Stuff I like: Jott.com

August 12, 2008 in Personal, Tech with 1 Comment

One of the most important things to do when you’re trying to be productive is to have an effective and efficient system in place to capture all the ideas you have and actions you need accomplish. David Allen talks about this in his book Getting Things Done, which I’m in the early chapters of reading. For a long time I used my Palm device to do this, but it was limited. If I was driving it was difficult and unsafe to use it and I’ve never been a fan of the note-taking capabilities of the Palm OS or its task management.

In the past year I’ve started using Jott.com. It’s a service that allows you to call their number and it will record what you say, transcribe it for you, and then post it in one of a number of different places. For me, this has been an incredible help. I use it multiple times per week to add things to my task list, capture ideas that come to me, or to set a reminder about something that I need to do later.

The reminders are one of the best features of the service. You call in, say “reminder” and it asks when you want the reminder and a note to attach to it. When that time comes around the service will send you a text message with the brief note.

I’ve found the service to be fairly accurate at transcribing what I say, but not 100%. It doesn’t really bother me that it’s not perfect mainly because it’s a FREE SERVICE!!! You definitely get more than you pay for with Jott. I’d suggest trying it out and if you have any thoughts about it let me know in the comments.

See also: How to Get Things Done with Jott.

Faith & Politics

August 11, 2008 in Current Events, Religion with 0 Comments

These days it’s not popular to talk about religion or politics. That makes the email I got today so odd. Rick Warren, Senior Pastor of Saddleback Church in California, will be interviewing both presidential candidates for a nationally televised forum. The email he sent was soliciting questions to ask and prayer for wisdom.  This will be a blend of both faith and politics, which should make it a very compelling thing to watch.

Pastor Warren will have to walk a tightrope as a representative of a non-profit organization, which just so happens to be a church, too. As such he cannot officially direct people on how they should vote or he would jeopardize the church’s non-profit status with the IRS. There are some practices that are allowed, but others that are not (see this article for more details). Since Pastor Warren will be interviewing both candidates he should be safe, but you know that the ACLU and other politial watchdog organizations will be keep close tabs on what is said.

I do think it’s important for Christians to be politically active. We’re instructed to pray for our government officials, pay taxes, and submit to laws of the land. It’s valuable to have Christians in positions of influence that can enact positive change for our nation and its future citizens.

Check out the email below:

Dear fellow pastor and church leader,

This next Saturday, August 16, 2008, I will interview Senators John McCain and Barack Obama for an hour each at our nationally televised Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency. The following morning I will be preaching a message entitled “The Kind of Leadership America Needs.”

I’d value your opinion and feedback. What question would you ask BOTH candidates if you had the chance?  Please frame your question in a way that it could be asked of both candidates (to be fair) and email it to me at pastorrick@saddleback.net. This would be a great help to me.

We’re in this together.  I also ask you to pray I’ll have the necessary wisdom. This will be an historic event. Never have the two candidates been interviewed by a pastor in a church. It will be a great day for all churches, showing the importance of the local church being at the civil table.

I thank God he has called you to serve Him.  For the global glory of God.

Rick
Rick Warren
Saddleback Church
Purpose Driven Network
The Global PEACE Coalition

Texas Rangers: I’m not sold…yet

August 11, 2008 in Sports with 1 Comment

It used to be an annual tradition: the great fall of the Texas Rangers in the month of August. For several years in a row the team used to be competitive until the All-Star break and then fall apart in the month of August. This year seems to be a repeat performance of that past trend. As of today, the Rangers are 4th in the Wild-Card standing and only 6.5 games back. I believe that they will freefall out of the race by the end of the month. I don’t see any way that the pitchers will be able to keep up their performance in the unbearable heat. It’s inevitable.

That said, the situation that the team is in is a direct result of poor planning by the city of Dallas in the early 90′s. The city had a chance to bid to be the host for the new stadium, but the city council and mayor did not even let the issue go to the public for a vote. The repercussions of that have landed the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington starting next year, too. If the Rangers’ ballpark was just outside of downtown Dallas their attendance would have been significantly higher, which would have given them more money to sign better pitching talent, which would have made them more competitive, which would also have increased attendance, which . . . I think you get the picture.

