AdamBowers.com

Ever feel that way? Ever feel like everything is going wrong at once? 
 

I did this week. Monday I came down with something really nasty. I had a painful swollen throat, fever, and numerous other symptoms I will leave to your imagination. 

Yesterday, everything got worse. When I woke up, I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t eat either. As I prepared to leave for a trip to the doctor, my knee froze in a bent position due to some previous sports injuries so I couldn’t extend my leg to walk. This has only happened three or four times in the last several years, but it is incredibly painful.

I needed to get to the doctor so I crawled to the front door and, after checking to make sure no neighbors were watching, I got into a football crouch and waddled to the car. Yes, I’m sure it looked hilarious. On my way to the doctor I called ahead about a dozen times to see if they could bring out crutches or a wheel chair but there was no response. 

Fortunately, I was able to reach another clinic where I was met with a wheelchair, tested, and given prescriptions. 

Then the car wouldn’t start – it wouldn’t even turn over. Just to recap: I can’t walk, I’m in a lot of pain, I feel miserable and feverish, my throat is swollen, I can’t eat, I can barely drink but it’s painful, … and the car won’t start. Awesome. Oh, and I can’t take the meds yet because I need to drive home!

I was absolutely miserable.

Ever feel that way?

There are two ways to respond. We can get angry and bitter for the way we feel, or we can trust God to do what is best. Given those options, I’m sure it is obvious what I’m going to say next: Trust God to do what is best!

How predictable. We both know that is the right answer. But even if we are trusting God to do what is best, what are we really trusting Him for? Who determines what is best?

We tend to think we know what is best. The best thing for me is to get better and be able to walk again today, right? We’ll come back to that in minute.

This isn’t the first time I’ve been hit by a “perfect storm” of calamities. Each time I’m reminded of Job. Job was a faithful follower to God and a wealthy man with a great family. He lost everything when Satan, with God’s permission, tested Job’s faith. While Job struggled with God over his problems, he remained faithful and was eventually rewarded. God removed Job’s problems and blessed him with more wealth and a large family in his earthly life. 

We assume that what is “best” is for God to resolve our problems in this earthly life. 

What if that is simply not best? What if God decides that the most beneficial thing for His glory and the best way to reach more people for His kingdom is for our problems to continue?

What if God decides that He can better use me in a wheel chair? What if I have to live with awful pains and aches all over my body for the rest of my life? These are experiences that Satan and his demons will use to test our faith, just as they did to Job thousands of years ago. Not that our problems are necessarily caused by evil forces, but they are used as a means to turn the faithful into the bitter.

James 1:2-4 says:

My brothers and sisters, consider it nothing but joy when you fall into all sorts of trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect effect, so that you will be perfect and complete, not deficient in anything.

When you feel absolutely miserable, don’t let evil forces get you down. Trust that God will do what is best. But remember, what is best in God’s eyes may not seem best in yours. He may choose to remove your problem. Or He may react like he did toward the Apostle Paul.

2 Corinthians 12:7b-10 says:

A thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to trouble me – so that I would not become arrogant. I asked the Lord three times about this, that it would depart from me. But he said to me, “My grace is enough for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” So then, I will boast most gladly about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may reside in me.  Therefore I am content with weaknesses, with insults, with troubles, with persecutions and difficulties for the sake of Christ, for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.

There is nothing wrong with asking God to remove a problem from our lives. But we should be aware that God may choose to leave it in place, and this is no reason to become bitter toward God. Our weakness will point to His strength. We may be more useful to God because of our problems.

Praise God that the car started with a jump from one of our trip staff. When I returned home last night, after nothing but prayer, I could straighten my leg and walk into the house. My other symptoms are still present, but I expect they will disappear within a few days thanks to the medicine.

Even if they don’t, I trust God to do what is best. Not just for me, but for His glory and kingdom.

Perhaps the number one reason believers don’t share the Gospel with others is because of fear. Sometimes we fear rejection. Sometimes we fear embarrassment. Sometimes we just fear that we won’t know enough to answer the important questions that may be asked. 

