To those who have plenty, help out your family.  Start there.  If you have a family member that needs anything, help them out.  Do everything in your power to help them stand on their own feet.  Once your family is standing strong, begin to reach out further.  Are people in your church hurting?  Help them.  Don’t just give them material possessions, but teach them.  Don’t just teach them, but walk with them.  Don’t just walk with them, but pray for them.  Don’t just pray for them, but provide for them.  Teach them to do the same once they are standing on their own.

Brother, are you one that needs help?  Are you hurting?  Seek out help from your church.  We need to stop acting like everything is fine.  We need to quit being afraid to tell our fellow brothers and sisters the truth.  Seek prayer, seek guidance, seek out work from members in the church.  And when you are standing on your own, the best way to thank those who helped you is to actively seek out those that are in the position that you used to be.  Help them.  Guide them.  Comfort them.  Clothe them.  Feed them.

Check out Matthew 25.  Is your brother hungry?  Feed him.  Is your brother thirsty?  Give him something to drink.  Is your brother naked?  Clothe him.

You know what will happen when God’s people begin to take care of each other?  The world will notice.  Not only will they see the love.  They will actually feel the love.  You will see jobs open up.  You will see the economy thrive.  You will see glory be given to God.  You will see.

But that is not the root of my frustration.  My frustration is just this- we have come to the point where we value money and possessions far more than we value fellow brothers and sisters.  We see the people among us hurting, desperately trying to pay their bills; losing thier homes, their cars, their jobs.  And what is our encouragement to them?  “It’s just the economy, it will pick up.  I am praying for you, brother.”  Now, I am not one to swear, but that is total BS.  People, wake up!  If you think for one moment that simply (and only) praying for someone is what you are called to do, then greatly deceived you are (I speak to those who have possessions, not to those who are in dire need).

To those who own a home: God has blessed you.  Use what He has given you to bless others and bring Him glory.  To those without a home: Do not sell your soul, your integrity to get what man says you need.  For it is God alone who gives to his children what they need.  Your Father hears your prayers, and he values YOU.

So we must learn.  We must seek after the truth.  We must know true riches are.  We must desire wisdom.  And until we learn to value our brothers and sisters beyond even our own welfare, then I say this to you: “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” Reference

So, loving quotes, and also loving programming, I decided to do something about it.  So I created AntiQuotr.  Feel free to take a look around, add a few quotes to the site, and enjoy the insanity!  Let me know if you have any ideas for improvement.

There are times that a developer or designer loses inspiration or motivation.  I have never met anyone in the creative realm who has not lost that passion, at least for a little bit.  Fortunately, in the tech world, there are always new technologies to inspire and drive us toward creating a better product.

Front End / User Interface

1. jQuery is your friend.  There are a ton of resources out there for learning jQuery.  This javascript library makes animation and effects in javascript 100x easier.  And for those of you who worry about loading times, jQuery is pretty light when packed and gzipped.  I have read some books on jQuery, but the best place to get started is just by downloading the library and reading through the docs.
2. When redesigning a website, it is important that you find out what is working and what is not working.  While a bit of change is usually a good thing, presenting a totally new look and feel can cause users to feel uncomfortable with the site.  Heatmap applications will help you do your research before you make changes.  Check this one out.
3. Twitter connects you to peers. While this resource will not guarantee that you will find great designs, it will help to inspire you.  Twitter boasts of connecting to millions of users.  It is super easy to find people that have similar tastes as you, so get to know them and see how they stay focussed.  If you are having a difficult time finding people, start with my feed.
4. Design galleries. There are a ton of different galleries out there.  Browsing galleries submitted by your peers (and usually placed into categories) cannot help but to inspire you.  The galleries that I spend time on are CSS Elite, CSS Drive, and CSS Beauty.
5. Find the impossible. There is nothing that motivates more than being told that “it can’t be done.”  It’s like when parents tell their children to not do something.  That child is now more interested than ever and is going to find a way to make it work.  Want a start?  Try developing rounded, gradiented buttons that work perfectly in every browser.  (No images, no hacks).  There are a ton of issues out there.  Find one and tackle it.

Back End / Database

1. Learn from mistakes. See I did not say to learn from YOUR mistakes, but to learn from mistakes.  Don’t just be critical of other developers.  We know that they are not as good as you are.  So what.  Learn from what they do wrong.  Learn from what you do wrong.  Be willing to listen to others who may not agree with your style.  It will only improve your skills.
2. Tackle a language. Don’t just learn a language that is similar to a language that you are strong in.  Learn a language that is really going to challenge you.  If you are great at PHP, learn ColdFusion.  If ColdFusion is your forte, learn Ruby (and then pick up the Rails framework).  Learning a new language will make you better at all languages.
3. Open source projects. Not only do open source projects benefit the community as a whole, but open source projects also allow you to become a much better programmer.  You will work with developers from all over the world, getting used to their programming styles.  Take a look at Source Forge for a great start.
4. Open up old projects. This can be scary, but can also prove to be very motivating.  Sometimes I feel like I am not making any progress as a developer.  Then I open up projects that I worked on six months or a year ago.  The second that I open up those files I know that I have come a long way.  You feel terrible about the old projects, but you know that your skills have improved greatly.
5. Write a blog. Blogs benefit the entire community, but a blog, if you make the commitment, will also cause you to really spend time researching and growing as a developer.  Free blogs can be created at Wordpress, or you can get in touch with me and I will provide my CMS to you (shameless plug).

