, iCloud, or any other cloud storage service. Those services replicate your photo to multiple computers in the cloud. This means that if your physical computer crashes or is stolen or destroyed, you can still access your photo by connecting to the cloud. It is called a "cloud" because multiple computers form a single entity, just like individual particles form a cloud of dust.

I find it interesting that I see this "cloud" in the story of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19-31). In this story, a poor man named Lazarus and an unnamed rich man both die. In the afterlife, they change positions where Lazarus lives a life of comfort and the rich man is in anguish. The rich man pleads for temporary comfort, but Abraham responds:

Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony.

Distressed by this response, the rich man pleads for a special warning to his relatives who are still living:

Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house — for I have five brothers— in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.

What I find interesting is that the rich man remembers what happened during his life with respect to things he did and people he loved. The power behind this minor point is when we consider where these memories were stored.

Traditionally, we think of memories being stored in our brain. An event happens to us, and parts of our brain reform themselves using electricity and chemistry to store the memory in a biological format. We think that if we had a precise enough pointer, we could point to the spot on the brain where our memory of a recent event was stored. Someone gets hit in the head and they might forget some event or habit, due to physical damage to their brain.

The concept that memories are stored solely in the brain is challenged by the story of Lazarus and the rich man. When the rich man died, his brain function would have ceased and the biological material would have begun to degrade. Once the rich man died, his memories would have been inaccessible. Once his body decayed, his memories would have been gone forever. But is that what the story says? On the contrary, the story clearly says that at least some of the rich man's memories were accessible after his death and apart from his physical body.

What this tells me is that when we form memories, those memories are stored in a non-physical location (in addition to our brain). After we die those memories are still accessible. This is a powerful concept. This may be the reason why a finite amount of biological matter (our brain) can store a seemingly infinite amount of information (see here). Some scientists believe that our brains record everything we experience, even if we can't access it or "remember" it.

As you form memories today, those memories are being silently uploaded/synchronized to some non-physical location, like cloud storage uploading a photo from your computer. It is by this mechanism that we can remember our loved ones after we pass on. By that same mechanism, we'll also be able to recall the reason for our eternal condition. When we see God in the afterlife, we won't need to ask him "Why am I here?" or "Why is this happening?", we will know. By the same mechanism, I know that Roscoe still knows who his dad and mom are even though his body and brain are gone.

I point all of this out to highlight the persistence of memories. Memories aren't stored in a box (our brain) and then thrown out at the end of our lives. Each day we are forming part of an eternal story and building pieces of an eternal composition. We get to choose which memories get formed by the choices and reactions we have to life's experiences. Live life in a way that those memories make God proud. Form memories that you can look back on with fondness and confidence, rather than shame or regret.

What will you remember about how you lived today?

Sermon: Maturity

Here is the handout for the sermon that I'm delivering this morning:

   Maturity

It is a follow-up to the previous sermon that I posted about ignorance. Both of these subjects have changed how I interact with others, when trying to consider how to grow my own maturity and account for the maturity level of others in how I approach them. Hope you like it!

Working for God

Some of you may be aware that I work in computing. I have worked in Hewlett-Packard's Networking division for roughly 12 years. For much of that, I programmed router drivers in a computer language called 'C' and now I write networking software in a language called 'Java'. I don't work directly with customers and only big businesses buy the stuff I work on, so I can't point you at the latest HP printer/computer and say "I made that". You can, however, see a recent presentation I did here and some of the patents I've filed here. Don't worry, it sounds like jibberish to pretty much everyone, but it's what I call a job.

As you read this, you are probably either deciding on a career (school/training), working your way through a career (or supporting your spouse in theirs), or enjoying the fruits of your labor in retirement. Work is a large part of our lives. When we ask children "What do you want to be when you grow up?" they often answer with a chosen profession, rather than "I want to be happy" or "I want to be a good person". During periods of vacation from work or school, we get a chance to take a step back to realize the scope of work's impact on our lives in terms of finances, contentment, and time.

Several years ago, I had a real problem with working 8 hours per day. It wasn't the typical problem where I either didn't have the energy to work 8 hours, or where I felt compelled to work more than 8 hours. The problem I had was that I was spending 8 hours per day devoted to a for-profit company, when I spent significantly fewer hours praying or studying the bible. How could I consider myself a devoted Christian if I spent more time earning money than I did on things God wanted me to do?

What I discovered (through the help of a bible-toting friend) was that my question was based on an incorrect assumption. I had incorrectly segmented my life into work, relaxation, and God stuff with no overlap between those categories. What I'd overlooked was that both relaxation and work are God stuff if they are approached with the proper mindset.

