Sent By Ravens - Salt and the Light

"Salt and the Light" by Sent By Ravens


Hey guys, thanks again for reading. It's been a crazy summer, to put it simply. Between working thirty hours a week at the Aquarium (no complaints about that, though) and several hours a night worth of homework, the summer completely blew by me. It's just another fifteen days and I'm headed back to school for another year of excitement, intrigue, and death. Or something like that. Based on last year, it's going to be awesome.

I'm getting really excited to be back at Cedarville with all my fellow Cedarvillains (yeah, we're all that bad). I'm not sure whether it's got as much to do with starting up classes (and a whole new major) again or catching up with friends as it does getting back into chapel five times a week and getting plugged into a new church family again. I'm really looking for ways to get involved beyond just playing the piano on Sunday mornings so people can get a feel-good vibe about singing and praising, because there's so much more to it than just that.

Just acting out our lives as if we're successful and even spiritual won't cut it. We might be able to fool those around us and maybe even ourselves, but if we're all talk and no action, it's just "a burden from our tongues." Just like Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13, it doesn't matter how 'christian' we act in front of others or how many good things we can do. Unless our hearts are truly in the right place- broken and empty at the feet of Christ- it's all for nothing. It's just like the ephemeral mist over the water in the mornings: it's beautiful while it lasts, but it's gone in the blink of an eye. Our faith is only as strong as the words we speak in the truly difficult situations- when it's down to the wire and every word counts.

Is His love really you need? Or do you need the approval of others in your life too? What will you choose?

We Came As Romans- Mis//Understanding

Hey all, thanks again for reading today! Same as last time, I just want to give you a quick warning before you click the 'play' button on my video. If you're not a fan of hardcore music, hit the mute button on this one, because it's a bit more intense than a lot of my other music. The lyrics are included on the video, so you can just read along with it if you choose to do that.

Anyway, I was watching this video today because the band (We Came As Romans) just released this song in preparation for their new album in September, and I'm a pretty big fan of their music (their lyrics are amazing, in particular). But this song specifically stuck out to me today, and I'm sure a lot of people can relate to this. Have you ever felt like no matter what you do, it always ends up just making things worse than they were? Regardless of how you treat people, they treat you like the fool they take you for. Sometimes it just feels like we don't really understand this world, or that we don't even belong.

And that's really the truth about it: we don't belong here. As Christians, we're just sojourning here on Earth for the short years we have in this life. And though we get mistreated and abused, it's up to us to make the most of the time we have here. Luckily, we don't have to do this alone. Like the song says, we have each other to rely on when we're down, and God's always going to be there beside us to bring us through the tough times, even if it might not seem that way at the moment.

For those of you that know what's been going on in my life over the last month and a half or so, this song almost exactly sums up how I've been feeling, so I thought it would be appropriate to talk about today. If you're at the same place I am right now, take comfort in the fact that you're never alone there, and it doesn't have to stay that way.

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus- Reap

(Just a quick disclaimer here: As always, when you read my blog and listen to the music I put on here, you're subjecting yourself to two things. The first is my opinion and my take on the world, but the second one is the lyrics and the style of the music, for better or worse. If you don't like what's here, I apologize, and keep checking back because what I'm blogging about today may be way different from what's up the next time, and so on.)



I don't really have anything fancy to talk about right now, but I felt like this song has been on my mind for a while. I've had an interesting few weeks since I updated the blog last, to say the least. My summer's beginning to get pretty busy already, with around 20 hours of work a week and my online classes to keep up with. And I've been dealing with what I don't know how describe any way other than as a small bout of depression or maybe just emptiness. The more hours I work, the more I learn, and the more responsibilites I get, the less I feel like I have to offer to anyone in any significant way, and it's been draining me of any real excitement I've had.

And that's where my song for today comes in. Galatians 6:7 says that "whatever one sows, that will he also reap". Whatever you put into your life is what's going to come back out of it eventually. If you go filling your life with garbage like drugs, alcohol, sex, etc., what do you think is going to come of that? You're sure not going to enjoy it later. The same can go for what may seem like innocuous things like work and responsibilities. If you let yourself be taken over by these things rather than focus on God first, they're going to take control of you and make your life miserable later.

As both the song Reap (the one you should still be listening to) and Mark 8:36-37 say, "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul?" What good will it do you if you spend all your life working and slaving away in order to get ahead in this world if you trade away your soul in the process? Or how about the reverse of that even? It won't do you any good to just get by and waste your life on the ephemeral pleasures this world offers. It's what you do about your soul that matters for all eternity. I would never say that it's a bad thing to be ambitious, but never let that get between you and what's ultimately important, because it can only lead to emptiness. You can have the world and all it can give you if you want it, but beware you don't find yourself headed for that space in hell, as the song so kindly puts it.

Breaking Benjamin - I Will Not Bow

Hey everybody, it's me...back from the grave of nothingness that the blog got for the last month. I just figured I'd share a bit of what's been going on for the last little bit for you all. Pretty much the reason I stopped writing earlier is because some things happened between myself and people which kind of took me out of the mood of blogging or getting excited about sharing music in general really. It's not something I talk about much, but this blog post is about what's been through my head lately. I'm not going to bow down and give up just because the problems of life get in my way and try to slow me down.

I kind of brought this up at youth group on Sunday night with our lesson for the night. Each one of us was asked to be prepared with a verse that we could apply to our lives, and because this stuff's been on my mind for a while, I came with 1 Peter 1:7, which says, "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." Even though we're going to go through trials and even if they push us down sometimes, we can't bow down and give up because of them. They're there to increase our faith in God, not to drive us farther away from him.

Anyway, I've got a few bits of news for my summer and my blogging in case you're still reading. Since I'm working anywhere from 25-40 hours a week right now and I have a couple online classes for school, I'm going to be pretty busy. I probably won't be updating every other day like I had been doing before a few weeks ago. But hang in there with me, because I've got a few exciting things up my sleeve for the summer. Thanks for reading!

30 Day Song Challenge- Day Ten

Hey guys, I'm sorry about not writing in so long. It's been a pretty rough few weeks for me, just because there's been a lot going on with school and some things that needed dealing with. At any rate, I'm going to return to the 30 day challenge I was working on before I stopped writing. When I left it, I had finished days one through nine. Today's challenge picks up with 'A song you can sleep to'. You're in for a real treat with this song, if you've never heard of it. Philosophically deep and challenging, this song will make you think twice about everything you know about music. You should stop whatever you're doing and pay close attention to this song. And if you feel so inspired, please tell me your impressions in the comments. I really want to hear your thoughts on this one!

Enjoy!

30 Day Song Challenge- Day Nine

Today's challenge is "a song you can dance to". But since I'm a baptist, and baptists don't dance, I'm going to commit suicide now. My blog now belongs to Tim 'SA' Vehrs. (you wish)
Anyway, today's song is "The Feeling" by Kutless. I had a hard time picking this one, just because there were so many good songs I wanted to do for this. Some of the other picks were 'Love Liberty Disco' by Newsboys (epic album, by the way, if you ever have a chance to listen to it!), 'Freefalling' (The Almost's cover of it), and 'Dance or Die' by Family Force 5. But I picked this one because the lyrics caught in my mind for whatever reason.

Just like this blog (at least I hope), there's more to the songs we listen to and sing than just the music. There's a greater meaning behind what we do than what we say, often enough. And just like this song says, we need to show the world that we, as Christians, are real. We don't just play church on Sunday morning and then go back to 'the other six days of the week'. We need to live out our faith every day of the week if we're going to make any difference in the world. Faking it to keep up appearances just tells the world that we're no different than they are. It doesn't meant that we can't enjoy life to the fullest. But we have to be authentic in everything that we do. It's time to stop hiding behind our 'Sunday best' and let the world see how real Christians live, all seven days of the week.

