Today's post is very special, because it is a "blog hop." Five blogs are all writing on the same topic, and we hope you will check each one out.

The topic today is simply podcasting. Five writers are each listing the podcasts (by category) they listen to, and linking to where you can find the information about that podcast. At the bottom of the post is the link to the other writers who are involved.

Before I begin my list, I want to point out that 99% of my listening is done with the excellent iOS app Instacast. It syncs between your devices at play positions, it keeps what shows I've listened to in sync, and has a great UI on both iPhone and iPad. ​It's not free ($4.99), but I'll pay for a great app like this. 

MY PODCAST LIST

Brotherhood Podcasts (produced by members of Churches of Christ)

Preachers In Training - Preachers in Training is part of the Light Network produced by Robert Hatfield in Pulaski, Tennessee. . Robert offers great insights to teaching and preaching, and I've even been fortunate enough to be a guest for tech topics on the show. ​

Biblical Manliness - Also on the Light Network and hosted by Chris Clevenger of Chapel Hill, Tennessee, this podcast is great for topics on what a a true man of God should be. ​

​Other Religious Podcasts

Daily Hope with Rick Warren - I like Rick and his insights into the Bible. He makes good points and has good ideas - taking the Bible at an angle that you may have never thought about. ​

The Simply Youth Ministry Show - Jason and Kurt do a wonderful job with this podcast. They're a little crazy at times, but they have some great content. ​

News and Information

I rely primarily on the TWiT (This Week In Tech) network for my tech news. I subscribe to MacBreak Weekly, This Week In Tech, iFive for the iPhone, Know How, and iPad Today. I am a tech news uber-geek, as you can see. The News from 5by5 is also an excellent daily podcast that's less than 10 minutes for you to keep up with some tech news. ​

Sports and Hobbies

The Herd - Colin Cowherd is a genius in ​the sports world, in my opinion. It's basically the only sports podcast I listen to. He talks a little too much about USC, but I can get over that. 

Star Trek Comic Book Review - ​If you didn't think I was enough of a geek earlier, you do now. One of my hobbies is enjoying Star Trek, specifically Trek comic books. It's a cheap hobby and because I like Trek so much I can afford it. It's a pretty small niche too. 

The Retro League - Again with the geekiness. ​I love retro video games, games I played when I was a kid. It's fun rediscovering them and playing them again, and these guys give great commentary on retro gaming news. 

Other

Mac Power Users - David Sparks and Katie Floyd do a fantastic job of detailing apps and services that help me as a youth minister working on my Mac every day. If you have a Mac or iPad at all, check out this podcast. ​

Back To Work - Merlin Mann is one of my favorite funny people. And I don't even get half his jokes. His show on 5by5 is one of my favorites, because they talk about everything from shaving to apps for productivity. ​

The Ihnatko Almanac - Andy Ihnatko is a tech writer for the Chicago Sun-Times, but he's also a blogger and podcaster. I love his podcast where he basically talks about anything and everything - from movies to apps to tech and comic books. ​

Now that you have seen the podcasts that I enjoy, take a few moments to "hop" over to the other writers who are doing the same thing:

Adam Faughn has his podcast list here. ​

Robert Hatfield lists his podcasts here.

Daniel Howell shows you his playlist here.

QUESTIONS: Do you like the "blog hop" idea? What other podcasts do you recommend? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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From the ​bottom up:

Drafts - This app is my go-to now for virtually anything involving text on my phone. ​I'll have more on this app in a post this week (maybe even a screencast) and you'll see that using this app for sharing any kind of text between apps is awesome. From Dropbox to Messages to searching Google, it's become my go-to app of choice. More on this great app later this week. 

In the 'Get It Done' folder

Dropbox - new UI update a few months ago makes it easier than ever to use. ​

Google Drive - Use for all my Google Docs, and today's update even features widescreen editing of Spreadsheets. Nice. ​

Cloudier - Cloudapp client for links, images, and text sharing. I use it for all my links as it's tied to my Twitter/Tweetbot. ​

Instashare - Wonderful too for moving files instantly from one device to another,. For example, the screenshot photo of my iPhone in this post was move by opening the app on my phone, dragging the picture out of my Library, placing it on my Macbook icon with my Mac running the same free software, and my 1.3 Mb image was transferred over Wi-Fi instantly. Great for files you would normally email to yourself. ​

Teambox - Great little service for teams up to five users. I use it to coordinate with Hashtag Media peoples. Project management, to-do lists, conversations - great for small teams. Paid tiers as well for bigger companies. iPhone, iPad, and web apps. Web app works great in Fluid as a dedicated app on the Mac. ​

​Elements - My plain text repository. Where I use Drafts for quick text and lists, I use Elements for long-form text like class and teaching docs. Syncs with Dropbox and talks to Drafts as well. Anything I compose in Drafts can be directly shared with Elements. 

