Gandhi was on to something when he declared: “There is more to life than increasing its speed.”
Heeding that wise observation, Lifehack has offered Seven Ways to Slow Down Today.
These are for you.
These are for today.
Take a breath, my friends.
You’re welcome.
Another week, another weekend. Thanks for coming for a bit of “Wandering & Wondering”.
The Saturday Six-Pack brings a weekly dose of online pieces, written to inform or inspire. Generally, these articles are faith-focused or ministry-geared, but the “disorderly pile of who-knows-what” tagline at the top of this page catching everything outside of that!
This week:
1) God is Most Glorified When We are Most Dependent on Him
Justin Buzzard takes aim at the hidden dangers of chasing independence.
2) Farewell Rob Bell
On February 26, 2011, John Piper rocked the Twitter-verse with three words: “Farewell, Rob Bell.” The adieu was viewed as a cutting critique of the not-yet-released “Love Wins”. This interview provides the behind-the-tweet story that you have likely not heard before.
3) Saudi Grand Mufti Calls for “Destruction of All Churches in the Area”
When I was in Syria, the group I was part of was hosted for a feast by the nation’s Grand Mufti, in Damascus. This was more than a big deal, as the Grand Mufti is one of the country’s most influential Islamic leaders. Knowing that, you can now appreciate the context of this article’s opening line: “Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, declared that it is “necessary to destroy all the churches of the region.” Read this brief piece to enlarge your perspective on what fellow Christians around the globe are facing, as they live out their faith.
4) Life on God’s Time
In a culture bent on instant gratification, how do we follow a God with a completely foreign sense of time? How do you trust a Being beyond time?
5) How Do You Keep from Getting Distracted?
How do you buckle down and focus deeply when you cannot afford distraction? Donald Miller has a few ideas.
6) Top Five Regrets of the Dying
What do you get when a palliative care nurse spends years learning from her patients how they look back on their lives? You get a full-blown book, shrunk down for this blog post.
Have a great weekend, friends–renew yourself and reverence God.
Are you or a loved-but-currently-lost one consumed by this year’s NHL playoffs?
Here is my interested-but-not-immersed approach to time-efficient fan-dom:
1) First three games of all series: Maybe catch minutes here and there. Mostly follow series score through TSN’s iPhone app.
2) Game four, a few minutes of viewing is supplemented by morning edition of SportsCentre. (More attention is given if a sweep could happen.)
3) Game five, a period may be viewed, especially a third one. At this point, overtime becomes nearly mandatory viewing.
4) By game six, I may commit to watching two-thirds of a game, and overtime has become must-see TV.
5) Game seven: I follow the flow loosely until the third period, when a close game will hook me in for the duration.
Now that you know how to view the playoffs. Place your votes on the big-money question for the first round:
How about you? Any playoff routines or rituals? Is this “the most wonderful time of the year”, or a waste of ten weeks?
You may have seen this photo from Afghanistan. Taken in December, it received a Pulitzer prize.
What you may NOT have known is the story behind the image OR the ongoing tale of the girl in the green dress. If your day might be enlarged by considering the life of a young Afghan girl working to put life back together after a suicide bomber blew it apart, this short read awaits.
The old adage encourages, “Shake what your mama gave you!”
Beyond the mamas and the shaking lies a sentiment about using what you are given. But what if what has been given is not all that it could be?
This is the question for many iPhone owners: Which of those preloaded apps could be improved upon? Which upgrades are worth the change?
Here are three moves that I am glad I made:
1) Camera
One of the most significant upgrades from the iPhone 4 to the iPhone 4S revolves around its photographic capabilities. That said, why not push that progress even further? My experience at trying to do this revolves around two apps:
Camera+
This is one of the most highly-reviewed apps in both the official App Store and in other sources I have read. One review I read said that Tap Tap Tap, the app’s developer is so skilled at advancing the photography of iDevices that Apple frequently incorporates their developments into later releases of their own stuff. What’s that quote about that the highest form of flattery?
If you plan to use your phone for any form of image-capturing, spend the buck on this one. Seven million people are already on the wagon!
Camera Awesome
If I didn’t already use Camera+, this would likely be my next choice. For the cheapies out there, this one rings in at the optimal price of FREE. I am not a huge fan of the generic “awesomize” feature, though if you are looking for a mindless way to improve most photos in a single click, this may meet your desire. Something I DO like is that Camera Awesome allows you to toggle over to video mode, whereas my app of choice, Camera+, leaves you stuck in strictly-stills mode.
2) Calendar
Initially using the built-in Calendar on my 4S, I had no real issues with the app. More than anything, it was the multitude of alternative calendar apps available that got me to wondering how many different ways there were to design a digital calendar. Make no mistake, there are MANY, my friends!
After some online homework, I settled on Week Calendar, primarily because I agree with their premise that the primary look that most of use in day-timers or agendas is… wait for it… a WEEK. Surprisingly, this feature is not available on many of the calendar apps. With some minor tweaking of the settings, one can craft this app into exactly what you need to stay organized, without having any unnecessary features cluttering up the process. I have continued to check out other apps but have settled quite happily on Week Calendar.
If you want other alternatives, you could start with investigating Calvetica Calendar or QuickCal Mobile, to name but two of the options out there.
3) Twitter
My Twitter frequency and usage increased markedly when I purchased my iPhone. For starters, Twitter is just a lot more enjoyable to use on my phone, so much so that I seldom even check it on my computer anymore. A couple reasons come to mind: 1) I love being able to rifle through the latest tweets when I just have a minute or two to spare. Those quick peeks, spread through the day, allow me to stay on top of the pile, quickly starring favourites for later, and never feeling much burden in the task of keeping up. 2) Tweetbot.
Like my journey with Calendar, I had no real beefs with the pre-loaded official Twitter app, aside from wanting the ability to schedule and disperse tweets over time. The search for that feature led me to Tweetbot, which does NOT possess that feature at all! (If Tweetbot ever adds the ability to schedule tweets, they will have perfected this creation.) However, if there is a better app for my Twitter-life than Tweetbot, I have yet to find it. The cheapskate in me balked at paying a couple bucks for an app to replace the free-and-not-obviously-flawed Twitter app. The rest of me has never looked back since growing accustomed to the sleek design and smooth usability of Tweetbot. If you’re looking to enhance your Twitter experience, join the Tweetbot team. You will not be disappointed.
How about you? Any “app upgrades” that you would deem most worthy? Any moves you made that you ended up undoing afterward?
Comment below to share. I would love to learn from you.