(Recap)
Day One- (Favorite song) 'Everything' by Lifehouse
Day Two- (Least favorite song) 'Baby' by Justin Bieber
Day Three- (Song that makes you happy) 'Amazing Grace(My Chains are Gone)' by Chris Tomlin
Day Four- (Song that makes you sad) 'In The End' by Linkin Park
Day Five- (A song that reminds you of someone) 'Bring Me To Life' by Evanescence
Day Six- (A song that reminds you of a place) 'This is Home' by Switchfoot
Day Seven- (A song that reminds you of a certain event) 'Life is a Highway' by Rascal Flatts
Day Eight- (A song you know all the words to) 'Jesus Freak' by Newsboys (ft. Kj-52)

30 Day Song Challenge- Day Eight

Day eight's challenge is: "A song you know all the words to". And my song pick for today is 'Jesus Freak' by the Newsboys (Ft. Kj-52). It's not the original version performed by DC Talk, but I personally like this remake better than the original. I was working on memorizing this a while back, and it's still stuck in my head. (if you're wondering why I was memorizing it...stay tuned) All of us as Christians should honestly be Jesus freaks, fanatics that aren't afraid to look foolish for His cause. Sports fans get real excited when their team is playing, and they're not afraid to speak up to defend their favorite. Music fans rave about their favorite artist's new album or tour. But how often do we get crazy excited about how God's moving in our church, or in the community? Not nearly often enough, myself included in this.

We need to slow down and examine where we're placing our attention. Is it focused on the temporal things of this earth, or is it on the heavenly acts of God in our lives?

(Recap)
Day One- (Favorite song) 'Everything' by Lighthouse
Day Two- (Least favorite song) 'Baby' by Justin Bieber
Day Three- (Song that makes you happy) 'Amazing Grace(My Chains are Gone)' by Chris Tomlin
Day Four- (Song that makes you sad) 'In The End' by Linkin Park
Day Five- (A song that reminds you of someone) 'Bring Me To Life' by Evanescence
Day Six- (A song that reminds you of a place) 'This is Home' by Switchfoot
Day Seven- (A song that reminds you of a certain event) 'Life is a Highway' by Rascal Flatts

30 Day Song Challenge- Day Seven

Today's challenge is "a song that reminds you of a certain event". The event this song reminds me of is the cross-country drive my family went on ten years ago from New York to California. We moved my grandmother, who was retiring and moving, out to California, driving over five days from one corner of the country to the other. It was a really cool chance to get to experience a bunch of different biomes one after the other. Life on the highway for a few days is a tiring experience, but it's a great learning time as well.

Life is much the same way. On the highway we call life, it's not an easy road to travel. It's tiring at times, and we have to deal with the bumps and bruises that come along with it. But life is also a learning experience, and we can learn from all of the rough patches. God has a plan for every time we experience difficulties on the way, if we will stop and listen to Him. Sometimes, we just have to yield to His voice in our lives so He can teach us another life lesson.

'Life is a Highway' by Rascal Flatts

(Recap)
Day One- (Favorite song) 'Everything' by Lighthouse
Day Two- (Least favorite song) 'Baby' by Justin Bieber
Day Three- (Song that makes you happy) 'Amazing Grace(My Chains are Gone)' by Chris Tomlin
Day Four- (Song that makes you sad) 'In The End' by Linkin Park
Day Five- (A song that reminds you of someone) 'Bring Me To Life' by Evanescence
Day Six- (A song that reminds you of a place) 'This is Home' by Switchfoot

Switchfoot -"This is Home" - THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA

Today's challenge is "A song that reminds you of somewhere". This should probably be really obvious, but this song reminds me of home. Yeah, home. Shocked much? Right now, my home is Connecticut, and before this last summer, it was New York. And in a lot of ways, it still is, although I love where I am now. And I begin to wonder some times where I will call home after college is over and I begin the next stage of life. There's a lot of important decisions upcoming in the next four years, but right now, I'm just trusting in God a day at a time. Switching majors in college is a big step, but I think that I'm being called in a new direction. (Ask about it if you don't know or if you're curious or whatever) One day at a time, trusting in God's mercy that is new every morning.
('This is Home'- Switchfoot)

Recap-
Day One- (Favorite song) 'Everything' by Lighthouse
Day Two- (Least favorite song) 'Baby' by Justin Bieber
Day Three- (Song that makes you happy) 'Amazing Grace(My Chains are Gone)' by Chris Tomlin
Day Four- (Song that makes you sad) 'In The End' by Linkin Park
Day Five- (A song that reminds you of someone) 'Bring Me To Life' by Evanescence

30 Day Song Challenge- Day Five

Today's song is 'A song that reminds you of someone'. This song actually reminds me more of a group of people than a single person, but that's twice the awesomeness. Who does this remind me of? Two of my best friends ever- Savannah and Misty! They're co-authors on a writing project that's been underway for almost two years now, called "Ice Sword Chronicles". We haven't been updating it very much lately, because we're either busy with school or working during the school year. This is one of the things I'm looking forward to the most this summer (besides obviously seeing family and friends at home again): being able to work on ISC with the gang again.

That being said, this song is part of the 'mythos' behind the story we're writing. One of the main characters, Hanna, typifys this song almost exactly. She's basically a trained assassin who falls in love with an innocent guy who gets kidnapped after a confrontation with an old enemy. She and the rest of the cast go to incredible lengths to rescue him, and over the events to follow, she begins to learn how to live life again. Basically, it's epic.

('Bring Me To Life' by Evanescence)

(Recap)
Day One- (Favorite song) 'Everything' by Lighthouse
Day Two- (Least favorite song) 'Baby' by Justin Bieber
Day Three- (Song that makes you happy) 'Amazing Grace(My Chains are Gone)' by Chris Tomlin
Day Four- (Song that makes you sad) 'In The End' by Linkin Park

30 Day Song Challenge- Day Four

(Recap)
Day One- (Favorite song) 'Everything' by Lighthouse
Day Two- (Least favorite song) 'Baby' by Justin Bieber
Day Three- (Song that makes you happy) 'Amazing Grace(My Chains are Gone)' by Chris Tomlin

Today's challenge is 'a song that makes you sad', and I think that this a really good song that fits that theme. Just from the title, "In the End" to the piano intro, you get the feeling that this isn't going to be a happy-go-lucky song. And it's actually kind of depressing, when you think about it. It's a look back on life, and all of the regrets that we hold. Even though we can try as hard as we can under our own strength, nothing really matters when we do it alone. And try as they might, the world cannot explain this outside of God. Unfortunately, many people turn away from Him and reject His love.

(In the End- Linkin Park)

30 Day Song Challenge- Day Three

(Recap)
Day One- (Favorite song) 'Everything' by Lighthouse
Day Two- (Least favorite song) 'Baby' by Justin Bieber

Today's 'challenge' is "a song that makes you happy", and I can't think of many that make me happier than this one does. It's such a great reminder of the freedom that we have through the grace of God, something that we don't deserve and that we could never pay for with our pitiful humanity, or any work that we could do on earth. Paul says that all our righteous works are 'as filthy rags' in God's eyes. We can't earn our salvation, but rather it's a gift. And with it, our chains are truly gone and we've been set free from the sin that "so easily besets us."

