The Sweet Setup
A new project by Shawn Blanc:
The Sweet Setup exists because I wanted a site that highlights the software that has proven to be the best, not necessarily the newest.
Here we will be recommending only the apps which are proven to be the best rather than new.
There is never a lack of new apps and shiny objects for my Apple devices. Websites and blogs that write about these new apps are a dime a dozen as well. I really like the idea of a site dedicated to identifying the best. That’s really what I’m interested in—the best, not the newest.
I definitely plan to follow The Sweet Setup. If you use a Mac, iPad or iPhone, you might consider doing the same.
Apologetics: Good but Not the Gospel
Mark Dever in a recent Gospel-Centered Discipleship post on 5 Things Mistaken for Evangelism:
By far the greatest danger in apologetics is being distracted from the main message. Evangelism is not defending the virgin birth or defending the historicity of the resurrection. Apologetics is defending the faith, answering the questions others have about Christianity. It is responding to the agenda that others set. Evangelism, however, is following Christ’s agenda, the news about him. Evangelism is the positive act of telling the good news about Jesus Christ and the way of salvation through him.
Apologetics is a good thing, but it isn’t the power of God:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16 ESV)
Bookmarklets and Backtick
Backtick_—_RocketINK-2
My list of bookmarklets is always growing. I have bookmarklets to save to Instapaper for later reading, send articles to my Kindle, create tasks in Omnifocus, save links to Pinboard, and shorten links using Bitly. The list goes on and on.
The problem with bookmarklets is that, the more you use, the more difficult it is to keep them all straight and easily accessible. You can only fit so many onto your browser’s bookmark toolbar and clicking them with the mouse can be clumsy and inconvenient.
Keyboard shortcuts are the way to go.
In the past, I’ve written about how I use keyboard application shortcuts for my most-used bookmarklets. Today, Patrick Welker introduced me to yet another solution: Backtick.
Backtick works much like one of my favorite and most-used apps, Alfred. Spotlight works similarly as well. Simply press the backtick on your keyboard ( ` ) and start typing the name of the bookmarklet you’re looking for. It’s that easy.
Backtick is available for Chrome only and comes with a predefined list of commands, though you can create your own commands as well.
Try it out for free. If you like it, consider supporting the developer by purchasing a license for $5.
5 Apps for Evernote
Brett Kelly, Evernote genius and author of Evernote Essentials, wrote about 5 Apps That Make Evernote Even Better yesterday. You should definitely check out this list if you’re an Evernote user. Drafts is the only app on the list that I currently use. I was most interested in Powerbot, however. Brett highlighted Powerbot for Gmail specifically, but their service also integrates with Google Calendar—a combo that could prove to be extremely useful for organizing and maintaining meeting notes and support materials. I’m planning to give it a test drive over the next couple of weeks and follow up here with my conclusions.
How We Make Disciples
Jonathan Dodson:
This is how we make disciples—gospel going, gospel baptizing, gospel teaching.
Five Truths About Christian Suffering
From the Desiring God blog:
But just because we experience suffering as we await the redemption of our bodies, it doesn’t mean that our suffering is random or without purpose. And neither does it mean that Scripture doesn’t tell us how to think about our suffering now.