God commanded rest from work in the Old Testament, following the pattern that God himself had set during the creation of the world:

"Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy." - Exodus 20:9-11 

"Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest." - Exodus 34:21

When we relax, we should do so in appreciation of God himself and a work greater than our own he has accomplished around us (creation). Does it make sense that God was tired after creating the world over 6 days, so he needed to rest on the 7th? A more likely interpretation is that God rested as an example for us, to prevent us from working ourselves ragged. It feels pretty comforting that God himself took time to rest, just so he could show me an example to follow.

My mind became at ease when my friend showed me how our attitude toward work should go beyond the scope of integrity and earning money:

"Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve." - Colossians 3:23-24 

"With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free." - Ephesians 6:7-8

A proper attitude towards work is focused on God as our boss. Behaviors like theft, laziness, mouthing off, and sub-par quality are no longer things we just try to hide when our manager is around. With God as our boss, we deliver quality work because we want to make him proud. Try employing this attitude (pun intended) at work in the coming year and I am confident you and your boss will be pleased with the result.

Back from Texas

Alisha and I returned from a 2-week trip to Texas yesterday. We visited her family and friends in the area, and even travelled to Louisiana so she could spend time with friends and take a few pictures in the process.

We traveled by car so that we could visit the Canton, TX flea market near her parents' house. The flea market happens once a month and takes 2 days to fully cover. We brought our SUV so we'd have room for any fun stuff we found. We had a hollywood encounter when we spotted Victor Rjesnjansky (from "Storage Wars: Texas") setting up his booth at the Canton flea market. I didn't snap a picture because I didn't want to be rude and his booth was mostly filled with cheap stuff that I didn't want to be goaded into buying.

On the trip, we also dropped by this famous Albuquerque filming location to snap a photo op:

While on the subject of travelling through New Mexico, I must say that aside from Albuquerque I don't have a good taste for New Mexico. From the point you enter the state, the entirety of I-40 is riddled with construction zones whose sole purpose seems to be raising speeding ticket fines. The construction zones never had any workers or even construction equipment in them (just a set of cones and warning signs that fines were doubled). As soon as a construction zone would end, a "safety corridor" would begin which (once again) doubled the speeding ticket fine.

To top it off, a few years ago we were riding with my dad along this route and he was ticketed by tribal patrol officer because I was laying down in the back seat (they pulled him over because his tires touched the white line). The "officer" then proceeded to ask him if he wanted to pay the fine on the spot ... at 2am! When my dad refused, he was given a ticket with no website or phone number for contacting or disputing the charge. I write this just to warn anyone travelling through New Mexico: they want your money.

On Thanksgiving day I had a run-in with a metal box (similar in size to a dumpster) when I stopped a piece of wood fence from falling on a little girl (Alisha's second cousin) during a photo shoot. I grabbed the wood fence before it fell, but mis-stepped myself and hit the box with the bridge of my nose. Luckily I hit bone so I avoided a broken nose or chipped teeth. I had a cut across my nose, two cuts on my lip, a scrape near my left eye, and my glasses were badly bent (but not scratched):

The sad part of the story was that while Alisha and the others were looking at the damage to my nose, the wind picked up again and blew the fence section over onto the girl anyways. She came out relatively unscathed.

On the last day of our trip, I turned 37 years old as we drove from Albuquerque, NM to Sacramento, CA. It was funny, because with all of the chaos of this past year I had mentally considered myself 37 years old since the beginning of 2014. It wasn't until a few days before our trip that I was walking the hallway at work and thought "Wait a second, how old am I?". I had to do the math to figure out that I was 36 and not 37. I guess that's a sign of getting old? It was nice to have another birthday, but not age in my own mind!

Making the Most of "You"

Are you reaching your maximum potential? We often try to be our best, but we run into obstacles along the way. These obstacles come in the form of limitations on our finances, skills, mental capacity, health, or opportunities. Sometimes we wish to ourselves that "if only I didn't have this or that limitation, then I'd really reach my maximum potential". We look at how others don't have the limitations we face, and we credit them with achieving more based on their increased opportunity. After all, if we had what they have then we'd do things better than they do, right?

We are a unique combination of our soul, spirit, and body:

"Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." - 1 Thessalonians 5:13

I am not sure of the details or mechanisms, but somehow we are innately born with predispositions in each of these areas. That same soul, spirit, and body is refined and reworked by our experiences and how we react to them. You may have problems with anger because it's in your DNA, or you may get angry just because you saw your parents or friends react that way when you were growing up, or you may just like the feeling that anger gives you. The same could be said of your happiness, creativity, thoughtfulness, and other parts of your personality. How much of "you" is encoded in your DNA, how much has been bolted on by your upbringing, and how much of it is developed by you? There is "nature", "nurture" and then finally our reaction to those two parts. We can really only control that 3rd part (our reactions) which is where our area of responsibility lies.