('Amazing Grace-My Chains Are Gone' by Chris Tomlin)

30 Day Song Challenge- Day Two

No offense to people who actually like Justina...Justin...Bieber, but I really dislike almost everything about his singing. I can't necessarily say that I like this song less than any other of his, but it's probably the best example of his (terrible) work, so I picked this one. And Justin Bieber is just another one of the young stars on conveyor belt of terrible worldly influences. Just like Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson, Miley Cyrus (etc), what started out as an innocent (as much as anybody can be 'innocent' after the fall) kid was turned into a media attraction. And all the negative influences of the world are thrown at these stars with so much more strength, because they're in the spotlight. This isn't to say that he's doomed to fail, but he's certainly in a position to become a bad influence for the future generation (beyond the tween swooning that already happens).

"What's a bieber?"

"I dunno...kinda sounds like a girl."

RECAP-
Day 1- 3/29/11 (Favorite song) 'Everything' by Lighthouse
Day 2- 3/30/11 (Least favorite song) 'Baby' by Justin Bieber ft. Ludacris

30 Day Song Challenge- Day One

Hey everybody! I figured that, since I write about music anyway, this blog would be a great place for me to start the '30 day song challenge'. For those who don't know what this is, for thirty days, I'm going to post a different song that matches up with the criteria for that day. Here's the actual list, so you know what song matches up with what criteria, if you're actually following this through.

day 01 - your favorite song (3/29/11)
day 02 - your least favorite song
day 03 - a song that makes you happy
day 04 - a song that makes you sad
day 05 - a song that reminds you of someone
day 06 - a song that reminds you of somewhere
day 07 - a song that reminds you of a certain event
day 08 - a song that you know all the words to
day 09 - a song that you can dance to
day 10 - a song that makes you fall asleep
day 11 - a song from your favorite band
day 12 - a song from a band you hate
day 13 - a song that is a guilty pleasure
day 14 - a song that no one would expect you to love
day 15 - a song that describes you
day 16 - a song that you used to love but now hate
day 17 - a song that you hear often on the radio
day 18 - a song that you wish you heard on the radio
day 19 - a song from your favorite album
day 20 - a song that you listen to when you’re angry
day 21 - a song that you listen to when you’re happy
day 22 - a song that you listen to when you’re sad
day 23 - a song that you want to play at your wedding
day 24 - a song that you want to play at your funeral
day 25 - a song that makes you laugh
day 26 - a song that you can play on an instrument
day 27 - a song that you wish you could play
day 28 - a song that makes you feel guilty
day 29 - a song from your childhood
day 30 - your favorite song at this time last year

Today's 'challenge' is my current favorite song. Being the music junkie that I am, I don't stick with a favorite song for very long. But this song grabs my heart every time I listen to it. I'm not sure that I've ever actually made it through the song without tearing up, because it's so moving, especially alongside the skit in the video I attached. I HIGHLY recommend you watch this if you haven't already...and even if you have, watch it again. Now. I'm seriously not writing any more, so if you want a theology moment, get started with that video.

Disciple - Worth the Pain

Hey everybody, I know it's been almost two weeks since the last time I blogged...the last few weeks have been insanely busy. Last week, I don't think I went a day without at least two meetings in the afternoon, not to mention an exam and a few projects. This week is pretty homework-heavy, with two more exams and two presentations to work on. But at the same time, I've gotten to do some pretty awesome stuff the last few days. Friday night and Saturday morning was what's called CedarMania, where junior high students come here to Cedarville for an all-nighter, stuffed with games and really cool messages. I got to be a group leader for a youth group of six kids, which was a whole lot of fun. This year's theme was 'Wanted', and it was basically about how, because of the fall, we're all outlaws from God's truth and His rules. But we're desperately wanted by Him all the same, more than anything we could possibly think of or desire. In a world where self-image is so important, it was a great message for us to hear.

After coming back from my break from writing, I thought that I'd continue my thought from before on the theme of pain. But let's take it another step from the last post. We know that the pain helps us, but the Bible tells us in several places that we are to count it as joy when we suffer. 1 Peter 4:16 says "If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name." We can turn what is a bad, evil thing into something that praises God. The apostles did this in Acts 5 (v. 41): "Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name." Even though they were imprisoned, beaten, and even killed, they counted their pain as a blessing. How many of us could do that today if this were to happen to us? Or would we reject the blessing of our pain and "Curse God and die" (Job 2:9)

In Second Corinthians 12:10, Paul tells us, "For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." Even though he had to deal with intense persecution during his ministry, he endured it for Christ's sake. Through his weaknesses, he was able to be more effective than he could through his strengths alone. And we'll never be alone in our suffering, when we are in fellowship with other believers. Galatians 6:2 issues the command, "Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." We are called to be there for our brothers and sisters when they go through the trials of life. With the body of believers behind us, and with God always with us, we're never truly alone in our pain.

Our suffering is for a reason: the proclamation of His name and His Kingdom is worth our pain. Let's be the light in the world by thanking God for allowing us to suffer for His name.

Kutless - To Know That You're Alive

Hey everybody, thanks a bunch for praying for my spring break trip to Nashville this week! (or at least I hope you did...) It was a really good time of helping out people affected by the flood last May (it only got about 15 minutes of coverage nationwide, so you probably didn't hear much about it). The video I shared earlier in the week is a slideshow of pictures from right after the flood happened. Anyway, we got a ton of work done this week and it was totally worth the time spent.

Today, I wanted to blog about this song because there's a whole lot of suffering going on in the world around us. As you (should) know, Japan was hit with a massive earthquake and tsunami early yesterday morning (early afternoon for them). The death toll is expected to be in the thousands right now, and analysts say that the expenses for the damage could be in the billions. Millions are homeless and displaced because of a nuclear power plant's cooling system failure.

I personally know several people that are going through some hard times right now. Whether it be the loss of a loved one, a recent diagnosis of an illness, dealing with new medicines and their side effects, or a rough recovery from surgeries, they have a lot to deal with right now. Life can be a painful process often enough. But it's the pain in our lives that shows us that we can't do it on our own; rather, we need Christ there to help us manage life's difficulties. Like waking up from a dream, we need that 'pinch' to know that we're awake. It's never fun, but we need that pain to know that we're still alive. It's there for a reason.

"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world." -C.S. Lewis: The Problem of Pain

Nashville Tennessee Flood 2010

Hey everybody, I figured what with not updating the blog the last few days I'd give a quick update on what's up. This week, I'm going to be volunteering with Samaritan's Purse in Nashville (over Cedarville's spring break). I probably won't be updating my blog between now and the weekend, but I might have a few surprises here and there. Who knows?

I'd appreciate prayer for the families whose homes we're working on in the wake of the massive flooding last summer, both that we'd be able to get a ton of work done while we're here, and that we'd be a blessing to them as we share Jesus' love.

3 Doors Down - Citizen Soldier ft. The National Guard

(Dedicated to all those who haved served or are currently serving in the armed forces)

This song has a very obvious message, and a less-obvious, but spritually focused message if you look at it from a different light. And I don't want to detract at all from the original intent of this song, because I appreciate the sacrifices our brothers and sisters make to keep us safe every day, and they are all heroes. When people are in need, they'll be there. They stand on guard so that we can live our lives in safety.

The same, however, is true about our Christian family in many cases. We're all citizen soldiers, "holding the light for the ones that we guide from the dark of despair." We're always there both for our fellow believers, but for the lost and those in need. And the line "the strongest among you may not wear a crown" is incredibly true. There are so many people that put on a show of strength on the outside, but inside they are lost and needy. It is our duty as 'Christian soldiers' to stand up both for each other and our rights and for others who may be impoverished, homeless, hungry, naked, friendless, and without a Savior.

