one more song

american dream, Switchfoot

as i was listening to this song today, it suddenly struck me that it is extremely profound and frighteningly true. it points out that so many people's goals are solely financial and selfish. the only reason many people go to school, work hard, and get a job is simply to enrich their lives and live "comfortably." so many are simply occupied with this American Dream idea of comfort, stability, and wealth. all completely insufficient, all completely enslaving. a lot of people are convinced that they have been failed by someone else if they haven't achieved this "dream" of wealth and success, but if that is your only goal, or just a main priority, you become a captive of your own selfish ambitions. the point is, this isn't even the brunt of the matter, because if anybody searches for purpose or meaning in anything less (other) than God, they will come up short and unfulfilled. everybody's looking for answers, but very few realize there is only one.

when success is equated with excess

the ambition for excess wrecks us

as top of the mind becomes the bottom line

when success is equated with excess

if your time ain't been nothing but money

i start to feel really bad for you honey

maybe honey put your money where your mouth's been running 

if your time ain't been nothing but money

i want out of this machine

it doesn't feel like freedom

my kandinsky

i was feeling bored for a moment today so i decided to put on my 'whassup worship' playlist and 'draw' the first four songs that came up and these creations came from those sketches, so i thought i'd share them with you.

one like You, Audio Adrenaline

first of all, this has to be my favorite all time song from Audio A. this is a seriously legit jam that i could pretty much listen to anytime. i like it so much because it describes so simply yet so perfectly the feeling close to God in the midst of worship. i know i've said things before about how we shouldn't live from mountaintop to mountaintop, but those feelings of spiritual closeness just get me so pumped up about life (Jason knows what i'm talking about).

You are my joy, David Crowder* Band

another seriously legit song. this could perhaps be my favorite DCB song, but if i keep going with this, i could quite literally get into an argument with myself. this also has a similar vibe to one like You. it attempts to describe in extreme and vivid ways the inexpressible joy associated with closeness to God. the way we feel simply praising or listening to Him is just awesome and He can fulfill and devastate us with His Grace and Love at the same time.

revolutionary Love, David Crowder* Band

here's another prime example of a really cool DCB song. on the obvious side, Dave is talking about God's Love that radically changes and influences everyone who runs into it, but there is a lot more to this jam. the obvious idea is contrasted with the unchanging aspect of God's Love. God never changes, His Love never changes, yet they change everything when one meets up with His Love for the first time. it has sort of 'an unstoppable force meets an immovable object'  feel, though we are nowhere close to either of those.

how wonderful, Leeland

this song springs to my mind the idea of 'sold (souled) out worship.' just the exuberance and passion emanating from Leeland's (yes, the band is named after the lead singer) voice puts you in that place of silent personal worship (i mean toward God, of course, just like in your thoughts an within yourself...  yeah). i've always like the idea of worship songs with 'how' in them, as if the only way to express the Greatness of God is to ask a question ( you know, i just realized i should've put a question mark instead of a cross, snap!). the song also gives the idea of us being captivated and simply mesmerized by God's Love and Grace, which i find to be so true. how wonderful is His Grace?  

verses for a troubled mind

but He said to me, "My Grace is sufficient for you, for My Power is made perfect in weakness." therefore i will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the Power of Christ may rest upon me.

II Corinthians 12:9

do not be afraid of sudden terror or of the ruin of the wicked, when it comes, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.

Proverbs 3:25-26

we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the Death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

II Corinthians 4:8-9

You keep in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.

Isaiah 26: 3

and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Matthew 28:20

beautiful scandalous night

go on up to the mountain of mercy

to the crimson perpetual tide

kneel down on the shore

be thirsty no more

go under and be purified

follow Christ to the Holy mountain

sinner sorry and wrecked by the fall

cleanse your heart and soul

in the fountain that flowed 

for you and for me and for all 

at the wonderful tragic mysterious tree

on that beautiful, scandalous night you and me

were atoned by His Blood and forever washed white

on that beautiful scandalous night

- smalltown poets

an image of Him

have you seen Jesus? seriously. have you seen a cloud with a crown of thorns? did your danish have a beard this morning? did you get a sunburn in the shape of a cross? i always find it interesting when people have these "Jesus sightings" that basically could be anything, but interpret it as a sign of God. one look at a wood grain that bears resemblance to Chris Ferguson, and someone figures that he or she should never allow harm to come to that wood because it is somehow sacred. the simple fact is these images could be pretty much anything. what may be Jesus Christ to one person could be Willy Nelson to the next and just because you spilt your Kenyan coffee beans in the shape of a cross doesn't mean that God is calling you to the mission fields of Africa. however, there are certain messages in nature that can directly be related to the Gospel simply by design. from a tree's death bringing new life to a habitat to a bird migrating to a strange place in order to survive, tiny truths can be found in the span of all creation. often times we look for a sign in the unusual (which is still possible), but we tend to somehow lose sight of God's Providence in all things. its similar to some people's ideas of miracles. some may define miracle as only an unnatural occurrence or an anomaly, but they don't see that most of God's work is done through what we know as natural or scientific (despite what Esqueleto may say, belief in God could be considered synonymous with belief in science). we often pray for God to 'intercede' for us in a situation, but that exact situation may be what God wants for us. God doesn't operate outside of the world, He is  in the world. He is everywhere. and we will see Him everyday if we are looking. as we are made in His image, so is the universe.