Mailbox - Been using the hot new mail service for about two months now. Very good. They've worked out some bugs, and the service is great for eradicating and acting on every email. ​

Feedly - Since Google Reader is shutting down, I just moved all my feeds to Feedly. The app has great design and will seamlessly work for you after the Reader shutdown on July 1. ​

Sunrise - wonderful calendar app that syncs with Google Calendar. See my previous post for a review. ​

Instacast - There's a lot of podcatchers (podcast-catching apps) out there, but in my opinion, Instacast is the best. iPad version as well. ​

Tweetbot - greatest app for Twitter you'll find on iOS, both for iPad and iPhone. 

Instapaper - great service and app by Marco Arment that simply lets you save articles for reading later. Safari and bookmark extensions available as well as integration into Feedly. ​

ScoreCenter - ESPN has greatly improved this app from it's beginnings in 2009. Now supports the iPhone 5 and will let you make favorite teams a get push alerts. ​

In the Photo / Video folder:

Snapseed - this is a great little Google app that lets you do lots of simple stuff with photos. Not bad for free either. ​

Vine - the Twitter-owned 6-second video sharing service. Great UI. When teens figure out what this is, they're going to be excited. ​

YouTube Capture & YouTube - Great for capturing and uploading youth video or videos of my son for all to see. ​

Redbox - Redbox redesigned their app just last week, and it's prettier, faster, and much easier to use. Redbox is everywhere now and is very convenient. ​

Google Maps - I never actually used Apple Maps on my phone, I've always stuck with Google Maps. Improvements have made this app great in the past year. ​

Forecast - This is actually a web app that runs like a App Store app. If you go to Forecast.io in Safari, you can "Install" it on your device. It's a great weather app from the makers of Dark Sky. Wonderful UI with little animations and a dedicated iPad version as well. ​

Everybody has discouraging days. Mine is today. ​

You may need these passages today as well. ​

Romans 12:12 - Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

Colossians 4:2 - Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

Romans 8:31-39 - What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 

Jeremiah 29:11-13 - For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Ephesians 5.8 - ...For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. 

Galatians 6.9 - Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not give up. 

Acts 20.24 - But I do not acount my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I recieved from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. 

John 3.16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 

#truth

It's been a rough few months for the church I work with. We've had over a dozen people pass away who have been members here or connected here in some way.

I've been to a lot of visitations in the last three months, and it's amazing what you hear both at the funerals and the visitations about the deceased. 

"He was a good man."

"She was one amazing woman."

"He sure did love his sports." 

I've heard predominately what the person loved. His or her family, their cars, their sports, both local and abroad. And that got me thinking. 

Ask this question: If someone were to say something about you at your funeral if you died today, what would it be? Would it be that you were a hardcore Tennessee Vols fan? Or that you lived and breathed baseball? Or that you really liked Star Trek?

What will people remember you by? Your hobbies? Or who you really were?

What will people say that mattered to you? 

As much as some of us hate to admit it, what we spend our time doing is what matters to us the most. You spend most of your time working? It isn't because you have to work, it's because that's what matters to you the most. Spend most of your time in hobbies or collecting? That's what matters to you the most. 

Time management is a scary thing. You only have 10,800 minutes a week to fit things in. That's everything - sleep, work, play, family, hobbies, eating - everything. The truth: What you spend your time on matters the most to you. 

Ecclesiastes 3 is the famous "There is a time for everything" passage, and it rings so true today, even though it was written over 2500 years ago. There is a time for everything.

There is a time when my little boy won't be a little boy anymore, so maybe I need to prioritize my time off from work and not be distracted when I'm with my family. Maybe I need to spend less time playing retro video games and more time playing with my young son. Maybe I need to focus on my wife instead of the thousand other things that I have to do - all of which will still be there for me to do tomorrow (Matthew 6.34). 

I spend way too much time obsessing about my time. Once it's gone though, we'll never get it back. So let's use our time wisely, and live in the moment. Because when we're gone and people are talking over our casket, we want them to say that we were Godly and that we loved our families more than anything. 

Sunrise [App Store, Free] is a ​relatively new app that's great for keeping track of your life. I've been using it for a month now and I'm very happy with it. 

​Sunrise interface. 

What's best for me about Sunrise is that I can add calendar events quickly with natural language input. What that means in English is that I can tap and hold the '+' button on the top right and it gives me a dialog box where I can type "Lunch with Scott next Tuesday at 11:30AM at Jimmy's" and it will know exactly what I want to do with that. It will put the entry as "Lunch with Scott" next Tuesday, April 9, at 11:30 AM. It will even look up Jimmy's here in Lewisburg and give me a map if I need directions. ​

Sunrise syncs with Google Calendar, Facebook birthdays, and LinkedIn calendar. It's free and you should give it a try. ​

❯ Sunrise Website​