Everyone Together Now

1. Take a break. I played tennis all throughout highscool, and one of the things that I noticed time and time again was that I would actually be an improved player when I took a break for a while.  I often played (and pushed myself) for 3-4 hours per day.  I became a pretty decent player, but after time would begin to struggle.  Taking a break allowed my mind to relax and the play to become natural again.  When I came back I was usually  a much stronger player.  Web designers and developers spend way too much time working.  Take a break.  Your projects will thank you for it.
2. Think Big. The biggest names in the development world didn’t just get there because they are good.  Often there are developers that are better than them.  They just thought about being the biggest and the best.  It is not always the skill, but almost always the desire.
3. Word hard. It is really easy to settle for the easy money.  We all know that we can throw together a website in a couple of hours, place some ads, collect e-mails, and make some money.  If money is what you are after, then go for it.  If becoming better at your trade is your goal, then it is going to take hard work.  There is enjoyment and motivation in hard work.
4. Connections, connections, connections. Finding people who will challenge you as a designer or developer is critical to your success.  Get plugged into a user group, read a blog daily (and comment on it), and/or go to conferences.  Adobe is always having conferences, so save up the money and head on over.
5. Envato Network. Envato is behind Nettuts, PSDtuts, and so much more.  With tutorials posted on about every technical topic, quality learning is inevitable.  Reading the tutorials is a good start.  Spend some time and write your own tutorials and make some money ($150 each) while you advance as a designer/developer.

Linkage

Here are some sites/resources that I visit that inspire me each and every time-

1. Ben Nadel. Ben is a ColdFusion guru and a blogging machine.  His expertise is ColdFusion, but he is solid in javascript (and the jQuery library), and has skills in pretty much any language that you can throw at him (and his Regex advice is priceless).
2. Stumble Upon. If you aren’t using Stumble Upon then you are missing out.  Stumble Upon is a plugin for Firefox that connects to a central database and provides you with sites that you are interested in.  (Caution: can be addicting)
3. Six Apart.  These are the guys (and gals) that created Type Pad.  They are really smart and have a lot of great stuff to say.  Most of their blog is about their blogging engine, but just learning about that has helped me grow.
4. 37 Signals.  From the creators of Backpack and Basecamp comes this great blog that gives great business and programming tips.  Can’t live without it.
5. Mark Cuban.  Mark Cuban is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team.  I hate the team (Go Warriors!), but the ramblings of Mark on his blog are priceless when it comes to growing in the business realm.  He talks about usability, monetization, and so much more.  After all, he did make his fortunes through the internet.

May your feet be strengthened that you might walk along the narrow path that the Lord sets before you

May your hands grow strong that you might be able to serve those in need

May the Lord grant you with vision, that you might see and show mercy

May the Lord give you ears that you might listen to Wisdom, and follow her advice for all of your days

May the Lord give you a voice that speaks the truth, speaks of love, and speaks with authority, which is given from God alone

May the Lord give you a mind that you might know Him. May you be given wisdom and knowledge beyond your years

May the Lord give you a heart that is passionate, merciful, and kind. May your heart be for the orphans and the widows. But most of all may your heart be for your God.

While I was a student at Simpson University, there was a quote on a board in one of the dorms.  It went something like this- “How can you die for me if you are not willing to live for me?”  That one hit me hard.  So often we think that dying a physical death is the ultimate expression of love.  What I am finding more and more is that dying to one’s self is what love is all about. That is not to say that dying so that one might live is not an expression of love, but it must come out of the willingness to live.

But what then does it mean to love my wife, to love my daughter, to love my neighbor?  For the answer I turned to three books- First and foremost I turned to the Bible.  Second I turned to To Train up a Child, and third I turned to Facedown.  There is a lot to be learned from in the Old Testament, but for this particular study I started in the Gospels, namely Matthew and John.  Jesus, speaking to his disciples before leaving them, states:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

The challenge brought forth here is incredible.  About to give his life, Christ defines love.  Love is giving not what only what one wants (sometimes not even what one wants), but what one needs.  Love is challenging others to say what they mean, and mean what they say.  Love is to give up all for the sake of the Heavenly Father, for the sake of your neighbor.  Love is giving what you do not yet have.  Love is doing what is right.  Love is to discipline, to correct, to rebuke.  Love is to have peace.  Love is to have joy.  Love is to be humble.  Love is to be holy.  And when the time has come, love is to lay down one’s life.

Being from, and in California, I think that it would be a great experience to head to the East Coast.  I was thinking something along the lines of New York, or DC.  But I am not sure.  That seems like a really long trip for only a short time.  But, my wife and I also really like the coast, and I think that she would really like a trip to San Diego.  New Orleans would be nice too.  Not sure where yet.  Not sure when.  But it is coming.

It is just incredible how much we get to enjoy life!  Even if we don’t get to see all of those places in our lifetime, what we have been able to see has been absolutely amazing!