My Hipster PDA

So I don't have an iphone, or any other type of cool phone. In looking at pictures from the birth of our first child and the birth of our second child, I noticed I still have the same phone. Its a lame phone that is barely a step above a calling card. But it works. The downside to my phone is that I miss out on all the cool "bells and whistles" to help keep me organized.

Enter the Hipster PDA. Although not a sexy as an iphone, it does have the word hipster in there. So that has got to give it some cool points. However, the "hipster" is in reference to a pocket you carry it in, not the "cool factor" of a hipster (see here).

I have enjoyed my hPDA, and has been very helpful for all the various things I have to get ready for the upcoming move. If you are like me and don't have a cool phone, you should think about getting a hipster PDA (it only cost me about $2.15 to make one).
Here are some links on it...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipster_PDA

• This Retro PDA Doesn't Need Batteries (Washington Post, July 2005)
• Who needs a PDA when I've got paper? (Guardian News, September 2005)
• D*I*Y Planner Hipster PDA templates
• John Norris Hipster PDA templates (see Hipster area)
• Hipster PDA Cover Generator
• PocketMod official site
• Making a Moleskine Hipster PDA case an instructables post on hacking a Moleskine into a case for the Hipster PDA.
• Introducing The Hipster Shuffle
• "neojotter" hPDA variant based on the Rollabind looseleaf system
• How to construct the Hipster nano PDA
• Hipster PDA Calendar Templates
• Pad n' Pen
• mind.Depositor

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A.A. Hodge Commenting on Infant Baptism in the WCF

I love Google Books. My family will be moving to Charlotte in two weeks to attend RTS, attend a PCA church, and will eventually be seeking ordination (but we need to relax and take things one step at a time). We will post more about this all later. One thing we are currently going through is the debate on paedobaptism. A.A. Hodge was helpful for us. Below is from his Commentary on the Westminster Confession of Faith (available at Google books for free).

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Another Addition to the Family

You can read more about our newest blessing, Maribelle Mae, on the Family blog.

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Some Keller Videos

From this neat website called "Big Think." Here is some info about Big Think:

Big Think is a global online forum connecting people and ideas. Through an ever-expanding platform of knowledge content, including in-depth interviews with the world’s leading experts, Big Think is a vital hub for important information to help you function, and succeed, in a rapidly changing world. In keeping with our belief that crucial information should be freely shared, discussed and debated, we have developed a full menu of tools to engage, disseminate, and subscribe to uniquely powerful content.

Here are some Keller Videos:
How do you write a sermon?

How did your theological training affect you?

Are you a biblical literalist?

Do you take from the teachings of other faiths?

Will Redeemer follow the mega-church model?

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Just Do Something

So I just finished reading "Just Do Something" by Kevin DeYoung. I loved this book. First, because it was short and small (like Prodigal God- another great book). Second, because it dispelled many of the dumb "Finding God's Will for my life" questions and approaches. I have read a handful of books on God's will (I was in the A/G for a bit), the most helpful being Step by Step by James Petty, until I read this book by DeYoung. His helpful approach of reading the Scripture, talking to others, and praying was very liberating because it was tenured by seeking wisdom (duh).
Recently, I read "The Greatest Generation" by Brokaw and this book produced the same emotions in me. In talking to his grandparents, Kevin was exposed to the challenges, etc. that their generation were exposed to compared to us. Reading these things expose how much of a sense of entitlement I have and how I didn't appreciate hard work, challenges, and a sense of duty. As I prepare to move my family out to North Carolina, this book as very encouraging and affirming of that move. Now we just have to figure out the details. So seriously if you ever wondered about God's will with regard to a job or a potential spouse, you need to read this book.

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PCA Perspectives on Women Deacons

HT: Reformation Theology

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Dodson on Missional

From the Church Planting Novice:

8 Ways to Easily Be Missional

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Whole Counsel of God

Richard Gamble's Whole Counsel of God recently hit the shelves. I am more excited about this book than Waltke's Old Testament Theology. You can read the introduction here. In a quick glance of the introdution, I am impressed with how much this coincides with Vos' Biblical Theology. For example here is Gamble concerning "Redemption Acts":

Redemptive acts. God has accomplished wonderful redemptive acts that reveal important principles of truth. Some of the greatest supernatural deeds were Israel’s liberation from bondage in Egypt and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. These events themselves form a part of God’s special revelation. These miraculous “interferences” by God in history are themselves revelatory, and often furnish the joints and ligaments by which the whole framework of sacred history is held together and its structure is determined.
Truly redemptive acts, since they are recorded in a book, have a verbal aspect and never consist only of acts by themselves. Redemptive acts never take place apart from God’s verbal communication of truth. God’s word (the text) and God’s act (the event) always accompany each other and are never contradictory.
A similar situation may be found in the Christian sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Both of these sacraments are meaningful when a physical act (applying water or eating bread and wine) is accompanied by a mental understanding of its significance. And that sacramental significance (the mental understanding) can only be communicated by using words. [footnote 21]
There is therefore an intimate relationship between the text or words of the Bible, the mental images that form in the mind of the regenerated reader, and the subjective appropriation of that text in the believer’s heart. While this may appear to be a complicated correlation, the Scriptures speak clearly to the nature of this relationship. This relationship is “contemporary.” (14-15)

One thing I appreciate already is his defense of Vos against Sailhammer in his Old Testament Theology. Here is footnote 21:

The relationship between God’s redemptive acts in time and space and his written word must be understood. Events that are recorded in Scripture can be considered to be revelatory. For example, the event, the fact, of Christ’s resurrection from the dead is clearly revelatory. Yet those events are recorded in the sacred text. Thus, the interpretation or meaning of the event can never be separated from the written word. Unfortunately, John H. Sailhamer, in his introduction to Old Testament Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995), 68, demonstrates a fundamental confusion on this subject. He says, “For Vos, special revelation may go far beyond the scope of the text of Scripture. The category of salvation history, which he had apparently inherited from earlier theologians, allowed him to see revelation in events quite apart from the text. At the same time his deep roots in Protestant orthodoxy kept him from severing completely his ties to the biblical text as revelation.” Sailhamer is mistaken in his analysis of Vos here.

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