Month: August 2010

Learning to Pray From a Two Year Old

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Almost every night I put my two year old daughter to bed. It’s about an hour long process between bath time, brushing her teeth, reading a book and Bible, prayer time, and singing songs. It’s honestly one of my favorite parts of my day, because I know she will be doing these things on her own in the not too distant future. I remind myself that I’ll miss these moments, so I’m trying my best to relish every moment.

Last night God taught me a lesson on prayer through my daughter’s prayer. I usually lead her through a series of things to thank God for. After a few regular items (family, friends, etc.) I prompt her to say thank you for whatever she thinks of. Typically she will look around the room and say thank you for the things she sees. This usually includes her butterfly mobile, toys, and the flowers her aunt painted on the wall.

Usually I just smile and think it’s cute that she’s just praying for what she can see, but last night God really convicted me that I should be truly thankful for every little thing I own. Sadly, I usually take these things for granted and skip on to the “bigger” things in life. But the life and faith of a two year old doesn’t allow the small things to be skipped over. And so I was reminded again of the importance of coming to Jesus with a childlike faith.

Thank you, Emory, for teaching your daddy one way to be more like Jesus.

Image by Josh Kenzer

New Series Coming Next Week: Favorite iPhone Apps

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Starting next week I’ll be writing a series of posts on my favorite iPhone apps. I’ve tried out quite a few apps and have been able to do some really, really cool things with them that I would never have dreamed of being able to do with a cell phone five years ago. Even though I was a late-comer to the iPhone party I’m now all in. It’s one of the most useful, fun, and innovative products I’ve ever owned.

So, in preparation for this series, I’d like to hear from you. What are the apps that you’ve found that you love? What are some apps that you couldn’t imagine living without now? Which games do you love? Which apps do you hate?

Share your apps in the comments!

UPDATE: I’ll be updating this post with links below to all the reviews I’ve done.

Image by Yutaka Tsutano

The Mindset of 2014 College Grads. What will 2030’s List Look Like?

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We had a conversation at our staff lunch today about the Beloit College Mindset List. The list started at the college as an aid to help their faculty understand how to better relate to new students, but it has grown since its inception into a helpful snapshot for people everywhere to understand how rapidly our culture is changing.

Here’s a snippet from this year’s list:

The class of 2014 has never found Korean-made cars unusual on the Interstate and five hundred cable channels, of which they will watch a handful, have always been the norm. Since “digital” has always been in the cultural DNA, they’ve never written in cursive and with cell phones to tell them the time, there is no need for a wrist watch. Dirty Harry (who’s that?) is to them a great Hollywood director. The America they have inherited is one of soaring American trade and budget deficits; Russia has presumably never aimed nukes at the United States and China has always posed an economic threat.

It’s a pretty fun read with a list of 75 items, some of which made me feel pretty old at the ripe old age of 31.

Looking to the future to when my oldest daughter will graduate (possibly) in the year 2030, I imagine the world will be very, VERY different. Here are some ideas that I think might make the list in twenty years:

  • Will think it’s a bargain to pay $5 per gallon for gas.
  • Won’t have a clue what DVDs or CDs are.
  • Blockbuster won’t even be a memory for them.
  • Apple will be seen as an old, unhip company instead of the elite buzz they have now.
  • Will laugh at their parents talking about facebook, since it will be replaced by something newer and better.
  • Won’t know how to use a computer mouse, since they’ll grow up with touch-screens like the iPad.
  • The daily printed newspaper won’t exist in any form.
  • A “home phone” won’t make any sense in their minds.
  • They won’t understand having to schedule a time to watch a TV show or movie since they’ll be able to watch whatever they want whenever and wherever they are.
  • Going to college will be less popular than taking online classes.

As a church leader, I think it’s good for us to keep an eye on what’s happening in culture around us. I’ve written previously on what churches can learn from the demise of the print industry and I think preachers everywhere should keep their eye on the culture so that they can best present the never-changing message of the Gospel to an ever-changing world. We probably could use an update to the statement attributed to Karl Barth to “Read the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other,” don’t you think?

What do you think the list might include in 20 years? Will my list be accurate at all?

Image by flickr user Matti Mattila

Must Watch Video for All MacBook Owners

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I’ve been a MacBook Pro owner for a little over a year now, and apparently I’ve been winding the cable on my power brick the wrong way this whole time. Lifehacker to the rescue. They posted a video and link the the site Tested that will hopefully help me get a much longer life out of my (expensive) power brick.

The main concept is that you don’t want to put too much tension on the two end of the power cord. That could both create a fire hazard and cause the power brick’s life to shorten. Both are not good in my books.

If you own a MacBook, do yourself a favor and watch the video below. If you’re an Apple hater you’ll probably find humor in the video, too. They take a couple shots at Apple and all of its minions. Good stuff.

Got any tips like this for your Mac products or laptop? Share in the comments!