So I'd like you to imagine that someone was born with your precise DNA, brought up in the same household environment you lived in, and had the same friends you had. Would they have made the same choices you did, or would they have chosen differently? If that person were standing right next to you, would they have scars where you do or carry the baggage that you carry? Would that person "coast" based on a God-given talent they have, or would they push themselves to develop it further? Thinking this way helps me see what I should really make of myself.

God has given me the DNA that I have and has granted me with the family and friends I have. What I do with those blessings (or limitations) is dependent upon me. This leads me (and hopefully you as well) to acknowledge and work around limitations that were placed in our lives beyond our control. It also hopefully leads us to continually push ourselves to develop in areas that are already satisfactory (ie: we shouldn't be satisfied with a mere passing grade in life).

Jesus is the standard by which we should measure ourselves, and we all fall short (Romans 3:23). He gave us a goal to aim for: to be the most God-like person we can be, to bring glory to God and honor him by becoming like him. Recognize areas where you fall short, so that they can be improved if God grants you the time to improve them. Identify areas where you can grow to be closer to Jesus' example. In summary, make the most of "you" that you can with the DNA and upbringing that God has blessed you with.

The Race No Man Wins

This past week I learned that a faithful man I greatly respect was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. It was a shock to me, as it was to many others who heard this news. I have prayed for healing, but we all know that praying for something doesn't guarantee it will happen. We know God can heal completely, but will he?

A prayer for healing is really a prayer for time. Time is a finite resource that each of us gulps down at the same rate and with the same fervor. How many seconds will comprise my lifetime? No matter how many they are, I will certainly pray to God for several more. There is never enough time.

The race against time is the race no man can win. We try to eat healthy, exercise regularly, live a clean lifestyle, and avoid dangerous activities all to prolong our time on the earth. God grants us answers to prayers for health, but he doesn't do so indefinitely. Like the race between the tortoise and the hare, eventually the methodical plodding of time will overtake every mortal soul. At one point in every person's life, they ask God to sustain their life and God responds with "no more". Will today be my time?

Physical life is a process of growth and decay. Our bodies are constantly undergoing both of these processes simultaneously from the moment we are born. To see this, look no further than your hair and fingernails: they are dead cells which constantly ooze out of our bodies and need to be maintained. Muscles grow through the strain of lifting followed by a period of regrowth. The collection of cells which makes up your body today were mostly not there several years ago. We are constantly growing and constantly dying. Our bodies die when the death overcomes the growth.

A great deception is that we start thinking that just because we see growth, death is no longer waiting for us. God said with certainty to Adam "you will surely die" (Genesis 2:17) when sin took its foothold in the world through disobedience. Satan tries to deceive us as he did Eve by muttering "you will not surely die" (Genesis 3:4). We start thinking that if we take care of ourselves, get good health insurance, and plan for retirement then we can avoid a confrontation with death. "Sure", we think, "after I've done everything I need to do, then death can come". But when is it ever the right time? When are we ever done?

We always think to ourselves that we'll die later in life, but don't want to admit that one day "later" will become today. Value each today that God gives you: the breath in your lungs, the blood in your veins, the food in your belly, and the thoughts in your mind. Use the gift of today to accomplish something of lasting value.

Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

- Hebrews 9:27-28

Sermon Handouts

Many of you may already know that I occasionally teach sermons at church. I have presented my first talk in 1993 or 1994, which means that this year marks the 20-year mark for me as a teacher. Over the years I have developed my own speaking style, but it is largely based upon speakers which I felt were very effective at communicating information to me. I presumed that if I connected with a speaker's style, then other people would connect with me if I did the same. That's based on an incorrect assumption that all audience members have the same listening style, but it seems to have worked well enough.

The past few years I have been speaking, I've developed handouts for each sermon. I find that a handout has several benefits:

• It forces me to structure my thoughts well enough to convey them in written format.
• It helps clarify which parts of the sermon are interpretation and which are scripture.
• If a listener's mind goes on a tangent or their kids distract them, it gives them the ability to pick up the parts of the sermon that they missed.
• It gives listeners a reference for later, in case they'd like to think about it again or study further.

In a future blog post, I can explain a little about the structure of the handouts that I use. If you'd like to see the handout I made for the sermon I presented yesterday, click here.