 

These fears keep us in safe and comfortable places. Instead of sharing Jesus, we just live our “Christian” lives. Maybe if we really understood the plight of the lost, our fears would be less important and we would do more to reach the unsaved. William Fay described our situation this way:

 

 

Isn’t that sad? We have something that everyone should know about, but at most 10% of believers share their faith in an entire year. Let’s change that statistic! There are lots of great resources out there to better prepare you to share Jesus with unbelievers. One of the best is “Share Jesus Without Fear” by William Fay. 

 

 

This is by far the best Exchange Client for Android and the only app that cost me money. Touchdown from Nitrodesk syncs email from multiple accounts as well as tasks and calendar items. While the tasks part needs a few usability updates, all of the information and potential is there. I’ve been thrilled with Touchdown’s push email notifications and calendar alerts. The app even lets you choose what folders you sync to your phone. One of my deal makers was the ability to move email to different folders to archive and organize. I use my email inbox as a task list, so this is a vital feature to me.

I mentioned that the task section could use a few updates. I contacted the maker of Touchdown and asked for the following:

1. Add a drop down menu to the task creation/edition page with the categories. This would cut down the steps of pressing the menu button > pressing the categories button >selecting a category.

2. Assign a quick category filter list to a long press on the menu button. I use this in the browser to bring up my history. It would be very simple to switch my categories/contexts using a menu button long press. To be clear, I'm talking about the flush button next to the screen, not the one in the keyboard. Many times I want to quickly switch filters based on my location. That's how GTD users operate. That would take this app way beyond the other GTD task management apps on the market!

Apps Organizer

I use this app to create custom lists of all my apps, and star favorite apps for quick retrieval when I can't remember the exact name. Apps can be tagged to many lists and shortcuts to the lists can be placed on the home screens. I have lists for media, news, work, shopping, tools, internet, games, and a few others. 

Pandora – Streaming Music

This app brings you great music to your tastes anywhere you are – even in your car. I have a male-to-male cable in my car that I use to connect my Droid with my sound system and play great quality music. This is way better than radio or satellite! I’ve also used the Pandora app to stream Christmas music for a few hours through a surround sound system and was very impressed with the quality.

Google Listen – Podcast Player

Listen is the best free podcasting app. Other paid programs offer more features, but this has everything I need. I keep track of about 20 podcasts using Listen. I love listening to a podcast in the car over the speakers and taking the show with me after I park. Makes walking more productive.

Advanced Task Killer 

There is one thing every Android user should know right away: multitasking kills battery life! A few apps are no problem, but a power user like me could end up with 30 different apps running in the background and not knowing it except for the unusually sluggish response of the phone. A good task killer will show you what is running and let you selectively close or mass close running apps. 

Advanced Task Killer is a great free task manager that lets you close specific tasks or several tasks at once. Uncheck the tasks you want to remain open for push email and texting before mass closing tasks. You can also switch to an open app right from the task list.

TasKiller

This is similar to Advanced Task Killer but comes with a great widget to quickly kill select tasks or mass kill all open apps.

BibleReader 

Olive Tree released this great free Bible app. Many Android Bibles require internet access to read the text and jump from chapter to chapter. BibleReader downloads the entire text to your SD card so you have the Scriptures available whenever you want! More versions and notes are available for purchase, but the free versions are sufficient for me.

Gmote – Wireless Computer Interface and Media Server

This amazing little app is paired with a computer based server that connects the PC to your phone. Gmote lets you browse your computer’s media library and choose a song or video to play right on your PC. Another great feature lets you stream music or video from your PC to your phone. Gmote can also turn your phone into a wireless touchpad and keyboard for your computer! 

Photoshop Mobile – Photo Editor

Ever wish you could crop or touch up a photo taken with your camera phone? Now you can – right on the phone! Photoshop Mobile has some powerful tools and effects to make sure your photos are perfect before you share them.

NewsRob – RSS Reader

There are many free and paid RSS readers in the market but this is the best I have found for usability and features. NewsRob does everything I need and is very quick to use.

