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