LIGHTS - Saviour

(Thanks to Mike for sharing the awesomeness that is Lights with me) So, where are you right now? And no, I don't mean your physical location...that would be slightly creepy of me. Are you on your knees, praying to the silence that the situation in will change somehow? All of us have the things that linger in the back of our head, calling us to them when we need something to rely in. We can deny that we're in pain to others, but we can inwardly be suffering through a great deal. Even if we feel like we can't share with those around us, we still need someone to talk to about our problems. And that's where our Saviour steps in.

He's the one that we can run to to break free from our chains, whatever they're holding us to. No matter how strong you are, sooner or later you'll need Him. But because He loves us so much, He won't force us to accept or love Him. Things will never change without you making the choice to run to Him.

However, the longer we stay rooted in our broken states, the harder it's going to be to break free and let go of the pain. When we don't give it to Him, the sin and brokenness turns to rust that makes it harder to move from where the pain took over. If we give it to Him, He'll stand us back up on our feet so we can keep going, even though we may often fall back down again. We can always rely on our Saviour to come for us, just like we'll always need His saving grace in our lives.

Casting Crowns - Until The Whole World Hears

Today, I attended a missiology (missions) conference in the Chicago area (I don't say in Chicago because it's not actually there, according to Joel...). The main emphasis of the sessions was 'missions in the city', but there were several other tracks throughout the day including 'diaspora missions', 'social justice', 'witchcraft accusations', and 'short-term missions'. There were some really interesting topics I got to hear today, but one of the most interesting ones was about pursuing 'Cruciformity' in missions. Rather than being focused on our own agendas, our own convenience, and our own culture, we should follow the example of Christ. He moved rather towards contextualization, God's calling, centrifugality (rather than centripetality- missions revolving around our own context), and a consciousness of God's divine purpose.

When we take the focus off ourselves and place it instead on those that we're trying to reach, we have a much greater impact, because we're allowing God to work through our weaknesses rather than having to take our strong, prideful personalities along for the ride. We have to follow in Christ's sacrificial, others-focused example in order to maximize the effect we can have in reaching others for His Kingdom.

Casting Crowns- What If His People Prayed

"If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14

Here's my challenge for today, albeit a short one. I've been thinking about it a lot lately, and I wonder how many Christians today actually depend on the power of prayer every day. How many people would rather turn to 'Ask Annie' or Oprah for answers than turn to the one who knows everything? One of the reasons our world is so broken is because we've lost the insight of the true vitality of our spiritual walk. Our nation is no longer a true Christian nation, even though there are still Christians here.

And that's because the Christians that are here fail to make any difference. Whether it's because we've become so separate from the rest of the world with our legalistic expectations and demands, or because we fail to be in the world altogether because of a fear of becoming too much like it, we're not 'rescuing the perishing' like we're commanded to. The power of answered prayer can change lives for His Kingdom, but we have to actually take it up as a weapon against the spritual forces we face (see Ephesians 6:12). It's not enough to sit back and watch the world go by. We need to be involved in it actively in order to see any change.

So, what will you do with the power you've been given? He'll answer you, no matter how desperate a situation you find yourself in. He's greater than any worldly wisdom you can get.

The Glorious Unseen - Heavy Hearted

This weekend, I went on a class trip called Refugee Weekend. I can't really talk much about it (we're literally not allowed to say anything about it), but basically we live the life of a refugee for two days. It's one of the most brutal things I've ever done, and I've done some pretty epic stuff. But it's totally life-changing, and if you ever take classes at Cedarville, this is one of the ones that you shouldn't miss.

Now that I've been back for a few days and I've had some time to reflect on my experience, I've been thinking about how much we take for granted, even the simplest things in life. Most of us don't really have any idea of what suffering is like in this world, but we complain about the little, inconsequential things far too much. Our lives are truly blessed compared to the billions of people that live in extreme poverty. Over half of the people in our world live on less than a few dollars a day, which for our lifestyles would be impossible to do.

But even when we're heavy hearted and we feel utterly worthless, God still loves us. When the world would despise us and reject us because we have absolutely nothing to contribute, God is there to pick us back up. Even though we may not see it all the time, He's always there sustaining us and holding on to us. He's always willing to take us back from our mistakes and the times when we curse Him for our circumstances. We just need to reach out to Him for the loves that destroys all other loves.

Five For Fighting - 100 Years

Life is made up of a bunch of little moments. Of course, they go by incredibly fast the further on we get in our lifetime. Ever notice how the time just seems to fly by? Out of so many things in this world, time is one that is a finite resource. You'll never get it back after you use it once. So what you do with it becomes incredibly important. Will you waste your time on living the 'good life'? Spend your days chasing after fruitless love? Or will you make a difference in the world somehow?

As life passes by, the choices we make and how we steward our time make all the difference. We can't afford to waste time dwelling on past failures or the bad things that happen to us. Every day is a new day made by God, and every day is a new chance to make an impact somewhere. It doesn't have to be life-changing, because even the little things of life are important in God's eyes.

Don't waste the limited time you've been given. Spend it wisely.

Wolves at the Gate- Heralds

Just a note, that some of you reading this probably won't like this style of music. It's definitely a bit more intense than some of the other songs I've posted. But I'm adding the full lyrics to this post so you can read along with the song if that helps any. These guys are all Cedarville alumni, and they just released a new EP (We Are the Ones...it's on iTunes). I got to go to the unveiling concert on campus, and they said there that all of their lyrics come straight from the Bible, which is pretty awesome.

The truth is that we're all heralds of Christ's power and love to those we interact with every day. We need to leave behind the things that we've grown attached to in this world and cry out for God's grace so that we can be lights to the dead souls around us. God has called all of us and sent us to serve, whether we're serving in our hometowns or across the globe. How we live can sometimes speak louder than what we can say.

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Check my pulse, am I still breathing?
Will You grasp my wrist and hold it dear to Your heart?
To see if I am beating for You and only You my Father

How we live and fight is who we are
"Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
"Who you are is all from Me"

I'm leaving behind the things of this world
"Follow me my son and let the dead bury their own"
So test me oh Lord, examine my soul
"Follow me my son for what you reap you will have sown"

Give light to my eyes to see Your glory divine and break through these skies
Hear me when I cry to see Your grace come down and purge these dead lives
"Have I not given you a spirit of power and love?"
I will live to fight for these dead lives
"Have I not given you a spirit of power and love?"
How we live and fight is who we are

And as You dwell inside my heart your burning a fire that's growing
So when I feel the warmth subside rekindle the embers that's burning

Check my pulse, am I still breathing?
Will You grasp my wrist and hold it dear to Your heart?
To see if I am beating for You

A herald I am
"A mirror to Me"
For sin is destroyed
"You've been set free"
How we live the fight is who we are
"Who you are is all from Me"
"You will suffer but my strength is enough"
Still send me
"Though You will suffer your strength is in Me"
Still send me

Disciple - After The World

I've talked a bit in the past about how the things we seek in this world can't hold a candle to even a moment with God. I've said that He is the one thing that we really should be searching for in life. But tonight I want to stop and point out that He seeks each of us out, and He loved us before the world was even formed, before we ever came to the world. He's always there, always has been, and always will be.

And unlike worldly love, His love for us will never fail. When the sun goes down, He's still there. When the bad times pass, He'll still be standing at our sides. Even if we blame Him for life's circumstances, He still loves us. He crossed the chasm between life and death for us. He's what we ultimately desire in life, when everything else fails to satisfy. And He'll be there for us, even after this earth has passed away and is no more.

TobyMac - Get Back Up

I was sitting in the student center today, waiting for an interview with a summer camp program, and this song was playing on a loop for a video on a presentation in the lobby. After hearing it a few times, I kept going back to the phrase "this is love calling", and I thought that it was an interesting thought for the day. When a baby first starts learning to walk, there will be many times that she falls down during the process. But if she were to give up on walking altogether, there would be no way to make progress in the rest of life.

