Clearing Datum

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I’ve been a bit disappointed in the commentary that the news outlets have made over Abby Sunderland the 16 year old girl attempting to circumnavigate the globe.  The parents have been criticized and compared to the parents of balloon boy, the incident that occurred in October 09 which turned out to be a hoax.  What disturbs me the most is that we have continually perpetuated this notion that “teenagers” are not capable of  doing difficult or challenging things.  Our kids’ performance is generally a reflection of our low expectations.

The ocean is a dangerous place, and you may not think a teenager has the capacity to survive under those dangerous conditions.  Being an ex-navy guy, I’m reminded of a the first Admiral of the U.S. Navy, David Farragut.  At 9 years old, Farragut enlisted in the Navy.  At age 12 he received his first command which turned out to be a captured British vessel.  He even threatened to throw the captured British captain overboard if he interfered with Farragut or opposed his orders.

Obviously David Farragut was held to a pretty high standard and encountered a great deal of pressure, yet he excelled and achieved.

Parent, don’t accept mediocrity.  Allow your child to excel.  They have great potential if not hindered by our low expectations.

Attending a dance recital this evening, I realized that I often overlook or take for granted the many ways we can praise and worship God. One group danced to the song Beautiful by Bethany Dillon. It was an absolute worshipful experience. I don’t normally appreciate dance, but tonight I am reminded that we can use any of the talents God give us to glorify Him. You did a great job Michaela!

Well, my iPad arrived yesterday and I have been busy installing apps. My top ten will be coming soon. One app that I must mention is Evernote. I already use this app on my MacBook, primarily for outlining my bible study lessons. Each Sunday, I teach from those outlines. With Evernote, all your data can be stored in the cloud and accessed from any computer that has the Evernote client or a web browser. The client for the iPad is truly awesome. I’m looking forward to making the iPad part of my everyday workflows. I still need to find a good bible app that has commentary, lexicons, and other study tools.
Only drawback I can conceive at this point is the looks I am going to get in church on Sunday when I take notes or read a bible verse. Maybe the next purchase I make should be an incognito iPad case that looks like a leather bound bible.
Anyone else incorporated their ipads with their faith?

Studying for the lesson this week, and although I’ve read this several times, as it always happens, I saw something new. In Acts 8:36, the eunuch asks Phillip why he shouldn’t be baptized. Asked another way, “What is preventing me from being baptized?” Now we know from Deut 23:1 (I like the KJV translation….He that is wounded in the stones…) that eunuchs were not allowed to congregate or participate spiritually with the Jews.

Many times we as Christians create barriers to entry for non-Christians. We judge others, deeming them not worthy of our time or salvation based on the way that they look or act.

I sure

This year, I feel, has been a year of great spiritual growth for me.  Partially I can thank Desiring God for that.  I have used resources at this site on numerous occasions when my beliefs have been challenged.  Sometimes they have strengthened my position, other times they have changed me.  John Piper has over 30 years of ministry experience and 30 years worth of material and documents available for free download at this site.  If you find any of this valuable, perhaps you should help support DG.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t79XrsquXxc&feature=player_embedded]

So its been a week since I ordered my iPad.  Regrettably it is on backorder, however, Macmall ensures me that it will ship next Wednesday.  I’ve been preemptively trying to find some apps that I know that I will use.  The first one that I found is GoodReader.  I’ve got tons of technical docs in pdf format and this app promises to be able to read those files.  The second must have is TabToolKit by Agile Partners.  I’ve SO wanted an application that I could store/display all the guitar tabs that I use for P&W  so that I could eliminate all the paper and shuffling.  This one looks promising.

Evernote will be a no brainer, as all my lesson prep is documented in evernote.

Dropbox is another no brainer.  All my guitar tabs are stored in the cloud at dropbox.  Being able to open those from anywhere without having to carry around my macbook will be awesome.

Still remaining:  I really need an awesome bible app for the iPad.   Logos looks like they have one, but I have no experience with their products…

Any suggestions?  Any other apps that you think I can’t live without?

How do you describe how something tastes?  It tastes like…..well the cliche is chicken.  Some things can only be perceived and understood if they are experienced and even then, it is difficult to find descriptive words that are adequate.

Psalms 34:8 O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

Enjoy God by experiencing God.

Been tossing around this object lesson for some time.  Using Meals Ready to Eat (MREs,) as an object lesson for the sufficiency of scripture.  Key verses, of course 2 Timothy 3:10-17.  Gonna give it a try tomorrow night.  Going to emphasize that while the menu choice might sometimes be less than desirable (Chicken a la King), it is sufficient to meet a soldier’s dietary needs.  In the same way, direction provided in scripture may not always be what we would choose and sometimes even be painful, but God’s perspective is so much larger than ours and His design is so much better than our perceived expectations.

What is your favorite MRE menu.

Everyone has a top ten list so I thought I might create my own.  The following list contains the top 10 products that I most frequently use, in no specific order.  You might say that these are things that I can’t live without.

1.  Macbook Pro 15″ Definitely can’t live without this one.  All my lesson prep, loops, video/audio editing done on my mbp.

2.  Evernote.  Pretty much all my note taking is done in Evernote.  I love that I can keep it sync’d regardless of platform.  I can access data created on my mbp with my blackberry or iphone and soon my iPad.

3.  Google Reader.  I follow quite a few tech and faith related blogs.  I love going to one place to view the content.

4.  Blackberry Bold.  If I had to pay for it, I would probably have an iPhone, however, I absolutely love the Bold.  I’m able to keep work/personal separated on the same platform.

5.  Ubertwitter.  Speaking of blackberry, I love this app.  Presence aware and able to keep my tweeps up-to-date.

6.  OmniOutliner.  This is another great note-taking app, but much more.  I use it to manage projects, tasks.  I have coded an applescript that updates my iCal with project information.

7.  DropBox.  This program has been awesome.  Like evernote, dropbox keeps things cross platform in sync.  With dropbox, I can keep all my guitar tabs, important documents saved on the cloud.  I can allow public access to files that I specify.  iPad integration is hopefull as well.

8.  Apple Airport Express.  While it functions as an access point, I generally use my airport express to stream music from my iTunes library to my home stereo.  This has great entertainment functionality.

9.  Oracle SQL Developer.  Primarily work related.  I access quite a few oracle databases and need to generate sql for various perl scripts. I use this program almost daily.

10.  Perl.  This is my favorite scripting/programming language.  I love hashes and love figuring out new ways to use them.

Honorable Mention:  AppleTV.  Watch a lot of podcasts on this platform and although the movie selection is a bit lacking, I lick the delivery of the content.