Getting to Know Your Bible with the Word Cross App

I'm using this space to tell you about a really great app that my husband (an amazingly smart man!) has developed (right now for the iPad, iPod Touch, and iPhone, but soon coming to Android devices!). It's called "Word Cross" and is such an innovative way to interact with scriptures. If you enjoy crossword puzzles, you will undoubtedly enjoy this app!

Here are some ways that you can use it:

• To memorize scripture and quiz yourself.
• To challenge friends to games, as it's connected with the Apple Gaming Center.
• Print out puzzles for your kids or for your classroom.
• As a fun way to read through the Bible!
• It's also "native" in Brazil now, so if you have friends who live in Brazil, make sure to tell them about it!

Go to this link for more information and to download the Word Cross App.

Below are some screen shots to show you what Word Cross looks like and what some of its features are. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words!

Choose words from a drop-down menu.

See the awards you have earned.

Great in landscape mode, too!

Keep track of your progress on the Gaming Center.

Each time you complete a puzzle, you have the opportunity to earn an award. Some of the awards are earned based on how fast you can complete a chapter, when you have worked through an entire book, when you complete a certain number of topics, and when you finish a puzzle without using any hints.

I'm also enjoying something new that my husband added--the topical option. You can choose from a large selection of topics (for example "faith", "family", "gossip", etc.) and work through verses in the Bible that are related to them. The interactivity of this app, as well as the active role you take as the user make Word Cross a tool that I'm sure you'll enjoy having at your fingertips!

meBible App Review

With this post, I am excited to tell you about a really cool Bible app available as a free download for the iPad. The meBible Ultimate Research Bible app will totally change how you interact with scripture, and it even has some really great features that make you excited in new ways about digging into the Bible.  Here are just a few reasons why I think you will enjoy checking it out...

1. It has a terrific interface that allows you to "split" the screen, with the Bible on the top pane and your notes and/or Internet browser on the bottom pane. This makes it really easy and fun to find things like pictures and resources online and link them directly to a text that you may be studying.

2. There are loads of features that you can add once you have downloaded the app...things like commentaries, a Greek/Hebrew lexicon, Topical Bibles, and fun themes. Each of these items makes meBible more personalized and makes it feel more like "you."

3. And my favorite reason that meBible is so cool is because it was developed by my very own husband! Many hours of coding and thinking and praying have gone into putting this app in a category all its own. (And I'm not just saying that! If I wasn't married to the meBible creator, I still would count it as my favorite Bible app!) :-)

But don't just take my word for it, check out a recent review on iTunes:

"I'd give this 10 STARS if I could!  I just opened this Bible app for the first time & already love it. Firstly, because it's completely FREE.  Secondly, I love all the options - highlighting, adding my own notes, bookmarking. Thirdly & most important to me, are all the free foreign language translations.  Overall, I will use this app every day for hours & I'm very pleased with it. It looks great, the setup is user friendly, & I'm sure I'll get plenty of use out of the additional tools once I figure them out."

You can go to iTunes and download it for yourself and give it a spin:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mebible-ultimate-research/id476441818?mt=8 

You can also check meBible's website for loads of great information:  http://mebible.info/ 

meBible connects the ancient truths of scripture with the modern amenities of the Internet right at our fingertips. Try it, I bet you'll like it!

Now You See Me...

Snapchat Icon

...now you don't! That could well be the byline for a relatively new app called Snapchat (available for iPod touches, iPads, and Android devices). The premise of the app is that you take a picture of yourself, send it to a friend, and it disappears in seconds, never to be seen again. If you look up its rating on the App Store, you'll find it's suggested for people 12 and older for these reasons: Infrequent/Mild Profanity or Crude Humor; Infrequent/Mild Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References; Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive Themes; Infrequent/Mild Sexual Content or Nudity.

Now a picture app seems relatively harmless, right? Think again. Apparently a major use of this app has been for sexting, that "practice" of taking sexually provocative pictures and sending them to someone else. You have probably heard the horror stories of people who have sent inappropriate pictures of themselves to "friends" only to see them plastered in the school hallways or on Facebook. Snapchat takes away that concern. Now you can take a picture, send it along, and determine how many seconds it can be viewed. According to a recent article, something like 50 million "snaps" are sent each day!

So what's the bottom line for parents? Make sure you know what your kids are doing online. What apps are they using? What are the ratings of those apps? (Remember, these are apps that are rated according to secular standards.) How are they using these apps? How do you monitor their online behavior? It's not an easy job by any stretch, but it's certainly worth it to make sure you're doing all you can to be "in the know" about your child's online safety.