We can see the same thing many times throughout life's learning experiences. Failure isn't acheived just because you fell one time. It's when you don't get back up again that you truly give in to failure. And no matter how hard you got knocked down, it's never too late to get back up and keep trying. This principle carries over into our Christian walk as well, not just physical events. Even though we fail sometimes and give in to the temptations we face, God will always give us a way to get back up and keep walking with Him. He calls to our broken and weary lives through His love. It's never too late.

Pillar - For The Love of The Game

What with the Super Bowl and all tonight, I figured tonight would be a good time to pull something like this song out. The Packers and the Steelers both played a great game, but the better team won tonight. I don't think that any one of those players out on the field would have been playing if they didn't love what they did. It's not an easy sport to play, because of the physical poundings that they take. And that's not to mention the mental and emotional stress that they deal with. Fans are hard to please, and they'll point fingers at anything that is 'unfair', including the players. Suffice it to say that they're in it for the love of the game.

And what about our lives as Christ-followers in this world? Why do we put up with the abuse, the false accusations, the hatred, the hurt and pain? Heaven is an amazing goal, one that all Christians can look forward to. But if we're only focused on our final destination, we'll get lost on the journey. We have to put aside the tribulations we face in order to let our light shine among those we encounter every day. And perhaps that means we need to love what we do, rather than just enduring it. Otherwise, we're not really being sincere about our faith. And that's enough to turn someone away from Christ. How many people have Christians with great intentions turned away people from Jesus because of insincerity?

David Crowder Band: Turkish Delight

We all have our temptations and distractions. For some people, it's the latest technology. Maybe it's taking a second too long on that glance at the attractive girl or guy walking by. The second that gets your head thinking thoughts it shouldn't. For Edward in the Chronicles of Narnia series, it was that turkish delight. Turkish delight is a jelly-like candy flavored with (but not always including) dates, pistachios, hazelnuts, or walnuts. It can be flavored with lemon, cinnamon, mint, and other things. You can pretty much get it whatever way suits you best, which is one reason why it's so dangerous.

Our own 'turkish delights' can make us do things that we never thought we'd do. Edward traded his family for more sweets, because his addiction took over his thoughts. We need to be able to control our desires, or they'll take over. They cause us to lose our testimony as Christians, and they lead us down paths that are ultimately very destructive. And it's often a slippery slope (mind the cliche), because once we've started, the addiction can only get stronger unless we get help from God. We need to turn our addictions over to Him and replace them with wholesome things. Perhaps it's just moderating what would otherwise be a good thing, or maybe we need to cut something out of our lives altogether. Regardless, we cannot allow it to remain. It's much the same as hate. If left unchecked, it corrupts every aspect of our lives until we can't do anything without being affected by its grip.

Brian Doerksen- Refiner's Fire

(Recommended by Mrs. Stapleton) Not many people don't like gold or silver. That's just a fact. But how many people would love that silver necklace if it was unpurified silver rather than the precious, refined silver that actually sells in the store? How much difference is there really? Maybe it's a little more than you might have thought...

It takes a lot of hard work and time in the furnace for silver to be ready to buy. It takes fire over 1200 degrees Celsius (2200 degrees Fahrenheit) to dredge the impurities out of the unrefined silver ore. And it's not just a 'one and done' process. The silver needs to go through the fire several times before all of the imperfections are cleansed. But it's definitely worth the time and effort it takes, because the difference is so visible.

It's the same thing with our lives. God takes our sinful, black lives and puts them through the refiner's fires in order to bring our faults and blemishes to the surface so they can be removed once acted upon. It may take many trials through the fire before we're 'perfected'. In fact, we will never reach that mark this side of eternity. But it's our goal to move closer to Jesus every day, so we need to keep up through the fiery trials.

Silver and gold are precious and very valuable. But Peter says (1 Peter 1:7), "...the trial of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes..." Think of how great lengths we will sometimes go to get the pleasures of life. If our faith is more precious than even those, how far should we be willing to go?

Lifehouse- Hanging by a Moment

Are you tired of what the world has to offer? Fed up with the lies and deception that it always brings? You need: George Foreman's Lean Grilling Machine! No, it's a new cell phone...wait, it's that outfit that's super-popular! Yeah, that's it. Or so the world would have us believe. We're so caught up with 'that new thing' that we take what we have for granted, while three billion people live on less than two dollars a day, literally. The average middle class American family is in the top 2.4% of the world when it comes to annual income (~46,000$).

What happens when what we do with our money fails to satisfy us? Move on to the next thing? And what happens when the 'next thing' fails us too? We can keep repeating this futile cycle of buying things in hopes of them making us happy forever and never truly get what we want. Then what can we do to fulfill that need? How about a moment with God? Perhaps by giving up a small bit of our day to talking with God and reading His word, we can take a step closer to finding that fulfillment. Rather than worry about all that we're lacking, we should focus on what we do have now: a God who loves us for who we are, not for what we have. We're completely incomplete with Him in our lives...He works through our shortcomings and weaknesses, not only our financial status, although He can certainly use that as well.

I think that these small moments each day with Christ are enough to keep us moving when we're failed by the pleasures of this world. When you're running blindly through this world's vain delights, turn instead and chase after Christ and the life He lived. There's nothing else you can find in this world that can give you pure and true joy.

Mikeschair - Let The Waters Rise

Does it sometimes feel like the whole world is against you at once? No matter what you do, no matter how brave a face you put on, it's killing you slowly from the inside. It's hard to want to pray and read the Bible when it seems like God doesn't hear you, or that maybe He doesn't care. Why should we put our trust in Christ if we don't feel like it's helping any?

It's when we're faced with the hard times like this that simple, trite answers aren't enough to keep our faith cemented. Maybe it isn't enough just to believe that He's there? Faith can only take you as far as you'll let it go. When our happy way of life gets challenged, do we just quit and say, "Oh, I guess God doesn't care about me because He's not doing enough to make me happy." Or perhaps we give up on God altogether. But what we too often don't do is look deeper into the hardships we think we have and see where God is really working in and around our lives through the circumstances.

Neither Jesus or the Bible ever said that we'd live an easy life as Christians. In fact, He told us in Matthew 24:9 that, "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake." We will have to face those raging seas and deep waters of our life, but we're truly never alone through those times.

How can we know? Because Jesus knows exactly what it's like. During His life on earth, He faced all the same trials and temptations that we face today. And yet, He lived the perfect life, one without any sin. He is in the perfect position to be there to help us through those same difficulties today. He'll always be there with us, even if we can't see Him from time to time.

Owl City- In Christ Alone

(Recommended by Meghan) What more can I say than what this song already says? In Christ, and only in Christ can we continue on with our life here on earth. Without Him, we would simply exist to be. He is our Strength and solid ground in times of need. He is our Comforter and source of love and peace. When we were dead in our sins and trespasses, He came to this world, lived a perfect life both fully God and fully man. He was rejected by the ones that He loved, and He died on the cross by their hands to satisfy God's wrath on mankind for our sin. Because of His death, as well as His life, we live eternally.

How could a dead man pay for the cost of the sins of all humanity? The best part of this story is that Jesus didn't stay down. He rose from the grave, standing in victory over death. Sin's curse lost its grip on us that day. And once we accept His love and His salvation, we have the promise of Heavenly life. No power of hell or scheme of man, as the song says, can separate us from Christ. He's coming back for us, and right now our purpose is to share His message and His love with as many as we can. It's a battle for the souls of humanity, one they cannot afford for us to lose.