Twidroid – Twitter Client

With a great set of features Twidroid has proven a stable and quick Twitter client. Tweet, check other’s tweets to you, direct messages, search Twitter, and even upload pics right from your phone. Paid version allows uploading video, but I wouldn’t use that anyway.

Dock Runner – Media Player and Clock

This app lets you access the built in but hidden media/clock app meant to activate with the $30 dock. I prefer using Digital Clock as it lets me set MP3's as my alarm.

Digital Clock – Alarm Clock

This great clock app lets you choose MP3’s as your alarm sound!
 

This is a very cool level app with two bubble levels and a spherical level.

Bubble – Level

This is a great bubble level that beeps at the right angle.

Aldiko - Reader

E-readers are plenty for android, but none are prettier than Aldiko. Read free books or paid with a great user interface.

Astro – File Browser

Multi-select and search make this my favorite file browser for Android.

AndFTP – FTP Client

I’ve used this app to upload files to my web servers. It gets the job done. 

Barcode Scanner

Does what it says but also reads the QR codes that can contain urls, business card information, and links to other Market apps. If you have wondered what those strange looking blocks of white and black are on some Android web pages, this app will let you find out.

Shop Savvy 

This app is similar to Barcode scanner but with many more features. I’ve saved quite a bit of money by double checking what I’m buying against Amazon’s online store. I have not been able to get ShopSavvy to read QR codes like Barcode Scanner.

Flashlight 

This app turns your screen to white and cranks up the brightness. I’ve used it quite a few times but I prefer MotoTorch.

MotoTorch - Flashlight

The Flashlight app uses the screen but MotoTorch uses the dual LED flash of the Motorola Droid! This produces an incredibly bright light for several feet. MotoTorch includes a widget for one-touch access to this very handy light source.

Dead Pixel Detect 

A few phones sell with dead pixels in the screen. To test yours, use Dead Pixel Detect. Some have had Best Buy replace their phones after showing this app.

Corporate Directory 

While Android syncs with my Exchange contacts it does not let me search through the Exchange directory. Corporate Directory saves the day by letting me search or browse all of the employees in our directory.

Metal Detector 

This app lets you customize the text that appears when your phone detects metal nearby. My detection screen says “Detecting crappy phones…” and my detected screen says “Detected!” Now when I compare my Droid with my friends’ iPhones I just load up that app and wave their phone over mine. Detected!

Tricorder – Star Trek Themed Instrument Panel

I’m not a Trekkie, but I am familiar with Star Trek, Next Gen, Voyager, and all the movies. Ok, maybe I am a light Trekkie. Either way, I think the Tricorder app is really cool. The best part is, the readings are real! Display acceleration, magnetism, sounds, geocodes, and even real solar flare data.

Qik – Live Video Stream 

I don’t really have much use for this app but the potential is great. I know that Robert Scoble has been using this with his Nokia N95 for some time to do live interviews from tech conferences. I used and tested Qik successfully but I don’t think I’ll do much more with the app.

Ustream – Live Video Stream

Similar to Qik, this app lets you send live video to the well populated Ustream website.

Ringdroid  – Ringtone Editing

This app can edit MP3’s for use as ringtones.

Screencrack – Joke App

For a funny practical joke, run screen crack, hand the phone to your friend, and act like he broke your phone!

Screens – Backgrounds

Never run out of great backgrounds with this great app. Choose from several categories to keep your phone looking fresh.

Backgrounds

This is similar to Screens but lets you see three backgrounds at once. Multiple categories let you narrow down your tastes.

Speed Forge 3D – Racing Game 

I’m not much of a mobile gamer but this app really shows off the graphics processor in the Droid.

GPS Tracker 

As long as GPS is activated on your phone, this little app can show you in a web browser where it is located.

Where's My Droid – Phone Locator

Send a text message to your phone with a special code and this app will crank up the volume and blast a noise. GPS Tracker and Where’s My Droid could work together to locate and pinpoint your phone virtually anywhere.

Xtremelabs Speedtest – Internet Speed Test

This app checks your phones download and upload speeds. This is a great way to check your connection and annoy people with DSL when your 3G is faster than their internet.