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Webwatch: 2007-01: So Help Me, Web

Webwatch is a column published in the Covenant Companion Magazine every month. This month written by Joshua Havens, Joshua Havens is advertising manager for the Companion and a designer for Covenant Communications. This month, Webwatch looks at New Years Resolutions.

More than 4,000 years ago the Babylonians first began the custom of celebrating New Year’s Day. Not long afterward, they started another custom—the New Year’s resolution. The most common resolution? To return borrowed farm equipment. At least that’s the consensus of a recent Google search, still one of the fastest way to learn anything on the Internet.

Of course it’s good practice to take everything you find online with a grain of salt. (As a quick aside, did you know that you can even get Google on your cellphone? Check out sms.google.com for more information.)

This month, Webwatch focuses on online tools to help make it easier to keep your New Year’s resolutions.

Learn Something New
www.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia is an online user-submitted encyclopedia, which continues to grow in popularity and credibility. As of this writing the site offers 1,517,737 articles in English. There’s even a entry about the Evangelical Covenant Church (as well as North Park University, Swedish Covenant Hospital, Mission Springs Conference Center, David Nyvall, and Paul Carlson).

Each article is written by a member of the Wikipedia community and any member of the community can edit any article. The best thing about Wikipedia is that it draws on the expertise of a wide range of volunteer contributors who write articles and who can instantly edit content for accuracy.

www.howstuffworks.com
This ad-supported site offers information on a plethora of subjects. Anybody who’s ever wondered, “I wonder how that works?” will have their appetite for answers satisfied. For example, if you have always wondered about how cell phones work (or what would happen if you drove your car underwater), there is a great article that tells all. But beware, O knowledge-seeker, you should be prepared to spend a lot of time at the site because there is so much information.

Get Your Finances in Order
www.crown.org
This well-designed site from Crown Financial Ministries offers free information and articles in its online library. You can also purchase printed and audio materials from an online store. Among the most helpful features of this well-designed site are two podcasts. The first, “Money Matters” is a podcast of a daily radio broadcast hosted by Howard Dayton and Steve Moore. The second is a three-minute podcast that contains a quick financial tip of the day.

www.threerules.org
This site provides the basics of the “Three Simple Rules” program: spend less than you earn; save now, buy later; know debt. The site features helpful articles and resources. The program is indeed simple and worth a look if improving your financial situation is your resolution this year.

Daily Devotions
www.heartlight.org/devotionals
This site is an excellent resource. On the clean and simple devotional page, links to several different devotional options are presented. Among my favorites are the verse of the day with a quick thought and prayer by editor Phil Ware or a daily selection from Oswald Chambers’s devotional classic, My Utmost for His Highest. The very best feature of this site, though, is that you can subscribe to any of the daily devotions and have them delivered free to your email inbox every day. They also have helpful Bible study and prayer guides. One final reason to like this site—it’s all written in easy-on-the-eyes large type.

www.backtothebible.org/devotions/bible_guides.htm
According the their site, “Back to the Bible is a worldwide Christian ministry dedicated to leading people into a dynamic relationship with God.” One of the ways they are working toward their vision is by providing Bible study guides online. Their well-designed site offers several ways to read the Bible including chronological, historical, or beginning to end. With each option, you get a day-by-day reading guide that will allow you to read through the entire Bible in one year. If you missed anything, or want to reread a passage from last month, you can access the whole year’s worth of readings with just a couple mouse-clicks. A very easy to use—and completely free—resource.

Lose Weight
www.busketti.com
When I was searching for sites that might offer weight loss advice from a Christian perspective I did not come up with many good options. Many sites claiming to be Christian weight loss sites are simply portals to other sites or advertising for a particular supplement. The sites I found that actually did offer information were generally poorly designed. Then I found this site.

Part blog, part informational website, the author offers his personal research and advice on a variety of fitness topics. What I like most about busketti.com is the author’s straightforward approach. You’ll hear the same diet and exercise routine, but with research, in-depth information, and personal experience to back it up.

Get Organized
www.organizedhome.com
If getting organized is a daunting task for you, fear not. Organizedhome.com offers step-by-step instructions for a number of cleaning and organizing tasks. For example it has a three-part series entitled “Declutter 101,” written in a calm and straightforward manner that is sure to boost your chances of achieving organizational bliss. The site’s helpful information makes it easy to overlook the sparse graphical landscape of  the site. The point, after all, is to be organized, not entertained.

www.ehow.com/how_3810_organized.html
If you are ready to get organized right now and just need a list of steps, this is your site. The direct URL above will take you straight to a page with thirteen step-by-step instructions. No waiting, no wondering, no excuses. Get started with this resolution right away.

Get Motivated
www.43things.com
If all this talk of resolutions and goals is making your head spin, 43things.com can provide the motivation you need to get focused. This site is a repository for the personal goals of thousands of people (726, 921 to be exact). You’ll find that in almost every aspiration you might have, you are not alone. For example 7,373 people want to see the Northern Lights and, more related to today’s topics, 16,127 people want to lose weight. You simply register for free and can sign on to any existing goal or start a new one. On the page for each goal, people can post their successes and struggles. Each page becomes a place of encouragement and collective motivation.