Last thought on this issue. If the Rangers were in downtown Dallas there would be no question about where to build the Cowboys’ new stadium: downtown. I know many people think that the tax burden on the residents of Arlington has been cited as why it’s bad to have a sports stadium built in your city, but a simple math equation should change that perspective. If I remember correctly, the city is responsible for funding $450 million of the cost of the stadium. The Super Bowl is going to be hosted at the new stadium in a few years and it is projected to bring in over $500 million in revenue to the city THAT WEEKEND ALONE!!! In only one weekend the city will have more than a complete return on investment. That’s good money management.

Of course, now that I’ve said all this, I’m pretty sure Tom Hicks could have found a way to make the Rangers terrible no matter where they were playing.

What part of “no one else” is hard to understand?

August 10, 2008 in Religion with 0 Comments

In June, the Dallas Morning News published an article entitled “Most Americans say many religions can lead to eternal life.” This title in an of itself shouldn’t be surprising, considering the spiritual climate of tolerance that exists in the country today. It’s not politically correct or socially acceptable to claim exclusive ownership of true religion or the key to entering the afterlife. What was surprising about the study was that the MAJORITY of people surveyed who are connected to a Southern Baptist church agreed with this concept. “More than 60 percent of those who said they were Southern Baptists said many religions can be right about how to get to the hereafter.”

Why this surprises me is that the impression I get from Baptist churches is that they believe that the Bible is the ultimate authority for all spiritual matters. Where the Bible is clear on an issue they are typically ready to accept it as fact.

So, does the Bible leave any room for the possibility that other religions can lead to the same destination: heave? Uh….no. See for yourself:

John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Acts 4:12
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

1 Timothy 2:5
For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

John 3:36
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

There are plenty more examples I could give, but I think these get the point across. The Bible points to only one source of salvation, and that is the grace that is offered through faith in Jesus Christ. Every other way does not lead to heaven.

I think the real issue that this article addresses is people’s acceptance of the authority of the Bible and the amount of time they spend reading and studying it. It’s not fun to think about friends or family that don’t practice Christianity but seem like good people who have faith in another religion ending up in hell. But if you accept the authority and inspiration of Scripture, you have no other option. This shouldn’t make you mad. It should inspire you to do everything in your power to help them come to a saving faith in Christ. Not only will they end up receiving an eternal reward in heaven, but they will also get a full life lived her on earth.

Tweet, Tweet: Why I use twitter

August 9, 2008 in Personal, Tech with 0 Comments

Twitter has gained popularity over the past few years, but still many people have never heard of it. I got into to twitter about a year ago almost by accident. I had heard of it, but really didn’t seem interested at all. That is until I realized that I could add tasks to the new online task management service that I had just started using (more on that in another post).

The basic idea behind twitter is that you simply answer the question, “What are you doing?” It’s very similar to facebook’s status updates. In fact you can have twitter automatically update your status on facebook, too. You can share your thoughts, what you had for lunch, or just random nothingness throughout the day.

When I really started being a frequent user of twitter, many of my facebook friends were wondering why I was updating my status so often. I told that I was using twitter and they basically gave me blank stares. The event that really changed my use of twitter the most was when Emory was born. I decided that I would keep people updated by sending frequent updates via twitter. I figured that would be the easiest and best way to keep everyone informed without having to make a bunch of callas or texts. It turned out to be a really cool experience both for me and for the dozens of people that told me they were following along with my updates.

To get started with twitter just go to the site, sign up, and link your account to your phone (that way you can send updates with text messages). Then find some people to follow. Here’s a few to get you started: me, my older brother, Terry Storch from lifechurch.tv, ESPN, and Mark Lee from Third Day. I also recommend using an application like Twhirl. It’s a much better experience than going to the main website. Also, check out this newbie’s guide to twitter.

I can’t fully nail down why I’m hooked to twitter now, but after using it this long I know I’m hooked. It’s fun and it’s also an outlet for me to post my thoughts that aren’t really long enough for a blog post.

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