Manic Drive- Obvious

I thought this song was really interesting as I was playing one of my (several) Pandora stations today. Mainly because I feel that it's how a lot of people are today. Big, bold talk with no actions to back it up when it comes down to doing what you said you would do. As the cliche goes, it's not enough to talk the talk, you have to walk the walk as well. Put your money where your mouth is on this one, or don't speak up in the first place.

One of my classes here at Cedarville, Contemporary World Missions, has been particularly challenging for me in this way. How many missions conferences have you gone to where they put on a happy outlook on the missions field, make it seem exciting and look like an adventure? Sure, living a missionary's life can be an adventure, but not in the way that we might always think. Back between fifty to a hundred years ago, four out of of every five missionaries that went out to places like Africa and Asia were killed in service. What would you do if they told you that in a missions conference rather than the sugar-coated version of what it's like? Would you still be excited or interested in that lifestyle? This is where the rubber meets the road.

Rather than shy away in fear at the reality of this life, the church's response should be that for every one that is killed for His name, one will step up to take his or her place. This is the kind of reaction that attracts people in this self-centered world. One that puts the Kingdom of God ahead of our own plans. Even if we're not called to be missionaries, we can still find the same sorts of challenges in everyday life. So when you find these challenges, will you live your life in faith as God calls you? Or is it just another game?

The All-American Rejects - Move Along

Don't yell at me for 'tacking on' a spiritual message to a secular song here. It's my blog, and I can do what I want with it. :) Disclaimer over, I really like this song. Even though we deal with the hard times, and though life seems like it's not worth it sometimes, we have to keep moving along. We can't do this alone though. We need God's grace every day as we walk with Him. It won't help anything to fill our time with thinking about all the bad things. Today has its own challenges in store for us.

God meant for us to walk hand in hand with Him through the good times and the bad, not just one or the other. And that's often what happens with people. We either give God our thanks when things are going good and then curse Him when we go through the bad, or cry out to Him in pain and then forget about Him when He answers our prayers. We can't live a balanced life with only one of these aspects of dependence on Jesus. When everything that we can do on our own fails, we have to place trust in Christ and move along through the hardships.

Seventh Day Slumber - Surrender

You know how we tend to think about life in terms of "what's in it for me?", "does this make me look fat?", "I'll just die if I don't make it to that concert!", etc? Our culture is obsessed with self and our own needs, so much so that we witness unspeakable tragedies every Black Friday morning just so a few people can get what THEY want, when they want it. I'm not saying that it's wrong to tend to our own needs, because this is vital in being good stewards of the body and family God has given us. Rather, I'm saying that we need to surrender to God before all else can be in its proper place in our priorities.

All of the things of the world belong first to Jesus, not us. We need to be willing to surrender everything to Him, even if that sometimes means losing them. As Paul said and did, we should count our earthly possessions and accomplishments as loss, because they take away from our ability (and often the desire) to share Him with others. We are to lay down our rights, lay bare our heart and soul to Him, for His glory. Even though we may share in His pain, we can give up our 'right' to complain and show how different we are from the world. It's incredibly counter-culture, but maybe that's what it takes to reach those who don't understand His love.

Disciple - Remedy

Even though we're saved, we still fight the temptations of our sins. Christians aren't perfect, and we still make choices that displease God. Even though we've been cured of the disease (and born into a new Heavenly family), we still have to work out the symptoms that remain.

How can sin pollute our lives after we're saved? We will never lose the salvation that Christ gave us, but we can lose our testimony by not acting any differently than the world, in a way that is 'unchristian'. It's easy to lapse back into sin one step at a time. Thankfully, Jesus is our Remedy both for the initial salvation and for forgiveness of all our sins after that. No matter what it is we've done wrong, we're never so far away that He can't bring us back if we ask. He'll cleanse us from our unrighteousness, and He will never let us out of His hand. Where He stops (salvation) is where He'll pick right back up (forgiveness).

Group 1 Crew - The keys to the Kingdom [HQ]

This song is pretty awesome. It has such a great scope and depth, and I think it has a really cool challenge in it. Every human was born with a sin nature, which means that we are by nature inclined to put our desires and pursuits in front of those of others. We fight like activists to protect those interests, even though it sometimes means hurting people we love.

Because of our sin, Christ had to come to the world and give His life so that we could be rescued from our hopeless ways of life. Now, almost 2000 years later, we wait for Him to return and usher us into His eternal kingdom in Heaven. Because of His gift, each of us that are saved by His grace now have the ability to spread the news of that kingdom. We have to make the choice to share His good news, despite the problems this might bring up.

This song speaks it plainly. Even the good times can turn quickly. Sometimes we'll face challenges in sharing the Gospel. But it's not enough just to know that God has a plan and to wait for Him to move. We have to stand up for our faith with boldness that only comes by God's grace. He will never ask us to do anything that He won't provide us the strength for.

Matt Maher- Alive Again

In those times of darkness that we all face, Jesus is there to rescue us. Even though we can't see Him physically right now, we can see how He impacts the world. The light before the sunrise as this song says. Christ came and shattered the darkness of our world, replacing it with His light. This is the same light that every Christian now has, the light that we are charged to share with the nations. "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (John 1:4-5)

I still find it amazing and incomprehensible that God would leave His throne in Heaven just to come and redeem His fallen creation. It would have been much easier to destroy this sinful world and start again, but He chose to send His own Son to restore our relationships with Him, even though it cost Him His life. He is actively searching for every person, because He came to save the world, not condemn it (John 3:17). And it's because of His sacrifice that we live and breathe today.

Kutless - I Do Not Belong

We don't belong here. We're foreigners in this world, merely journeying here for a time until we return home with Christ. Every day of our life, we take one step further from this broken world and toward the place of perfection that Jesus is preparing for us even now. We long to be in His redemptive arms, and that's why nothing on earth can satisfy our desires and needs fully.

Even though we don't belong in this place, we're ambassadors for God while we're here. It's our job to proclaim His message to the entire world. In fact, the Bible says that Jesus will not return until after all the nations have been reached with His good news of salvation. That's our mission in life, our purpose. To bring the saving grace of Christ to the world, so that they can join us in glorifying God. Even though the journey is long, and even if it comes at great cost to ourselves, we can rest in knowing that we will be completed when we see Christ.

Skillet- Hero

Do you have a hero? Someone you look up to and are inspired by? What is it about them that makes them worthy of being followed? Maybe it's because they do incredible athletic feats, or because they have that perfect voice, or maybe because they wear the right clothes and look 'worthy'. Maybe it's because they're there for us in a time of need. Regardless of why we consider them our heroes, we all need them to get through sometimes.

But who is our true hero? When there was nothing that we could possibly do to save ourselves from the judgment of death, Jesus stepped down from Heaven and took our place. He's the one that wasn't afraid to give His life for us, and He saved us when we couldn't do it on our own.

And the great thing is that Jesus didn't just do that one Heroic act. He saves us from an empty and unfulfilling life every day. When we're on the edge, broken and beaten down, He's always there to save us. He's the hero that lives within us.

Robin Mark- Days of Elijah

We sang this song in chapel today, and since we (almost) played it last August in Connecticut, it's been one of my favorites. (thanks Lizzie and Jenni) I particularly like it because it gives us examples from the Bible of how some of God's servants were bold in sharing their faith with those around them and how they served Him. And as the song says, even though they faced trials and days of famine, darkness and sword, they still served as 'the voice in the desert' declaring that the Lord was coming.

The Old Testament in general is full of incredible examples of how we can live a life of faith. Of course, it also has many examples of how NOT to live, but those are still good learning moments.

