What’s on My iPod?

Most people use their iPods to store music.  I do, too.  I have 1006 songs on my iPod.  I listen to classical music, Christian music, and in December, Christmas music.  

But my favorite part of my iPod is podcasts.  Listening to a podcast is like listening to a radio broadcast, only it’s on the iPod and I can listen any time I want.  Each show is usually 20-60 minutes long.  Most do not include commercials. 

For the longest time, I wondered “what is a podcast?”  I heard about them, they sounded interesting, but what were they?  If you are interested in the technological details, read this Wikipedia article about podcasting. 

An interesting fact about podcasts is that you don’t need an iPod or mp3 reader to play the files.  You can listen on your computer.  I maintain my podcasts (and my songs) by using iTunes.  It’s easy.  Podcasts get uploaded automatically each day as long as I am connected to the internet. 

Then I plug my iPod into a USB port on my computer and it automatically gets the changes, additions, and deletions that I’ve made to  iTunes.  The iPod is simply a small device that is portable and can travel with me around the house, the yard, in the car, and in the RV.  We can play the iPod through the speakers in our house, our car, and our motorhome.  It’s great!  And I only have to choose which of the thousands of podcasts or songs I want to listen to.

Yes, I have, at this moment, 1225 podcasts on my iPod, in addition to 1006 songs.  I used to use an iPod Nano, with 4GB of memory, but now I have an iPod Classic which holds 80GB.  That’s more like it!

Will I ever have time to listen to all those podcasts?  No, but I like knowing that they are there and that I CAN listen if I want to. 

My favorite podcasts are News from Lake Wobegon which is part of A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor, the Dennis Prager Show, the Dave Ramsey Show, Renewing Your Mind with R.C. Sproul, Truth for Life with Alistair Begg, and White Horse Inn with Michael Horton. 

If you want to learn even more, read this article about how to podcast.   What’s on your iPod?

Timothy Keller

One of the preachers that I like to listen to is Timothy Keller.  He has a heart for the city and is pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church (PCA) in New York City.  Many of his sermons are available online free of charge here.  I also like his books because they are very clear and readable and make an impact on me.  His book Reason for God is excellent.  Keller's newest book is Counterfeit Gods.  Both of these websites contain a very short explanation from Timothy Keller about why he wrote the books. 

Just to whet your appetite for Keller's writing and sermons, here is a quote from Counterfeit Gods:

“How can we break our heart’s fixation on doing ’some great thing’ in order to heal ourselves of our sense of inadequacy, in order to give our lives meaning? Only when we see what Jesus, our great Suffering Servant, has done for us will we finally understand why God’s salvation does not require us to do ’some great thing.’ We don’t have to do it, because Jesus has. . . . Jesus did it all for us, and he loves us — that is how we know our existence is justified. When we believe in what he accomplished for us with our minds, and when we are moved by what he did for us in our hearts, it begins to kill off the addiction, the need for success at all costs.
- Timothy Keller, Counterfeit Gods (New York, NY: Dutton, 2009), 93-94.