Some Podcasts I Enjoy

I listen to podcasts a lot right now because I relatively recently got an I-Phone, and because I commute about 10-15 hours per week. My list of podcasts sometimes grows and sometimes contracts - I discover new podcasts and get tired of some, too. So this is a snapshot in time. But you might find some things you like. Probably not if you are a liberal, but that's alright. I probably wouldn't like your list either.

Sermon Podcasts:

1. Gospel in Life - This is Tim Keller's podcast. He is a preacher in New York who cares about sharing the Gospel with skeptics, who sees things clearly in the Bible, but also has a deep understanding of culture. He is the pastor who probably best brings the sensibility of CS Lewis into our current day.

2. North Point Community Church - This Andy Stanley's sermon podcast. Andy Stanley is a great communicator who, I think, is great at communicating a single idea in each sermon. For a while I was a hater because I thought all preachers should be John Piper. Not true. Listening again, I find him helpful, Biblical, and clear.

3. CanonWired - This is the podcast of Doug Wilson of Moscow, Idaho. I enjoy Doug because he is joyfully and unashamedly Calvinist, Presuppositionalist, Postmillenial. His view is just so unique, and he seems like he's having so much fun in life. If Keller is a modern-day Lewis, then Wilson is a modern-day Chesterton.

4. Capitol Hill Baptist Church - Recently added. Mark Dever in Washington DC.

5. University Reformed Church - Recently added. Kevin Deyoung. Another very thoughtful preacher and writer.

Other Christian Podcasts: 

6. The Eric Metaxas Show - The witty writer of the recent Bonhoeffer biography has a radio show in New York in which he interviews all sorts of different people. I love that he is not afraid to fight against abortion and espouse conservative ideas. The best and most eclectic music clips, too.

7. Apologia Radio - A group of people having a good day discussing apologetics, theology, culture, and everything. Pastor Jeff Durbin. This group seems to be happy beneficiaries of Doug Wilson's influence and worldview.

8. The Briefing - A very serious, very learned, very Biblical, very focused look at the previous day's headlines by Al Mohler of Southern Seminary. Only about 20 minutes. Its brevity will fit your commute.

9. The Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast - I find Andy Stanley to be just very easy to listen to. This is an inside look into the way he leads his own influential church, but also at some interesting guests that he has on. There are a lot of good Christian leadership podcasts, but this is the one I currently have on tap.

Politics:

10. Weekly Standard Podcasts - A few of these pop up each week in response to current political events. Often it is a short conversation with Bill Kristol. This is from a conservative perspective.

11. Conversations with Bill Kristol - Bill Kristol, you might say, is a moderate conservative. But he has been around for a while. And he has interesting guests on this podcasts for extended conversations lasting up to two hours. Past guests have been Newt Gingrich, Arthur Brooks, Samuel Alito, Fred Barnes, Dick Cheney. One of the better political interview podcasts - sometimes strays into the non-political.

12. The Federalist Radio Hour - This happens every week day and lasts close to fifty minutes. This shows covers politics, but also covers culture more generally. For instance, they've done shows on Star Wars and whether the Empire really are the good guys. The show is from a conservative perspective, tinged with some libertarianism. I find it to be thoughtful and not just blatantly panicky about the world, like some right-wing radio.

13. The Tom Woods Show - I am just now getting into this one at the suggestion of my classmate John Rogers. It is very libertarian, and it is causing me to think about things I wouldn't have before. Much more depth of discussion of issues than you might get listening to someone like Rush Limbaugh.

14. The Erick Erickson Show - Sometimes he gets on my nerves. Sometimes it's like an easy-to-listen to guilty pleasure. I keep it on my i-phone because he addresses Georgia issues, whereas most of the other stuff I listen to is more national.

Sports:

15. Jalen and Jacoby - Fun. This pair seems to have a bent toward the NBA, which I enjoy listening to. I like basketball more than football.

16. The Bill Simmons Podcast - I don't know why, but I just enjoy listening to this one. I don't get to watch a lot of sports, so I get to listen to people talk about sports instead. Be careful with this one because sometimes there is profanity on this show. It kind of depends on the guest.

17. Run to the Top - An elite runner discusses running. I find that listening to podcasts about working out helps to keep that on my mind, and it helps me to actually work out.

18. The Connect Run Club Podcast - I haven't listened to this one much yet, but I plan to. I saw a link that some of my Chic-fil-a friends, like Will Marshall who recently ran the Disney Marathon, were on this show.


I have listened to others and deleted them to save space. Hopefully you will have found something to enjoy. Leave a comment with some of your favorites. Thanks!

Do What You Can - Not What You Can't (Or Won't)

I have some resolutions. I won't share them in great detail. But I ran across a piece of advice in shaping them the other day while listening to a runner's podcast. 

If you have a weight-loss goal, or a running goal, or a Bible reading goal, or whatever... make the changes now that you would be willing to stick with for life. 

Too often we set too many goals, or too ambitious goals, beyond our current ability or willpower. And we do okay for a couple of weeks. But because we are not enjoying ourselves, we give it up. We only and always do the things that we want to do. The key to life, I always say - ask my wife - is learning to enjoy the things that are good for you.

Another stolen piece of podcast advice - the most important workout is tomorrow's: do not work out so hard today that you won't want to workout tomorrow. In other words, six months of small incremental changes or commitment is better than two weeks of just killing it in the gym. A year of no more than one soda per day is better than two weeks of no soda, then a year-long fall of the soda cliff. A year's worth of reading two chapters of the Bible each day is far more helpful and healthy than a two-week sprint through the Pentateuch followed by forty days (or weeks) in the wilderness of distraction and discouragement and no Bible reading. 

The only way we will be lastingly healthy is to learn to enjoy being healthy. I think we will be most successful when we start making manageable changes. Life - and also law school, I have been told - is more like a marathon than a sprint. So we should probably pace ourselves. 

I Am Registered to Run!

I have taken the advice of the running podcasters. I have some running goals, so I bit the bullet, and I have put a 5K on my schedule. 

I will be running the 12th Annual Heart to Heart 5K at Kedron Elementary on Saturday, February 6. I went for the cheap option of no t-shirt, and it was only $10. 

I am hoping that having this on the schedule will be motivation to run. Since the end of November I have gotten back into the gym at our apartment complex. Living in Dalton and then Brooks I would have had to join a gym and pay a membership, but here (Newnan) we are already paying for it, so... yeah, I might as well use it. I have enjoyed lifting weights again, certainly, but I know I need to lose some weight, and I think doing some running will be conducive to that. 

The date I have chosen is one in the near future. I think a distant date would not be a great current motivation. And I plan to add some dates after this one, depending on how it goes. I definitely plan to do the race that goes to benefit the Coweta Pregnancy Center in March, which our church supports. 

Let me share with you something that totally blew me away. I know my Papaw used to run a lot when I was little. My dad still runs, not competitively, but to stay in shape. But my Papaw, apparently was very good at it. I think it's cool that on the internet you can look up the past results of races, so I looked up the Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon results from the year I was born. My Papaw finished first in his age group at over 60 years old. The time he finished in was 3 hours, 54 minutes, and 47 seconds. What!!!!! That is faster than a 9 minute per mile pace!!!! I mean, good grief. My goal for this race I have signed up for is simply to do better than a 10 minute pace. We will see, we will see. 

For any runners out there, if you have any advice for someone just starting, feel free to comment below. Thanks!