Right now, we're called to do the same thing that these men (Elijah, Moses, Ezekiel and David, in case you weren't paying attention) did by speaking up and sharing our faith with others. We might face trials because of it, but God is always faithful and will be with us. The fields are white to harvest, ready for someone to come and make a difference. Will that be you?

Pillar - Frontline

I think that this song is really accurate in telling about what daily life for Christians can be like. Even though we walk into the valley of the shadow of death every day, we're not alone. Many have other Christian friends to share the burden on their journey. For those that may not, Jesus walks alongside all of us anyway, and He is closer than even a brother. And if we don't back down on our journey, we will receive the Crown of Life in heaven, as Revelation 2:10 says. "Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life."

These verses aren't completely comforting, because they say that we will be persecuted and put on trial for our faith. That's what being on the frontline is all about. We're called to defend our faith before the nations, not hide behind our fear and lies. If we're not going to stand up for our faith, what's the point of being on those frontlines? We can't be afraid of what's going on in the world, of the times. Let your light shine before men (yes, and women too), so that they might give the glory to God.

Something Holy- Stellar Kart

Today's the conclusion on my 'love' series, and I thought I'd finish it up by summing up what I've been saying over the last week. Everything that we can do on our own falls short of what God's standard is, including love. Like this song says, we are incomplete without Christ, like a song with a broken beat or a heart with a hole in it. We were meant to be part of something holy, that being us serving under Christ's kingdom.

This love is bigger than anything we can find on our own, and we will never be truly satisfied until we find the love of Christ. It's true that earthly relationships are satisfying to an extent, but ultimately, they will crumble from pressure, temptation, and eventually time. Not so with God's love. It will withstand all time, even when this world is long gone. If only this kind of love were given the same share of time in our media.

Group 1 Crew - Walking On The Stars

The phrase 'steadfast love' occurs over 200 times in the Bible. Translated from the Hebrew word 'hesed', it is interpreted best as 'unfailing love'. 2 Chronicles 20:21 says, "Give thanks to the LORD, for his steadfast love endures forever." In our world of uncertainty, Christ's love is the one thing that we can always depend on, no matter the circumstance. He is worthy of our praise and honor because He loved us before we were even born, before we knew Him and even when we sin.

Christ's love is powerful. It saves us from our sinful natures and it fills us with the joy that surpasses worldly understanding. It lets us see the world from a different persepective, and it shows us how we ought to love others as well. His love is the perfect example of how we should live our lives. It's not an easy path, and the world will probably think that we're crazy, but that's just what this kind of love is. They don't have the joy that lets us walk on the stars, because their kind of love is ultimately insufficient and futile, ending in sorrow and bitterness. It's our job to show them the kind of love that enabled Jesus to pay the ultimate price.

Disciple - Dear X (You Don't Own Me) LYRICS!!! (read descipt.)

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth." (1 Corinthians 13:4-6) This song pretty much describes all of the wrong ways to go about loving others. Pain, shame, hate, and anger will all destroy our ability to love properly. We have to guard both against letting ourselves get into relationships with people who do these things and against committing these trespasses ourselves.

This goes back to the verse in Philippians that I mentioned earlier (4:8). We need to dwell on the things that are pure and true, rather than the things that will lead us to (the dark side) anger and hate.

Fireflight - For Those Who Wait

Today, I want to talk about how love is patient, because I think this goes really well with yesterday's topic about how true love never ends, as Addison Road sang. It takes patience both for the other person in a relationship and with ourselves in order for true love to be able to endure through the bad times like it does the good ones. We need to learn to exercise patience in our relationships, rather than forcing our own agenda and wants on other people. 1 Corinthians 13:4 tells us that "love is patient and kind".

I think that this song can be applied to those not in 'exclusive' relationships (dating, marriage, etc) as well though. While it's true that all of us will have relationships with family and friends, and patience is needed in all of these, sometimes those of us not in an exclusive relationship can get weary of the single life journey. The temptation is to rush into a relationship with someone, which can often end up simply making things worse.

We know that God has a perfect plan for each of our lives (Romans 8:28), and that obviously includes the relationships He has in store for us. Patience comes into play even outside of a relationship here as well. Even when we're "fighting to believe in a love that we can't see" like this song says, we know that there's a purpose for what's going on. God has a plan, even if we can't see it and we grow weary of the waiting. He has a special purpose for those of us that wait. We grow from the pressure and the struggle, and the lessons we learn during these times can make the difference when we're in the right relationship that God has planned. So don't freak out about being single. Enjoy the ride, and be patient for God's perfect plan.

Addison Road- Always Love

1 Corinthians 13 is probably the best descriptor of love given to us in the Bible, and one that contains most of the challenging parts. Verse eight says, "Love never ends." It's that simple. True love will never die or fade away, unlike what we see so often in marriages that burn to the ground because of an argument or a fight, or because of unfaithfulness. True love looks past the other's faults and sees them through the eyes of God.

For those of you who aren't students here at Cedarville, the last three days in chapel have been our spring Missions Conference. We've been talking about the Lord's Prayer, and how Jesus was telling us to pray through that prayer. Mainly, He wants us to let Him control our lives, and for us to empty ourselves of everything that isn't worthy of thought (think Philippians 4:8 again). I think that when we do that, we will have a greater capacity to love others and forgive them, even if we think they don't deserve it. Forgiveness is the key to this kind of undying love, because without it, bitterness and hate will build up, and that will destroy us from the inside out.

MercyMe - The Generous Mr. Lovewell

One little kind deed can make a huge impact on someone's life. You never know when a kind word or just randomly doing something nice can make somebody's day. And as unfortunate as it is, this often gets overlooked because of how self-centered our world is. Love doesn't have to be a hard thing all the time, and it doesn't get much easier than this. This is the kind of love that we can show to anyone pretty much anytime.

Of course, it can work both ways. A simple negative comment that we don't think much about can have a negative affect on somebody. We can simply get caught up in thinking about ourselves and stop looking around at the people we are called to love. By putting our focus on Christ and his command to love others rather than on ourselves, we will begin to see ways to love others easier. We are told in Matthew 22:39, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Think about the selfish tendencies we all have for ourselves, and then picture treating those around us in the way that we would ourselves, even if that means sacrificing our needs sometimes. Is it really that much to ask, given how Jesus loved us?

Hawk Nelson - Crazy Love

Here's the first song in my 'love' series. The first aspect of love I want to touch on? Love doesn't have bias, nor does it play favorites. We're called to love everyone around us, regardless of who they are. That includes our enemies too. Jesus told us to love our enemies and to pray for the people that persecute us. It's not an easy thing to do, but love isn't supposed to be easy all the time.

John 15:13 says, "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." And 1 John 3:16 a says, "Hereby know we love, because he laid down his life for us..." If we are to follow in Christ's example, we should practice the kind of love that sacrifices our own wants and needs for those of people around us. The world sees this as foolishness, but that's what crazy love really means. It's much more than what you see in today's media.

Switchfoot- Only Hope

I think that this song almost perfectly sums up what I've been writing about the past week and a half now. No matter what we do in life, whether it be great accomplishments or lowly failures, we could not do it apart from Christ. As the lyrics state, we need to pray to God to devote ourselves fully to Him, and to Him alone. He is our only hope in this broken, sinful world.

Now that I'm back at Cedarville (and since I've pretty much wrapped up this area), I'm going to start a bit of a series of blog posts on the topic of 'love'. What the world says love is and what the Bible says about love are two very different things, and I want to help bridge that gap a little bit through some of my song choices. Hopefully this will prove to be helpful to you, regardless of where you are.

