I'm sure some of you know my history by now. I started as a web developer as a hobby that then became my job. In my adult life I started to create applications that mimicked what was going on in my life. When I became a parent, I created ParentsDB.com. Then when I started going to church, I became a Christian and I created GodSurfer.com. There are other applications I wrote, but this isn't about them.
When I started on GodSurfer, I was on FIRE. Both in the coding world as I was learning php, C#, javaScript, OOP concepts as well as being a developer learning & doing VB6 & VB.Net winforms development at work. I was also on fire in my new faith. I loved being a Christian. I loved the fact that God loves me. I loved the thought of being forgiven for my sins. I loved having a relationship with God. I created GodSurfer to intertwine my 2 favorites things in my life.
However, the ugly side of the online Christian community quickly started to show. Much like in software development, there are Christians out there that are gate keepers. Their job is to tell you, that you aren't Christian enough if you say this or if you say that. So as I started to want to grow my site, I could never get any support from other popular Christian sites. I couldn't even get local leaders interested. To be fair, they didn't understand the power of the internet yet. But I couldn't not find any support.
This went on for years. I had hoped that maybe God would open doors for the site, but it never happened. So out of frustration (& some distraction from the windows phone apps I started to develop), I stopped coding on GodSurfer. It was also around the time that we stopped going to church (due to kids sports commitments). Being shunned by the Christian community greatly affected my relationship with God. This is one of the main reasons I no longer consider myself a Christian.
Although my relationship with God is quiet, I still find myself sometimes in prayer.
With all the mass shootings that have been happening for the last 20 years, I've been on the side lines with "thoughts & prayers". However, that changed in 2013 with the Arapahoe High School shooting. This was the school that 2 out of my 3 kids attended. Ever since then, any school shooting brings me right back to that time and place. Now instead of "thoughts & prayers", I get angry.
Right before I ended my coding on GodSurfer, I wrote a small prayer wall app on the Windows Phone that worked with the GodSurfer web site & twitter. I wound up screwing it up by forcing user registration. Shortly after that my user based crashed and I could NEVER get momentum again. But in that brief period of time, I noticed that it was very popular (for me). I always thought I should create just a prayer wall app. However, as I mentioned during this time, I was pissed off at the community. So I didn't...
Which brings me to today. After a miserable week of hearing the tragic stories of lives shattered. I have decided to start working on PrayerSurfer.com. This is not a Christian application, nor is it a religious application. All religions have some sort of prayer. Even myself have a need to sometimes pray. It is just something to use when you need more than just talking to yourself. My goal is to create an app that everyone can use.
I announced this on Twitter earlier this week. Now it is time for me to begin working on it. I want to a series of blog posts about the process. Some will be technical & others will have a personal twist (much like this one).
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