My Favorite iPhone Apps

Just for anyone who might be interested -

1) Twitter - I like the basic Twitter app - it does everything I feel it needs to do. Although I would love it if it had a "retweet old school" option like I do with the Chrome browser. (UPDATE: I just noticed that it does allow you to quote tweets with an newer update I got automatically. The annoying thing now is, it puts quote marks around the whole thing and you can't delete the quote marks to make a nice, clean RT.)

2) Merriam-Webster's Dictionary - I only discovered this one recently. You can do a voice search and it has an audio clip for each word. Ever wonder how a word you've only seen written actually should sound? This app solves that issue. It also has a "word of the day" button which is cool, too.

3) Youversion's Bible app is brilliant. You have online access to most Bible versions in many different languages. You can also download many of those to your phone to use when outbid wireless range, like when I'm at church. I can quickly view the same reference in NIV, NLT, The Message, KJV, etc. (UPDATE: The latest update has so improved the function of this app. I'm wondering if it will always be free, now. It's worth paying for, though.)

4) Google - voice search on Google. I use this at school a lot.

5) Weather Eye - This is the Weather Network's app - I find it more useful than the iPhone's default weather app.  Canadians are really "into" the weather, so the Canadian Weather Network's app being way cool should not be a surpise.

6) Google Translate - Speak into the phone.  It instantly translates what you say into most any language you can think of.  Most language have an audio button.  Press it and you hear it spoken in that language! My only beef: Yiddish doesn't have an audio button.  I really want to hear that one!

7) Canpages - The Canadian Yellow pages with audio recognition.  Speak whatever business you want and it gives you all the contact information you need.  Press the phone number and you're calling them.  It also has white pages, but you have to type the person's name in.

8) Flixster - Great for local movie showtimes.  Now I always know what's playing close by and when.  This is put out by Rotten Tomatoes, so you get all the reviews linked to the movie you're wondering about, too.

9) IMBD - Another movie app (I love movies).  This has all the info you can get from the IMBD website, including the top 250, info on actors, directors, etc.

10) Cowbell! - I put this here because I actually do use this in the classroom to get the kids' attention sometimes and I just couldn't leave the list at 9.

I'll leave the list at that so far.  There's a bunch of others that I use, but the above are ones that I've downloaded and use quite frequently.

All of the above apps, by the way, have one thing in common: They're free apps!  I'm really amazed by the high quality of even free apps, although that whole "I swear I'll only stick to free apps" resolution when I first got the phone really didn't work out.  It's just soooo hard when the Apple people put apps for their store right on the phone!

President Obama is a Christian (Get Over It!)

I'm amazed how many people have a hard time believing that Obama is a Christian.  First of all, I counter: How do we know ANYONE is a "real Christian"?  I mean, if you do understand the Bible at all, then you know that only God really knows who is real.  Jesus said, "Why do you call me good? Only God is truly good." (Mark 10:18)  Or how about Jesus' rebuke that not everyone who calls him "Lord" will be acknowledged by him as a follower. (Matthew 7:22)

Secondly: Please consider that the word "Christian" has almost as many as different definitions as there are people who claim to be "Christian." I reject the notion that Christian must imply "Conservative Evangelical American," which is the hidden message that hides behind many of the diatribes against President Obama.

Thirdly: Listen to the President's recounting of his own past at the recent National Prayer Breakfast (below).  No, he did not grow up in a "Christian" home, but he became a Christian through conversion later in life.  So, he actually chose Christianity deliberately, not as some default position inherited via his family background.  Isn't this, then, an indication of someone who is actually the kind of Christian that the "born again" Christians are bragging about on Sundays?  I find it hard to believe that Evangelicals would have an issue with this testimony if were uttered by anyone else in their church on any given Sunday.

Lastly: Keep in mind something that I heard a musician say on the Drew Marshall Show : "When the word "Christian" is applied to anything other than a person, it's just a marketing strategy."  (I completely forgot who the person was - apologies to whomever.  I also am not sure of the exact quote.)  The question that I want to leave readers with, then is:  When you hear the word "Christian" being used, ask yourself "What are they selling?"  Now I'm not trying to imply, like the New Atheists, that all that is being "sold" is evil, but I will say it's important to keep in mind that ancient warning: "Buyer beware."