Lincoln Brewster - Love The Lord

Today in church, the message was about how we should love the lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. We looked at Philippians 4:8, which says, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

How often do we actually stop and take a critical look at what's going on in our mind? Is it worthy of being thought of, or would we be ashamed if others could see into our thoughts? The only way we can truly love the Lord and obey His commands to us is to dwell on those things that are honorable, pure, and true. And that covers the whole breadth of our lives. By only thinking of pure things, we eliminate the temptations of the flesh. By thinking things that are honorable, we take away the prideful focus on ourselves. And by focusing only on truthful things, the trouble that comes from rumors and lies will be nonexistent.

How many problems could we solve simply by following these instructions?

Kutless - What Faith Can Do

What do you believe in? What things or people do you put your trust in? When the going gets tough, what do you depend on to get you through it? The answer to this question is one of the most important that you can give. It reflects your outlook on life, and it is an indicator of how you will act in hard spots. Unfortunately, many people will produce the wrong answer for this pop quiz. Today's stuff-centered culture pressures us to place our faith wrongly on how many toys we can afford or our social status.

None of these things can satisfy the deep needs we have or protect us from hardships. Only by placing our faith and hope in Christ can we see what faith can actually accomplish. Christ said to his disciples that "if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20) And still the disciples continuously struggled with their faith in Jesus, even though they were with Him almost non-stop for three years. It's easy to let doubt, or even misplaced faith, take over our lives. But as this song tells us, we live a life more full and free when we place our faith in Christ.

Thousand Foot Krutch - Welcome To The Masquerade

As promised, here's something completely different than my last couple songs. I think this one has a bit of a double meaning. Our world is a masquerade, in which people hide their true emotions and feelings by putting up a mask of 'happy'. (See 'Stained Glass Masquerade' by Casting Crowns) We're afraid to let others into our personal space and bare our souls to them. At the same time, the song also points a finger at Christians hiding the truth about themselves out of fear of ridicule, isolation, etc. They're trying to hide their lights under bushels.

Just like this song, in order to really be the witnesses that Christ commands us to be (not suggests, commands), we need to step past our fear and take off the masks we hide behind. We need to let our light shine before those around us so they can see Jesus' love through us, rather than cower in the darkness. If you call yourself a Christian, you need to live the life, not just talk the talk. Your life needs to be different and set apart, not identical and indistinguishable.

Chasen - Castaway

Okay, one more song on forgiveness/redemption. I promise the next one'll be on another topic. I didn't really plan for there to be three in a row that way, I just pick the songs as I'm going. This one hones in on the fact that all of the plans we make for ourselves end up in failure if they're apart from God's will. We end up facedown on a beach, no better off than when we started. Okay, maybe that's just the video there. Point is, we can do nothing apart from His grace.

This is another one of the groups I got to see last year, along with Between the Trees and The Almost. That was one great concert.

Healing the scars...

Red- Start Again

Here's another song on the theme of forgiveness, I guess. This one talks more about the fact that no matter how bad we mess up, God will always be there to give us a chance to start again with a clean slate. Unfortunately, there will always be that 'one more time', since we are fallible humans and we live in a fallen world. We will not be perfected until the day we see Christ face to face. But we still have God's forgiveness, in spite of our weaknesses and failures.

I'm going to see this group play later on this month at the Winter Jam festival in Colombus with some of the guys from my unit at Cedarville. I'll have some pictures from the concert to show you hopefully. (Check out the ad on the side of my blog for more info on that) The band has an awesomely creepy sound to their music, and it wrestles with some really deep stuff. Check some of their other music out.

Rush Of Fools - Undo

These guys came to Cedarville a few months ago and did a concert with Finding Favour (amazing small-ish group, check them out at: http://www.findingfavourmusic.com ) and Downhere. I really enjoyed hearing these groups come, because all of their music was so uplifting and encouraging (not to mention really good). But this song was my favorite that Rush of Fools played.

I guess by now a theme's starting to come out in my writing here. I've been feeling like I need to place a greater focus on 'Soli Deo Gloria', or 'glory to God alone'. Everything we do is because of Him, through Him, and ultimately for Him. As this song tells us, He's the only one that can undo the wrongs we've done, the mistakes we've made. We can't do it for ourselves, the church can't do it for us, nothing apart from His blood.

And that's the great thing about God...no matter how often or how bad we mess up, He won't forsake or desert us. His forgiveness and mercy endures to all generations. He can undo the wrongs we've done, even if the consequences may still remain. He turns us around and sets us back on the right path.

Hawk Nelson - Live Life Loud

Our lives aren't just about temptations and suffering, of course. It's true that these occur, and they deserve due attention, but that doesn't mean that we can't live our lives and still have fun as long as we don't lose that focus on the One we thirst for. We're allowed to smile every once in a while. :) Yeah, like that.

The trick is to figure out what things are worth doing and which ones aren't, and leaving behind the ones that aren't. Philippians 4:9 says, "What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me- practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you." Jesus had a sense of humor, as can be seen many times throughout the Gospels. He knew how to live His life loud, but He also knew how to live life with purity and honor. We need to follow His example and live in such a way that anyone looking knows that we're different, that we have something inside of us that gives us the hope to continue in the face of our tribulation.

I love this song, just because it's a reminder of how free we are thanks to the truth of Christ. We can live our lives loud because of His gift, rather than be trapped by the shackles of our sins.

Skillet- Comatose

Comatose...this is very nearly my favorite song, one that I listened to a lot during the (frequent) rough moments of my last few months. For me, it's a reminder to cling to God no matter how hard things get, because He's the only one that can satisfy my true needs. He's the only thing that we should ultimately desire and thirst for, like John Cooper (the lead singer of Skillet) sings about. It doesn't really matter how important things may seem in life, they all 'grow strangely dim' in the light of Christ, the one who gave it all for our sakes. We could all use an overdose in this case.

This year, I want to go back to some basics that I've really overlooked in the past. Make the focus of my life simpler...bring it back to about God, and not my own desires. Bible meditation and prayer time every day. Basing my decisions on what will be pleasing in His sight. How different would our days seem if we took the focus off ourselves for a change? That's my challenge to you. Shock someone tomorrow...many are going back to work or school this week, what kind of impact will you make?

I hope you enjoy the song as much as I do. Personally, I'm coming to the place where I'd rather be comatose than live without the power Christ's love. He makes me feel alive when without Him, there would be no reason for existence.

Fireflight- What I've Overcome

Welcome to the new year, and thanks for checking out my blog. Starting today, I'm going to be posting a new song every other day or so along with some thoughts I have. Maybe if you're lucky, the two will actually be related or something...you never know. I'd love it if you took the time to play this song and read through my notes as I start out this adventure.

Today's song is "What I've Overcome" by Fireflight, one of my favorite Christian groups. I picked this song because I just finished reading the book "Kiss" by Ted Dekker and there was a particular phrase that stuck out to me as I got to the end. "He wants you to remember who delivered you from that time, Shauna. That's the point of holding on to memory: delivery, not darkness...Perspective, not pain."

We know from Romans 8 that all things work out for good to those that truly love God, but it can be hard to remember that when we're in the midst of hardships and trials. One way of dealing with our challenges is to recognize that we become stronger through them, and that who we are is made by what we overcome, like my song of the day says. By staying strong through these ordeals, we become better people for it. Like unrefined gold that goes through the furnace, our imperfections and blemishes are drawn to the surface through these trials, so we can deal with them as God would have us. Sometimes, it may take a few trials to take these steps, but if we trust in Christ through the ordeal, we become more like Him for it.

So, next time you're dealing with something you don't think you have the strength for, just remember that you're never alone through it, even if there's only one pair of footprints in your sand. He will always give you the strength to endure if you ask Him, and you will come out of it a stronger person.