Archive | December, 2010

My iPad Apps

Already this year many of my friends have been given iPads for Christmas. Everyone has started to ask, what apps should I get? I decided instead of just naming off a bunch, which they would forget, or sending tons of emails. I’d just do a quick post about which ones I use.

Let me start by saying, with the thousands of apps in the App Store, there are many that will do the same thing. You might find one that will do something one of the apps I suggest will, and better. These are just the apps that I use to complete most of the tasks at hand. One last thing, a lot of these apps are not free. As you will find with most iPad apps, they are much more expensive then you are typically used to with the iPhone. The main reason for this is, they have many more features then the iPhone version does, which justifies the higher cost.

Reeder – This is the best RSS reader I have found yet. I use it on the iPad and iPhone.

Flipboard – Bring your twitter and facebook feeds, along with other sites to life in a magazine view.

Twitter for iPad - There are a lot of twitter apps out there, I just find this to work the best.

Netflix – Streaming videos to the iPad from Netflix.

Pandora – Streaming Radio

ABC Player – Stream most any ABC TV show episode, with limited commercials.

Bible – YouVersion has done a great job with the iPad version of this app.

Instapaper – I use this on all my devices and the computer. Great for seeing an site and coming back to read it later.

DropBox – This is my cloud storage. I can access all my files anywhere I go.

Air Sharing HD – Allows you to wirelessly transfer files to your iPad.

VLC – Media player. You can load up any format movie via iTunes and watch it on the iPad.

Screens – VNC Client. I use this to VNC into any computer I work with.

Evernote – I save all my notes with this app.

Zinio – Digital Magazines. This is a such a awesome app, get magazines delivered directly to your iPad.

1Password – This is an app I use all across my workflow. iPhone, iPad, and OSX.

USA Today / Wall Street Journal -If your into reading either one of these newspapers, they have developed great apps.

The Weather Channel Max – You’ll never need to turn the weather channel on again.

SportsCenter XL – Video highlights and more of most the games.

iWork Suite – Keynote, Numbers, and Pages. If you work with a lot of documents, these apps can be very handy. I find myself using them quite a bit.

GoDocs – If you use Google Documents, this will give you access to all of those.

eBay – You’ll never need to logon to the site again.

If you’re into music, you should check these out …

djay – This is a fun app to play with, especially if you need to play music at a party. It actually works very well.

iMS-20 – Korg iMS-20 Synthesizer .. AMAZING.

iElectribe – Fully functional Korg iElectribe

SoundPrisim – Just installed this app yesterday, but so far seems extremely promising.

This is really just a start. There are so many apps out there. If you find something awesome, be sure to pass it along. Enjoy your new iPad!

Your Stress Isn’t Worth It

Have  you ever had one of those day’s where your thoughts are spinning in your head at a unbelievable pace? That basically sums up the past week in my life. Maybe it’s the holiday season or maybe my life has just been that busy. Whatever the case, it has stirred some profound thoughts.

Let me start off by painting a picture .. My daily job involves as much corporate america as one could ever ask for. Emails, conference calls, spreadsheets, micro management, and “COB” deadlines. All wrapped up in a very intense and fast paced working environment. It’s enough to drive even the most sane person crazy.

What all of this has recently made me realize, is how easy it is to loose sight of the things in life that really matter. We get so wrapped up in everyday life .. work .. kids .. bills .. events .. life stuff. That the stress and pressure from all of these things can ruin us. They will cause us to be people we are not, because they will push us to a point where we do not want to be. The result of this is, we miss it. We don’t take an opportunity to encourage someone when we have the chance or meet a need when we see it, because we are so wrapped up in the stress of our life.

As I look back on 2010 in my life, there have been a lot of meaningful moments and God has really stretched me this year. Nothing hit me quite as hard though, as the story of Zac Smith did. I remember the first time I ever heard his name, it was the summer of ’09. I was observing to become a fuse* volunteer at NewSpring. (For those that don’t know, our student ministry is called fuse*) They showed this video.

The video was directed at the students, but had a profound effect on me. What would I tell myself at a younger age? How would I handle stuff differently?

I also remember the first time I ever met Zac. I was in line at NewSpring to get baptized. Him and his 2 sons were right in front of me. He was going to have one of the greatest opportunities a dad could ever have, baptizing his children. Being so wrapped up in that moment for myself, I got baptized and went to get out of my wet clothes. A few months later, I was volunteering at our Columbia, SC campus. Like most newer churches, we do a run-thru each morning before our service to work out any “bugs” we might have. I was controlling what you see on the screens that day, and remember pressing play on this video …

The only thing I remember after the video stopped, was there was not a dry eye in the NewSpring Columbia campus. Everyone was crying, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. Here is a guy that was doing everything right. Why was this happening to him? This could happen to me. How in the world would I handle it? Could I handle it? Do I have the kind of faith it takes to go through something like this? Speechless.

Sadly Zac went to heaven on May 16th, 2010. It was an extremely emotional time at NewSpring. I can’t tell you why it happened, but I can tell you that Jesus was completely glorified during the entire process.

Something we all can learn from Zac is how he took a horrible disease like cancer and allowed it to make him better. As he said, it made him a better, husband, dad, and boss. How found God’s glory in this deadly situation.

My point in all this is, your stress isn’t worth it. The things that we allow ourselves to get completely consumed with on a daily basis isn’t going to matter in 10 years. For 99% of us, someone else will be doing our current job and doing it as well, if not better then we are. Someone else will be driving our current car, living in our current house, and even wearing our current clothes. None of this matters.

It’s where we spend eternity, and the legacy we leave behind that matters the most. That’s all we have. My pastor Perry Noble said something completely profound a few weeks ago, but it’s so true. Our kids or their kids won’t know who Billy Graham is. Now, I do not want to take anything away from the amazing work the man has done. But, all that will be left is his legacy.

Spending quality time with your family, is more important then any spreadsheet or conference call. I’m not saying don’t give your job 110%. I’m just saying that your job is willing to take and take from you, then when you wear out, it will find a new model to put in your place. Your family doesn’t have that option, and they are worth so much more then the company you work for.

Take some time and reflect on the things of your life that you stress over, or put way too much unnecessary energy into. You will be amazed at how much more meaningful life will feel, when you put your focus in the right areas.

As Zac said .. “God is God, and God is Good. To God Be The Glory”